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A review by maxarcreads
Forgotten Vows by Gayla J Reel, Brandi Reed
3.5
Received this as an ARC read but my review will be honest. **SOME spoilers**
If the rating system would have allowed it, I would have given the book a 3.5. It is a second chance romance with amnesia and dark secrets within a married couple who have gotten divorced. The book starts off with Ben the MMC receiving a call that his ex-wife has been in a car accident in Texas. He immediately drops everything to be by her side as she is in a sedated/medically induced coma. However, the DR does say that will survive just a long recovery. Eventually, Chelsea FMC wakes up, but it turns out she has amnesia and the last think she can remember is her freshman year in college a year before she met Ben. That makes it about 7-8 years she has lost.
It's when she wakes up that the nurses introduce this strange man as her husband, but he is quick to inform her that he is in fact her ex-husband and they haven't spoken in months as they are not on good terms, but he was listed as her emergency contact as her husband. During her stay in the hospital Ben recounts for her how they met and even how their marriage ended (not going to spoil that). She does regain one memory as she is checked out of the hospital, and they slowly do start coming back to her giving her time to look back on things like an outsider instead of being in the heat of things. Ben is still with her at this point and helps get her settled in their old home that she still lives in. He is careful and thoughtful to not cross any boundaries even though he still has feelings for her but doesn't want her to feel manipulated or taken advantage of when she regains her memories.
This is a very sweet story and Ben was such a sweetheart who was always trying to do the right thing and even said at one point if he could change anything it would be that they never ended. He even sleeps on the floor when she has a bad memory return while sleeping rather than share a bed which he felt was inappropriate at the time. There is loads more to the story and how she reconnects with friends, regains her memories the good and the bad which include a dark secret which may have pushed her into getting a divorce. This book does end on a cliff hanger.
I will say the reason I didn't give it a 4 and personally think this is a 3.5 (even though I could only mark it as a 3) is that at times where the writing is a little disjointed and there are skips in the writing. For example, one paragraph the characters are talking in a kitchen, but the very next paragraph be on the beach with no connection or explanation for the shift. I also found it at time the dialog to be a little confusing as there would be a group of statements, but it wasn't saying who was saying what. So, I would have to read it 2-3 times to figure out based on context who was saying what. BUT these are things that I think that will be improved upon as she continues to write and publish her stories. It is a major undertaking to write and publish a book so I applaud the author(s) for taking this leap and I am sure these are things that again will be smoothed out over the next couple books.
If the rating system would have allowed it, I would have given the book a 3.5. It is a second chance romance with amnesia and dark secrets within a married couple who have gotten divorced. The book starts off with Ben the MMC receiving a call that his ex-wife has been in a car accident in Texas. He immediately drops everything to be by her side as she is in a sedated/medically induced coma. However, the DR does say that will survive just a long recovery. Eventually, Chelsea FMC wakes up, but it turns out she has amnesia and the last think she can remember is her freshman year in college a year before she met Ben. That makes it about 7-8 years she has lost.
It's when she wakes up that the nurses introduce this strange man as her husband, but he is quick to inform her that he is in fact her ex-husband and they haven't spoken in months as they are not on good terms, but he was listed as her emergency contact as her husband. During her stay in the hospital Ben recounts for her how they met and even how their marriage ended (not going to spoil that). She does regain one memory as she is checked out of the hospital, and they slowly do start coming back to her giving her time to look back on things like an outsider instead of being in the heat of things. Ben is still with her at this point and helps get her settled in their old home that she still lives in. He is careful and thoughtful to not cross any boundaries even though he still has feelings for her but doesn't want her to feel manipulated or taken advantage of when she regains her memories.
This is a very sweet story and Ben was such a sweetheart who was always trying to do the right thing and even said at one point if he could change anything it would be that they never ended. He even sleeps on the floor when she has a bad memory return while sleeping rather than share a bed which he felt was inappropriate at the time. There is loads more to the story and how she reconnects with friends, regains her memories the good and the bad which include a dark secret which may have pushed her into getting a divorce. This book does end on a cliff hanger.
I will say the reason I didn't give it a 4 and personally think this is a 3.5 (even though I could only mark it as a 3) is that at times where the writing is a little disjointed and there are skips in the writing. For example, one paragraph the characters are talking in a kitchen, but the very next paragraph be on the beach with no connection or explanation for the shift. I also found it at time the dialog to be a little confusing as there would be a group of statements, but it wasn't saying who was saying what. So, I would have to read it 2-3 times to figure out based on context who was saying what. BUT these are things that I think that will be improved upon as she continues to write and publish her stories. It is a major undertaking to write and publish a book so I applaud the author(s) for taking this leap and I am sure these are things that again will be smoothed out over the next couple books.