While I think there could have been a lot more world building, and a lot more characterization in the live interest (let’s face it, he’s really bland), I really enjoyed this book. The mix of plot and conflict was great, and the concept was something I had really wanted.

I loved this book. It was so different and I loved the magic system! I loved this book. It was so different and I loved the magic system!

This novel was a beautiful gothic romance at times heartbreaking, lush, and magical. I highly recommend if you're looking for a unique YA Fantasy.

If anything is true about me at all, it's that I love retellings... and I love Phantom of the Opera. So Sing me Forgotten was my bread and butter. Delivering all of the things I love... morally gray characters, action, gender-bend retellings...

This book was heartrendingly beautiful and it brought to life a reimagining of the Phantom of the Opera. The characters were relatable and meaningful and the world they lived in was beautifully written. However, the ending of the book left me feeling cheated and upset. Still worth the read.

I didn't get to download this one before it got archived but I recently bought it, so I thought I'd leave my review here as well.
I loved this book so much that I read it in a day. It's a unique take on Phantom of the Opera; it felt fantastically explained in a way that made sense, with a layer of intrigue and action, while still keeping the romance intact. As for the major decision of the last act, I loved how the author chose to take it. It felt like the natural progression of things while still having enough questioning and suspense to keep me interested.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Sadly this book just didn’t grab as much as I hoped it would. I put it down and picked it up multiple times but I just couldn’t connect with it. Super bummed.

This was a great, Phantom of the Opera retelling, with magical creatures woven into the story that can steal or manipulate memories. I love that memory elixir can be used as currency and that people in dire straits are taken advantage of by rich people. I love Isda at the end of the book, she has found her voice and is willing to do what is needed to survive. Overall, a great novel and I highly recommend.

“What someone looks like isn’t what determines their humanity.”

Sing Me Forgotten is inspired by Phantom of the Opera and follows the story of out Opera Ghost Isda and Emeric (aka the Christine Daaé of the story). I thought that this book was a unique twist on the Phantom of the Opera. liked how it included magic and how memories were such an important part of that magic system. I also thought the relationship between the two main characters was very sweet (tad bit insta-love but that’s ok). However the story seemed very rushed in the beginning but also the ending felt very drawn out. Though I enjoyed the magic in the book..it also was a little confusing at times. Overall the book was good but I didn’t love love it!

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the digital copy!

*I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's a retelling of the Phantom of the Opera, which I've never seen, but I know the gist, because my mom loves the music for it. So I was interested in how it was going to play out!

This world where you can sell the amount of memories that you can actually remember to be used as currency-and there are people who can extract that, and there are people that can manipulate your memories while you sing. And the later are hated because of a two year period where a trio ruled, and caused a lot of death. It was such an interesting concept!

Because of what she is, something that she has no control over, Isda was supposed to be killed right after she was born, but she was rescued. She now spends her time at the opera. But it really sucks, because she's really musically gifted, but she can't show it. I felt so badly for her, but at the same time, I was worried about things going too far, which was a real possibility.

And oh, then there was Emeric. He has a talent as well, but he also has knowledge that she wants. I loved watching them interact, but once the plot started to snowball, oh, that hurt! I had to know what was going to happen next! And the ending, man, that was brutal! Fitting, but boy did it hurt!

Loved reading this book, and I can't wait to read more by Jessica S. Olson!

Sing Me Forgotten is a Phantom of the Opera-inspired book and you do not need to be familiar with The Phantom of the Opera to love and appreciate Sing Me Forgotten. I don't have personal experience with the book or musical, and I did not find any confusion or issues with that.

Of course, like any book lover, I am now adding The Phantom of the Opera to my TBR (to be read) list, because now I want to experience it!

Gorgeous cover, gorgeous book. An emotional ending, I cried! Something that doesn't often happen when I read books, so it really tugged at the heartstrings.

Fantasy lovers, theatre lovers, literature lovers, gothic story lovers and people who love a good tale will enjoy Sing Me Forgotten.

All the retellings I’ve read are really sweet and quite beautiful but this, Sing Me Forgotten is quite something. With the feeling of slight gothic mood and music, it was interesting to read something new I haven’t experienced. The Phantom of the Opera – which I definitely LOVED reading as a child – just brought me back how love and character’s are quite complicated. Sure, he is so romantic and gives me the vibes of boy-isn’t-he-hot-in-a-quiet-way but his character was just a bit too . . . simple. Like, the colour grey reminds me of him and he’s quite cruel actually (in my opinion) but still, I loved the fact that people still loved him.

Isda was definitely a character I would boast about (like I am doing right now). She is so into music like we all are into books! She was a bit confusing at first, and maybe the plot line but she was still interesting to read about (; I wouldn’t say she would be my top favourite character but she was nice enough . . .

But I think this book was more about magic and the love of music. Sure, with the background of ghosts and goth is lingering around but the magic was so interesting. Like, some kind of super power I didn’t think any author would’ve thought about.

Overall, this book was very interesting to read (;

Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S Olson

333 Pages
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Release Date: March 9, 2021

Fiction, Teen, Young Adult, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Paranormal

Isda is a gravoirs, a magical being who can use magic to manipulate memories by pulling their elixir of life. If a gravoirs pulls too much elixir, the person will die. She was rescued by Cyril Bardin when she was just a few minutes old. Many of her kind are killed as children because they are so dangerous. Cyril has raised her in an opera house and taught her how to play the piano and sing. One evening, she hears a young man, Emeric, singing and goes to investigate. This one small act will have huge consequences for not only the two of them but for the entire city.

The story has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view. This is a feminist twist of phantom of the opera theme. Isda is disfigured and wears a mask to hide her face. She lives in secret as a ghost known to haunt the opera house. I really liked the two main characters, Isda and Emeric. They are willing to sacrifice everything for each other. If you enjoy young adult fantasy stories, you will like this book.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had an amazing plot, but I felt the characters were a bit hard to connect to.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I love a good Phantom retelling, and this was the best I have read so far. It was so cleverly done, the premise of the female “Phantom “ being a despised user of magic who has been hunted down basically to extinction, and is now in a Stockholm type of relationship with her mentor. I love the interaction and blossoming relationship between Isda and Emeric, it is so sweet and pure and lovely. The story is a warning on the dangers and addictions of power and prejudice, that not all monsters are ugly on the outside, and sometimes it only takes one person to make you see your true worth. Absolutely amazing.

Gender swapped Phantom of the Opera !

Isda is the girl behind the scar, compelling beautiful music. Emeric is the golden boy who sings like an angel.
The characters are definitely flawed, theres angst and pining thats done so well, the story was completely engrossing.

Highly recommend

I wanted to like this book so much but I hated it. The main character is so bad. Just naïve and stupidly developed. I get that the way she was raised had a lot to do with her sociopathic tendencies and her blind worship of a ‘bad guy’ but come on. All of her internal dialogue was so cringe that I just could not get into it. There was also a reason all of her kind is hunted down and killed at birth (not that genocide is okay but in this fantasy world it was a solution to a problem) This was a Phantom of the Opera retelling and honestly just read the Phantom of the Opera.

I have elected not to read and review this book due to time constraints. Thank you for the opportunity.

The hook of Jessica S. Olson’s Sing Me Forgotten is that it’s a YA, gender-swapped version of The Phantom of the Opera, which was enough to tantalize this musical theatre fan. I have also read Gaston Leroux’s novel, so you could say I was rather eager to see how this would compare, and what Olson’s spin on it would be. There may have been some skepticism on whether she could pull it off, but any doubt I had flew out the window the moment I was introduced to the world and characters she created.

In the place of the phantom is Isda, who was born a gravoir, a magical being that has been hunted out of existence. Her father figure Cyril found her in a well, where she had been left to die, saved her and raised her in his opera house. All gravoirs have a mark on their face that distinguishes them, so Isda grew up loathing the way she looked, envying all the beautiful singers who could stand in the limelight and soak in the applause, while Isda had to lurk in the shadows despite her musical ability and talent.

As a gravoir, Isda has magical abilities, and through song, she is able to extract elixir from an individual (which is like someone’s life force), as well manipulate memories, the latter something she does every night according to Cyril’s bidding, so that people leave with favourable views of the opera house, carrying with them memories of a fantastic musical experience. Even though Isda longs to be more than the ghost who haunts the opera house (haha), she is kept fearful by Cyril’s constant reminders of how the outside world would see her – as a monster.

Isda abides by his rules and stays out of sight, until the day she hears the beautiful voice of Emeric, a janitor working in the opera house, with a dream to perform on stage one day. While his voice is untrained, Isda is moved by it in a way she hasn’t been before, so she offers to tutor him, and the more time she spends with him and his memories (which she greedily enters without his knowledge), the more she likes him and eventually falls for him.

What I love is that Olson didn’t make Isda and Emeric carbon copies of the phantom and Christine. There are some broad similarities in their stories, but Isda is self-aware in a way that the phantom isn’t, while Emeric isn’t merely a love interest. He has his own backstory, and within his past lies the reason as to why he is so drawn to Isda, able to truly see her in a way no one has before.

Olson takes her time to build their love story, so when they do divulge their feelings to each other, it feels authentic and earned. It’s been a while since I rooted for a YA couple so ardently, and I would have loved to read a continuation of their story, but at the same time respect Olson for not milking the trilogy cow. Her prose is stellar stuff, creating such burning chemistry between the two that even their dancing felt like a combustible experience – think the waltz between Anna and Vronsky in Anna Karenina, but with ten times more fire.

The setting and world building is great as well, and is especially impressive for a debut author since she isn’t tempted to dump exposition on us, but reveals the details slowly through her narrative. And yes, while it’s clear to see the influence The Phantom of the Opera has in this narrative, especially with the references Olsen has scattered through her novel, Sing Me Forgotten is creative and different enough to stand on its own. I know I certainly won’t forget it any time soon.