“Memory Thief” was a lot better than I had originally expected considering the not-so-great reviews from previous readers. What I initially drew me in this Young Adult Fantasy novel was the unique concept on how memories are stolen and the lead heroine Etta journey to join forces with the Shadows, who run the black-market of memories in the Mines which is a hidden underground city thus them being known as the best thieves in the Four Realms. It was refreshing and I immensely enjoyed that portion of the book but what I wasn’t a big fan of was the ending, lead heroine herself and the instant love, instant bond, instant everything romance with Reid the author created. The heroine was a broken emotional mess that was too trustworthy and she opened up far too quickly with Reid in the midst of the story which created an unnecessary romance that would have been better without in my opinion. And lastly the ending. What the hell was that. It was rushed, lackluster at best and to be honest sloppy as hell. Needless to say, "Memory Thief" was somewhat sorta kinda decent read with flaws that depending on the reader could be hard to ignore.

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audio (teen fiction - magical dystopia adventure)
the audio puts me to sleep, though there is nothing wrong with the narration.

This is a somewhat satisfactory journey-type story starring a teen with the power of being able to sift through and steal memories of other people, in a dystopian militarist state where memories are frequently auctioned off, either with or without the owner's consent. There is of course the unexpected love interest, and things turn out to be not quite as they were told, and problems arise between the couple as you would expect.

in the second half I got really tired of the memories being repeated (even more so because I had to go back and re-listen to parts after I fell asleep), and then I got really tired of waiting for the story to end as the author took awhile to describe how Love and Flowers (in the form of a magical medicine that healed everyone's PTSD and mental health issues) smoothed everything over and everyone was happy (except for the villain) and all the orphan children got adopted into families, even.

I maybe would have like the story better if I read the print version; but since I didn't really connect with the characters or the story it worked ok as a sleep aid. ( )

I try to express only my most honest opinion in a spoiler free way. If you feel anything in my review is a spoiler and is not already hidden in spoiler brackets please let me know. Thank you.

I liked this one. It was a little slow starting for me, and while it never really picked up, it did get more interesting as the book went along.

I think the majority of the plot and the whole memory aspect of the story fell a little flat for me. What really kept me reading was the characters and the relationships between. Not just the romance, which was sweet but a little dull, but all the relationship between them. The good ones and the bad ones.

The memories of her friends that she flashes back to are hard to keep up with. Even now I don't remember the names of like three out of four of them.

I loved Reid though. He was such a sweet, loving and trusting man. Especially after everything he knew about Etta. He never gave up on her or her character.

I'm glad I read this. It was an easier read than I was anticipating and while I don't think that I'll dwell on it for long. It will probably stick with me for awhile.
How I choose my rating:
1* Hated it. Had to force myself to finish it.
2** Didn't really like it. Didn't hate it but not sure why I finished it other then for some closure.
3*** I liked it. I had some issues with it, but as a whole it was good. I probably won't reread again ever, but there is a chance I might finish the series. (If part of one) But if not it's not a huge loss.
4**** I really liked this book. Maybe not a work of genius, but highly entertaining. I might reread this again, and I will finish the series. (If part of one) I would recommend to those I know hold interest in this books content.
5***** I loved this book. I found little to no issues with it at all. I will definitely be rereading this and probably more than once. I will finish the series and reread it multiple times. (If part of one) I will recommend this book to EVERYONE!!!! ( )

Blog review: https://trishadoeseverythingbutstudy2.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/february-2021-rev...

This book was bad.

I don't even want to write any more, but because this has been impacting my review writing for a lot of time now, I'm just going to up and write it.

Oh, where do I even start.

Etta cries. A lot. There is instalove. There is a stupid love interest. There is a stupid MC. There is an even stupider plot. The powers don't make sense. The memory thing has so many loopholes, most of which I do not even remember because it has been a month, and frankly o don't want to think about this book any more than is necessary.

The MC makes stupid decisions, then moves on to make even stupider decisions, and if it was earthly possible, she makes an even stupider decisions.

This book is filled with Etta's stupid decisions and incessant crying and illogical decisions, punctuated with irritating love declarations that come after 5 days of knowing the guy.

I just realised that you might be reading this thinking it'll be a coherent and logical review, and it doesn't pain me the slightest to tell you that that won't be happening, because this review will be anything but coherent, and I've made my peace with it.

Now, where was I?

Yes, the illogical decisions.

I tell you, if Etta could just wait and take well thought out decisions, half of the deaths in this could be avoided.

But nOoOoOo.

Honestly, the instalove in this was so instalove, that o felt like raising some of my ratings for other books that I read and rounded down my ratings for because I didn't enjoy the instalove.

5 days. FIVE f*cking days. That's all they've known each other for. And you lUrVe each other?!?!

The thing is, I waited so long to read this, with such high expectations, because telepathy/empathy like powers is like one of my favourite tropes. And adding memory shenanigans to the mix?!?! Sign me up! (But like not for this book because it was a freaking disaster).

We had such extremely forthcoming characters with nicely timed flashbacks(am I blatantly plagiarising my status updates without an ounce of regret at not remembering what all I had to write here? Hell yes I am.)

This book was just so convenient. Everything falls nicely into place, and that is not what books are supposed to be like. There needs to be unpredictability. There needs to be plot lines that don't fall in to place. There needs to be more to the book than conveniently timed flashbacks that explain exactly what's going on, without you having to put the slightest bit of thought into the book.

I almost dnfed this book so many times, but in the end I slaved through because it was short. So I thought just finish it.

That was a day of my life I'll never get back.

Anyway, I'd first rated this three stars, but upon further reflection, this does not deserve three stars. Thus the new two star rating. Also, this has made me feel that I need to update my ratings for a lot of books because my standards have obviously been too low for ratings, and way lower than my enjoyment levels.

I'm just stopping here because I don't even know what to say anymore. Good bye, and have a good day. I don't want to recommend this book, but if you enjoy a short storyline that doesn't require you to apply brainpower and that you just want to passively read to pass the time, and you don't mind incessant crying, then this is for you!!! ( )

I am intrigued by the idea of a person (rather than a disease) being able to steal memories. That’s what made me pick up this book and I’m so glad that I did. I loved it. It had a little bit of everything; adventure, romance, heartbreak, twists....
There were lots of passages that stuck out for me but these two were my favourites:

“If I dwelled on my regrets, I wouldn’t have the strength to get out of bed every morning. We can’t forget what we’ve done, but it’s what we do with those regrets that mould us. We’re given a past to learn from and grow, but sometimes the greatest mistake can change your future for the better.”

and
“Hardly a minute goes by when I don't think of him, but in a way isn't that a lovely thing Julietta? To be so loved that you're always near one's thoughts? I see him every day through the memories we made together,... ( )