Love Water Memory

Title: Love Water Memory
Author: Jennie Shortridge
Publisher: Gallery / Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: January 14, 2014
ISBN: 9781451684841
Number of Pages: 352
How I Got It: SheReads

Goodreads Summary: 
If you could do it all over again, would you still choose him?

At age thirty-nine, Lucie Walker has no choice but to start her life over when she comes to, up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay, with no idea how she got there or who she is. Her memory loss is caused by an emotional trauma she knows nothing about, and only when handsome, quiet Grady Goodall arrives at the hospital does she learn she has a home, a career, and a wedding just two months away. What went wrong? Grady seems to care for her, but Lucie is no more sure of him than she is of anything. As she collects the clues of her past self, she unlocks the mystery of what happened to her. The painful secrets she uncovers could hold the key to her future—if she trusts her heart enough to guide her.

My Review:

I like a good amnesia story and Lucie's was different from most I'd read before. While a lot of the stories focus on the trauma that caused the amnesia, I really liked the focus on Lucie's emotional journey of self-(re)discovery. She held her feelings in for so long and controlled her emotions through her search for perfectionism. The pre-amnesia Lucie is recognizable in millions of women trying to succeed in their career, deny themselves any culinary indulgences in order to maintain a slim physique, and obssessing over their youth by shopping for clothing, make-up and cosmetic procedures. The laid-back Lucie represents the true inner happiness so many women are searching for by trying for more, more, more, when in fact if we let go of materialism, our search for perfectionism, and make peace with our feelings, we can become our most authentic selves. As for Grady, I alternated feeling sorry for him and wanting to kick him to tell him to open up to Lucie. Then I thought "Could you imagine?" I mean women are complicated in general and now he's given this situation? Poor guy, I guess the best thing he could do was to keep quiet! 

I liked this book for how it made me daydream and think what I would do if I suddenly didn't remember anything....

** I received this book in exchange for an honest review **