Review: Until I Remember by Karla Sorensen
/About the Book
She has no memory of choosing him. Her heart, apparently, didn’t get the memo.
I wake up in a hospital with a year of my life missing—and Grant Hastings at my bedside. I remember him, all right. He’s wealthy. Arrogant. British. And my late brother’s best friend. The last man I’d ever want to marry.
Except apparently I did.
Now I’m living in a beautiful house I don’t recognize, wearing a ring I don’t remember receiving, and expected to play the devoted wife while his aristocratic family, unaware of the gaps in my memory, descends for his birthday. Grant is patient and attentive, dropping hints about an explosive relationship that makes my pulse race. He’s nothing like the cold, haughty man I remember.
Torn between suspicion about this inconvenient marriage of convenience and an attraction to my husband I’m not ready to name, I have to make a choice: leave the past buried or trust Grant to help me find my way back to a life I can’t remember choosing.
The terrifying part? I’m starting to think past me knew exactly what she was doing
Review
Until I Remember was my first time reading the amnesia trope, and I’ll admit I was hesitant going in. Karla Sorensen proved me wrong. This was such a beautifully written and emotionally engaging story about two people finding each other after grief, only to have to find each other all over again after tragedy.
The last thing Mercy remembers before her accident is telling Grant to leave her alone. When she wakes up, she can’t remember the last year of her life. Somehow, she is now married to Grant.
The first half of this book was easily the strongest for me. For much of it, Grant’s POV is withheld. We experience him almost entirely through Mercy. I loved that choice because we know exactly as much as she does. We’re trying to figure out this version of Grant right alongside her.
And Grant? So charming. Even from Mercy’s POV, it was obvious how hard he was trying to restrain himself and give her the space she needed. I loved watching Mercy slowly fall for him while trying to reconcile the man standing in front of her with the version of him she remembers. I wouldn’t necessarily classify their past relationship as hate-to-love. She disliked him, but even that felt more like a mild dislike than genuine hatred.
Mercy was so much fun. Losing a year of her memories never meant losing the personality that made her Mercy. She still had that spunk, and I loved watching her struggle with how to take all the pieces of the Grant she remembered and reconcile them with someone who now felt almost unrecognizable. More than anything, I liked that she had to get to know the man standing in front of her instead of simply relying on who everyone told her he had become.
And the entire scene of Mercy returning to her classroom after the accident? Amazing. No notes. I tear up even thinking about it. I desperately wish we had gotten more of Mercy returning to work and reconnecting with her students because that was one of my favorite parts of the entire book.
Where the book lost me slightly was in the second half. Sorensen had slowly begun this beautiful romance, and the latter half just felt a bit rushed. I wanted more longing. More time. More of them having to find their way back to each other before everything came together again.
I also would have loved more alternating POVs toward the end. Staying firmly with Mercy worked incredibly well in the beginning because Grant needed to remain somewhat unknowable. However, there was a stretch at the end where it was all Grant’s POV. I think alternating POV’s could have maintained some of the emotional momentum that I felt was lost near the end.
Honestly, I think that my biggest complaint is that I wanted more. I wish this book had been longer. There was so much more I would have happily read. Mercy returning to work, more time with her students, more of Mercy and Grant rebuilding their relationship, and more of their life after everything settled. Sidenote, the scene where Mercy returns back to work made me sob.
Can I get a novella? A bonus epilogue? Something? Because there is still so much that could be done with these two.
Final Thoughts
I found Until I Remember to be beautifully written and emotional. I was highly invested in Mercy and Grant’s love story. Despite the rushed second half, I adored these characters and wish I had gotten more time with them.
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