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A review by jenbsbooks
Impossible to Forget by Imogen Clark
3.5
I quite liked this, and it kept my interest while I was listening to the audiobook (text and audio included in KindleUnlimited). There were a couple things that bugged me, and reflecting and finishing, some things didn't stand up as well. Overall, still a positive association.
One pet peeve - I often switch between formats (listening, hearing something I want to highlight/note, so try and find my place in the Kindle copy). Listening in the Audible app, the "whispersync" didn't always take me to the correct location ... and the chapters in Audible and misnumbered. There is a "prologue" (the letter from Angie) which doesn't have an official chapter, but it is assigned the "chapter 1" in Audible - which throws things off for the rest of the book. It's annoying to go to "Chapter 20" on the TOC, and the narration starts saying "Chapter 19" ...
The book has time shifts. It starts in the present (the first two chapters) and then moves to the past (starting in 1985 in Ch3). Another pet peeve ... I wish headers included at the chapters were also shown in the TOC. But here, after the start in the present, it pretty much does the one shift back to the past and then goes on chronologically forward from there, skipping years at a time, until it catches up to the present day storyline. Ch15 is 1993, Ch16 is 1997, Ch21 is 2000, Ch28 is 2006, Ch29 is 2013, Ch31 is 2016, Ch38 is 2017, Ch40 (till the end) is 2018+ ... which is "the present" (the letter was written August 2018). Still, I don't like to have to manually check each chapter to see the header to remember the timeline ... if it's a chapter header, place it in the table of contents too so I can see it at a glance. Of course I realize most physical books don't even bother with a TOC at all anymore.
I enjoyed the premise though. A single mother passes away young, leaving her 18 year old alone, so she tasks four good friends to stay in her daughter's life. Honestly, while I have friends, I may be more disconnected than most/many. I can't even comprehend someone asking me, or vice-versa to be that involved (she asks one of them to move into her home for a year while Romy finishes school).
Jumping to the past, we get the history of the main four friends ... how they met, their lives through the years. As other reviewers have mentioned, this goes on a little long. Angie IS not very likeable. It's surprising that she and Maggie made it past things into this life long friendship. Very ironic that even Angie thinks some things about Tiger (that he mooches, that he can be inconsiderate) when that's a super strong aspect of herself, especially in the younger years. We see Angie's relationship (such as it is) with Jax, as she meets Hope (the 4th, everyone wonders why she's included in the guardianship). Whereas Angie can be brash and rude, Hope is even more so.
When the story catches up to the present, and Romany is now the central figure (although it's all 3rd person/past tense, moving between POVs), it was fun to see her interactions with these four adults, her changing views as she learns more about them, and how they themselves change. There are additional things revealed (and yes, I guessed that plot twist).
No proFanity ... some sex, nothing explicit.
The title "Impossible to Forget" ... is forgettable, as is the cover image (did feathers have anything to do with the story?) This is one I really need to have recorded/reviewed so I remember I read it and how I felt. I don't think it will stick in my memory much.
One pet peeve - I often switch between formats (listening, hearing something I want to highlight/note, so try and find my place in the Kindle copy). Listening in the Audible app, the "whispersync" didn't always take me to the correct location ... and the chapters in Audible and misnumbered. There is a "prologue" (the letter from Angie) which doesn't have an official chapter, but it is assigned the "chapter 1" in Audible - which throws things off for the rest of the book. It's annoying to go to "Chapter 20" on the TOC, and the narration starts saying "Chapter 19" ...
The book has time shifts. It starts in the present (the first two chapters) and then moves to the past (starting in 1985 in Ch3). Another pet peeve ... I wish headers included at the chapters were also shown in the TOC. But here, after the start in the present, it pretty much does the one shift back to the past and then goes on chronologically forward from there, skipping years at a time, until it catches up to the present day storyline. Ch15 is 1993, Ch16 is 1997, Ch21 is 2000, Ch28 is 2006, Ch29 is 2013, Ch31 is 2016, Ch38 is 2017, Ch40 (till the end) is 2018+ ... which is "the present" (the letter was written August 2018). Still, I don't like to have to manually check each chapter to see the header to remember the timeline ... if it's a chapter header, place it in the table of contents too so I can see it at a glance. Of course I realize most physical books don't even bother with a TOC at all anymore.
I enjoyed the premise though. A single mother passes away young, leaving her 18 year old alone, so she tasks four good friends to stay in her daughter's life. Honestly, while I have friends, I may be more disconnected than most/many. I can't even comprehend someone asking me, or vice-versa to be that involved (she asks one of them to move into her home for a year while Romy finishes school).
Jumping to the past, we get the history of the main four friends ... how they met, their lives through the years. As other reviewers have mentioned, this goes on a little long. Angie IS not very likeable. It's surprising that she and Maggie made it past things into this life long friendship. Very ironic that even Angie thinks some things about Tiger (that he mooches, that he can be inconsiderate) when that's a super strong aspect of herself, especially in the younger years. We see Angie's relationship (such as it is) with Jax, as she meets Hope (the 4th, everyone wonders why she's included in the guardianship). Whereas Angie can be brash and rude, Hope is even more so.
When the story catches up to the present, and Romany is now the central figure (although it's all 3rd person/past tense, moving between POVs), it was fun to see her interactions with these four adults, her changing views as she learns more about them, and how they themselves change. There are additional things revealed (and yes, I guessed that plot twist).
No proFanity ... some sex, nothing explicit.
The title "Impossible to Forget" ... is forgettable, as is the cover image (did feathers have anything to do with the story?) This is one I really need to have recorded/reviewed so I remember I read it and how I felt. I don't think it will stick in my memory much.