My Five Word TL:DR Review: Willingham’s Best Book to Date

Stacy Willingham has swiftly become one of my ‘go to’ authors and Forget Me Not is my favourite so far.  I found this so easy to sink into.  To be fair, the start of the story takes a little time to find it’s feet but even with this slightly slow kick off I found myself totally absorbed.  I think the writing style and the narrator worked really well, there was tension, fear, mystery and twists that I absolutely did not see coming. In fact, apart from a little nagging voice at the back of my head that kept trying to insinuate itself regarding one specific element, I had this all wrong.  Well done SW.

Claire Campbell is a journalist, living in New York since she graduated.  She left her traumatic past behind and never looked back but a combination of poor work outcomes and her mother having a bad fall have finally forced her hand.  Twenty two years ago Claire’s older sister Natalie went missing.  The family fractured and Claire has had very little contact with her parents since.  To say her return isn’t lovingly embraced is an understatement and soon enough Claire finds herself taking up a strange offer of work, with accommodation, that promises to help tide her over.

I’m not going to elaborate further on the story because it would be so easy to give away spoilers and this book has such a lot of secrets to deliver that I don’t want to be the one who gives the game away.

What I really liked.

Seriously, I loved the writing.  It just worked for me, perhaps I was in the right headspace for this type of mystery, but I loved reading this and even with the little bit of set up – which be patient because it is all necessary – I couldn’t read this quickly enough.

The setting was really good.  South Carolina, the sweltering heat, the hazy days and then the setting of Galloway Farm with its isolation and strange and secretive inhabitants.  The place pretty soon begins to give off unsettling vibes, as do the people living there and added to that is a secret diary that Claire has discovered and is adding to her already enhanced (journalist) curiosity.  I will say that there was one particular part of the story that I felt like throttling Claire as she was taking such terrible risks and my heart was in my throat! And, pretty much from that point forward the tension was palpable.

I also really enjoyed that we jump back and forth in history as Claire delves into the secret diary she discovered.  I am a sucker for this form of storytelling so particularly enjoyed this element.

Overall, this was well written and atmospheric, I liked the main character who was intelligent and plucky (and scared me with her risks), I loved the story and the way it twists unexpectedly and the ending has definitely stayed with me since I put the book down.

I really enjoyed this.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 5 of 5 stars