Thank you to Forever Pub for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love finding a new author and knowing they'll become an auto-buy author. Julie Soto is now an auto-buy author for me after reading Forget Me Not.

This grumpy-sunshine, second-chance romance follows a florist, Elliot, and wedding planner, Ama, as they work together on the wedding of the season. The brides-to-be don't know that Elliot and Ama have a history of their own, that they use to date and it didn't end well. We get a glimpse into their past via Elliot and what happened and what's happening in the present day leading up the wedding with Ama and Elliot's point of views.

I love dual point of view novels and I'm a sucker for wedding planning novels. This novel reminded me a lot of Keely and Roy's romance on Ted Lasso (they're also a grumpy-sunshine romance). There were plenty of on-page steamy scenes from their past romance that had me turning the page and wanting to know what happened between Ama and Elliot. Julie Soto wrote in such a vivid, descriptive nature that I could easily see the wedding being constructed right in front of me. Also I wish I had that dance floor for my wedding.

I can't believe that Forget Me Not is her debut novel. It was amazing! I could easily see Julie writing more from characters within the same universe, but regardless I'm here for whatever Julie Soto writes in the future. I need more from Julie ASAP!

Julie Soto’s debut novel is guaranteed to give you all the feels.

“Forget Me Not” is a second chance romance starring Ama Torres, a wedding planner, and Elliot Bloom, a grumpy florist. When Ama is hired to plan the largest wedding of her career, she quickly discovers that it won’t be all sunshine and roses. Elliot Bloom, her ex, has been contracted as the wedding floral designer and there is no working around him. Left with no choice but to put their complicated pasts behind them, the pair attempt to plan the perfect wedding. With love in the air, however, it’s hard for both Ama and Elliot to deny the chemistry between them.

From the very beginning I was rooting for Ama and Elliot to rekindle their romance and live out their happily ever after! Their alternating viewpoints allow the reader to piece together how they first met, the moment their workplace relationship turned into something more, and what ultimately led to their separation. Despite the rift between them, Soto makes it clear that the two still feel deeply for one another no matter how hard they try to limit their interactions during the planning of the wedding. I appreciated how Soto naturally intensified these feelings over the months they spent in proximity to each other. Though I was an emotional wreck while they slowly learned to love each other again, it was worth it just to read the epilogue!

Aside from Ama and Elliot’s romance, I enjoyed exploring Ama’s complex feelings about marriage. Soto adds depth to her character by slowly revealing that Ama, a wedding planer, believes that love does not last. Through Ama’s point-of-view, the reader traces this belief back to her mother, who has been married sixteen different times and views love the same way. This detail adds intrigue and gives much needed insight into the thought behind Ama’s every decision. I appreciate Soto taking her time with Ama’s character development as she changes her perceptions of love. Even more so I appreciate Elliot for telling Ama that she did not need to change everything about herself just to be with him.

I cannot wait to read Soto’s next book in 2024!

I am honestly shocked this is a debut. An extremely grumpy florist and sunshine wedding planner, who were once an item team up for a massive wedding despite avoiding each other for 3 years. The dual timelines were perfect for giving us just enough of their previous relationship and explaining things now. This was laugh out loud funny. Being inside of Ama’s head was such a treat. Her unorthodox way of using her stepsiblings in her business to either further their careers, or just give them something to put on their resume was sweet and a reminder that you divorce partners, not children. However, Ama is severely emotionally stunted due to her mother’s MULTIPLE marriages, and that makes sense. Elliot is a walking contradiction because how can someone who seemingly hates everything love something as much as flowers, even though he was forced into the profession. Ama and Elliott are both a great look into how much our parents actions, wants, and needs can influence us as adults whether good or bad. We even got a legit finish, not “all is forgiven, even though you broke me for years”
AND THE COVER. I just loved everything about this and cannot wait to put a physical copy on my shelf. I especially cannot wait for whatever is next from Julie. She has potential to become an auto buy author for me after this.
Thank you to Forever for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore Julie Soto. Yes, I'm aware that this is her debut novel, but I've been a fan and keeping up to date with her writing in fandom spaces for years now. I was super excited when it was announced she was releasing her first traditionally published work. I'm even more ecstatic that it not only lived up to my high expectations but surpassed them. The best way I can summarize my thoughts and feelings is, this book is a fucking delight (yes the expletive is essential in getting my full sentiment and excitement across).

I was in a pretty solid reading slump when I picked this up but that was quickly squashed in favor of devouring this as quickly as I could. I haven't been this excited and over the moon with a book in a long time. This would've easily been a one-sitting read for me had I not been so busy (incredibly rude of my real-world responsibilities to postpone my reading but I can at least thank them for letting me savor and enjoy this a little bit longer).

This is a witty, fun, spicy, and well-paced second chance romance (a trope that's not at the top of my ranking but is executed so well here) that's dual POV. It's also definitely Reylo coded for those of you that are into that and if you aren't, fret not, a non-Reylos will also thoroughly enjoy this and probably wouldn't have even picked up on it had I not said anything. Throughout the book we follow Ama, a commitment-phobic (relatable) wedding planner, and Elliot, her grumpy (but not so grumpy you wonder why we're even supposed to like him) architect school dropout turned florist ex, as they're forced to work together for the first time after their breakup. Oh, and the wedding they're working together on happens to be the biggest wedding of Ama's career yet that could catapult her to a whole new level. As we follow Ama through her less-than-ideal work collaboration with her ex, we simultaneously follow Elliot through their now dismantled relationship three years prior. While parallel narratives are something that can easily become convoluted or distracting within a story, Soto did an excellent job of using this narrative style to allow readers to fully understand the characters and ground their relationship and story.

This is an absolutely spectacular debut for Julie Soto and I will continue to rant and rave about it to anyone that will listen while I very impatiently wait for her next work set for a 2024 release date.

Thank you to Forever Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this ARC! Thank you for allowing me to read it early!!

I really loved the characters, plot, and trope! The energy between the main characters was great! I absolutely loved seeing Ellilot’s POV from the past. I want to read more.

I can’t wait to suggest this to patrons and friends!

I've been eagerly awaiting this book since the day it was announced, and I'm so glad to say it did not disappoint.

Right from the very beginning chapters, this book already had me giggling and kicking my little feet over how cute it was. Even though this book follows the pretty standard rom com formula and you know exactly how things are going to unfold, it still managed to feel free fresh and unique— which I have to credit to Julie's writing style that I love so much.

I think the only thing I wish I had seen from this book was more time spent on the current-day side of the romance. Most of the scenes in the present are really focussed on the logistics of wedding planning and Ama and Elliot don't really interact all that much, and at some points it almost felt like I was reading a lit fic book about wedding planning with the romance just being a side plot. Pretty much all of the romance development we got occurred in the past, and while it was incredibly cute and fun to watch their relationship bloom (no pun intended), I wish we had seen more of their reconnection in the present so them getting back together at the end felt more earned.

On the whole though this was still so much fun and I finished it in basically one sitting because I did not want to put it down. If you enjoy a second chance romance with your classic grumpy/sunshine characters, I highly recommend picking this book up when it comes out! I've been a fan of Julie's writing for awhile now, and all of her charm and wit translated perfectly to this novel. I fully believe she's going to be one of the big names in romance before long, and I'm so glad I got the chance to take an early peek at her debut novel.

A-MA-ZING!

I’m a huge lover of this authors fanfics so THIS was a 100/5 for me! Absolutely loved every second of it and cannot wait to purchase a physical copy when it comes out 😍

Ama Torres is a wedding planner. She says she knows everything about weddings from her mother getting married 16 times. Yes, you read that correctly 16 times which is insane.

Ama gets selected to be a wedding planner for a famous influencer and her fiance. The descriptions of the wedding couple and the love they share will warn your heart. They have different opinions for the how they want the wedding to go but are trying to blend their ideas so both will be happy. This will be the biggest budget she has ever worked with and largest guest list. She now has to work with her ex-boyfriend Elliot who is the florist they want to use. She wishes she could say no but this wedding will be good for her career so she vows to be professional.

Ama and Elliot are a fun grumpy/sunshine or enemies to lovers trope. They are forced in close proximity to work with each other and the day of the wedding doesn't go as planned. Ama will have to learn to delegate and trust Elliot.

It made me laugh when Whitney shows back up at the wedding and tries to step into the limelight. She gets what she deserves.

This was a fun quick read that will have you believing in second chance romance.

Very sweet and cute. The main characters have great chemistry. Books that are duel POV are my favorite, i love getting into both characters heads. This had a great amount of spice. The writing style was a little different but once i got used to it, it flowed well. The cover is beautiful, thats what drew me in.

This book is a five-star read for entertainment value; and for the delicious, hilarious scene where Elliott's mom visits the flower shop (iykyk)!

Forget Me Not follows a wedding planner and a florist with a strained relationship who are forced to work together on a wedding. Through flashbacks from Elliott's POV, we discover what happened between them, and then their story is furthered by present chapters from Ama's POV.

I was surprised by how much I got into the story's wedding planning/business portion. Elliott and Ama worked so well together, where we mainly see them interact. They clearly inspired each other creatively. We see their romantic relationship in flashback chapters, mainly hookups, but their chemistry, heat, and connection are fantastic.

This romance is a bit wedding-heavy, and I wish we got more of present-day Elliott, but soooo worth the read!

The synopsis of this one had me hooked from the beginning but unfortunately the writing style kept me from enjoying a lot of the story. It felt as if I was reading a fanfic, it was very juvenile and quickly paced. This also seemed to rub off onto the MC’s so much that I couldn’t really hang onto their relationship while reading. While I may not have been the perfect audience, this book is perfect for anyone who loves second chance romance and a reas that feels as if you’re in a reality TV show!

I loved this story so much! I absolutely will need a signed physical copy!!!

The build-up, dual timelines, dual POV, and workplace/entrepreneurial theme were great!

The spicy scenes were perfection, never taking away or a substitute for the plot. They were hella hot--rose petals, dirt, and a tabletop...okkkay?

Ama is a go-getter and has worked hard to build her own business as a wedding planner. I related to her drive and also her moments of fear of failure as a business owner. Being an entrepreneur is fun, exciting, hard, and scary; this story captures the journey well. Elliot is a florist and architect. He is also a business owner. He is brooding, moody, and protective. When he stops production from filming because she hasn't eaten all day!!

The ending was also perfect--just everything about this book was SO good. Please add it to your TBR and preorder for July! Trust--this is such a good Summer read!

I could not put this book down! I loved the fast pace of the book and really enjoyed the main characters and the back story. Plus, the setting of wedding planning was so fun and beautiful! I can’t recommend this book enough!

I can not express how much I loved this book. Ama was giving Jennifer Lopez Wedding Planner mixed with Jennifer Aniston Along Came Polly. I loved her personality. She was strong, independent, carefree, fun, feisty, and unique.

This storyline was drawn the fuck out. It kept me on edge until the very end. True story at 95% I was still waiting for the ball to drop, at 97% my heart was seizing and I wanted to throw my phone. At 99% I was smiling sooo fucking hard and I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders!

Elliot is a sexy grumpy nerd. He was so insecure and vulnerable. His people skills sucked, and you can't help but be drawn to him.

This features two POVS and alternating timelines. One is giving us the events leading up to the present and the other is 100% in the present processing their feelings. This is somewhat second chance but doesn't play out as expected. It gave me 90's alternative romance vibes.

There is spice but the storyline is everything. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

I loved Forget Me Not and felt so very much for Ama and Elliot. Watching them fall in love, break up, and come back together in dual timelines was delightfully frustrating.

Ama and Elliot’s chemistry was never in question and I was rooting for them from the start. I loved that we got to experience both of their POVs, especially Ama's POV which showcased her character's emotional growth. I think it would have served Elliot better if we could have been in his head in the present and not just in flashbacks. I understood Ama's hangups about commitment and I understood Elliot's need to define their relationship, and I wish the story would have spent a bit more time in the present addressing what led to their initial breakup.

Elliot was left heartbroken at the end of their relationship and was understandably on guard around Ama, but his love and care for her continued to shine through. He believed his grumpiness would keep her way. Ama was in denial and heartbroken herself, she simply did not believe she was capable of being what Elliot needed. Obviously, they were both wrong.

I was thoroughly entertaining the entire time and fully invested in the wedding planning aspect of the story. I loved Ama's relationships with her ex-stepsiblings and hope that we get to see their stories in the future, starting with Mar.

Forget Me Not was a charming second chance romance debut and I cannot wait to see what's next from Julie Soto.

This was AGONIZING but in a good way. First I wanted to shake Elliot. Then I was like, actually Elliot makes some good points and I would like to shake Ama. Then I was like OKAY ENOUGH FROM BOTH OF YOU, just kiss already.

I’m gonna be real honest, I would probably feel the same way about marriage if I had Ama’s upbringing. But also, that sounds like something her friends should have lovingly demanded she get extensive therapy for.

As for Elliot, we all love a brooding grumpy MMC who is mysterious etc but bro. Dial it back a notch or twelve on occasion. You are allowed to feel and express a positive emotion from time to time.

All in all, these two were weirdly perfect for each other and I hope they live happily ever after.

This book is a captivating novel that follows Ama and Elliot, a wedding planner and a florist, who used to be together. The book is told from both their perspectives, jumping between their past and present as they meet again while working at the same wedding.

I live for the grumpy sunshine tope, and the fact that Ama's a wedding planner and Elliot's a florist is just the best. The way they work together and run with each other's ideas is so sweet. I adored this book, especially Elliot. He will always hold a special place in my heart!

This is such a feel-good book that will make you all warm and fuzzy inside. The cover is just so beautiful. The writing style is super engaging and kept me hooked from start to finish.

I really enjoyed this book! It’s told from the perspective of two characters at two different times. Their storylines eventually intersect. It’s cool to see how the past events shape their present situation. I’d recommend to any rom-com fan! Thanks to NetGalley and Forever books for the ARC.

Unfortunately, while I did enjoy the main plot of this novel, the writing style of this novel was not it for me. A lot of the language used felt rather juvenile which turned me off right from the beginning.

That said, if you are a fan of second chance romances, romances surrounding weddings, or reality-tv settings, this may be the book for you.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

f you’re the type of person to buy a book based on the cover, then I’m sure you will be buying this one AND YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

What this book offers:
- second chance romance
- queer wedding
- STEAM
- hot guy with tattoos
- wedding planning
- DRAMA
- lots of flowers!!
- a bitch named Whitney
- did I mention romance?
- 2 great main characters
- someone whose been married 16 times??

Forget me not is the type of book I wanted to savor, but also couldn’t wait to finish because it was too good to no. I’m a sucker with books that have a wedding planner or anything wedding themed because they always end up being so fun. And also the huge plus is the romance! There are two main POV’s here that are Elliot and Ama. Loved both of them. Their chemistry was undeniable and I thought the second chance romance was done well. Also, Hazel and Jackie were theeeee cutest!

I can’t wait for Julie Soto’s next book! Thank you so much Forever for the ARC!!