When I started reading this book, I wasn't sure if it was something I was going to like or not. You see Flora, our narrator, had a brain tumor removed and it also removed her short term memory. Basically she forgets everything that has happened since she was 9 years old every time she turns around. She resorts to writing notes to herself on her hands and arms to fill herself in on things. So, the reason that this was hard for me to get into at first was because of the repetitiveness. Every time Flora forgets, she has to go back through EVERYTHING to understand why she's not a little girl anymore.

Then I got to this magical place where I got used to the recapping, and I started LOVING this book. Flora just grew on me and I was rooting for her while equally worrying to death what was going to happen to her. She basically kisses a boy on the beach and REMEMBERS IT-- and only it. She decides to follow that memory to the arctic where the boy currently is-- on her own. I was blown away by her bravery and ability to always land on her feet. I also wanted to fly to Svalbard and bring her home safely. I am a mother after all.

I thought the best part of this book (besides Flora in general) was that there was this whole other "family secrets" storyline, which made the book so much more interesting. I didn't really want to read about a GUY that "fixes" her-- and you guys, this book is not that!! It's about Flora finding her independence and being insanely brave and LIVING.

By the end of the book, I went from nervous and tense to emotional in a hurry. It surprised me how hard the ending hit me. I cried-- which I haven't been doing as much while reading. I felt the hurt and hope, and THAT was when I realized how good this book really was.

OVERALL: I loved the rollercoaster this book took me on. Flora isn't a character I'll be forgetting anytime soon. I completely recommend trying this-- it's like a YA Momento with major feels.

My Blog:

( )

Desde que la operaron del cerebro a los diez años, Flora Banks sufre un extraño tipo de amnesia: su mente no es capaz de recordar más allá de un par de horas. Hasta que un día, la imagen de un beso furtivo con Drake, el exnovio de su mejor amiga, surge de su memoria de forma casi milagrosa, un indicio esperanzador de que su mente podría funcionar con normalidad. Así que, cuando recibe un correo electrónico en el que Drake le propone que se encuentren en Noruega para contemplar el sol de medianoche, Flora se lanza a la aventura sin dudarlo, con la ilusión de volver a ser ella misma. Sin embargo, desde el momento en que llega a las islas Svalbard, todo resulta muy distinto a lo imaginado, y Flora tendrá que hacer honor al lema que lleva tatuado en la mano, «sé valiente», para asumir una verdad nada fácil de asimilar.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! But I still never want to hear the sentence "I kissed a boy on the beach" ever again. ( )

*Book received through Penguin Publishing's First To Read Program*

This book was honestly so good! It's heartwarming and heartbreaking to follow Flora on her journey to Svalbard. I loved reading her adventure and seeing all these people helping her to succeed, even they didn't know her and didn't need to care. I cried when Jacob died and all this history was revealed to both me and Flora. I got angry at Flora's parents as they restricted her freedom and drugged her beyond belief. I wanted to slap Derek for lying to Flora and taking advantage of her. This book to took me for a ride and it was amazing. ( )

Flora is a 17-year-old with no short-term memory. Her memories end at age 10, when she had a tumor removed and was left without the means to make new memories. She uses notebooks and notes on her arms to keep track of who she is, where she's at, what she's doing, and everything else in her life. Flora kisses her best friend's ex-boyfriend at his going away party and this one memory stays in her head. Convinced that Drake has "fixed" her, she goes after him in Norway, looking not only to be with this boy she thinks she loves, but also to finally get her short-term memory back and be "normal."

The novel is narrated in first person from Flora's perspective, which means it can be incredibly sporadic, repetitive, and at times frustrating for readers who do have their short-term memory. The sentence "I kissed Drake" is repeated enough times to make you want to scream. But the repetition and fractured narrative are a huge strength of the novel because it gives a glimpse of what life with anterograde amnesia would be like for the person who has it: the confusion as she comes to, getting reacquainted with current events by checking whatever is on hand (often literally), the feeling that you're still missing so much info but you don't know what or where to get it so you just have to keep moving with those gaps. And while this is occasionally frustrating to read, it also feels very right.

Because we as readers without amnesia are able to connect the dots and remember what happens from one episode to the next, Flora's experience when she's drugged to the gills or when she's coming off her meds have extra weight. We can both see how she's feeling, thinking, and processing events (what she's experiencing in the moment) and see what she's ignoring as important or how her behavior has changed from one episode to the next (what Flora can't experience). It means the reader is both in her head and standing alongside her; a participant and a bystander.

The main problem I have is that most of the novel it seems we're working with the magical healing kiss idea. Ultimately, that isn't what's happening - her brain is healing on its own because the brain is a weird, complicated organ that wants to make pathways and the kiss just happens to be the first memory to get through, so to speak. Doesn't really stop it from feeling a little irritating though. And a lot of that irritation comes from the repetition of "I kissed Drake" that I mentioned earlier. Flora's actions and thoughts may not stay in her head from hour to hour but that sentence is definitely running around my brain on a loop.

That said, the ultimate message that Flora's amnesia isn't stopping her from doing anything at all, that she is fully capable of living her life however she wants because she has the tools to work around her disability as necessary is amazing. It's a reminder that disabilities are only truly insurmountable when no accommodations are created to help disabled people function in their environment. Flora can't function the way that the majority of people do, but that doesn't mean she can't function at all. It just means she needs a different set of tools to do so. And when she has those tools, she can do amazing things, just like everyone else. ( )