This was a beautifully written novel that explores the themes of love, memory, and self-discovery. I gave this book a four-star rating because of its captivating storyline, relatable characters, and mesmerizing prose.
Many thanks to Gallery Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This cover is what first drew me in. The whole way through this book, I kept thinking I would never come out of what the characters went through. The emotion throughout this book was almost palpable. I would gave like a little more romance but, the bit I got was good enough.

Intrigued by the tag line “If you could do it all over again, would you still choose him?” I immersed myself in Lucie’s story to find an answer to that question. Who is Grady? Who is Lucie? Why is she questioning her choices now? What traumatic event could have induced her amnesia. So many questions to be answered! However, after reading through Lucie’s recovery from her amnesia, meeting Grady and getting to know both “new Lucie” and “old Lucie”, I say “Whatever!”, because Grady wasn’t that awesome. And Lucie’s story? Not that interesting.

This story didn’t work for me in many ways, but mostly it all felt disjointed. The cause of the amnesia, the pairing of these individuals, the secondary characters that were thrown into the mix, the events that took place during her recovery and her finally figuring out what triggered her memory-loss, none of these made sense to me. I couldn’t really invest myself in the story or connect to the character enough to invest myself in her new-found self.

Overall, not the book for me.

I've always been attracted to stories that deal with mental illness and memory loss. Love Water Memory turned out to be a very satisfying read. A tale of finding one's true self while overcoming painful trauma.

Lucy Walker is found far from home a week after she ran away without any recollection of who she is. She has dissociative fugue, which is defined as "a psychiatric disorder characterized by amnesia coupled with sudden unexpected travel away from the individual's usual surroundings and denial of all memory of his or her whereabouts during the period of wandering". Now that's a mouthful.

Lucie doesn't remember what she did or where she stayed during the week she was wandering nor the reason why she left. After she's found, her fiancé Grady picks her up. He's emotional and relieved she's okay, but he noticed she's not quite the same. She is not uptight or reserved like her former self, but instead, she has a warmth and a lust for life in a way she's never displayed before. Slowly, Lucie starts to piece together what has happened to her. And Grady must also come to terms with his own past losses. He has a hard time handling the whole situation with Lucie as it puts into question the way he deals with stress.

I enjoyed the alternating point of view from the main characters, allowing us to experience the raw emotions as they experienced them. Lucie and Grady came across as real characters. Flawed, hurting, and both needing to heal and to start over. It's difficult to understand mental illness and to distinguish what is a personality flaw versus the manifestation of a misunderstood mental illness. Lucie's repressed childhood memories were so strong that eventually, she snapped.

Because of the amnesia, this felt in part like a mystery. I enjoyed the whole plot being based on a dissociative disorder, and it prompted me to do further research on it. The mind is so complex and fascinating that it will do what it must to survive when traumatized. Love Water Memory captured this well and kept me reading until the last page.

My only complaint is the f-words and religious expletives throughout, which I thought was too much for women's fiction. Apart from this, if you enjoy stories that explore emotional trauma and psychological drama, you will definitely enjoy this novel.

After being diagnosed with a rare form of amnesia, Lucie returns to her previous life with Grady only to find evidence of her old self—an insecure and shallow personality she no longer recognizes. Not only does Lucie have to get to know her fiancé again, Grady has to get used to this new Lucie. She is friendlier, talks to her neighbors isn’t the workaholic she used to be.

The secrets-from-the-past come to the surface bit by bit and they help Lucie get back her memory. That was an interesting part of the story, too.