More Than We Remember {Book Review} | updates

Well, it's been a hot minute y'all. I am very sorry for essentially vanishing, but more on that at the end of this post. In the meantime, enjoy this book review!

One night changes everything for three women. . . .

When Addison Killbourn's husband is involved in a car accident that leaves a woman dead, her perfectly constructed life crumbles apart. With her husband's memory of that night gone and the revelation of a potentially life-altering secret, Addison has to reevaluate all she thought she knew.

Emilia Cruz is a deputy bearing a heavy burden far beyond the weight of her job. Her husband is no longer the man she married, and Emilia's determined to prevent others from facing the same hardship. When she's called to the scene of an accident pointing to everything she's fighting against, she's determined to see justice for those wronged.

Brianne Demanno is hiding from reality. She was thriving as a counselor, but when tragedy struck a beloved client, she lost faith in herself and her purpose. When her neighbors, the Killbourns, are thrown into crisis, Brianne's solitary life is disrupted and she finds herself needed in a way she hasn't been in a while.

As the lives of these women intersect, they can no longer dwell in the memory of who they've been. Can they rise from the wreck of the worst moments of their lives to become who they were meant to be?

Liked: I really enjoy those stories that have multiple storylines that all intertwine together. And while these three storylines are not so different, they still had that element of strings winding together. And it was pretty easy to follow. The strings never got tied in a way that left you confused, and everything panned out very well.

Liked: Christina Suzann Nelson did a really good job of rounding out her characters. They all had their strengths and flaws and it was amazing to read. I liked how the characters acted in very realistic ways and the characters helped make this story very good. It's a good tale of grace and our worthiness of it and the character being very three dimensional accentuated it.

Disliked: One of the things that I disliked, which I guess is the flipside of what I just said I liked above, is that some of the characters really sat wrong with me and I really did not like their behavior. Especially Emilia, who I felt sympathy for sometimes, but who generally really grated on me. And I think that attests to the way that the characters are well rounded that you can dislike a character and yet feel sympathy for them. Some of the other characters' behavior sometimes also kinda bothered me, so that wasn't that great.

-supposed drug use
-mention of suicide
-mentions of alcohol abuse
-one character is thought to have been having an affair
-death
-mention of child molestation
-some hospital scenes

A big theme in this book is grace and mercy, and who deserves it. Throughout the course of this book, you have Emilia almost solely focused on bringing Caleb Kilbourn to what she believes is justice. She pursues this like a hound and it's almost offputting because she decides right away that he is guilty and you wonder, "But what if he's not?" She seems to believe that he doesn't deserve mercy and two lines that come from her daughter kinda sums up what I wonder in regards to her behavior. "I bet Hannah doesn't feel like it's very fair that she's about to lose her dad because he was in an accident. . .so we should have our family, but Hannah doesn't deserve to have hers?" And that's something I wondered throughout the course of this book, especially how Emilia was very admirable in her determination to hold her family together: What about the Kilbourns?

A while ago in my literary analysis class, we read The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy (which I 10/10 recommend) and we later had to write a paper on it comparing the natural and almost animalistic justice that prevailed in the first half of the story (a sort of 'eye for an eye' thinking) and the more divine justice that came to light in the second half, full of God's grace. While I was reading this book, I kept thinking about that natural justice vs. God's justice. It was very thought-provoking and I liked keeping that in mind as I read this book.

I'm giving this a rating of 4 stars and I would recommend this for maybe ages 13/14+

I was given a free copy of this book by Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion.

Now for some personal updates. Oof, let's just say that senior year has been rough. There's a lot of stuff going on and time is like, "adiosss" and leaves. But I do still want to keep blogging and I have several books I have to review so I'm hoping on posting maybeee once a week.

I'm really sorry that I just left in November but things got really, really crazy then and it's been go, go, go ever since then (I actually haven't even been able to write since the end of November ;-;). But please let me know what y'all would like to see next, a general update maybe? I really do love y'all and I will try my hardest to keep on posting!