Ponder: Unforgettable You

Unforgettable You ©2019 is the fifth book in the Silver Springs series by author Brenda Novak. I enjoy reading book series because the locale and many of the characters are familiar. I can immerse myself in the story itself with minimal acclimation to an entirely new cast of characters clamoring for competing space in my brain. I have read the first four books in this series and enjoyed the light reading style.

I completed this book during my plane flight back from North Carolina the Wednesday before Easter. That was soooo long ago (almost a month) so writing this post will really be jogging my memory. Frank is reading the book now, so as he pauses and asks me questions or makes comments, my brain cells are reactivated a bit. He takes more time to finish a book than I do, but a large part of that is due to the fact that he repeatedly misplaces the book, not remembering where he was when he was last reading it.

He'll ask, "Diane, have you seen the book I am reading?"

I'll say, "Which one is that ? What is the title?"

He invariably answers, "I forget." 

His response has become a running joke for this book since the title is Unforgettable You.

The plot is about a single and recently divorced mom Jada and her daughter Maya – who Jada has been raising basically on her own – returning to the town of Jada's high school years. A terrible accident had befallen Jada's younger brother Atticus during a high school party which Jada, her then boyfriend Maddox, and his brother Tobias had attended, leaving Atticus wheel chair bound. Subliminally, Jada's mother Susan blames Jada; openly, she deeply hates and shuns Maddox and Tobias. Susan has developed some failing health problems. Despite the undercurrent of resentment, Cassie dutifully returns to Silver Springs to assist her mother in her local bakery business. Jada's love flame for Maddox still burns, although she must conceal it out of respect for her mother's concept of family loyalty. 

Finding Our Forever ©2017 (post for 12/4/17 3 stars) is the first of three novels in the Silver Springs Series by Brenda Novak. The second was No One But You ©2017 (post for 11/10/17 4 stars). The third was Until You Loved Me ©2017 (post for 11/2/17 5 stars) and the fourth was Right Where We Belong (post for 2/15/18 3 stars). Their commonality was only in the location and that the male hero in each had been a student at New Horizons Boy's Ranch for troubled youth. Maddox, too, had been a resident of New Horizons Boys Ranch before being exiled out of the town of Silver Springs, fired by the influence and power of the unforgiving Susan. Aiyana, the wise and compassionate director of New Horizon's, is opening a parallel school for troubled girls and has offered a job as its director to the now adult and accomplished Maddox. Dare he return to the town of Silver Springs? Dare he and Jada associate with each other and risk being detected by the scornful eye of Susan?

The theme of the book is forgiveness. That is a rather heavy topic but it is skillfully addressed in the light reading style of this author that I like. I rate this book 4 stars. The situation may be a bit contrived but many of the characters' altruistic motives are explored and provoke thought. The plot is no more contrived than Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well and that is accepted as a worthy read even though its plot is quite convoluted. Wow! If you have forgotten or are unfamiliar, read the synopsis in Wikipedia's entry for Shakespeare's play. There are a few risqué exchanges and actions in Unforgettable You, as anticipated in any romance novel, that add to the delight of this book. But if Shakespeare is allowed to do it, why not Brenda Novak? At least the reader does not need to struggle with iambic pentameter.