Don’t You Forget About Me

by Mhairi McFarlane

[Sam@WLABB]

This was my first McFarlane book, and it hit all the right notes for me. There was a lot of laughing, as well as tears, and I thought it was a wonderfully told tale of a woman trying to get her life on track.

George had been sort of floundering since her father's death. She was working in a dead-end job and in an unhealthy romantic relationship. It might have seemed like misfortune at the time, but I think losing her job and her boyfriend were two of the best things to happen to George. It pushed her into a new opportunity, and allowed her to grow and come to terms with events from her past.

I found it really easy to love and have empathy for Georgina. She was extremely amusing, kind, loving, and caring. She was also very complicated, and I really enjoyed the way McFarlane slowly revealed all her pieces until I was able to get the complete picture of who she was.

In her present, Georgina was trying to deal with being reunited with "the one that got away". This was her first and epic love, the one who imprinted himself on her soul, and his re-entry into her life churned up bits of her past, which she had never come to terms with - the grief of losing her father, her conflicted feelings regarding him, and the pain of losing Lucas. These were things that were holding her back, and it was fantastic and quite satisfying to see her work through it all.

Though there were many emotional parts, this book was also quite hilarious. A lot of the humor was provided via Georgina's friends. Everyone needs a ride-or-die squad, and this one was top-notch. Individually, they were interesting, but together, they were gold. I always had such a good time with this group, and it warmed my heart the way they supported Georgina.

I would call this women's lit, but it also had a great romantic element. Be warned: there was not a ton of romance going on, because this was really about Georgina's healing journey and her finding her way, but there were some fantastic moments, and that ending! My heart exploded from that speech. I think I might have gotten up and applauded. It was just that good, and of course, the happy tears were flowing freely.

Overall: I throughly enjoyed my first Mhairi McFarlane book, which had just the right balance of humor and emotion, and left me in a state of elation.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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