Forget Me Always, from Sara Wolf (Lovely Vicious #2)

Good Saturday morning to you! Nope, you’re not hallucinating from the booze you had last night, this is not an April Fool’s prank because we are kind of in November and no cameras are going to jump on you to reveal a trap! Or at least, if this happens, which I really wish you never have to experience, I can assure you it wasn’t on me and will lend you a friendly shoulder for some hate shouts towards the pranksters?

I’m back with a review and one for a series that shook my ground hard earlier this year: Lovely Vicious, from the brilliant goddess Sara Wolf. This review is for the second book in the series, Forget Me Always, which I received from the Chapter by Chapter’s team in exchange for an honest review. As always, thanks so much!

As this is the second book in the series, you may want to read what I have to say about the first book before diving into this particular review =)

Love Me Never (Lovely Vicious #1)

Ok, now we’re good to go!

There are really few things in the world able to ruin Isis Blake’s good moods. Being thrown to a wall and cracking her head open doesn’t even make her top 10 list – she’s doing very well, thank you very  much. She’s just afraid her fabulous brain will root in boredom at the hospital her doctor insists she needs.

One of the top 5 things that do bother Isis Blake is Jack Hunter. Apparently, they were epic enemies at the most awesome war the world has ever seen, but Isis is sure she would remember such a beautiful and insufferable guy. She would never ever forget the most awesome war the world has ever seen as well, as she for sure would be responsible for it. To make things worse, Sophia, her friend met at the hospital, insists Isis and Jack not only knew each other, but also had something together.

Isis would remember such life changing facts, wouldn’t she? Besides, how is it possible for the dragon to fall for the prince?

~*~

Jack Hunter cares about really few things in life. One of them is Isis Blake – in fact, she is the whole center of his existence since the Halloween Party they attended together, before Isis’ attack.

For the first time in a long while, all Jack wanted was to make things right. To have peace along the most fabulous and amazing girl he’d ever met. However, it seems it isn’t his fate to find happiness: he wasn’t fast enough. He couldn’t save Isis. And now he had lost her in the worst way possible: she’s right in front of him… and remembers nothing of his existence.

Isis Blake may be the one with the head cracked open, but Jack Hunter is the truly messed up one. And then there is Sophia, closer and closer to the truth about Jack’s feelings despite all his efforts to keep loving her and only her.

Another war begins and memories can prove to be the worst enemies of all times.

Just remembering those are my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

To be honest, when I opened my ebook for Forget Me Always, I was afraid. You see, Love Me Never is one of my best 2016 reads and I was truly scared to my bones not to have all the feels back in Forget Me Always. As soon as I started it, I smiled and all my worries were gone: Isis Blake, one of my best bookish friends forever, was back and even in better shape than before.

The relief was huge and I’m afraid I may have highlighted the whole book with fabulous quotes, dialogues and general life wisdom from both Isis and Jack. You can feel their growth between the books and how much life burdens them, we finally can feel how heavy Wolf’s themes truly are behind all the brilliant jokes and ingenious come backs. We finally start to have some concret answers and still, Wolf shatters our world with another cliff hanger at the end. SERIOUSLY WOMAN, WHY KEEP PLAYING MY HEART LIKE THIS IF YOU KNOW I’LL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MAY NOW TO FINISH THIS SERIES?!

Overall, Forget Me Always has that feeling of déjà vu all over it – you kind of know what’s coming and it’s heavy, but you don’t quite believe it and it’s a shock to find out anyway. Plus, quotes even better than Love Me Never’s and omg answers, and trust me when I say we really needed those. So, all in all, five huge stars!!! ❤

The narrative pace keeps fast and light despite all the dark themes and we are once again follow Isis and Jack’s points of view. The major change is that we see much more of Jack’s POV, as he isn’t a mystery anymore – he is just still part of a bigger one. I really liked to see more of him and understand his motives better, but nothing beats Isis Blake as a narrator – not even Integrity Aidar, I’m afraid. But I’ll get to this later, haha!

The plot was twisted, but not highly complex. I was able to guess at many revelations and uncover some secrets way before they came, but the way Wolf tells you the story, she makes you feel genuinely surprised to see you were right or to watch as your own face collides with the floor. Seriously, this book is. All. The. Feels. I’m in love.

As it happened with the first volume, the characters are the main attraction. Honestly, everyone is so complex! Not a single person here is only good or only bad – not even Avery, I guarantee you. Not even Isis. Everyone has a dark side, the difference is in how much and for how long they can hide it from society. Jack is the epitome of this case, as he looks like a cool and bored teen on the outside and almost has a case of double personality about him. Isis is his perfect match in more than one way, as she seems to be bubbly and obnoxious all the time when actually she has deeper scars on her heart that won’t never ever truly heal. Both of them show us there is never only one way out to cope with grief, with fear and despair. What you do and who you chose to be after your world shatters is what truly tells how strong you are and how strong you can become.

Now that I think about it, the whole purpose of the Lovely Vicious series is how your life choices impact on who you’ll be since your childhood; how there are things you will never be able to truly erase, no matter how much you try to set things right, how much you fight your demons and how much you run from life. Some things will always be a stain to your heart, to your head and your feelings, but it’s you who will decide how much you’ll stop living to keep suffering. Only you can truly free yourself.

Of course, having people to support you and to be there for you counts a lot. Seriously, sometimes it can be the difference between you keep breathing on a moment of weakness. But in the end of the day, no one else can decide how to live your own life: it’s up to you. And this is one of the scariest shits ever.

Sorry, things got a little heavy here, haha! I think this book just hits too close from home and it makes me think so much about my own life choices, oops! I’ll stop with the motivational speech now and keep talking about Forget Me Always – I’ll leave the motivational stuff for Sarah, because if you want to talk about deep, real and serious human problems, that’s how you do it.

Also, just out of curiosity, I heard a song yesterday while working that clicked in so nicely with this book I almost dropped all I was doing and started my reading session earlier, haha! I’m not sure how many of you are acquitted with the song Part II, from Paramore, but I promise it is the perfect soundtack to Forget Me Always ❤ To be honest, I’m really proud of myself for managing to stumble on find a perfect song for this book, as I rarely have this opportunity, haha! For the ones that don’t know this particular song or even this band, I question: where have you been on the late 2000’s? leave here the link to a lyric video for it I found at Youtube:

And, just to wrap up this review, as this is oh-so-long, I wanted to leave you with some wisdom from Sarah Wolf in Forget Me Always! (Meaning: QUOTES TIME!)

“(…) people keep asking [if you’re better] anyway because it’s how you show concern for someone you care about, I guess, but frankly a giant box of chocolate truffles and a reign over a small kingdom would be acceptable stand-ins.” – Isis

~*~

“Sniffing out tragedy is sort of my entire deal.” – Isis

~*~

“I mean, most things that pop into my head are really weird, like that one time when I thought about Shrek in Victoria’s Secret underwear, but I think this actually beats Shrek’s Secret.” – Isis

~*~

“He [Jack] must’ve done something really shitty if I pulled out the medieval terminology.” – Isis

~*~

“Some normalcy has to be put between the darkness and us. That’s how you get enough strength to face it.” – Isis

~*~

“He’s my dream man, right? So, if my dream man is someone who can never really exist, then he can’t hurt me. He can’t come up and make me fall in love with him and smash my heart.” – Isis

~*~

“[Jack] Probably got in a fight with the mirror when he saw it was prettier than him.” – Isis

~*~

“Ketchup is the great illusion. Only when you put barbecue sauce on your fries will you know truth and freedom” – Isis

~*~

And these winning dialogues:

Sophia: What are you thinking?

Isis: Deep, intense thoughts. So deep. At least two indie songs’ worth of deep.

~*~

Isis: Ah, look, never mind. It’s cool. You got some secrets, I got some secrets. Our secrets should get married and have babies. Platonically. Entirely platonic baby-making.

Wren: Is that…a thing?

~*~

Isis: How you’re doing, old pal?

Knife Guy: We’ve known each other five months.

Isis: Five months in dog years is like, ten years. We’re practically family.

Knife Guy: Are you crying?

Isis: What, this? Nah, just a piece of teen angst stuck in my eye. Nirvana would be proud.

~*~

Isis: Oh, I hate you so much.

Jack: Good. I prefer it to the silence.

~*~

Kayla: You can’t even say ‘dick’ without vomiting in your mouth a little. And sometimes on desks. And small children.

Isis: That was one time, and that kid totally walked into the flight path of my vomit. It’s not my fault if he had no grasp of liquid physics.

~*~

Soo, wrapping things up really quick because EVERYTHING happened at this review: deep reflections, quotes, fangirlings, songs that fit books, omg! I’m so sorry to make you come all this way down, but I swear I’m done, haha! All is left to say is: if you like contemporary YA, strong characters, a touch of mystery and pop culture references all over, you need Lovely Vicious in your life and bookshelves!

Again, nice to see everyone again and let’s hope we meet more times per week from now on =) Love you, guys!