Review: Things I Can’t Forget – Miranda Kenneally

Posted March 27, 2013 by Andi in Review / 0 Comments

Review: Things I Can’t Forget – Miranda KenneallyThings I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #3
Published by Sourcebooks Fire
Published: March 1, 2013
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Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different...

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt - with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy...

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.




Fantastic. Things I Can’t Forget was really great. It was different than what Kenneally has written in the past focusing hugely on religious beliefs but even with that difference it 100% had the Kenneally feel. Cute boy? Check. Emotional Turmoil? Check. Character Crossover? Check. Add in the religious aspect, which I am personally fascinated by, although not religious myself, and you have a can’t miss story. And She definitely didn’t miss.

Things I Can’t Forget is Kate story. She is a good girl, the one that has always done the right thing. She is basically a parents dream. But what people don’t know is that Kate has done something she finds morally wrong and is keeping it a secret. Separated from her best friend and working as a camp counselor at Cumberland Creek Summer Camp, Kate struggles with the guilt of what she has done and what she knows all while trying to figure out just what she believes in. Add in the added hormonal stress of Matt, the cute counselor that is from Kate’s past(he was her first kiss) and Kate is in for a whirlwind of a summer figuring out just who she is and that things aren’t so cut in dry as they were when you were a kid.

Honestly, I didn’t really like Kate all that much in the beginning. Much like Parker told her, I found her very judgmental. She seemed to see everything one way and one way only and didn’t see how people could choose to live other lifestyles.  However, what I did like about Kate was her ability to grow and develop which thankfully she did. As she got to know people like Parker, Will, Matt, she started to see that people have their own faith and it is okay for them to believe whatever way they want and to make any decisions that they want and it isn’t up to her to judge that or find it morally right. She can be there for someone or not, but that is really all that she has control over. I thank Parker for that and the adorable Matt! Oh Matt, Matt, Matt. Mister Perfectly Imperfect himself. I seriously ♥ him to no end! He was not only smart and adorable but caring and funny and charming. He was the complete package with faults in all. Because of him, I found Kate more tolerable in the beginning then I think I would have. His feelings and actions towards her…swoon!  I can’t gush about him enough. Seriously, I really can’t.  With the addition of Matt and the way he celebrated his faith, Kenneally showed the reader and Kate that there were many ways to believe in a higher power and there isn’t one more right than the other. She showed that there is a time that comes when everyone has to decide what to believe, how to believe and the extent of those beliefs. There is a time to grow up.

We all have that list of writers that whatever they write and put out there to buy we will. Well, Miranda Kenneally is one of those for me. She writes it, I want it. With that said it is nice to add she has yet to disappoint! Three books written, 3 books read and I’m a very pleased reader. The thing is that no matter what the subject is or how sometimes mislead the main character is, Kenneally seems to get it and piece it all together in a way that works. She gets her readers and knows what they want so really she is kind of unstoppable e in my eyes. Although Things I Can’t Forget wasn’t my favorite of her books, it still was an awesome story of growing up and that place when you must start deciding for yourself what you believe in and what you stand for. I look forward to more, more, more from this awesome author and storyteller.

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