From the moment that my besties over at Forever started talking about FORGET ME NOT by Julie Soto, I knew that I would need to read it. Lucky girl that I am, I was invited to the Fable book club and received a beautiful gifted finished copy of the book!
When wedding planner Ama Torres lands the wedding of her career, she is flying high…until she finds out that the couple is set on using Elliot Bloom as their florist. This should be good news since Elliot is whiz with arrangements, but he’s also Ama’s ex whose heart she shattered years before. With a wedding on the line that could make or break both of their careers, the former couple finds a way to work together while the meddlesome brides are determined to set them up, easily seeing the chemistry that still rages between them.
From the very beginning, we know that something happened between Ama and Elliot that caused them to start avoiding each other, but it takes a long time for us to find out what happens there. Soto utilizes a dual timeline and dual POV to tell the events of the story but does so in what feels like a clever and unique way. The majority of the story, the past timeline is told through Elliot’s POV while the present timeline is told through Ama’s POV. It adds such a layer of depth to the story as it unfolds, especially when it comes to the start, ending, and new beginning of their story.
Ama is an absolute ray of sunshine, though it did irk me that she was so blinded by how poorly she was treated by Whitney. I had to constantly remind myself that she was working for her straight out of high school which means that was the only kind of working relationship she knew - and when you only know one kind of relationship (working or otherwise), you think that is just the norm. It was a joy to see her blossom into her own and step into the spotlight.
I was promised an Adam Driver/Roy Kent mashup in regards to the character of Elliot Bloom and I definitely was not disappointed. He’s grumpy and rough on the outside, but he is also an absolute teddy bear at heart. The way in which he almost subconsciously takes care of Ama, like his body just does it even when he’s not thinking about it, is all anyone could ever want in a partner. We stan Elliot Bloom in this house!
There was a lot going on in this story, but it never felt like anything was lacking. We are able to see the wedding planning from start to finish (and a lot of in between!) which also acted as the building of tension between Ama and Elliot. We also got plenty of steamy scenes that had me fanning myself as well as some truly laugh out loud moments. The side characters, especially the brides Jackie and Hazel, shine in their own ways and make me wish that we could get more from them (novellas? bonus scenes? I'll take anything!)
Julie Soto has secured her spot on the romance shelves with this knockout debut and I cannot wait for all that is to come from her!
FORGET ME NOT by Julie Soto is available now and you can pick up a copy here.
Disclaimer: I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher for free and have voluntarily written this review. If you purchase a copy using my Bookshop affiliate link above, not only will I receive a small commission (which will fuel my coffee and tea addiction and help to keep me up all night reading more books to recommend to you), but you will be supporting indie bookstores as well! If you prefer Amazon, visit my Amazon storefront and click on the list titled "2023 Book Recommendations."
