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?
I am so happy. I am totally full of sad, nerdy, book happiness right now.
Seriously, I feel like I’m always reviewing a Jennifer Lynn Armentrout book these days, but I am in no way complaining, because, quite frankly, this woman never ever seems to disappoint.
Don’t Look Back is quite possibly my favorite book by Jen in, like, the history of ever.
Why? Well, because this thing has just so much going for it.
One of those things being the romance, and I’m covering that first because it was my personal favorite(no surprise here). Can I just say that Carson is great and original and it makes me extremely giddy writing his name because even that is adorable. I like how he really stood out among Armentrout’s other male characters. I might be crazy but a lot of times I find myself imagining another Daemon(Lux) when reading most of her novels, but Carson managed to really differentiate himself from the rest of the boy-crowd. Jennifer, as always, has a great way of going about that slow-building tension we all seem to love so much when it comes to romance, and Don’t Look Back is no exception to this. Sam and Carson were both so genuine and seeing their relationship, romantic and friendly, otherwise, grow was so sweet and beautiful. I could read five-hundred pages worth of these two going grocery shopping and I would probably love it more than most of the novels I read lately. Scott, Sam’s brother, and his girlfriend, Julie, were also an excellent pair and I loved their little romantic cameo’s throughout the novel.
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Mystery, which is undoubtedly the most important aspect of this novel, was seriously top notch, as well. I literally spent a whole twenty-three hours agonizing over trying to figure out who was responsible for Cassie’s disappearance. Yes, I was counting. Yes, it was driving me that crazy. I think I suspected just about every character in the novel before giving up all together maybe fifty pages before the final reveal. I was seriously all over the place and while I didn’t exactly enjoy all the crazy it was super fun getting sucked in to a point where I reached that kind of insanity. While Jennifer has never outright done a mystery novel, Don’t Look Back ended up being a great one in that department, among many others.
Something that I really loved about Don’t Look Back, though? The fact that it took place in a world that was all too believable. Nothing is scarier than reading a harrowing novel knowing the events can very possibly take place.
As always, I am anxiously awaiting the next release from Jen. Anyone looking for some great mystery and swoonworthy romance, get on this!
Rating: 10/10
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