This was super fun and I tore through it - in retrospect I had a few quibbles, but overall, a great, fun read.

Things I loved:
- a heroine who is highly competent and excels at her job (I am pretty sick of rom coms that begin with a woman who is down and out, clueless, just got fired for some gross incompetency and lives are in total upheaval. We need fewer of those, and more of these, where our lead characters are on it and great at what they do.)
- the hot florist boyfriend who creates these incredible visual architectural flower installations (how great would this look in a movie version?!)
- the dual perspective and dual timeline worked really well here I thought (sometimes I'm not a fan of the dual timeline particularly when the BIG THING that drove them apart is built up to A LOT and then is anticlimactic -- I think there was a little bit of that here, ie. was not much of a surprise what drove them apart on their 1st go-round but it both timelines interspersed were still very engaging and page-turning to read.)
- the Jane Austen "Persuasion' vibes from the plot-line... (i.e. Elliot's declaration of the constancy of his love, that Ama accidentally overhears on the bluetooth). Loved it.

One quibble and 1 tiny wording thing:
- both characters did seem to run hot & cold/send mixed signals sometimes, that I just blew past in-the-moment; but in retrospect was a little hmmm about.
- pg. 236 "... I cant ever thank you enough for getting this wedding off its feet today..." -- I think should be 'off the ground' or 'on its feet' ?

One hilarious thing (perhaps of its time?):
- page 142 - "Where's the wedding?" "The four seasons" "The hotel? or Total Landscaping?"
HA!!! I feel like I know when this book was being written now; and laughed out loud at this... but I wonder if people will remember it next year...

Definitely a fun, great romcom read - better than a lot of the stuff that gets pushed at the front of bookstores currently.

Excuse TF out of me. This book had no right being as good as it was. I loved the plot, loved the dual timeline, loved the grumpy x sunshine dynamic. Ama and Elliot are SO CUTE together and I love how they were thrown back into business and working with each other. He’s grumpy but is so sweet and just needs a hug. And the flower tattoos. Perfection.

This book is everything I love in a romance. I’m not always a fan of books going back and forth between past and present but this absolutely worked for me. Forget Me Not has the grumpy / sunshine trope, he falls first, short chapters, alternating timelines and perspectives, and plenty of steam!

Ama is a wedding planner who doesn’t believe in marriage, but wants to help everyone throw the most fabulous party. Elliot is the grumpy florist, who inherited his fathers flower shop and is trying to find a way to make it his own. These two have a bit of history and haven’t spoken or been in the same room in years. They both have a great opportunity to work on a high profile wedding but the caveat is that the couple wants them both and they’re not open to any other vendors. They have to work in close proximity for eight months, can they be professional or will their past get in the way?

Thank you Netgalley and Forever for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. WOW. New favorite romance alert. This second chance, grumpy sunshine was the most well written romance I have read it so long. I absolutely ADORED Ama and Elliot. And also don’t mind me googling every flower and now wanting to decorate my entire house with floral arrangements.

The pace in this was perfect and the side characters were so good.

My heart. I’m swooning. Absolutely obsessed and cannot wait for my physical copy so I can shed tears on the actual pages and highlight every freaking word.

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto was the romance story I didn’t know I needed!
Woah! This is seriously a debut title? How? I’m currently speechless.

Well, this stunning second chance romance is an absolute must read.
And this is why I love romance novels.
This story is told in dual POVs, Ama and Elliott relationship building was seriously on point.
The two had such amazing chemistry together and the grumpy/sunshine trope worked perfectly together.
FMN is quite honestly one of the best books I've read this year. It was perfection. The story is refreshing and unique, and the writing is intelligent and fresh. I can't wait to see what else Julie Soto has in store.
I'll definitely be reading every and anything else she puts out! 
This book was such a pleasant surprise, one I know will make for a popular read in just a few months.

Pure escapism… Exactly what you want from a romance novel.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Forever for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This is one of the most highly anticipated romance novels of 2023, and it definitely lives up to the hype! The passion, blooming romance, and heartbreaking love story of Ama and Elliott caught me off guard. Of course, two of my favorite tropes - enemies to lovers and grumpy meets sunshine - are perfectly blended into their love story!

The "Wedding Planner meets Bed of Roses" storyline is also alluring and captivating enough to make you root for the entire execution!

I have to admit, I couldn't get into the story at the beginning. The main characters didn't spend much time in the same room, and Elliott's backwards narration made me a little impatient. I just wanted to learn their story and more about the characters. I even found Elliott too rude, reserved, and extra grumpy. At first, I thought of giving the book three stars, but in the second half, the pacing picked up, the sparks started flying, and the emotions were all over the place. I literally fell in love with our grumpy hero, who might be a cinnamon bun hiding behind a rough facade. He acted like a knight in shining armor, intervening at the right time to save Ama's day and her career. We finally had a chance to see his kind and caring side.

The story revolves around Ama, a wedding planner inspired by her mother's weddings, and Elliott, who inherited his father's flower business and dropped out of college, giving up his dream of becoming an architect.

Ama finally has a chance to plan the wedding of a famous influencer and her fiancé, which could put her on the map as Sacramento's most popular wedding planner. But the offer comes with a catch: the couple has already hired a florist, her ex-lover Elliott, whom she broke up with two years ago. She has done her best to stay away from the weddings he has worked on so far, but now she has to brainstorm creative ideas to thrive in her career and plan the wedding of Hazel and Jackie's dreams. Can she set her boundaries and act professionally even though Elliott keeps resenting her?

But the sparks between them are still there, and they make an amazing team. Can she give them a second chance and make up for the lost years?

Overall, especially the second half of the book, exceeded my expectations. It was heartwarming, entertaining, and romantic, making me smile from ear to ear!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and most importantly, Dana Cuadrado, for sharing this amazing book's digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

Engaging, fun, romantic read. Loved the story of Ama and Elliott. The time lapses back and forth were seamless and really moved the story along in a provocative way. I look forward to Julie’s next book!

4.5 stars rounded down!! I picked up this book without many expectations, not knowing what it was about, and I was so pleasantly surprised!! I absolutely devoured this - seriously, I think I finished it the hours of 8pm and 8am. The tension and longing between Ama and Elliot was seriously off the charts , and I was so invested in finding out what went wrong with them. There's almost nothing I love more than a second chance romance, and this one hit it out of the park. I loved all the sequences leading up to the final wedding scene - I was excited, and nervous, and on the edge of my seat!! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more Julie Soto in the future :)

Thanks so much NetGalley, Julie Soto, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the e-ARC!!

So I am calling it now. This will be in my top romances of 2023 wrap-up post. Ama is a wedding planner, and Elliot is a florist. This is an incredibly emotional and beautiful second chance romance when both of them are hired for the same high profile wedding.

The book has such a fascinating storytelling style. The chapters from Ama's perspective are in the present, but the chapters from Elliot start at the beginning of their relationship and slowly move toward the present. Thus, the different timelines are each single POV, but we get both of their perspectives on many different scenes. I have never read anything like it before, and it worked so well to bring me in.

I fell hard for Elliot. He is so quiet and so sweet. He is covered in tattoos of flowers that are going extinct. He comes off as the grump, but as we read in his voice, we see just how deeply he loves. And Ama is amazing as well. She's strong and nuanced. Both main characters and the secondary characters had such depth.

There are funny scenes and sweet and light scenes. There's chemistry and steamy scenes. But most of all, there's so much depth of emotion. This book had me laughing, crying and yelling and feeling all the things.

Thank you to Forever and Fable for the experience of reading the advanced reader copy with a group. These opinions are my own.

Julie Soto wrote this for the AO3 girlies and I ate every second of it up. The way this book was formatted was amazing. It's dual POV, but for the most part Ama's POV shows the present and Elliot's POV shows the past (their relationship and how it eventually ended on bad terms). Usually I get tired of the 'brooding, grumpy, no words, asshole' MMC within a few chapters and then actively hate on him for the rest of the book but Elliot was different and I loved him. He's more 'grumpy, hates everyone but her, still refuses to speak more than a few words to her tho' kind of grumpy and I love that that personality extended to everyone, not just the FMC. I thought I wouldn't like the influencer wedding plot because I despise all things influencer related in fiction but it ended up being okay. The only part that actually focuses on Hazel being an influencer is Ama being super excited to meet her and plan her wedding, and Hazel having to deal with some press as well as working a ton. I loved Jackie, and especially loved how Hazel and Jackie were plotting to get Ama and Elliot together because the tension between them was so obvious. I loved Ama's relationships were each of her current and ex-stepsiblings and especially how she has at least five of them working for her. However, I wish there was a little more detail with Ama's five billion ex step siblings as well as more detail on her relationship with her father. Ama's car is constantly on the verge on breaking down/spontaneously combusting and that is because that car is the one thing her father has given her and she's scared she'll take it into the shop and end up having to get rid of it. Since Ama's car is mentioned so much, you'd think her relationship with her father would be mentioned more than once or twice, but it seems like Julie Soto threw in that detail just to establish her relationship with her father and then forgot to mention it ever again. Aside from that, I have no complaints and I genuinely loved this book.

I was hooked from the very beginning, and I couldn't stop reading until I finished this book. I read it in one day, and I stayed up way too late to finish it. It was totally worth the lack of sleep though! I loved this book.

Ama is a wedding planner who is running her own business. She has loved planning weddings since she has been planning her mother's weddings since she was a little girl. Her mother has been married 16 times, and this has caused Ama to not believe in marriages or long term commitments. To her, the most important part of a wedding day is the reception and the party part of it.

Elliot, reluctantly at first, took over his father's florist business. He met Ama five years ago, and he started to work with her up until two years ago. They spent time together working on weddings, and they developed a sort of relationship without the official title. Even though their relationship wasn't defined, the feelings that Ama and Elliot had for each other were very real until it all came to an end.

Now, two years later, Ama is working on a high profile/large budget wedding for a celebrity client. The brides, Hazel and Jackie, have hired Elliot as their florist. This forces Ama to have to work with Elliot again after all of this time. When they see each other again, things are awkward at first, but are their feelings still there for each other? Will they find their way back to each other?

The story is told through a dual POV with Ama's POV mostly taking place in the present, and Elliot's point of view mostly taking place in the past. The juxtaposition between viewpoints and timelines added a sense of mystery to the story, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

Read this book if you like:
- grumpy/sunshine
- second chance romance
- wedding planning drama
- he falls first
- Dual POV
- past and present timelines
- tattooed cinnamon roll MMC
- spicy scenes (the scene at the workbench will live in my memory rent free for years to come!)

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this amazing book! I will be purchasing this book and rereading it over and over again. I loved it!

Ama, is a wedding planner, whose Mom has been married sixteen times. Each marriages has tainted Ama's ideas of love and matrimony. Elliot, the local florist, partners with Ama on her events. Their insta-chemistry blossoms into something neither wants to label or define until its too late.

This second chance love story is incredibly emotional and endearing as they are brought back together on a high-profile wedding. Forget Me Not is told from Ama's perspective in the present, and Elliot's perspective from five years, four months, three weeks, and five days ago leading to the present.

Oh boy ladies, watch out as there's a new book boyfriend on the scene in Elliot. He's a sexy, brooding bad boy with tattoos, and he also loves exotic flowers. His work table will haunt your dreams!

Thank you Forever for the advance reader copy.

So I’ve been in a romance reading slump and I somehow miraculously received a digital copy of this book. I finished it in a day!! This is Julie Soto’s debut novel and I can confidently say that she has me HOOKED! I’m a sucker for a grumpy x sunshine trope and while second chance romances are usually not my cup of tea (because they usually include frustrating miscommunication) this was done seamlessly and made the plot more spicy. Everyone needs to read!!

Bravo!! Fantastic! A book I couldn’t put down. I loved Ama and Elliot so much. Such a perfect, second chance love story.

Forget Me Not is one of those amazing books you can’t help but love because it’s got the full package - terrific writing that moves the story at a great pace and a love story that tugs on your heartstrings, making you fall for the characters.

There’s also something special about books that hook you right from the first chapter and never let go. That’s precisely what Soto did in her debut novel that I had to read in one sitting it was that good.

The story revolves around Ama, a wedding planner who doesn’t believe in marriage because her mother has been married 16 times. And yet Alma can’t help but fall for Elliot the grump, who wanted to be an architect but dropped out of college to take over his father‘s floral business.

They meet on the wedding circuit and become involved, but things at one point ended. We meet them together again in the present, two years after their break up, when they’re forced to work together again for a high-profile wedding that will really launch both of their businesses.

Forget Me Not was the perfect second chance romance and grumpy sunshine love story that was sweet, endearing, and tugged on all of my heartstrings. It is told in dual point of view with present chapters told in Ama‘s POV and chapters about the past from Eliot‘s POV which gives background to how they met and initially came to be a couple.

Their love story told in the present centers around them working together on a wedding, which alone was a fun storyline in and of itself, showing how Ama came to launch her own business, separate from her mentor and really rock her own ideas.

I loved how you could really see how Ama and Elliot worked great together not just personally, but on a professional level with each bringing out the best of one another.

This was such a great read and I highly recommend it. I look forward to more from this author.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This book you guys 😩 I don’t often pick up books simply because the cover is gorgeous but obviously, this one is irrisistable so I had to, and omg am I glad I did. The read for me was effortless. I could easily see this story played out on screen. Now let’s talk about Ama and Elliot 😍

Ama is an upbeat, career-driven, donut-obsessed wedding planner wanting to make a name for herself. Elliot is a hot, broody, tattooed florist who’s just trying to keep up with his dad’s flower shop. Elliot and Ama cross paths often as the work they do at weddings go hand in hand. What starts out as a work buddies-with-benefits relationship between them quickly turns into something deep and serious.

🌺Forget Me Not🌺 is a steamy, second chance romance that’s funny, swoony, angsty and has all my favorite things.

-grumpy sunshine romance
-work buddies-with-benefits
-dual timeline
-dual POV
-boy falls first and harder
-forced proximity
-lots of banter
-multiple spicy scenes that are just 🌶🌶🌶🌶🔥🥵🤌🏽

I loved this book so much. I read the ARC (thank you, @netgalley) and then I read it again (I fell really hard for Elliot), and then I preordered the book because I want to reread that work bench scene in the back of the flower shop every day for the rest of my life. Safe to say I really enjoyed this one. It was everything I didn’t know I needed.

This is a very steamy grumpy sunshine romance between a wedding planner and a florist who were once together, we have no idea why they broke up, and they find themselves working on a wedding together — and not because they want to — years after their relationship ended.
I was hooked from the start and finished it in two nights. Plus I really really liked the set up of the novel. These characters were a delight to be with and the set up for the enemies to lovers was amazing. Super stressful environment and super steamy scenes made for a fantastic romance!

This is the best book that I have read this year! I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys second chance romances. Elliot Bloom is my new book boyfriend, he is the best! This story captured my heart, I couldn’t put it down, the plot was amazing, the characters were sensational, and it was honestly perfect. The tension was delicious and perfectly timed, I loved that the POV of Ama was present, and the POV for Elliot was the past. It gave me butterflies, it’s going to be a forever favourite for me.

Read this book if you love…
🌺Second Chance Romance
🌸Grumpy x Sunshine
🌺Dual POV
🌸Donuts, Flowers, Wedding Disasters
🌺Sexy Scenes with lots of Spice
🌸My New Book Boyfriend

Ama Torres is a wonderful wedding planner, who decided that marriage is not for her. But she has a talent and skill at creating the perfect wedding for her clients.

Elliot hated being a florist, but he’s stuck when his father leaves him his flower shop. But when he started to have feelings for Ama after one night stands, he does something that pushes her away.

When Ams is hired to be the planner for the biggest wedding of her career, she has no other option but to work with Elliot has he is already contracted with them. It’s never fun to work with your ex, but the chemistry is still there. On top of working with her ex, she has her old meddling boss, a reality tv show and other challenges to face, on the biggest wedding of her career.

My copy was given to me from Forever Pub in exchange for an honest review.

Romance: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶
Plot points: 💥💥💥💥💥
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
•

Rating: 5⭐️
Cover rating: 5⭐️

Ama Torres is in control of her life. A career working under one of the most successful wedding planners in Sacramento has blossomed into her own business making budget dreams a reality, and there's not a mishap she can't creatively cover. Ama is in control of everything, until the opportunity to plan the highly coveted Hazel Renee wedding throws her in the path of one Elliot Bloom, brooding florist and ex.

I genuinely loved this book! Everything felt fresh and colourful, and not just because of the lush floral descriptions and gorgeous cover art! In a sea of leading ladies and male love interests out there, the characters themselves felt fresh to read. The dialogue comes naturally in a way that brings the characters off the page and into the real world. My copy is covered with highlights and annotations I can't wait to share with friends (shoutout to Chapter 15, where I gave up highlighting individually and just covered the entire chapter).

I've been reading Julie Soto's work for a few years now. I know her first as @lovesbitca8, second as Juls, and now as Julie Soto: Published Author! One of Julie's greatest strengths is crafting well-rounded and relatable characters with depth, and that skill is out in full-force in <i>Forget Me Not</i>. Ama is the breezy 2000s romcom star we all wanted to be growing up. Elliot is the grumpy ex who speaks in clipped tones and doesn't eat sugar. They start off fitting their individual moulds.
Then Julie starts to peel back the layers of who they are, lets us learn more about Ama and Elliot's experiences in the world and with each other, and the traditional roles they held in my mind at the beginning of the book start to switch. By the time I reached the final page, I felt more connected to Elliot than I did Ama. I can't think of any other book I've read in this way!

<b>Final thoughts:</b> Charming, passionate, and sweet as J Street Donuts, <i>Forget Me Not</i> will take pride of place on a lot of bookshelves in a few months with cries for more from Julie Soto. Don't get left behind, pick up a copy as soon as you can!

Thank you so much to Forever and Grand Central Publishing for providing an ARC of this lovely book in exchange for an honest review! I definitely did not squee and dance around my living room when I got the approval email. Nope.

I picked this up for the cover and stayed for the angsty second chance romance ✨ Elliot, a talented florist, and Ama, a dedicated wedding planner, are thrown together for a wedding after going their separate ways years before. This book had dual povs (which I loved) but I wasn’t a huge fan of the dual timelines. This story goes back and forth between the present and past and we unfortunately didn’t see a lot of growth between the leads in the present. Luckily, the flashbacks highlighted the depth of their connection so they largely made up for it.

This book has:
-Dual povs
-A grumpy, tattooed hero who would do anything to protect the sunshine heroine
-Tons of forced proximity
-He falls first AND harder

Overall, this was such a cute read. If you want a fast-paced and steamy second chance romance, this is the book for you.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

If I finish an entire book in a single day, that MEANS something, okay?

This was, honestly, the perfect read for a day stuck sick in bed. It's a very smooth read with likeable main characters and a great premise. It also has that quality that I love finding in certain authors who started in fan fiction: sitting in silly cute little scenes for twelve pages and giving every single detail. I don't know what god Julie Soto sacrificed to to make it happen, but the ability to write something that should be boring and dragged out but instead has me squealing and kicking my feet is one I admire so much.

I didn't think I would, but I loved how the dual POVs were handled. You've got Ama in the present, wedding planner extraordinaire working hard to build her own company. She's practically terrified to work with a certain florist after she broke his heart two years ago. And then you've got Elliot in the past, florist wunderkind, recounting their relationship and what led to the fallout. And the balance between them was so good?!? I'm genuinely impressed because it worked so incredibly well to flesh both characters out while planting plenty of steamy scenes throughout the entire book that never felt gratuitous.

I confess, my rating is 4.5 rounded up because it's not *quite* perfect for me. I realize I just gushed about the dual POVs, but it did cause an issue in one area for me, mainly that almost all the steamy scenes were in Elliot's POV. I needed way more from the female gaze there, sorry. It also left me a little confused about Ama's character because the past and present Ama didn't quite align for some time.

All that said, the ending absolutely sealed the deal for me. It is so sweet and cute and I loved it so so much! Definitely looking out for more from this author in future.