Title: Love Water Memory

Author: Jennie Shortridge

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Publication Date: January 14, 2014

Publisher: Gallery Books

Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.

If you could do it all over again, would you still choose him?

At age thirty-nine, Lucie Walker has no choice but to start her life over when she comes to, up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay, with no idea how she got there or who she is. Her memory loss is caused by an emotional trauma she knows nothing about, and only when handsome, quiet Grady Goodall arrives at the hospital does she learn she has a home, a career, and a wedding just two months away. What went wrong? Grady seems to care for her, but Lucie is no more sure of him than she is of anything. As she collects the clues of her past self, she unlocks the mystery of what happened to her. The painful secrets she uncovers could hold the key to her future—if she trusts her heart enough to guide her.

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Lucie Walker wakes up in the San Francisco Bay and does not have any memories of anything prior to waking up.  At the hospital they cannot find a physical cause for the memory loss and determine its emotional trauma. There she meets her fiancé Grady again.  Lucie is a strong and determined woman who is determined to uncover the past that she hid from everyone around her.  The Lucie that woke up in the San Francisco Bay is a much different than she was before.

Grady Goodall goes to San Francisco to bring his fiancé home now that she has been found.  While he was warned about the fact that she has no memory prior to waking up in the bay he is still stunned by the difference.  Grady falls for the new Lucie and wonders what he saw in the old Lucie.  He is also wary that the old Lucie will return to the point that he walks on egg shells. 

This book really makes you think about how much we reveal to those around us.  Poor Grady realized as the new Lucie asked questions that he did not really know the old Lucie as much as he thought he did.  I loved that he supported her as she searched for answers.  I also loved the fact that he did not pressure her to go back to work.  In fact it did not even come up to discuss. 

When I first started reading this book I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  It was different from what I expected to find.  I had a very hard time putting this book down as I read it.  I found the story to be very well written and interesting.  The main and secondary characters were interesting and realistic.  I do hope for a sequel to see how Lucie and Grady do as more of her memories return. Overall, this was a magnificent book. 

This was an amazing novel that I simply could not put down!

 

I love it when an author captures my attention to the point that nothing else exists in this world, and everything around me fades.  Shortridge has taken an unusual disorder and expressed the agony with such genuineness, I felt as if I knew the characters personally. 

I loved the suspense in this novel, and suspected everyone of wrong-doing at some point, by the end.  Pieces of the puzzle are slowly put into place, making your imagination work to see the full picture, but it’s worth the time invested.  The characters are well written, well developed, and unique.  I know there are similar stories out there, but the author has found a rare combination that makes this book stand out.

The romance is on a deeper level than physical contact.  My heart ached for Julie and Grady as each fought their inner demons and faced the reality of what stood before them.  The suffering, confusion, anger, and change in personalities are depicted as if they’re from actual events.  Each time the narration changed throughout the book, it was done so flawlessly, never disrupting the flow.  The ending was beautiful, but leaves room for you to come up with your own ideas. 

I loved it!

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Jennie Shortridge has published five novels: Love Water Memory,When She Flew, Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe,Eating Heaven, and Riding with the Queen. When not writing, teaching writing workshops, or volunteering with kids, Jennie stays busy as a founding member of Seattle7Writers.org, a collective of Northwest authors devoted both to raising funds for community literacy projects and to raising awareness of Northwest literature.

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