Three stars. I wanted to love this book based on the testimonies on the cover. It just fell a bit flat for me. I wanted to give up on it when it became long winded. I stuck it out and I can see the author tried hard with the idea and characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5* The Forgetting by Hannah Beckerman is brilliantly tense. You’ll be reading it from behind a cushion and shouting at the characters … while forgetting to breathe.

Anna wakes up in a hospital bed, unsure as to how she got there and struggling with amnesia. Her husband Stephen tries to help her put the pieces together.

Livvy lives in Bristol with her husband and baby son. A shotgun marriage which her wider family have struggled with.

What binds these women together?

The characters are smartly created but the plot is so taut that you have to keep reading to see how it comes together and what will happen. It’s true heart in the mouth stuff. Thoroughly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union for an ARC.

Had my attention from start to finish… I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. Can't wait for more from this amazing author What an absolute cracker of a book!!!… sucked me straight in… absolutely addictive page turner… absolutely absorbed me…

I guessed the big “twist” at 38% but I was second-guessing it throughout and still found this thrilling. And I really liked the last chapter. There was something poignant but also rewarding about seeing her bravely living her life after it all.

This book is told from two different perspectives: Livvy from Bristol, married to Dominic, just starting to look at young back to work after having their son, Leo. Anna is frustrated when her husband seems less supportive of her returning to work.
And Anna from London who wakes up in hospital after a car accident with no memory of the event or her life, not even her husband Stephen. Doctors assure her that her memory will slowly return, but Stephen isn't terribly helpful helping her retrieve her memories.
It's difficult to say much without spoilers, but this book didn't go in the direction I thought it would, and the twist was really well done! The stories moved at a good pace and I had to keep reading to find out how the stories would intertwine. While I was a little annoyed by some of the choices made by the women at times, I don't think it was terribly unrealistic in their circumstances. I look forward to checking out more from this author.

Wow, I loved this book it was so creepy and twisty. I really didn’t guess what was going on until I was almost halfway through the book before I realised what’s was actually going in. This was a fabulous mind-bending book and the twists were so good. I would love to read more fro. This author if there is others she has written. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Anna wakes up in London after having lost her semantic memory in terrible car accident. Livvy in Bristol, is a newly married mom who is navigating motherhood and contemplating return to work. Both women have one similarity, they have husbands with almost full control over their lives. Anna's husband Stephen is holding back most of her pre-accident memories from her refusing to tell her about her work, friends and family. Whereas, Dominic, Livvy's husband is delaying her from going back to work and trying to distance her from her parents and sister. These two women have way more in common than you think.

The Forgetting perfect for the fans of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanan, is an edge of the seat, nail biting, page turning domestic physiological thriller. I could not put it down, what a read! I immediately got sucked into the story. Each page kept getting more and more uncomfortable. Very well paced and the story is developed to build up the tension. I felt for Anna and Livvy because the abuse was so evident yet they could not see it. Although the reason that leads Dominic to be so manipulative and abusive did not feel strong enough. Having said that, I will still recommend this book to all the domestic thriller fans out there.

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the arc in exchange for my honest review

Brilliant book, i would never have made the connection between Anna and Livvy, brilliant plot twist at the end. Finished in 3 days.

“The Forgetting” is a thriller/mystery by Hannah Beckerman. I have to admit - it took me a while to figure out how the two stories in this book were connected. There’s Anna, a woman in London who has lost her memory following a car accident. There’s also Livvy, a woman in Bristol who’s a new mother. I felt like both women were trapped - Anna more so, but as Livvy’s story unfolded it was obvious that she was being manipulated, pretty much from the beginning of her life with her husband. In an odd way, I’m glad that life became better for both women … although it took a bit of meandering to get there. While I didn’t have the plot all figured out, when it was presented I felt really surprised I hadn’t made the one jump - so kudos to Ms. Beckerman for making me miss that one little bit to know what was going on. A solid four star read. This one kept my attention and I did want to know what was happening next, which was a plus.

This book opens with Anna Bradshaw waking up in a hospital with no clue how she arrived there. While familiarizing herself with her surroundings, she meets a man that insists they are married and have been for twelve years. While Anna is working through her memory loss and attempting to piece back small bits of her memory fed to her by her loving husband, we meet Livvy Nicholson. A new mom who is attempting to navigate motherhood and her return to work while attempting to be supportive of her husband's new out of town job. While she is working through all of these feelings of stress she can't help but feel uneasy. Each woman is feeling disoriented in her own right and their worlds are about to collide.

I really enjoyed this book. I started and finished it in a matter of hours, I absolutely could not put it down. That being said, some of the pieces of the plot were very easy to guess. I think I guessed one of the first twists within the few chapters. In my opinion, though it didn't take a way from the book for me. I found the book to still be exciting and I was dying to know what other twists were in store. I really enjoyed the writing and the images the author painted with her words. I loved that this was a quick and easy read and it kept my attention throughout the book. There weren't any spots that fell flat, there weren't any lulls in the story, it wasn't too long.

I really enjoyed this book and I am so glad that I was able to read this ARC thanks to NetGalley!

The Forgetting read like a Lifetime movie. I figured out the twist pretty early on, and felt the book moved slowly in revealing information on the way to the ultimate reveal—I was disappointed Anna wasn't proactive in questioning her life. The last confrontation between Livvy and Dominic felt very anticlimactic, and it felt like there were chapters missing before the epilogue. Instead of an epilogue, it would have fit better if the information dump at the end was part of the fluid story, especially including an evolution of the resolution with Imogen instead of her all the sudden being in Livvy's life and everything's okay after Imogen stalked her. That's a big deal, and "grief" isn't an excuse for that. I also have some unanswered questions on where Dominic was going and what he was actually doing, but that's not crucial because the story is from Livvy's perspective, and she doesn't know for sure either. I didn't like a lot of the author's word choices... many sentences didn't seem to flow. I liked, however, the change between first person and third—that was very well-done and fitting for the nature of the story. The book was entertaining enough the whole way through, but it wasn't a good fit for me. I recommend it to any fans of domestic thrillers and Lifetime movies.

The Forgetting by Hannah Beckerman was a slow burn and I loved it. At times, I would think to myself, why is this only happening now? However, the level of detail written about each person was so good.

I thought I had at all figured out and then I was so wrong!

There truly isn’t much I can say about this book without giving away major spoiler alerts. Do yourself a favor, and read it.

I will not be forgetting The Forgetting for a long time. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those books that sticks with me.

This was so good at being raw and real and discussing topics like grief and infertility. It handled those subjects with care while also being a beautifully written story. It was sadder than anticipated but I enjoyed it.

This is such an emotional, fast paced thriller. I worked out the big plot twist quite early on, but still couldn't put the book down.
This book touches on some really emotive subjects: grief, infertility issues, abusive/controlling relationships, and family issues. The main characters deal with these issues in a really real and believable way, it is at times really sad reading, but so worth the read.

EXCERPT: 'Is she going to be okay?' The anonymous man stands at the end of my bed, his voice hesitant, cautious.
'There's nothing immediately concerning. All her vital signs look good. But she's had a significant concussion so we'll want to keep her under observation for a while.' The nurse turns back to me. 'I'll get the doctor to come and look at you now. Try not to worry - you're over the worst. '
The nurse disappears through the blue curtain. The man steps towards the side of the bed, takes hold of my hand, raises it to his lips. I snatch my hand free,not wanting this stranger to touch me, suddenly aware of my vulnerability beneath the thin hospital gown and stark white hospital sheet. 'Who are you?' The words scrape at my throat, as if hauling their way up the scree slope of a mountain.
The man looks at me with mournful eyes, breathes deeply before replying. 'It's me, Anna. I'm your husband.'
I stare at the face of the man leaning over me - the lines around his eyes, the thick eyebrows, the firm slant of his nose - and panic tightens its grip around my throat.
I have no recollection of ever seeing him before.

ABOUT 'THE FORGETTING': When Anna Bradshaw wakes up in a hospital bed in London, she remembers nothing, not even her loving husband, Stephen. The doctors say her amnesia is to be expected, but Anna feels cut adrift from her entire life.

In Bristol, Livvy Nicholson is newly married to Dominic and eager to get back to work after six months’ maternity leave. But when Dominic’s estranged mother appears, making a series of unnerving claims, Livvy is sucked into a version of herself she doesn’t recognise.

A hundred miles apart, both women feel trapped and disorientated, and their stories are about to collide. Can they uncover the secret that connects them and reconstruct their fractured lives?

MY THOUGHTS: The Forgetting is about memory, amnesia and relationships, including the topic of controlling and coercive behaviour. It's a somewhat disturbing tale with an important message and one that kept me wondering just what the connection between Anna in London and Livvy in Bristol could possibly be. Nothing that I came up with was even close to the truth and I never saw the twist near the end coming.

The plot progresses at a steady pace. The couples, Anna and Stephen, Livvy and Dominic at first seem to have little in common. But as the story progresses both men start to show the negative aspects of their personalities clothed, of course, in concern for the well-being of their spouses.

The Forgetting took a very different turn to what I was expecting and, while I didn't love this book, I did like it. I was kept interested throughout and wondering. I was never completely sure what was happening or where the author was taking us.

My favourite quote: 'My parents always warned me: be careful who you have kids with. Mortgages, joint bank accounts, marriages - you can extricate yourself from all of it. But have a child with someone and you're linked to them for the rest of your life.'

⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheForgetting #NetGalley

I: @hannahbeckermanauthor @amazonpublishing

T: @hannahbeckerman @Amazonpub

#contemporaryfiction #domesticdrama #friendship #psychologicaldrama

THE AUTHOR: Hannah Beckerman is an author, journalist, event chair and broadcaster.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Amazon Publishing, Lake Union, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Forgetting by Hannah Beckerman for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

This book was honestly so much more than what I was expecting! I absolutely loved it and I’d recommend it to anybody

3.5 stars


For me, there were no big surprises in this book.
I'd figured out what I thought was going on fairly early on.
However, that did not detract from my enjoyment.
I enjoyed the writing style, snd picking up on the subtle clues that confirmed my suspicions.
It really was a one of those books that are so easy to read.
Plenty of moments when it seemed inevitable something would soon be revealed, that added a nice bit of tension to the plot