Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Forget & Forgive
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: GallagherWitt Publishing LLC
LENGTH: 4 hours and 58 minutes
RELEASE DATE: February 7, 2024
BLURB:
It’s been a year to the day since Matteo Segreto’s biggest mistake ruined the best thing he ever had, and nothing’s been the same. All he can do is try to move on, but his world is empty without the love of his life. Alone and consumed by regret, Matteo would do anything to undo the past.
Then his ex shows up, panicked and begging for his help… with no memory of their breakup.
Owen Carter just woke up to a world that’s all wrong. Everything in his condo is different. The streets outside have changed. Worst of all, his boyfriend clearly doesn’t live with him anymore.
To his horror, he discovers that a year has passed since he went to bed last night. His memory of that entire time is wiped clean, and only a receipt from a creepy fae shop offers any clue as to how or why.
While they work to recover Owen’s memory, the exes slam face first into the past that Matteo wishes he could forget. Despite the hurt and betrayal, they also can’t help but remember how much they once loved each other.
But if Owen gets his memory back and truly remembers the hell Matteo put him through, is there enough love or forgiveness to keep them together?
Forget & Forgive is a 50,000-word standalone amnesia romance with fantasy/paranormal elements.
Content warning: infidelity (off-screen and past, but major part of the story)
REVIEW:
Owen wakes up and discovers that everything around him has changed and he has no recollection of it. He doesn’t recognize his street anymore. The pictures in his condo aren’t the ones he recalls from the night before. But worst of all, his boyfriend Matteo’s presence isn’t there at all – despite him remembering going to bed with him the night before after having picked him up from the airport from a conference he had attended in Toronto.
He really needs to talk to Matteo but his number isn’t even in his contacts. He does know where Matteo works though so he heads right to the clinic. Owen is shocked by Matteo’s picture on the clinic website – he looks gaunt! When he seems him in person, it’s clear that Matteo doesn’t expect to see Owen and he’s a bit wary. When Owen tells him what he remembers, Matteo has to tell him that the “night before” that he remembers happened a year ago. Owen has lost a year of his life.
Owen suspects that they have broken up but he doesn’t know why. Matteo hesitates but tells Owen that yes they broke up deciding they just weren’t right for each other. With Owen already in a panic, Matteo can’t pile on and confess the real reason they broke up. He’s not trying to sidestep the blame, but he’s worried how Owen will react when he’s already clearly on the edge.
Matteo is on his way to confess everything when Owen discovers the truth and he’s furious. Matteo understands Owen’s anger – he just insists that he wants to help Owen recover his memories and try to figure out what happened there. But a funny thing happens on the way to recovering memories. Matteo has the conversations he probably should have had the year before. And he does make good on his promise to help Owen despite what that might mean to this new found truce.
This is an unusual story of memory loss and second chances. The premise was very interesting and I was hooked from the beginning waiting to see how this would play out. Owen is dealing with a lot when he has no recall of the previous year and Matteo is genuine in his remorse and his desire to help Owen – even knowing that recovering Owen’s memory will probably lead right back to their complete estrangement. After all, it’s no more than he deserves. Matteo feels even more guilty when he knows that Owen will have a lot to deal with and he doesn’t want to take advantage of the situation of Owen’s memory loss either. It’s a tightrope he is walking. Matteo and Owen have a lot to work through once everything is out in the open and it’s going to take some different strategies and approaches to get to a point where trust can possibly be rebuilt.
Michael Ferraiuolo does his usual brilliant job with these characters. Owen is clearly distraught with the loss of his memories. I loved the way this narrator was able to imbue Owen with these divergent emotional swings – panic, anger, despair. He’s all over the place. Matteo feels so guilty for what he’s done and he has to relive it again as Owen’s knowledge and memories resurface. He was so believably contrite. I loved how they were able to communicate with honesty and care and respect as they dealt with the past. Such a lovely performance. Recommended.
RATING: 
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