Reviews

The Forgotten Girl, by Rio Youers

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pbanditp's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars -Harvey is being beaten by thugs to get info about a girl named Sally that he doesn’t know. A girl who, apparently, he has lived with for 5 years. A girl who everyone else seems to remember and thought they were a good couple. A girl with a special ability and a dark past. The past has caught up to Sally and someone wants to destroy her for what she has done.
The Forgotten Girl was an interesting and unique story with some fun and some evil characters that pull you through this thriller. Lots of things happened that I didn’t see coming because I was too interested in what was going on to try to figure anything else out.

b_sparks's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

4.25

Content Warnings

myweereads's review

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4.0

The Forgotten Girl by Rio Youers is about Harvey Anderson, a street performer who enjoys his peaceful life, but everything is turned upside down when he is abducted and beaten by a group of thugs who have spent nine years searching for Harvey's girlfriend, Sally. There's only one problem: Sally is gone and Harvey has no memory of her. His girlfriend has the unique ability to selectively erase a person's memories, and finding the forgotten girl comes at quite a cost?

This book was a fast, jam packed, supernatural thriller which I couldn’t put down. The plot, characters and insane ending perfectly come together to bring an unimaginable novel.

I was lucky to be able to take part in the author Q&A. After reading the first couple of chapters I was very curious about the inspiration behind the book.

Q.When reading it is very apparent the deep connections between the characters, in particular I found the father and son relationship strangely endearing. When writing them, where or whom did you draw your inspiration from?

A.I was charmed by the idea of presenting two very different characters, who throughout the narrative come to understand they have many things in common. Harvey Anderson—our hero—is an everyman. He could be your brother, your cousin, your best pal. He’s someone you know. His father, on the other hand, is eccentric and mostly unapproachable. Bringing these two together, and having them discover their common ground—chiefly the unassailable, but unspoken, love they have for one another—was a challenge, but one I relished.

I’m not sure what, if anything, inspired this relationship. Sometimes characters just weave themselves from the yarn of your imagination. They breathe, almost perfectly formed, onto the page. The relationships they form are equally natural. It doesn’t always work out this way, but when it does, it’s like magic.

Huge thanks to Titan Books for sending me a copy which I highly recommend and to Rio Youers for taking the time to give some insight into the creation of this novel.

notaleaf's review against another edition

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3.0

I was surprised by this book! It’s like a supernatural thriller and it kept me guessing. There were a few characters I just didn’t care for, but, this one kept me interested and had me asking questions! 3.5/5.

vondav's review

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5.0

Harvey has a carefree life, spends his time playing his guitar, busking around Green Ridge. Then one morning he wakes up to go about his day and gets abducted. What did they want, they wanted Sally? But without any memory of Sally, is his life in danger.
Harvey was a gentle soul, and as he hunts for clues on the mystery girl, you learn so much about his upbringing. He was determined to get to the truth and even when the odds were against him, he never backed down.
Written from Harvey’s POV, you are taken on a mystery. At the start of the book you know as much about Sally as Harvey and as he finds out more information, so do you, giving you the feeling that you are on the journey with him. Whilst the relationship between him and his dad Gordon started off strained, as they spend more time together you can see that Harvey admired him. Gordon, a Vietnam Vet was injured on a tour of duty and whilst he was a bit eccentric, he loved his son and helped him throughout his search.
From the opening scenes where Harvey was being tortured for information, I knew I was in for a compelling read. This book brought out so many emotions, whether it was Harvey fighting for his life or receiving shocking news, I was committed to the story. The supernatural element of the story involving psychic ability made this story more than a regular mystery. Reading about the Spider” He crawled into my mind” ”He was inside me, scurrying along my memories and dreams” As I was reading these scenes, they felt so sinister, and you could imagine the creepy sensation having someone go through your mind looking for clues.
This was a story that I was rooting for the good guy, and a story that gave me a book hangover, whilst I read into the night. I didn’t want real life to interrupt my reading. This is a new to me author and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I will look out for more from this author.