e-Audio, 10:21:42
Narrated by: Victoria Villarreal
Release Date: March 14, 20273
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: March 13-16, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Books Forward
TW: Mention of the Death of a grandparent, Emotional Abuse, Grief, Abandonment
For Readers Interested In: Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Monsters, Horror, YAA teenage girl must save her town from a memory-devouring monster in this piercing exploration of grief, trauma, and memory, from the author of The Valley and the Flood.
For generations, a monster called the Memory Eater has lived in the caves of Whistler Beach, Maine, surviving off the unhappy memories of those who want to forget. And for generations, the Harlows have been in charge of keeping her locked up—and keeping her fed.
After her grandmother dies, seventeen-year-old Alana Harlow inherits the family business. But there’s something Alana doesn’t know: the strange gaps in her memory aren’t from an accident. Her memories have been taken—eaten. And with them, she’s lost the knowledge of how to keep the monster contained.
Now the Memory Eater is loose. Alana’s mistake could cost Whistler Beach everything—unless she can figure out how to retrieve her own memories and recapture the monster. But as Alana delves deeper into her family’s magic and the history of her town, she discovers a shocking secret at the center of the Harlow family business and learns that tampering with memories never comes without a price.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This is going to be an interesting book to review…. I liked some things about it and disliked others, but the things I didn’t like were kind of big parts of the story? But even still, I enjoyed this and it really made me think about things I never would have before. And for that, I can honestly say that is a win.
So starting with the thing I didn’t care for…. The monster itself. I think we needed more information about it. The author gave details about it, but it was still confusing. BUT I also think had she given more info about it, it would have been like info dumping. I don’t know how to explain it. And when they tried to figure out how to stop it, it was also confusing. The whole monster thing was confusing. I re-read a bunch of parts and tabbed a bunch of parts as well. It took me a minute to get through this one. But this is why I said it was a big thing. The whole book is about this monster and it seemed that it wasn’t explained in a very good way.
BUT this whole thing did make me think about myself and my own memories. Like if I was there, what memories would I get rid of if any. What warrants a “bad” memory, and even still, was it a memory I’d like to get rid of? With me being someone who relives some moments over and over constantly, I think this might come in handy. But even still, I don’t know if that would make me want to get rid of it. Like these things made me who I am? This would really be something I’d have to sit and think about. Come to think of it, I think that was what annoyed me. I thought it needed more emotion than what it got. But I know she was acting that way because her memories were gone and she didn’t know they were missing? Like I said it was confusing and weird lol
The romance in this was cute, but there wasn’t that much focus on it. And the focus they did have on it was them being broken up. It was a slow burn. It really didn’t need to have a romantic element, but I wasn’t annoyed by it because it was a sapphic romance. (If it was hetero I would have been like ‘this romance was unnecessary lol) It just wasn’t my cup of tea. If it had more time with them together I think I would have changed my mind, but eh
This was a mid level read for me, but I’m grateful for having read it. Whenever I read a book that makes me think about things deeper than the book or if I find myself thinking about it after I was finished with the book, I know I like it. But in the same breath if I’m asking questions and still confused when it’s over too, I also know what that means. Since I fell solidly in the middle with this read, I need more people to also read it so that we can talk more about it. I need to bounce some ideas off y’all to make sure I got some info right lol
Overall, I give this
