Love Affair With Ficti

FORGETTING AUGUST by J.L. Berg (December 1, 2015; Forever E-Book; Lost & Found: Book #1)

She can forgive, but can she forget?
Some days, Everly still thinks she sees him. In the food court at the mall, or in a car speeding past as the light changes. It only lasts a second, but when it happens, she slips back to a time when she was ruled-and nearly ruined-by August Kincaid. And it doesn’t matter that she’s moved on, that she’s about to marry another man. In those moments the only thing she can do to regain control is take a deep breath and remind herself that August can’t hurt her-because he’s in a coma. Except that he’s not anymore.

August is awake. With no memories, he sets out to solve the mystery of his lost life. He unearths a photograph of a beautiful redhead named Everly and knows instinctively that she’s the key. But when he finds her, the August she describes is more monster than man.

Tortured by the thought of having hurt her, August wants only to become the man Everly deserves. As the new August emerges, Everly glimpses the person she first fell in love with. But can she trust that this August is real? When the final secret of their shared past is revealed, one of them will make a choice that changes their future forever . . .

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Excerpt:

My hand shook as I pulled the box into my lap, preparing myself for what may lay hidden within.  I felt nervous and sick with anticipation.  I suddenly wanted to flee, but where would I go?  And how would I get there?  Moving my leg took more concentration than I was willing to admit and I was still attached to what looked to be a hundred monitoring devices.

The box stared back at me, waiting…wondering when I would crack its lip and finally divulge the secrets it had been keeping for so long.

What if I didn’t like what I found? What if I did?

Taking a deep breath, I placed my hand on the lip and pulled, knowing there was only one way to find out.

All neatly arranged inside, I found clothes, a wallet and a scattering of other personal belongings.  I immediately went for the wallet, knowing it would hold the most information. Everything else forgotten, my fingers traced the smooth edges of the soft leather as I bent it open.

There staring back at me was a picture of my own face.  Because of the mirror across the room near the sink, I’d managed to catch a glimpse of my reflection a time or two since awaking here hours earlier.

The man looking up at me on the California driver’s license photo was a stark contrast to the person I was today.

Cold empty green eyes looked through me, as if the world and everything in it were beneath him.  With a crisp white shirt and flawless green tie and jacket, there was no smile permeating through the lens–not even a hint of emotion was showing.  My now long, unkempt hair had been trimmed short and neat, matching the impeccable persona that could be seen even through the tiny picture.

My attention turned towards the address.

1023 Sea Cliff Lane, San Francisco.

I looked out the window, trying to see if anything beyond its paned glass brought back any hints or memories of a life I once led.

San Francisco.

Even though the driver’s license confirmed what the nurse had already told me, I still felt no connection with the city below.  Nothing called out to me, nothing held my attention.

Was there anyone down there that would remember my name?

I dug further through the wallet, finding a couple hundred dollars in cash, as well as several credit cards and a few membership cards to places I’d never heard of, but apparently belonged to.

Or had belonged to.

What happened to your life when you went into a coma?  Did you disappear?  Cease to exist or did life carry on?  I looked at the address on my driver’s license and wondered if I still had a home…a bank account?  I wasn’t dead, but who had been paying my bills for the last two?

Did I have money to pay the bills?

Fuck.

Suddenly, all I wanted was to slip back into that coma and never wake up again.

And then I saw her.

It was just a glimpse at first, the edge of a picture sticking out from inside the wallet–a wisp of hair that had me pulling at it to see it properly.

With the golden gate bridge as our backdrop, a much younger, carefree version of myself held a girl in my arms and suddenly the world didn’t feel so lonely anymore.  Copper red hair tumbled down her back like a fiery mane.  Her bright blue eyes sparkled as if she held untold secrets waiting to be revealed.  In my own eyes, I didn’t see harshness or the rigid void of nothing.  I saw her, reflecting back in spades, the love radiating between us.

I flipped the photo over, hoping for something…anything that would tell me who this girl was.

There was nothing but a date and a name.

August and Everly – 2005

Everly.

She had a name.

Now all I had to do was find her.

Review:

Jill’s Review

J.L. Berg writes romances that you just lose yourself in. I love picking up her books because I know that I am going to get lost between the pages. Drawn right into the relationships she paints so vividly.

With Forgetting August, JL Berg once again captivated me right from the start. I was drawn right into this unique story and never wanted to come up for air. The storyline here is not your typical romance, though there is romance. It is not your average second-chance romance, though as Everly and August reacquaint themselves this too is there. It is not your typical romantic suspense, though the intensity and drama are there from the beginning and secrets unravel throughout the book. It is just something uniquely its own. J.L. Berg spun a tale with so much emotion that you get swept right up into the drama and intensity of the situation going on.

August has been out of the picture for the last two years and Everly has moved on with her life. She is all set to marry another man, but she keeps thinking that she sees August wherever she goes. When this happens she zones out of the present time and finds herself in the grip of the past, a past fraught with memories of August. And not good ones. Memories that she is trying desperately to escape, to move on from, to become a stronger person than she was then. Because August can’t get to her now, he can’t hurt her anymore. He hasn’t been around for the last two years because… he is in a coma. Or is he?

August has awoken from two years in a coma. He doesn’t remember anything – not his name, not his face, not anything about his former life. But as soon as he sees a picture of Everly he just knows that she is important and he needs to find her.

Right from the prologue you are taken on a journey that has your heart pounding and your mind racing, as you try to piece together everything that is going on and everything that happened in the past. What secrets are they keeping? What don’t they know? Will they reunite? Are they even meant to be together? Who is August really? AHHHHHHH! As you swipe swipe swipe away at those pages and then… then… YES.. she did THAT! She left us with a big ol’ WTF moment at the end of the book! But it was the right move, because while I may have screamed, there is so much more left to August and Everly’s journey. So much more that we need to find out. It would have ruined the story if it was either condensed into one book or if this one was tied up pretty with a Happily For Now… just to make readers happy. (And the story does wrap up in the next book,this is book 1 in a duet, Remembering Everly.) August and Everly’s journey isn’t easy or pretty. It is raw, emotional, real and tears them apart even as it builds them both back up. The complexities deserve the attention of this duet and you won’t be sorry.

So I really don’t want to say too much more about the storyline because half of the enjoyment is experiencing it for yourself. But I do know that the synopsis hints at things that can be huge triggers for people. So let’s be clear here… as we discover their past we find out why Everly is so jumpy. Why she is so afraid of August. And yes she has good reason. Yes their once beautiful and loving relationship deteriorated toward the end of their time together. Yes he did some things that are hard to understand and hard to forgive. But no actual physical abuse took place. This is part and parcel to the storyline. The other one you may be wondering about is… the love triangle. Clearly there is going to be some amount of it as we know Everly is engaged from the synopsis. Just know it isn’t your typical love triangle, and I don’t feel that it will bother people. Once again it fits well into the storyline. Everly had moved on with her life as August’s life was on hold for years in a coma.

I highly recommend Forgetting August. I read this in one sitting, never once budging from cushy reading corner. I didn’t want any disturbances I just wanted to absorb what JL Berg so powerfully put to paper. You truly do not want to miss out on this one!

I received a complimentary copy of Forgetting August in exchange for an honest review.

Forever Romance and J.L. Berg invite readers to join them for a Facebook party on December 9 from 7 – 10 PM EST to celebrate FORGETTING AUGUST. In addition to fun guests and giveaways, there will be a great discussion about the book as J.L. Berg takes fan questions. RSVP here. 

August and Everly’s story continues in a breathtaking sequel, REMEMBERING EVERLY, on sale March 1:

After a stunning cliffhanger ending in Forgetting August, USA Today bestselling author J.L. Berg delivers the happily ever after that fans have been waiting for in the sequel, REMEMBERING EVERLY.

He’s forgotten his past, but it hasn’t forgotten him. After losing two years of his life trapped in a coma, August Kincaid will do anything to win back the love of his life. But his past threatens to destroy his second chance at happiness, it’s Everly who is in danger of paying for his crimes.

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About the author:

Author J.L. Berg is a California native living in the South.  She is the author of the self-pubbed Ready series, which has sold over 100,000 copies.  Married to her high school sweetheart. She and her husband have two beautiful girls that drive them batty on a daily basis. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her nose stuck in a romance book, in a yoga studio or devouring anything chocolate.

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