Review: Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke

Publisher: Holiday House

Publication Date: October 2020

Sometimes there's a town called Indianola.
And sometimes there isn't.

Summer, 1993. Claire has been dumped in rural Indianola, Texas, to spend her whole vacation taking care of mean, sickly Grammy. There's nothing too remarkable about Indianola: it's run-down, shabby, and stifling hot, a pin-dot on the Gulf Coast.

Well, there is one remarkable thing, she discovers. Something otherworldly.

But if you leave Indianola, you forget about it... and if you stay, you have to live with it every day.

Because there's a confluence of energies at Indianola, a fissure in time and space, a gap in reality. Nothing is as it seems. And unless Claire can figure out this town--the talkative lizards under the pecan trees; the honey-sweet but terrifying girl next door; the cute daughter of a powerful family, who would answer Claire's questions if she had any answers; the pervasive sense of history coming unspooled, like a video tape--she might never leave. 

Forget This Ever Happened was a random pick from my library.  It involves Claire who goes to help her grandmother in the town of Indianaola.  Things in the town are definitely weird.  She learns when you leave you tend to forget just how weird.  I ended up having a lot of fun listening to the audio version of this book.

I enjoyed the characters. For once, I felt like they were realistically portrayed.  Especially Julie and how she felt knowing people in her town wouldn't accept her sexuality. The story takes place in 1993.  Her budding crush and friendship with Claire was very sweet.  I also appreciated that Claire was given the space to question her feelings for Julie.  I loved her revelation about how she felt in the end. YEs, it's that simple.  

But, this book is so much more than a romance.  It's a creepy sci-fi story where you have to ask yourself, "Who are the real monsters?"  I didn't see the twist coming.  I loved the ending  I don't want to give anything away.  It's a little out there, but just go along for the ride and you will enjoy it.  I definitely recommend this one.