Remembrance by Michelle Madow

Title- Remembrance
Author- Michelle Madow
Saga: Book #1 (Transcend Time)
Format- PDF
Publisher- Dreamscape Publishing
Published- July 27th, 2011
Pages- 314
Source- Author

Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

I admit it - I love Taylor Swift's songs. I don't know they're just so... me. The hopeless romantic side of me. Recently I even caught myself singing "We are never ever ever getting back together!" So to have a book inspired by one of the song's, Love Story, sent me into a little thrill. The extremely girly side of me was dying to read this book.


There's a problem of course with this love story. The culprit? The uncaring, unsupportive, never there boyfriend that Lizzie feels like she is forced to be with. Thinking that even her mother has their wedding planned already. One thing I really dislike about parents in general in books is how they are in their own little world. They have tunnel vision. The idea of a daughter is better than having to listen to her but I was pleasantly surprised with the few times I encountered her mother. How more caring she was then her daughter described. Lizzie seemed to be the one with the problem, not her mother. I wanted more scenes with the mother. I don't know why. Books usually have practically nonexistent parents or too existent parents for the main character. Lizzie complained about her mother and the imaginary wedding but that was it. I didn't really get much of her mother.

I wanted more background in the beginning too. I felt I was missing something when she started saying how she felt farther away from her boyfriend. I felt a little bit like I was pushed into the middle of the story without understanding much of what was going on but that's what I get for skimming over the part of her having a boyfriend in the summary. I much preferred reading about the boy she felt connected with the first time she laid eyes on him. Sigh... In the beginning I thought that her boyfriend was alright. I mean he got a little late picking her up to go to school which she was annoyed by which I get. Then she proceeded to complain about his loud rap music which I thought was pretty silly. She sounded like an old woman... well she kind of is. I thought he's just a teenage boy who cares more about soccer than in being in a relationship right now and maybe she was being a little too serious. I guess I didn't see the signs because this regular teenage boy showed his true colors in a big way. I started to see her "complaining" as truth. He has the biggest ego and does something that makes you want to tackle him onto the ground. I could feel the distance between them too because they never really talked to each other. I couldn't see them as boyfriend and girlfriend but that may also be because Lizzie's attention was on a different boy.

My interest in this story became instantly piqued when the new boy, that she felt she knew, spoke to her. He definitely knew her. I was in heaven. He knew things about her and I was so interested in what importance they had to the story. I love when there is a little mystery in a story. But this boy, Drew, was very hot and cold throughout the book and that bothered me. Not only that, but because of this Lizzie acted very whiny sometimes to me but I realized soon after I thought that, that she wasn't whiny at all. Here's this guy she clearly knew from a past life (he knows) but she doesn't know it and it's like he's hurting her deliberately. Given who he actually is it makes total sense. I can't tell you of course that would ruin the fun. I give props for Lizzie trying to figure out what was going on and never fully backing down. She handled things way better than Drew ever did but you can't really blame him... When Drew was sweet it was the cutest thing on earth! I did a little squeal of joy whenever they looked at each other a certain way or when he said something to her that made her happy. Loved those moments when everything was perfect.

There had to be some problems. There was the situation of him being hot and cold as well as the unfortunate ordeal of her having a boyfriend at the time but there was something else too. More like someone else. She had a best friend. I knew from the beginning - that friend was no good. She was the type that gets all the boys she wants and doesn't care what her friend is clearly feeling. The school's flirt. Those girls just kill me but it did bring some controversy into the story and I loved that. I like feeling some suspense and conflicts. It made the story that much more interesting. There was a time where I thought the friend, Chelsea, wasn't going to be a major problem. I mean Lizzie can't blame Chelsea really. Lizzie does have a boyfriend. But Chelsea also goes into the same category as the boyfriend. They both go too far. I loved it all though. I loved how you never knew what Drew was going to act like next, what his next move was. What Chelsea and the boyfriend were going to do about them being together. What Lizzie's final decision was going to be. If this second chance was really going to work. It was a beautiful love story. This book was nicely given to me by the author because of the release of her newest edition to the saga, Timeless, so all of you should go check it out.

About the Author


"Michelle Madow was inspired to write Remembrance after seeing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video while a junior at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. The song and video gave her the story idea about a high school girl reincarnated from Regency Era, England. She handed in the first chapter as a homework assignment for class, and when her teacher and fellow classmates wanted her to continue writing, she decided to go for it. By the end of the school year, her first novel was completed!

Along with the Transcend Time Saga, Michelle Madow has written two other young adult novels, both which will be developed into series’. 

Michelle Madow graduated from the Park School of Baltimore in 2005, where she always took two English classes each semester. She graduated from Rollins College in 2010, cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. At Rollins she was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and a member of the International English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta. 

She received the Charles Hyde Pratt Award for Excellence in Creative Writing in 2010.

Michelle lives in Florida, where she is hard at work writing more novels for young adults." -Goodreads Profile

A Florida girl! That's why she's so awesome.

For more info about the author and her books:

Comments

  1. I love Taylor Swift, too. I didn't know that this book was inspired by her song, but it makes total sense. I haven't read this one yet, but I'll have to put it on my TBR list. ;)

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  2. OH! I really liked this book and how it was inspired by Taylor Swift's song! Great review.

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