Don't Look Back by Jennifer L Armentrout Published by Hyperion on April 15th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense, YA, Young Adult
Goodreads
Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all-popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend.
Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it's one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took "mean girl" to a whole new level, and it's clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She's getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she's falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash.
But Cassie is still missing, and the facts about what happened to her that night isn't just buried deep inside of Sam's memory-someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?
Thanks to Juhina for letting me borrow her ARC!
Don’t Look Back is about Sam, a girl who mysteriously disappeared for three days, and then returns with no recollection of her life. She doesn’t recognize her friends, her family and even her house. But Sam’s not the only one who’s disappeared, her best friend Cassie is still missing and it’s up to Sam to figure out what happened to Cassie, and to herself.
While the mysterious elements surrounding Cassie and Sam’s disappearance was not very mind-blowing, I just loved how everything played out and my mind was still reeling. The plot was very fast-paced and action packed. There was something going on every second of the book, there was never a dull moment!
One of my favourite parts of Don’t Look Back was seeing Sam deal with her memory loss, and having to rediscover herself and her family. It was interesting to read how her life changed after she came back and seeing her develop as a new person. Amnesia is a hard topic to read about, I mean, imagine losing all of your memories and not knowing who you are, and I loved reading how it was handled in Don’t Look Back.
Another element of the book that I loved was the romance. Carson is just one swoony dude and gahh the romance was adorable. I just want to squish the main characters together!
Overall, Don’t Look Back was really fast-paced and action packed and definitely swoony! My only grievance is that I guessed the big twist right away. However, the details of how it was revealed/what happened next still had me reeling! I highly recommend it for people looking for a great mystery and suspenseful novel.
