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A review by an_everyday_penguin
I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell
3.0
I had really high expectations for this book. I like the cover, which really has no impact on the book and I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but books with good covers make me more excited to read the book. Also, I thought the plot sounded cool. The description made it sound like Lucas is in a time loop, and usually books like this are written from his perspective and are about how he's trying to find a way to save Juliet before something terrible happens. Except, this time, it's written from the perspective of the person not in the time loop. What actually happened may or may not have been different, it was a little confusing but I sort of get it, I think.
My problem with this book was that I found Juliet really annoying. Which is definitely a problem when the book is written in first person. I feel like I don't know much about her, except basic facts. Everything was about Lucas, which makes sense, but it was so focused on him that it felt like there was literally nothing else to her life. Her entire life revolved around him and it felt like she didn't have her own personality at times. Also, there were some things she did that just didn't make sense..
Also, I really did not like Rose. I hate people like her. Even Juliet disagreed and disapproved of the things she was doing..
Lucas was the other main character, but since it's written so much from Juliet's perspective, everything about him seems too good. He seems great and I can't find any flaws in him, which sounds like a good thing, but it's not. Humans are flawed, and he should be too. She should love him despite the flaws, not be so in love that she's blind to them. Because of that, he seems too unrealistic. It's only after the major, major plot points occur and Juliet's thoughts change that I started seeing flaws, but they were also biased. So I feel like I couldn't get an accurate picture of who he was.
The other problem with the book was that the pacing was very inconsistent. There were times when it felt like things were going really fast, and others when it was going ridiculously slow. A lot of the time, she would say something like "we went out to this place for lunch. We saw this movie. We did this. We did that. And then two months later...". Those parts just felt very flat and distant. Almost robotic, I think. She could have just started a new chapter and said "a few months later.." and everything would have been fine. It's not like the short sentences really added anything to the story.
Anyway, overall, I just didn't really like it. There were a few interesting scenes, I guess, and I get why the last couple chapters were important even though they were kind of boring at that point, I was just scanning the book to get it over with. There were multiple times I considered just abandoning it, but I hate abandoning books, so I pushed through and now here we are... Finally done and able to move on.
My problem with this book was that I found Juliet really annoying. Which is definitely a problem when the book is written in first person. I feel like I don't know much about her, except basic facts. Everything was about Lucas, which makes sense, but it was so focused on him that it felt like there was literally nothing else to her life. Her entire life revolved around him and it felt like she didn't have her own personality at times. Also, there were some things she did that just didn't make sense.
Spoiler
Like, she started randomly lying to everybody. Everybody meaning her mom, Val, and Rose because there's nobody else in her life. And like, why? She's not a compulsive liar. She generally doesn't lie. But then she just decides to start and she mentions it for like two sentences, moves on, and never brings it up againAlso, I really did not like Rose. I hate people like her. Even Juliet disagreed and disapproved of the things she was doing.
Spoiler
Leading Dex on like that was just so mean and rude? And it's not like she's clueless about it, which would be a slightly different story. She knows he likes her and she keeps baiting him then laughing at him for falling for her. Like, why? He's pretty much the one character I didn't dislike in this book. And that whole thing with Jason? Okay, that wasn't completely her fault, but part of it was. He got her a super expensive necklace and she just decides to wear it everywhere, including in front of him? And he's proven to be super unstable, but then when she sees him in Aruba, she goes up to him and like flirts with him and hangs out with him, and then did she not expect anything to happen afterwards? And that move with Pete, I really just couldn't believe it. My favorite part of the book was when Dex drove Juliet home after mini golfing and he was ranting about how he was completely done with Rose because she was cruel and unfair and he deserved better. Which he definitely didLucas was the other main character, but since it's written so much from Juliet's perspective, everything about him seems too good. He seems great and I can't find any flaws in him, which sounds like a good thing, but it's not. Humans are flawed, and he should be too. She should love him despite the flaws, not be so in love that she's blind to them. Because of that, he seems too unrealistic. It's only after the major, major plot points occur and Juliet's thoughts change that I started seeing flaws, but they were also biased. So I feel like I couldn't get an accurate picture of who he was.
The other problem with the book was that the pacing was very inconsistent. There were times when it felt like things were going really fast, and others when it was going ridiculously slow. A lot of the time, she would say something like "we went out to this place for lunch. We saw this movie. We did this. We did that. And then two months later...". Those parts just felt very flat and distant. Almost robotic, I think. She could have just started a new chapter and said "a few months later.." and everything would have been fine. It's not like the short sentences really added anything to the story.
Anyway, overall, I just didn't really like it. There were a few interesting scenes, I guess, and I get why the last couple chapters were important even though they were kind of boring at that point, I was just scanning the book to get it over with. There were multiple times I considered just abandoning it, but I hate abandoning books, so I pushed through and now here we are... Finally done and able to move on.