I Remember You

by Cathleen Davitt Bell

[shannonmiz]

When I first read the synopsis of this one, I was thinking it was going to be a run of the mill time travel romance book. Admittedly, I hadn't really read many of those, so it was fine with me. But it ended up being much more than that.

The book is written as though Juliet is writing a letter to Lucas. Maybe a journal to him would be a more appropriate comparison, since it is the length of a book, after all. Either way, I thought it was the perfect way to write the story. The reader is able to experience the story from Juliet's thoughts, but with the details that Juliet finds important. It's a great (and plausible) way to jump ahead to more important bits rather than having to deal with daily minutiae. We're able to get right to the heart of the story through Juliet's feelings and recollections.

Juliet is a really lovely main character. She is smart, she has her head on straight, and she is really quite likable. Lucas is also likable most of the time, and I can't really explain to you when/why he isn't, because it would give things away. Let's just say you're rooting for these two. We also get to see Juliet's other relationships evolve. Her best friend Rosemary is not always the easiest character to like, but she and Juliet were such opposites that it was easy to see what drew them to each other. Juliet also has to deal with her changing relationship with her mom, which was a nice addition to the story (and quite refreshing- no Parent-in-YA Syndrome here).

The romance, of course, plays a huge part in the story. I liked the majority of it, but there were times that I kind of wanted to give Juliet a little shake to remind her that she is a smart, strong young woman. The romance develops a bit quickly for my taste, but I don't know if I'd really call it full blown insta-love, since Juliet did question things, and was wary of jumping right in to actual love. The one thing that I have mixed feelings about is Juliet's behavior in the middle of the book, when they were already in love, and together. She blows off her friends and family, as well as her interests and her school responsibilities. On one hand, um no. No one needs to be doing that. However, there are young women who make this mistake, and I can't help but wonder if this was supposed to be a cautionary measure? Either way, it didn't sit well with me.

The plot was very enjoyable, and since Juliet jumped ahead and skipped the details that could have dragged it down, it moved nice and quickly. I really enjoyed the twist on typical time travel that the author used in this story. There were a few things that I did see coming, but I still had no idea how everything would turn out in the end. And there were tears shed. Quite a few of them, really.

*Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley for review*
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight