Remember to Forget by Ashley Royer

★★★★★
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In Remember to Forget from Watty Award-winning author Ashley Royer, Levi has refused to speak since the tragic death of his girlfriend, Delia, and can't seem to come out of his depression and hindering self-doubt. Desperate to make some positive change in Levi’s life, his mother sends him to live with his father in Maine. Though the idea of moving from Australia to America seems completely daunting, Levi passively accepts his fate, but once he lands faces personal struggles and self-doubt at the same time he and his dad battle through resentment and misunderstanding. And then, while at therapy, Levi meets Delilah, a girl who eerily reminds him of someone he lost.

Remember to Forget follows Levi Harrison from one side of the world to the other on a necessary journey of healing and discovery. It’s an emotionally engaging read interspersed with great humorous moments that fans of young-adult contemporary fiction will not want to miss.

Levi suffers from depression, anxiety, and mood swings as a result of the unexpected and tragic death of his girlfriend. The grief and pain of this loss drove him to stop speaking for months and isolate himself from the world around him, and this makes him a difficult character to really like at the beginning of the book. He’s rude and self-centered (to an extent, understandably so), but a cast of likeable characters begin to wear down his defenses and help him to see beyond his loss. The more of the book I read, the more I had to and wanted to root for Levi, along with his family and friends.

The characterizations in Remember to Forget, I think, make this novel such an enjoyable read. Levi’s growth over the course of the storyline allows him to value the relationships, new and old, in his life, and I really liked his overall story. It makes for an excellent, quick weekend read, and I recommend it to interested readers.

Thanks to BookLook Bloggers, I received a copy of Remember to Forget and the opportunity to honestly review it. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own. (I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”)