Beautifully written story filled with magical realism. Ithe beginning was a bit slow paced but it picked up in the second half. The romance was swoon worthy.

Forgetting to Remember is a compelling and well written historical time travel romance by M. J. Rose. Released 26th March 2024, it's 269 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

The author is gifted at juxtaposing characters who are out of their own timelines against a backdrop of wider tragedy. It's quite melancholy in places. The characters are well rendered and sympathetic. Their voices are distinct enough that it's never confusing to keep them straight. With the added elements of magical realism, time slip, and romance, it's an enjoyable read.

There are similar world building and paranormal elements to the author's other books, but this is a standalone and won't suffer in any way by being read by itself without previous familiarity to her oeuvre.

Four stars. This is a well written and immersive story with an appealing protagonist and fascinating framework taken from history.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was definitely an imaginative and well-done time travel novel which I enjoyed reading.
My rating 3.5 stars

What a page turner. Caused little sleep as the author had me captivated with the story line. Astonished detail and descriptions to this story. The author captured strong characters and twist and turns. Would definitely recommend for any one that loves a good mystery.

“Forgetting to Remember,” is another powerful historical dual timeline mystery by M.J. Rose featuring my all-time favorite art movement, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, that focused on themes of chivalry, courtly love, the divine feminine, and spirituality.

This intriguing group of English painters, poets, and art critics was founded around 1848 by greats like William Holman Hunt, John Ruskin, William Morris, John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti—who is featured in this novel, along with a fictional character, Ashe Lloyd Lewis, along with time traveling protagonist, Jeannine Maycroft, a rare female department head at London’s Royal Victoria and Albert Museum following WWII.

Try to unravel the Gordian Knots in Jeannine’s present day and figure out who wants to sabotage her career and life in every turn she makes. As well as find out who 80 years in her past show themselves.

Could these 19th C. interactions be for good or bad? Will they become paradoxes that could change the outcomes for their futures? Read and see. This is a terrific book from the teaser open to the satisfying end.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author M.J. Rose, and Publisher Blue Box Press for this advance reader’s copy for review.

Eye miniatures or Lovers' eyes were Georgian miniatures, normally watercolour on ivory, depicting the eye or eyes of a spouse, loved one or child. These were usually commissioned for sentimental reasons and were often worn as bracelets, brooches, pendants or rings with richly decorated frames, serving the same emotional need as lockets hiding portraits or locks of hair.This fad started in the late 1700s and miniaturists such as Richard Cosway and George Engleheart were responsible for some of the first pieces.Eye miniatures are believed to have originated when the Prince of Wales (later George IV) felt the need to send the widow Maria Fitzherbert a token of his love. This gesture and the romance that went with it was frowned upon by the court, so a miniaturist was employed to paint only the eye and thereby preserve anonymity and decorum.

Claude Blair, (30 November 1922–21 February 2010) was a British museum curator and scholar, who worked at the Department of Metalwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he remained until his retirement as Keeper of Metalwork in 1982.The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design.It was founded in 1852.It used to be called the Museum of Manufactures and South Kensington Museum.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter, and translator.He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti's work influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialised in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.Vigée Le Brun created a name for herself in Ancien Régime society by serving as the portrait painter to Marie Antoinette. She enjoyed the patronage of European aristocrats, actors, and writers, and was elected to art academies in ten cities.

Hans Axel von Fersen was a Swedish count, soldier, diplomat, statesman and and a close friend of Queen Marie-Antoinette of France.There were rumours that he and the Queen were lovers.

fun fun read - so many elements that I love - time travel, jewelry and museum - need I say more? the story was interesting and well written,

This book started a little slow, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed the story. There were some parts that were a little repetitive, but overall it was good. I can’t go into too many details about what I liked because it would spoil the story. It reminded me of Paula Brackston’s Lost Things series with the time travel and magical realism. I was a little worried when it started getting to the end and it felt like there was too much to resolve in the few pages left, but I felt like everything was wrapped up nicely and I loved that for the most part, it was a happy ending. I definitely cried a little bit at the end! This was my first book by this author, but I will definitely be trying more!

This was quite the fascinating tale. It was impossible not to be gripped by it, and I highly recommend Forgetting To Remember to everyone.

M. J. Rose has done it again. I became a fan of her writing a few years ago when I read The Last Tiara. I can count on a well-thought out plot..a little romance, a little mystery, and a connection to the women in her family having special gifts. Jeanine Maycroft is a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1947. She is interested in eye miniatures and loves the work of Ashe Lloyd Wright, a 19th Century artist. Jeanine finds herself in competition to a recently returned WWII hero, Hugh Kenward,for the position of Keeper of the Metalworks. Her special gift, which she doesn’t think she has, is time travel. I loved following her story with painter Ashe Lloyd Wright in 1867. MY THANKS TO NetGalley and Blue Box Press for a copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

FORGETTING TO REMEMBER
BY: M. J. ROSE

What an incredible imagination author, M. J. Rose has to keep writing stunning artistic and beautiful novels such as this one called, Forgetting to Remember. This was such a delightful reading experience that I enjoyed every minute I spent immersed in it while reading. You can tell this author has an extensive background with jewels, Art history and a multitude of museums the world over. In this dual timeline one of which takes place in the present in 1947. In the other timeline it precedes the present timeline by eighty years in 1867. I'm probably incorrect in describing this terrific historical novel as a dual time line, because now that I'm reflecting over what I just read I think the most accurate moniker is to say it's a time travel novel.

It features the same main female protagonist in both 1947, and 1867, with the focus of a widow who is named Jeannine Maycroft. She works at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as having risen up through the ranks to have a prestigious job there as Keeper of the Metalworks. Jeannine has to be somewhere in her mid thirties to maybe late thirties. I'm guessing since the novel doesn't say. Her love interest which thankfully M. J. Rose portrays it as a clean romance which is passionate and deep that is extremely rare. Jeannine has suffered too much loss in her recent years. She lives in London and her mother, both sets of grandparents, her brother and only sibling, and her husband have all died. Her job is important to her and her position at the Victoria and Albert Museum gives her access to most of the museum. Her father is often away on digs in Egypt as an archaeologist making him the only family member left to her. Jeannine straddles two timelines in which I've left the reader to discover how she is able to do so. This novel sparkles with magic, love, passion, war and Art history of famous art, literature and poetry depicting enormous charm and intrigue.

It's Halloween in London in 1947, when Jeannine and a male colleague are summoned by their boss Mr. Gibbons. He calls Jeannine into a 4:00 P.M. meeting informing her that another employee who she used to date is going to be taking her position and she'll be demoted. I loved how assertive Jeannine was about not accepting a demotion simply because she has done excellent work earning her position in a job she loves. I loved how Jeannine stood her ground feeling she didn't deserve to be replaced by a soldier who returned from World War II, needing a position and taking her job. She finds it unfair that this colleague has wanted to undermine her to gain her position. After possibly jeopardizing her job her boss comes up with a solution. Jeannine and the male colleague both will compete by curating a themed art exhibit and whichever one wins gets to have her current job.

Jeannine goes down in the museum's basement to search a locked vault where she discovers miniature portraits of eyes encased in jewels brooches and knows that she will pick fourteen of her favorite ones since the contest is on February 14, 1947, on Valentines day. These miniature eye portraits she discovered with her knowledge gained from studying at Oxford in history, with an additional education in Art history. She discovered these were brooches that lovers would've commissioned to be painted and given as tokens of love with the miniature eye portraits to their secret lovers. There is one of about forty-two that Jeannine feels drawn to with a purple sapphire blue eye surrounded by opals that dazzle like fire in their striking colors variegation that dazzles like fire. As she is opening up the clasp in the back of this particular brooch, she mistakenly sticks her finger and drops of blood fall onto her stiff white blouse. She locks up the vault and realizes that everyone has left the museum for the day except her. She decides to go into the gallery to view her favorite Pre-Raphaelite painting and notices some of the other paintings have been replaced on the other walls.

As Jeannine is viewing her favorite Victorian era painting she quietly sheds a few tears when this gentleman offers her his hanker chief. It's Halloween so she thinks that this man who is dressed up in Victorian era clothing must have gone unnoticed by the security guards since the museum is closed. There's something familiar about his eyes. They are an uncanny match to the violet blue eye she just looked at downstairs with the eye portraits encased in jewels. As she leaves she notices the streets empty, but notices more people dressed up in Victorian era costumes. She is supposed to be meeting her friend at 7:00 P.M. and with an hour to kill she decides to drop by a customer's house who dug up her garden and found a ruby bracelet which she dropped off earlier that day to be appraised. As she is walking she also thinks it's odd that a carriage pulled by horses is out on the deserted street. The address she's dropping by happened to be the home of some Pre-Raphaelite artists and his muse in the Victorian time period. It's raining and as she opens the gate she twists her ankle and falls down.

As a young woman in the house comes out to help Jeannine out of the rain into her home. Jeannine once inside the house notices that the furniture is from the Victorian era in style. The young woman who helped her up and in the house is dressed in Victorian era clothing. It has dawned on her when the Pre-Raphaelite artists come home who live there it strikes her that one of the artists is the same man from the museum earlier with the Sapphire blue eyes. He is the artist that painted the portrait they both were viewing in the gallery and they recognize each other. Furthermore, she is told that her customer that lives at that address that found the ruby bracelet and dropped it off looking for an appraisal doesn't live there. Jeannine asks them for a newspaper so she can read the date and it's eighty years earlier in 1867. She produces a playbill ticket and receipt date stamped 1947, from her pocketbook. She is perplexed along with her hosts and they debate about what year it is with all of them curious as to how a woman claiming it's 1947 and her hosts being just as surprised the way Jeannine is dressed. With her swollen ankle she can't walk so they decide she can try to find out in the morning how she can return to her life. In the meantime there is a magnetic pull between Jeannine and the artist she met viewing his painting who she now recognizes from her education and from working in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

At this point after much back and forth about the date of what year it is it becomes obvious that Jeannine has slipped through a portal to 1867 from her life in 1947. How is this possible? How did she time travel eighty years back in the past to 1867 to meet the artist who painted one of her favorite portraits? How can she return back to her life in 1947? She doesn't know how to return but has an idea who might help her which she will seek in the morning. She has an intriguing dinner with these Pre-Raphaelite painter artists with a muse who is also the mistress of the owner of the property. There's nothing that can be done for the evening so the muse gives her some sleep wear and shows her to her room. You'll have to read this outstanding historical novel to find out how Jeannine can be the only one who can straddle both timelines. Each timeline of which has different significance with meaning for which she is drawn to. You will learn about the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Victorian era and their gorgeous art and artists that are famous throughout the past and present. You will learn about the history in regards to the beautiful jewelry encased eye portraits and other precious artifacts on exhibit in the Victoria and Albert Museum. There is so much to love about this story that I have left out not to spoil it and also for the sake of this review being long. I will say that it hooked me from the beginning and I highly recommend it. I'll leave you with one last thought and it is that Jeannine has reasons for wanting to stay in both of the time-frames, but will she choose or will the choice be made for her? I can't say enough great things about this masterpiece of a historical novel. I LOVED IT! This story is enchanting and was like reading an enjoyable adult fairy tale.

Publication Date: March 26, 2024! Available to Purchase Now for just $1.99

Thank you to Net Galley, M. J. Rose and Blue Box Press for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. And yes! M. J. Rose you absolutely wrote an intriguing novel, and you did do this novel justice.

#ForgettingtoRemember #MJRose #BlueBoxPress #NetGalleyFORGETTING TO REMEMBER
BY: M. J. ROSE

What an incredible imagination author, M. J. Rose has to keep writing stunning artistic and beautiful novels such as this one called, Forgetting to Remember. This was such a delightful reading experience that I enjoyed every minute I spent immersed in it while reading. You can tell this author has an extensive background with jewels, Art history and a multitude of museums the world over. In this dual timeline one of which takes place in the present in 1947. In the other timeline it precedes the present timeline by eighty years in 1867. I'm probably incorrect in describing this terrific historical novel as a dual time line, because now that I'm reflecting over what I just read I think the most accurate moniker is to say it's a time travel novel.

It features the same main female protagonist in both 1947, and 1867, with the focus of a widow who is named Jeannine Maycroft. She works at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as having risen up through the ranks to have a prestigious job there as Keeper of the Metalworks. Jeannine has to be somewhere in her mid thirties to maybe late thirties. I'm guessing since the novel doesn't say. Her love interest which thankfully M. J. Rose portrays it as a clean romance which is passionate and deep that is extremely rare. Jeannine has suffered too much loss in her recent years. She lives in London and her mother, both sets of grandparents, her brother and only sibling, and her husband have all died. Her job is important to her and her position at the Victoria and Albert Museum gives her access to most of the museum. Her father is often away on digs in Egypt as an archaeologist making him the only family member left to her. Jeannine straddles two timelines in which I've left the reader to discover how she is able to do so. This novel sparkles with magic, love, passion, war and Art history of famous art, literature and poetry depicting enormous charm and intrigue.

It's Halloween in London in 1947, when Jeannine and a male colleague are summoned by their boss Mr. Gibbons. He calls Jeannine into a 4:00 P.M. meeting informing her that another employee who she used to date is going to be taking her position and she'll be demoted. I loved how assertive Jeannine was about not accepting a demotion simply because she has done excellent work earning her position in a job she loves. I loved how Jeannine stood her ground feeling she didn't deserve to be replaced by a soldier who returned from World War II, needing a position and taking her job. She finds it unfair that this colleague has wanted to undermine her to gain her position. After possibly jeopardizing her job her boss comes up with a solution. Jeannine and the male colleague both will compete by curating a themed art exhibit and whichever one wins gets to have her current job.

Jeannine goes down in the museum's basement to search a locked vault where she discovers miniature portraits of eyes encased in jewels brooches and knows that she will pick fourteen of her favorite ones since the contest is on February 14, 1947, on Valentines day. These miniature eye portraits she discovered with her knowledge gained from studying at Oxford in history, with an additional education in Art history. She discovered these were brooches that lovers would've commissioned to be painted and given as tokens of love with the miniature eye portraits to their secret lovers. There is one of about forty-two that Jeannine feels drawn to with a purple sapphire blue eye surrounded by opals that dazzle like fire in their striking colors variegation that dazzles like fire. As she is opening up the clasp in the back of this particular brooch, she mistakenly sticks her finger and drops of blood fall onto her stiff white blouse. She locks up the vault and realizes that everyone has left the museum for the day except her. She decides to go into the gallery to view her favorite Pre-Raphaelite painting and notices some of the other paintings have been replaced on the other walls.

As Jeannine is viewing her favorite Victorian era painting she quietly sheds a few tears when this gentleman offers her his hanker chief. It's Halloween so she thinks that this man who is dressed up in Victorian era clothing must have gone unnoticed by the security guards since the museum is closed. There's something familiar about his eyes. They are an uncanny match to the violet blue eye she just looked at downstairs with the eye portraits encased in jewels. As she leaves she notices the streets empty, but notices more people dressed up in Victorian era costumes. She is supposed to be meeting her friend at 7:00 P.M. and with an hour to kill she decides to drop by a customer's house who dug up her garden and found a ruby bracelet which she dropped off earlier that day to be appraised. As she is walking she also thinks it's odd that a carriage pulled by horses is out on the deserted street. The address she's dropping by happened to be the home of some Pre-Raphaelite artists and his muse in the Victorian time period. It's raining and as she opens the gate she twists her ankle and falls down.

As a young woman in the house comes out to help Jeannine out of the rain into her home. Jeannine once inside the house notices that the furniture is from the Victorian era in style. The young woman who helped her up and in the house is dressed in Victorian era clothing. It has dawned on her when the Pre-Raphaelite artists come home who live there it strikes her that one of the artists is the same man from the museum earlier with the Sapphire blue eyes. He is the artist that painted the portrait they both were viewing in the gallery and they recognize each other. Furthermore, she is told that her customer that lives at that address that found the ruby bracelet and dropped it off looking for an appraisal doesn't live there. Jeannine asks them for a newspaper so she can read the date and it's eighty years earlier in 1867. She produces a playbill ticket and receipt date stamped 1947, from her pocketbook. She is perplexed along with her hosts and they debate about what year it is with all of them curious as to how a woman claiming it's 1947 and her hosts being just as surprised the way Jeannine is dressed. With her swollen ankle she can't walk so they decide she can try to find out in the morning how she can return to her life. In the meantime there is a magnetic pull between Jeannine and the artist she met viewing his painting who she now recognizes from her education and from working in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

At this point after much back and forth about the date of what year it is it becomes obvious that Jeannine has slipped through a portal to 1867 from her life in 1947. How is this possible? How did she time travel eighty years back in the past to 1867 to meet the artist who painted one of her favorite portraits? How can she return back to her life in 1947? She doesn't know how to return but has an idea who might help her which she will seek in the morning. She has an intriguing dinner with these Pre-Raphaelite painter artists with a muse who is also the mistress of the owner of the property. There's nothing that can be done for the evening so the muse gives her some sleep wear and shows her to her room. You'll have to read this outstanding historical novel to find out how Jeannine can be the only one who can straddle both timelines. Each timeline of which has different significance with meaning for which she is drawn to. You will learn about the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Victorian era and their gorgeous art and artists that are famous throughout the past and present. You will learn about the history in regards to the beautiful jewelry encased eye portraits and other precious artifacts on exhibit in the Victoria and Albert Museum. There is so much to love about this story that I have left out not to spoil it and also for the sake of this review being long. I will say that it hooked me from the beginning and I highly recommend it. I'll leave you with one last thought and it is that Jeannine has reasons for wanting to stay in both of the time-frames, but will she choose or will the choice be made for her? I can't say enough great things about this masterpiece of a historical novel. I LOVED IT! This story is enchanting and was like reading an enjoyable adult fairy tale.

Publication Date: March 26, 2024! Available to Purchase Now for just $1.99 for a limited time on Kindle to be rewarded with a mesmerizing masterpiece that dazzles and electrifies. Once you begin reading you won't want to stop. You will be transported to the Victorian era and learn about world famous artists from the Pre-Raphaelite era and spend time in the Victoria and Albert Museum surrounded by beauty. as only this talented author completely has weaved an unforgettable historical novel with a touch of magic.

Thank you to Net Galley, M. J. Rose and Blue Box Press for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. And yes! M. J. Rose you absolutely wrote an intriguing novel, and you did do this novel justice.

#ForgettingtoRemember #MJRose #BlueBoxPress #NetGalley

Forgetting to Remember by M J Rose is an absolute treasure! Her use of words and phrases paints a vivid tapestry of the worlds she creates. This tale is another in the tales of the daughters of La Lune. Women who bear special gifts of the universe. Jeannine lives in London at the end of WW2 but love and magic have a way of allowing souls to connect and traverse time. Her love of art and especially the works of Ashe Lloyd Lewis are the basis for her time travel romance. Rose is a masterful story teller who weaves together a fascinating tale of family secrets, friendship, mystery and love. It’s a fabulous tale!

3.5 stars/ 5

This book was quite interesting and I liked the idea a lot. However, what bothered me was (but it only happened once, so I got over it and finished the books) was the fact that corsets are considered something really uncomfortable and so, the heroine won't wear one, even if it's not accurate for the period. I would understand if the main character wasn't a historian. I mean, she's not working in the fashion department, but I would expect her to know how inaccurate that idea is. So, for me, this is poor research done by the author.

The story's main idea is that the MC faces some issues at work, simply because a man wants her place. While trying to prove herself she manages to travel back in time, and the power that helps her get there is love. It was not to cheese, I actually like that.

If you like time travel, woman empowerment and a sweet love story, this book is surely for you

"Forgetting to Remember" is a wonderfully written time travel novel, with one timeline set toward the end of WWII and the other set eighty years earlier.

The main character, Jeannine Maycroft, is facing the potential loss of her position at the Victoria & Albert Museum, thanks to a less qualified man returning from the war. England's commitment to ensure returning soldiers either received their old jobs back or one of equal standing means that she may be forced out of the position she worked so hard to get.

The museum's director decides to pit Jeannine and the other contender for the position against one another in a Valentine's Day exhibit. Whoever's exhibit is better received will win the coveted position of Keeper of the Metalworks.

However, in pulling together her exhibit, one of the pieces she decides to use has a strange pull for her. When it turns out to be a portal to the past, she finds herself in 1867 meeting none other than her favorite pre-Raphaelite artist, Ashe Lloyd Lewis, an ancestor of her dear friend and mentor, Clio.

One of the things I truly enjoy about reading fiction is when I can be entertained at the same time as educated. And this story delivered on both! I had never heard of eye portraits before, nor had an artist friend of mine. Out of curiosity, I had to dig into the topic more, which honestly seems a bit creepy, but was interesting all the same!

This is the first book of M.J. Rose's that I've read, but if this is representative of her writing, I look forward to reading more!

Thank you to M.J. Rose, Blue Box Press, and NetGalley for an advance review copy!

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

M.J.Rose is one of my favorite authors. This book is rich in historic detail, just the right amount of romance, jewelry! Time travel!.London Museum!

A really fine, fine novel.

Mic. Drop... M.J. Rose's new book "Forgetting to Remember " is a beautifully blended time travel story. I loved absolutely everything about it 10/10!

What a great, entertaining story! Forgetting to Remember is full of fun stuff - time travel, history, war, art, romance, competition, mystery, family, strong characters and bad guys.

The story begins in a museum in London in 1947, so the characters are dealing with the aftermath of WWII. The main character is intrigued with some art that she is preparing for an exhibition and ends up time traveling to London in 1867. She meets some of her favorite painters while she is in 1867. and falls in love with one of them. The love story is really amazing and powerful. The descriptions of architecture and fashion from 1867 and 1947 are intriguing - she spends time in the museum and a house in both time frames.

This is my first book by M. J. Rose but will not be my last.

I love a duel timeline narrative, but I'm always a little skeptical when it comes to time travel. I should have known MJ Rose wouldn't disappoint me because it goes without saying that I love her books and Forgetting To Remember is no exception. She beautifully weaves the timelines in a story about love, loss, memory and mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley for the privilege of reading an advance copy of Forgetting to Remember
by M.J. Rose in return for an honest review of the book.

It was beautifully written entailing two timelines - one in 1947 and the other in Victorian London. I have recently been to London and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum where the main character, Jeanine, was employed as Keeper of the Metalworks.

Jeanine finds herself thrown into a competition with a colleague at the V&A Museum for a display in February. While curating her display Jeanine falls back in time to the 1800's where she meets many famous artists many of whom have their work displayed in the museum. A beautiful love story enfolds between Jeanine and Ashe Lewis but also with her deceased grandparents.

This was truly a beautiful story about life, love and savoring every minute of every day.

I've read a book of M.J. Rose years ago that wasn't really for me but when I read the blurb of this book I had to read it and I was not dissapointed! This book has amazing cozy romance vibes which I'm there for! I love historical fiction and WW2 is one of my favorite periods to read about. This book was mostly set a few years after the war but the story of Jeannine was greatly influenced by the war. She is a great FMC. She is stubborn, in her 30s , a careerwoman but also a romantic at heart eventhough she doesn't think so herself. It was a pretty slow read but I loved the flow of the book. The romance part of the story started very late and that's the only thing I liked a little less but it still is an amazing story!