Books & Spoons Review: Forget Me Not by Erika Marks

When aspiring-writer Mallory Reynolds packed up for New York City, she ditched more than her quiet hometown of Magnolia Bay—she left her high-school sweetheart, Josh Loveless, behind. But when the big city didn’t deliver big contracts on her novels, she turned to writing erotica under the pen name Farrah Ivory to spare her family any embarrassment. Soon, her scandalously-sexy series, The Lost Diaries of Scarlet, is a break-out hit. Just as Mallory begins to enjoy her sweet success, her publisher leaks her true identity and a media firestorm ensues. Exposed, she decides there’s nowhere to hide—except for home.

For Josh Loveless, getting over Mallory Reynolds hasn’t been easy, but he’s done his best to move on. For starters, he’s turned his love of the outdoors and rock-climbing into his own business. And just as things are starting to settle for him, he learns Mallory’s coming home to ride out her scandal, and suddenly his world is turned upside down again…

Can Mallory convince her friends and family that she’s still the same good-hearted girl they knew? And more importantly, can Josh trust the woman she’s become, and give her a second chance to rewrite their love story with a happy ending?

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The author's foreword said this story is all about hot summer sun, fun, and second chances, and that was so true.
I really liked both Josh and Mallory. The feelings they had for each other were genuine, and real. Their dreams of their future were ambitious, and they went after those dreams with everything they had. Unfortunately, those dreams took them apart for five years. But now they might have a second chance with each other, if they were just brave enough to embrace it.
I loved how they did not spend a long time to hide their feelings, trying to hold on into their foolish pride, and keep away from each other. Also the advice Josh's brother gave him 'fight for her this time' nearly made me cheer out loud.
The small town mentality and attitude with Mallory's books was amusing, how everyone knows everything about each other at the Bay never changing. It was an entertaining story, with lots of reunions, likable characters, and hot summer sun. But there was also little heartbreak, and growing up, developing as a person, and accepting the fact that we don't always stay the same, and we are not supposed to either. I think this is another novella that would have benefited from an epilogue with a look to the future, but I did enjoy it as it is, as well
~ Four Spoons!