Review : Remembrance by Michelle Madow

Summary (from Goodreads)

New Hampshire high school junior Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she seem to get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, the pair of them soon find that fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

Personal Thoughts 

That cover is so gorgeous. It was what initially drew me to read the book. I'll admit, I wasn't really intrigued by the summary, but that beautiful mask made me want to read it. Also, I read somewhere that it was based on Taylor Swift's Love Story music video and I was interested !

The plot of the story is very simple. It's about a girl and a boy who instantly fall in love upon seeing each other. Basically, it's a story about re-incarnation.

I hate stories where the characters fall in love too fast, but somehow I actually found that I liked this one for some reason that I can't explain.

The story is about Lizzie. Lizzie is a normal teenage girl (or so she thinks). She was a character who was easy to relate to. She had her fair share of problems like any other teenager. I really liked Lizzie as a main character throughout most of the book. I especially liked the fact that although she had a strong connection with Drew, she didn't start seeing him before he had broken up with her best friend, Chelsea. It shows what a sweet and caring person she was. She didn't want to hurt her friendship with Chelsea because of a boy. I really did appreciate that.

However, there were times when I found Lizzie's behavior concerning Drew a bit annoying.

Next we have Drew. Drew is the love interest. He is the mysterious bad boy with personality issues. One moment he shows that he has feelings for Lizzie and the next he's insulting her. I don't really know how I felt about him. He is one character who left me a bit confused. I definitely didn't like the fact that he was using Chelsea in the beginning.

The secondary characters basically include Lizzie's best friend and Drew's girlfriend, Chelsea and Lizzie's boyfriend, Jeremy. Chelsea started out as being a really good friend and I thought I liked her, even if she tended to act a bit like those mean girls that they depict in teen movies. However, towards the end, her actions disgusted me and left me wondering what kind of friend she was. Jeremy is someone very self-absorbed who thinks only about himself and I didn't like him much. It was good to see Lizzie realize what kind of person he truly was.

The romance in the book is the kind that is instant. I guess it's quite obvious because of the whole re-incarnation plot. Nevertheless, I found it sweet and cute. I liked the idea of having a bond from a past life.

I liked Michelle Madow's writing style. Her writing is smooth and easy to follow, even when Lizzie was having flashbacks. I found the idea of flashbacks very intriguing. I also think that the author weaved a wonderful story using an overly used idea : soulmates.

I have read Vengeance which is a novella based on the events that happen right where Remembrance ends. It's written in the POV of Chelsea. If you disliked Chelsea in Remembrance, then you'll despise her in Vengeance. The whole title of the novella is fitting. It's about Chelsea trying to get revenge and learning the truth.

I have never hated a character as much as I hated Chelsea, but I'll admit that I loved hating her. I don't know if Michelle Madow's aim was to evoke such hatred for this character!

Overall, I enjoyed Remembrance. I look forward to reading the next book in this series to see if things do end as in their past lives.

Rating

Cover : 5/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5