Forget Tomorrow

Ahh, I wish I liked this book more, because I really felt a connection with the author and loved the book's concept. I stumbled upon a blog interview with Pintip Dunn and read about how she had wanted to be an author ever since she was little, and how she valued diversity, etc., and just have wanted to read a book by her for a while now. Unfortunately, this book just didn't live up to the expectation I may have built up in my head for her.

Book content warnings:
abuse
rape

Every person receives a "future memory" on their seventeenth birthday: a brief snippet of their future sent back by their older selves to help guide them through life. In Calla's case, her future memory does less to guide her and more to condemn her to a life behind show more bars. She's sent to Limbo, a prison for people who haven't committed crimes yet, but whose future memories prove them to be criminals. But she doesn't stay long. When her crush from four years ago breaks her out, she becomes part of something much bigger than future memory, Limbo, or the people running it.

This book has so much potential. There's some great science fiction time travel content that's really intriguing, but unfortunately all that content takes so much of a backstep to the book's romance I think it could probably fill about twenty pages of the book's 336. Not that all the romantic plot/development isn't great, but it felt like the publishers/editors/(someone else?) were either pushing Pintip Dunn to finish/wrap up her story fast, hence cutting short the actual plot and plot elements.

Much of the first half of the story was extremely well crafted and paced. I sympathized with Calla and her problems, personal and larger-scale, and even felt drawn to her love interest because she was drawn to him. But as the book passed the halfway point things began to feel rushed, and then really rushed, and then really rushed (like again, her publishers or something needed her to meet a deadline or maybe a shorter word count [?]).

The minute the climax ended, the book ended. It led to such a jarring stop that left me feeling so unsatisfied, and I get that it's a first book, but it still needs to have some sort of ending! Also, Calla's motivation for everything in the book is her little sister, Jessa. But at the very ending, she kills herself in front of Jessa. WHY would she risk giving her sister such awful PTSD by doing it right in front of her?? I get that it's dramatic and all, but if she loved Jessa so much, that's just ... you don't do that (and I'm speaking as someone who has PTSD myself). I just can't get over this. I can't.

I don't know if I'll be continuing with this particular trilogy, but I will definitely try something else by Pintip Dunn. show less

I've always found the concept of time travel, or in this case, knowing what the future will be, fascinating. I don't necessarily believe in fate myself, but this kind of theme usually results in very interesting works of fiction. Who knows, maybe in the future, this won't be fiction anymore? Anyway, Forget Tomorrow caught my attention for this reason and had me cooking up theories even before I started reading.

According to the book, your future self sends a vision to show you what you become. The biggest question here is, can you actually change your future? The whole time I was inclined to believe that it's not possible because even though you still have free will, the fact that the future memory was sent back in time implies that show more somehow it already happened, it's a given. So perhaps everything you do to avoid it, only ends up leading you down the path you were trying to avoid. This would be an excellent book to read in a book club because there are so many philosophical aspects to it, you have the perfect material for some great discussions. I had several theories going on regarding Callie and Jessa and none of them turned out to be correct!

All philosophy and theories aside, this book will keep you reading past your bedtime! There were a few parts where I was confused and had to pause and analyze things to make sure I was understanding correctly, but I was completely engrossed in the story. And still, I know I'll be thinking about it for the next several days. I can't wait for the next book because the ending only leaves you wanting more. I have faith that the author can sort everything out.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review* show less

After reading FORGET TOMORROW I was stuck right in the middle of loving it and hating it.

Callie has been waiting for her vision, but when it finally comes, she finds herself in a lot of trouble. Not only was Callie a conflicting character, but I found myself conflicted in liking her more than a few times. At one point she comes off as super strong and selfless and the next I find her to be kind of annoying and immature. There were many points in FORGET TOMORROW that I could plainly see what was right in front of her, but she was completely clueless to it. It was quite frustrating.

I found the pace to be a bit too slow which made my attention wander at times. The world building wasn't as strong as it could have been. I felt there were show more some things missing that could have smoothed over some of the more complex parts of what goes on in Callie's futuristic world. The romance. Umm, where was the chemistry? We find out that Logan stopped talking to Callie YEARS ago, but all of a sudden he makes his way back into her life at the precise moment that she is in trouble. I wasn't feeling the connection between them. It was an insta-love type situation and there really wasn't any building of a relationship going on, but Callie was willing to throw a lot of things away to be with him. Until the end that is.

FORGET TOMORROW had quite a few surprises that helped me want to keep reading and although I didn't always love the main character Callie, I was still interested in seeing what would happen to her. The whole time traveling memories thing and the downside to it really makes you think. FORGET TOMORROW ends in a way that you can't help but want to know what happens next. I have looked into REMEMBER YESTERDAY and although I am not crazy about the fact that it will feature an older Jessa's POV, I still want to know what happens after the ending of FORGET TOMORROW.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.
allthingsuf.com

A promising concept that pays off, despite some pacing issues, FORGET TOMORROW blends science fiction with star crossed lovers. Oddly enough, though the world building was the more ambitious element, it was the run of the mill romance that slowed down the story.

Callie's society pivots around the value of a "future memory", a concept that holds up pretty well, despite some flaws. Untangling the societal implications of the concept was fun and engrossing, even at times when the world building felt thin. Fans of Divergent might particularly enjoy this world. As a reader I am mostly interested in character relationships, but FORGET TOMORROW was the rare example of world building show more working better than character plot. The drama of Callie's love life slowed down the book, as the forces separating the young lovers felt less "life or death" than "overwrought and melodramatic".

FORGET TOMORROW is a neat future concept, and reading along as Callie's concept of her own society evolves is engrossing. Even the romance will work for those who don't mind some high drama between stolen kisses, but Callie's love life was the weakest link for me.

Sexual Content: Kissing. show less

A futurist time that is full of doom and lives without choices. This book so reminds me of the Divergent series in that our heroine fights for change. Imagine a world where your name is secondary to your birth date and at age 17 your destiny is revealed. Characters of Logan and Callie were real and invoked intense emotion that was heart wrenching. Future Pintip Dunn installments in this series are required to answer questions that remain. "A copy of this book was supplied by Entangled Publishing, LLC with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read and the comments here are my honest opinion."

On your 17th birthday you receive a vision sent back from the future of what you're like as a citizen. On Callie's 17th birthday she receives a vision of murdering her younger sister so she's arrested and placed in Limbo - a prison so she can't become the murderer she's predicted to be. Can Callie escape from Limbo and her future and change her fate? She intends to.

This book was all over the place, with too many plot holes. The blurb idea seemed interesting, but the final book is just not what I expected. The characters were very lightly constructed, a mix of famous dystopian stories, yet I wanted to get into it but sadly this time traveling story is not up to my expectations.


Blog |BookBub | Amazon |Audible |Instagram |Twitter |Facebook |TikTok |YouTube |Pinterest |Tumblr |Bookstore