2023 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Longlist
Perfect for fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Five Feet Apart, this tender solo debut by the coauthor of New York Times bestseller She Gets the Girl is a "punch to the gut in the best way" (Booklist, starred review) about the strength of love and the power of choosing each other, against odds and obstacles, again and again.
What would you do if you forgot the love of your life ever even existed?
Stevie and Nora had a love. A secret, epic, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. They also had a plan: to leave their small, ultra-conservative town and families behind after graduation and move to California, where they could finally stop hiding that love.
But then Stevie has a terrible fall. And when she comes to, she can remember nothing of the last two years-not California, not coming to terms with her sexuality, not even Nora. Suddenly, Stevie finds herself in a life she doesn't quite understand, one where she's estranged from her parents, drifting away from her friends, lying about the hours she works, and headed towards a future that isn't at all what her fifteen-year-old self would have envisioned.
And Nora finds herself…forgotten. Can the two beat the odds a second time and find their way back together when "together" itself is just a lost memory? Alyson Derrick is the coauthor of New York Times bestseller She Gets the Girl, Make My Wish Come True, and Joy to the Girls and the author of Forget Me Not, which was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's literature. She was born and raised in Greenville, Pennsylvania. Alyson currently resides in Pennsylvania with her wife, daughters, and dog, Hank. "Natalie Naudus captures Stevie's playfulness and passion toward her secret girlfriend, Nora. The pair are excited about their plan to leave their homophobic Pennsylvania community to find acceptance in California. But an accident robs Stevie of two years of memory, including her feelings for Stevie and her sexuality. Naudus embraces Stevie's confusion and desperate need to fill in the voids. She depicts Nora's constancy before the accident and afterward reads Nora's unsent letters to Stevie with sorrow. The distant tone she gives to Stevie's conservative mother reflects the mystery that Stevie can't understand. At the end, Naudus's tender narration works well as Stevie rekindles her relationship with Nora, recalls her sexual orientation, and reconciles with her parents."
