One of the most beautiful romance stories I've ever read.

My Thoughts

I read Vanessa’s first book, ‘The Florentine Bridge’ (review HERE) and loved it - would her second novel be equally as compelling? Let me just say, I have only now come up for air - finished it in a day - beautifully compelling, I could not put it down. What not to love - the delectable cover, my home state setting (love Daylesford), the storytelling and the twist - yup, this is one special book to lose yourself in for a weekend.

‘Somehow, even if not by choice, you’ve been given a clean slate, a way to create a life you want that’s free from all the baggage and the drama that most people spend their whole lives trying to escape.’

Where to start? Well, how about at the beginning. What’s this book really all about, the blurb states it outright: ‘if you had your time over, would you live the same life twice?’ So very interesting and Gracie’s story here really gets you thinking what would you have done if in her shoes? Written in the first person throughout, you are totally aligned with all Gracie is going through with her amnesia. I love her decision to remove herself to her late mother’s flower farm for perspective and reflection.

‘I don’t want to be told stories about how things were and what I felt. I want to know it and feel it myself. Otherwise, how am I going to know if what I feel is real?’

Secondly, I have to make note of the setting - a small country town, Daylesford, in my home state of Victoria (Australia). This is a beautiful part of the world and Vanessa really captures everything about it - from the main street, to the local pub to the past glory of her mother’s flower farm. An area full of natural beauty and on this occasion, the perfect setting for all the reflection and memories that were to unfold. Next, let’s talk about flowers - my gosh! Has Vanessa done her homework here and how interesting is it! Without being overly burdened with facts, you are provided with an honest introduction to many things involved with not only flower farming but also individual flower meaning and significance (I loved the character of Tilly!)

Finally the characters - both primary and secondary - are so well thought out. You feel for Gracie and what her obvious frustrations must be. You understand her best friend Scarlett trying so hard to help remind her of all she once was. Even the likes of Charlie and his wife Maggie (suffering alzheimer's) have their part to play. Then there is the romance and Flynn ... sigh ... no words - just read the book.

‘But isn’t it our past that shapes our future?’
‘To a degree …’
‘Exactly,’ I say. ‘It’s our memories that make us who we are.’

This is just a really beautifully told story full of heartbreak, fear and ultimately, trying to discover who one really is, especially when all seems lost. I feel like I have been on a real emotional journey and that is just how one wants to walk away from a book of this nature. Considering, just how much does our past shape our future? Or ....

‘Maybe what matters is simply how I feel about you all, now.’


This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Our heroine, Gracie, suffers from complete amnesia after being involved in a car accident. She can’t remember her best friend, her mother, or her fiance, Blake, who she was supposed to marry in three weeks.

Yes, the old faithful amnesia trope. But with this book and her heroine, Carnevale has really done an excellent job at looking at the fear of memory loss instead of simply using it as a cliched romantic plot device.

As a reader, I was right there with Gracie when she struggled to tie her shoelaces, scramble an egg, and catch a bus. I cried along with her when she realised she couldn’t remember anything about her late mother. And understood when she couldn’t possibly get married to Blake, who had abruptly become a complete stranger.

Soon finding life impossible in Melbourne, Gracie returns to her childhood home, Summerhill. There, she meets her handsome neighbour, Flynn. This of course leads to complications. She can’t allow herself to fall for Flynn, not only because she’s still technically engaged to Blake, but because she might wake up one day and suddenly remember she is in love with Blake, breaking Flynn’s heart.

She is also loath to break Blake’s heart. After all, he’s quite chivalrous and understanding throughout, writing Gracie sweet letters, and pleading with her to give him a chance.

Although this love triangle was sorted out just as I guessed it would be very early on and there was no surprise moment for me, I still enjoyed it. (I lie, there was one small surprise. I won’t spoil. I will just say it had to do with Gracie’s friend’s, Scarlett, hubby.)

I loved how Carnevale covered Gracie’s struggles with her memory loss. Confession: I have this recurring nightmare where I am shifting to a new address but I can’t remember where my old one is. Therefore, when Gracie gets lost I was almost having a breakdown along with her.

I also liked the comparison of Gracie’s situation with that of Maggie's, a character suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The scenes featuring Maggie and Maggie’s husband were particularly poignant.

In truth, I would have rathered more of the memory scenes and less of the flowers. In Summerhill Gracie’s passion for flowers is reignited and she decides to restart her mother’s flower farm business. I’m sorry, I’m not a gardener or flower fanatic and I did find the endless descriptions of them waned at times. I also didn’t see the point in Gracie’s flower ‘gift’ nor the character of Tilly at all. Skimming was involved and I think the book plodded a little around the 80% mark due to this.

If you love flowers and gardening, however, you will enjoy that aspect more than me.

I still give the book a firm 4 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone looking for a thoughtful contemporary romance without any offensive smut.

Do memories really make us? Well for Gracie that can't be true because she is involved in a car accident and loses her memory. She does not recognise anyone from her life or places, or how to do things or what she likes and doesn't like. She has completely lost herself - or has she?

Gracie makes some courageous decisions once she recovers from the physical trauma. She refuses to see her fiance Blake, as she is fearful and wholly traumatised. To her friend Scarlett, Gracie seems to be someone different. What she once liked and was good at has all changed. Gracie not wanting to see Blake makes sense to me, because just before the accident they were arguing and I thought maybe Gracie was going to end their relationship.

Returning to her home out in the country from Melbourne, where while not realising it she grew up. Her mother had a flower farm which is now all run down. Gracie's mother died some time back but there are people who remember her and help her as she decides what she wants to do. Which as it turns out is to become involved with flowers - grow them, sell them, pick the perfect bunch to lift the heart of person receiving them. It feels like she is finding some important part of herself.

While there still refusing to meet up with Blake - she meets Flynn and his dog Parrot. He is often around and as time goes by Gracie finds herself attracted to him, yet guilty because she knows at some point she must face Blake.

This is a gentle story of healing and love finding its way. Its about searching for your true self and being with the person you really want to be with, but also knowing who you really are first - deep down.

I wasn't too surprised by final revelations although I admit I had to go back to the prelude to see how I had been led to interpret in the way I did. I enjoyed that little "leading me up the garden path".

I adored Vanessa's very easy and engaging writing style and found myself ensconced in the unfolding narrative as if wrapped in a warm comforting blanket.

I say I don't read 'romance' but I do. A bit. I enjoy romantic suspense and find myself reading more contemporary romance by Australian authors than I once thought I would. I also 'used' to read romance before I became bitter and twisted, so there's something familiar about the genre.

Carnevale's writing is lovely and so seamless I easily became engrossed in Gracie's story.

It could have been tempting become frustrated at Gracie's attitude at the beginning of the book but suddenly finding yourself without memories or any links to your past would be unimaginably difficult and I think Carnevale did a great job at consistently getting that message across. "Without any semblance of a past there is almost nothing," Gracie says at one point. (p. 49)

"It's our memories that make us who we are." My skin tingles, tiny goosebumps appearing on my forearms. If memories are the delicate threads that knit our souls together and make us who we are, who can we be without them? p 125

We meet Blake (as does Gracie) through the letters he writes to her. She's refused to see him... in fact she's reticent to see her life and her memories through the eyes of those who knew her 'before'...

"I want to remember on my terms. I don't want to remember things because you or anyone else that knows me remembered them a certain way. I don't want to be told stories about how things were and what I felt. I want to know it and feel it myself." p 38

Her best friend Scarlett (and Blake) believe if Gracie's fallen in love with Blake once, surely she would fall in love with him again. But for Gracie, it's not that simple.

"If things can't ever be the way they were before, then all I have is what is in my life right now." p 42

As bad as an intangible past would be, it's also an enticing notion... a blank slate - starting afresh and being able to redefine almost everything about ourselves: tea vs coffee; savoury vs sweet. Stopping to reconsider our likes and dislikes, or our passions and life choices seems like a luxury most of us don't have.

But of course the question posed in this book is whether our memories shape us (in the present); or we've shaped our memories to fit our lives and (in reality) we're fated to make the same choices or decisions (again and again) in some preordained way.

"What if you didn't have a past to hold onto?" I say, my voice low.
"Then maybe you'd leave things to fate and destiny." p 124

"So you think that sometimes you're meant to end up where you end up? That maybe you're meant to end up with the right person, in the right career at exactly the right time?" p 124

For most of us it's impossible to really know if we'd make the same decisions second time around (AND without the benefit of hindsight). If we'd have the same tastes. If we'd like or love the same things or people. Not to mention the whole 'sliding doors' effect of changing one decision. And just a heads-up... don't think about that stuff too much as it can be a huge mindf*ck!

I guessed what was coming in this book but we're possibly meant to and I don't think Carnevale worries overly about readers knowing beforehand. In fact, I put the book down briefly to do some chores before Gracie returns to her childhood home and (as I was enjoying the book and keen to get back to it, I was imagining what was going to come next). Carnevale wrote it exactly as I imagined it and as I wanted it to unfold.

I was surprised at how invested I became in the characters of this book and have to confess to sobbing hysterically on a couple of occasions and kudos to Carnevale for eliciting that reaction. (The jogging / shoelace scene killed me!)

From the beginning of the book we know flowers will be an integral part of the story. A just-awake-after-her-accident-Gracie inexplicably recognises the type of flowers in her hospital room despite not knowing her name. And she's conscious of the delight she takes in them before knowing she grew up on a flower farm.

Carnevale has obviously done her research and touches on flowers I've never heard of, not to mention the fact I didn't even know flower-farming was a thing. But it's her love of flowers and their connection to her past that help heal Gracie in ways she didn't expect.

This is a lovely book. I opened it at the perfect moment - on a bizarrely cold and rainy Sunday in summer and it gave me the perfect excuse to remain on my sofa until I finished the book completely.

Easy 4 stars.

When Gracie Ashcroft woke in hospital, the confusion that hit her was intense. Because Gracie had no memory whatsoever of how she had ended up in hospital, who she was, who the woman crying in front of her was - nothing was there at all. She was terrified. But learning that she was engaged to marry Blake Beaumont - a man she didn't know, was the catalyst. The car accident had taken everything from Gracie, and even the doctors didn't know if she would ever get her memory back.

With Scarlett's help, Gracie gradually regained her health - but not her memory. Leaving Melbourne for Daylesford and Summerhill, the farm she had grown up on, Gracie hoped the memories would return when she found herself on familiar ground.

As Gracie slowly began to make new friends, her desire to recreate the magic of the flower farm her mother had loved was great. But could she do it? Her next door neighbour, Flynn was a kind and helpful man - but she still couldn't remember Blake. What was she to do? Focus on the future, or try to solve the past?

The Memories That Make Us by Aussie author Vanessa Carnevale is a poignant and moving story of how life can change in an instant. Of hope, friendship and love - of finding oneself when it seems there is no hope. I loved this story, as I loved this author's first - The Florentine Bridge - and highly recommend it.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.

Gracie Ashcroft is injured in a car accident and loses her memory. She can’t recall her devoted fiancé, Blake, her favourite food, how she performed her job as a stylist, or even her mother who died years before. Instead of embracing those close to her in her recovery, she flees to her childhood home of an old, abandoned flower farm in Daylesford hoping the move will trigger the return of her memory. Gracie surrounds herself with the beauty of flowers and their innate healing powers along with a cast of charming locals. In a bold move to discover who she is, she embarks upon restoring the farm to its former glory with the help of her handsome neighbour, Flynn. Her biggest challenge becomes choosing between being happy now in a new life with Flynn, or continuing to long for her former life, a life she may have loved but just can’t remember. Vanessa’s writing is effortless and sharp and her dialogue crisp. She’s a master of creating emotionally compelling characters and crafting a sweeping love story that the reader remembers long after they turn the last page. It’s a beautiful story that you won’t forget.

After experiencing a car accident and losing all memory of her former life, Gracie is scared. Any evidence of her previous life evokes no reaction and her upcoming marriage to fiancé Blake fills her with dread. Her best friend Scarlett is the only person she lets get close (even though she can’t remember her either).
Upon learning that she still has an abandoned flower farm that she had inherited from her mother, Gracie returns to the place where she grew up. Can she find herself again and can she learn to love Blake again as she really wants to.

This is another book that ‘makes me feel’, they are the books I fall in love with. I did pick up on the essence of the story very early on but it just made the whole thing sweeter and there were a few turns in there that I didn’t see.
It was beautifully descriptive of the different flowers and what they represent and I enjoyed learning their different meanings. The sub characters of Tilly and Charlie and their stories where lovely too. I also appreciated the Book Club questions at the back. I don’t often take time to think about them when I’ve finished a book but I must admit these gave me pause to think about my answers.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read and review.

I am not going to lie, when I first stated reading The Memories That Make Us, my initial thought was "oh this is Nineteen Letter by Jodi Perry again".

Whilst yes there are similarities at the start, the way the story continues has a totally different feel.

Gracie and Blake's story is one of loss and heartbreak, frustration and fear. We know things are not going to be easy for them after the accident, and whilst I got completely frustrated with Gracie's actions, I could understand her reasoning for it.

Not going to lie, I did want to throw my kindle at her at times for her actions. Yes, she turned me violent!

Blake - oh how my heart hurt for him. I wanted to give him a big ol' hug.

I adore the secondary characters, particularly Scarlett and Tilly.

There is a big twist in the tale that I certainly was not expecting. I was all like Keanu going "woah".

Well played Ms Carnvale.

The Memories That Make Us is heartbreaking, frustrating, beautiful and most of all hopeful. It makes you think how you would do things if you got a second chance.

I read this book in one afternoon, and now am impatient for what Ms Carnavale gives us next.


** will go live on blog closer to release, and Amazon etc when live **

A really enjoyable read that made me think about how we determine who we are from the people around us. I read this in one sitting as I wanted to know how it was all going to turn out. Gracie has a terrible accident and loses her memory, she is determined to figure out who she is by herself, rather than from how others perceive her and the things they say she used to like, I thought this was a great concept. I loved how she returns to her childhood home to find herself and to figure out what is really important in her life, it's a bit like having a second chance to redo life.

Book blurb...
Gracie Ashcroft is supposed to marry Blake Beaumont in three months’ time. The trouble is, she doesn’t know who he is…
After an accident leaves Gracie with severe amnesia, she’s forced to decide: live a life that is made up of other people’s memories of who she was, or start a new life on her own. Leaving her fiancé Blake behind, she moves to the country where she takes on the task of reviving her family’s abandoned flower farm. 

While attempting to restart a business with an uncertain future, she tries to come to terms with the grief of losing a mother she can’t remember and a fiancé she so badly wants to fall in love with again. What she doesn’t count on is developing a deep connection with Flynn, a local vet. Worst of all is having to confront the fact that she might lose either chance at love.

Forced to examine the person she has become, Gracie confronts the question: if you had your time over, would you live the same life twice?


My thoughts…
This is a book I would call ‘beautiful’ - one word that can be applied to the cover, the premise, the prose… everything really.
It is a love story, but it’s cleverly told, which means The Memories That Make Us stands out from the bunch. There is some serious backstory and the flower theme that carries the story is presented seamlessly and with such passion I felt the author had a real connection with this element. (Or maybe the author is that good to make me feel that!) #TheMemoriesThatMakeUs #NetGalley

Gracie Ashcroft is 26 years old, a homewares stylist and engaged to marry Blake. But Gracie doesn't remember any of this - having survived a terrible car accident she has completely lost her memory. She is refusing to see anyone except her best friend Scarlett. Gracie decides to move to Summerhill, a property of 5 acres left to her by her mother and to rebuild the flower farm. She feels the need to remember things on her own terms without other people filling in the gaps. She needs to be able to make sense of her own life but it may be at the expense of those around her. At Summerhill, Gracie, reconnects with the flowers she grew up with, which teach her about love and compassion. I really enjoyed this book and didn't see the twist! I also enjoyed learning about all the the different flowers which are 'more than its petals'. Carnevale questions and explores - with no memories would you fall in love with the same person twice? A great holiday read.

4.5-5 Stars
I got swept up in the emotions of the characters during the course of the read. I liked Gracie and Flynn's characters, and the emotions they portrayed were heartfelt and affecting. A story that did not get heavily bogged down in the complexities of brain injuries, rather it focused more on the characters, and their sentiments towards themselves and others. The verbal sparring between Gracie and Flynn was entertaining, and kept the pages turning. I read this book in a day, I could not put it down, and when I did, I wanted to pick the story up and continue to read it. A great novel by author Vanessa Carnevale, that was surprisingly surprising :)
Review copy received from Harlequin Australia via Netgalley