A review by thebooklovingpanda
Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke

4.0

All the things in the world create music, and as we move through the universe, that music runs into other music and overlaps. Everyone in the town overlaps with everyone else, and together they create the music of Indianola.

4.5 stars

This was way creepier than I'd expected! In a good way, of course - I was anticipating a sort of mystery-paranormal-urban-fantasy, and this felt like a seamless, atmospheric blend of sci-fi-thriller-horror with a shimmering thread of a super soft sapphic love story. They were adorable and I thought the extra significance (no spoilers!) to their meeting and mutual attraction was nicely done.

I loved reading both POVs and the differences between their personalities and history. They're both at different points of the 'queer journey' - Claire just figuring out that that she can like a girl too, and Julie falling (again) for who she thinks is a straight girl. The close family bond between Julie and her older cousin Lawrence was nice to see too. There are few supporting characters but the ones we do meet (just Lawrence, really) are nice and I cared about them, if not as much as the two leads.

The 'forgetting' and memory warping was a great premise - so creepy. The antagonist was so nauseatingly off, wrong and weird and I got big Other-Mother ('Coraline' by Neil Gaiman) vibes.

God. So creepy. Don't think I'm ever watching that movie again.

The antagonist's motives were believable and I definitely shared Claire's reaction to them!

There is a lot of the 'adults being useless' trope here, which isn't my favourite. However, I wonder if it's to do with the magic vs adulthood concept (like in 'The Polar Express'), more than being a YA genre convention?

[Julie] thinks about all the adults who have dismissed her concerns. Maybe accepting the monsters is a part of growing up. She's not sure what that means about growing up, though.

Recommended for 'Riverdale' and Teen Wolf' fans - while I did give up on 'Riverdale' a few seasons in, I still really enjoyed this!

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and Edelweiss for the eARC for an honest review.