Book Review: Forget This Ever Happened

Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke

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In the summer of 1993, teenager Claire is forced by her mother into taking care of her sick grandmother in the small town of Indianola, Texas. Claire is less than thrilled about this arrangement. She doesn’t want to leave her life in Houston or her crush Josh, and she and her grandmother don’t exactly get along. On top of that, her grandmother’s house is old, dark, and hot, and Indianola is not exactly the most exciting place in the world. Claire quickly discovers that there is more to Indianola than there seems though. Soon after Claire arrives she meets Audrey, your typical perky, blonde cheerleader who lives down the street. Claire can’t shake the feeling that there’s something a little off about Audrey though, and can’t figure out why her grandmother keeps forcing them together. And then of course Claire discovers that there are monsters living in Indianola, alligator-like creatures with fur that can speak and stand up like a human. It’s at this point that Julie, the other main character of the story, is introduced. Julie has lived in Indianola all her life, and her family owns many of the businesses in town, including the local exterminator service charged with returning any monsters that stray too close to town to their home at the Indianola power plant. Julie, forced by her father to work at the exterminator’s, meets Claire when she comes to pick up a monster at Claire’s house. Claire and Julie bond over their shared love of movies and video games and begin developing feelings for each other. They also work together to determine why the monsters keep visiting Claire’s house talking about an “astronaut” that Claire needs to stop, how the monsters first came to Indianola, and how Claire and Julie’s families are connected.

Forget This Ever Happened is a mystery filled with suspense, though it can move a little slowly at times. The book has many plot twists that I enjoyed and never saw coming, including who the true villain of the story is and how Julie’s cousin Lawrence plays into Audrey’s plan. I also liked how the author developed the relationship between Claire and Julie. I think it is realistic in that many people experience the anxiety of not knowing whether their crush feels the same way, and can relate to questioning their sexuality.

My biggest issue with the novel is that although it does have many plot twists, certain aspects of the mystery are revealed too quickly. For example, it’s clear from almost the moment we meet Audrey that she is not what she seems, and it very quickly becomes obvious that she is the “astronaut” the monsters keep referring to. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the perspective of the novel alternating between Claire and Julie. As the reader I had access to more information than Claire and Julie did individually and was able to put the clues together before them. I found it rather frustrating having to wait for them to arrive at the same conclusions.

Overall, I would give this book a 4/5, and would recommend it to anyone who likes mystery and sci-fi with a little bit of romance mixed in.

-Review by Teen Advisory Board Member, 2/21/21