Remember Me by Estelle Laure - NO

Remember Me by Estelle Laure, 272 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2022. $19.

Language: R (72 swears, 23 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Waking up for school should feel like a normal day, but Blue knows that she’s missing something. She just can’t remember what. But the strange note she found in her closet must be a clue. So Blue obeys the note and boards the little blue bus on her seventeenth birthday – one leap of faith that leads to another.

The book cover and summary lead me to believe that the book was mostly about Blue and her romantic relationship. If that’s the focus, I really didn’t like Blue’s story, and I think it would have been better with a sadder ending. However, a new focus arose as I read that felt more like a story of navigating family, pain, and difficult decisions. With this shift, I feel misled, and I’m not sure how satisfied I am with the resolution. Lessons of grief and mental illness are clearly communicated, but I can get that from better books.

Blue and the maternal side of her family are Italian, but her father’s side is not described and is assumed white. Adam is described as “not just white,” and his father is a “brown dude.” Dr. Sweet is described as Black. The mature content ratings is for mention of drug and alcohol use, underage drinking, innuendo, brief description of fondling, mention of rape, discussions of sex, nudity, and oral sex. The violence rating is for mentions of suicide.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen