Forget Me Not

by Isabel Hansen

I’m in love with my best friend’s sister…

I’ve been in love with Lyla Saunders since high school but as my best friend’s older sister, she is completely off limits.

I’ve managed to hide my feelings pretty well until now. But when I get locked out of my house during summer break, staying with Lyla for a few days seems like the only reasonable option.

The two of us alone in a house for days on end is my dream — and my worst nightmare.

If anything happens between Lyla and me, my best friend will kill me.

But I don’t know if I can hold myself back.

If you like sapphic romance and best friend’s sibling love stories, this 16k word novella is perfect for you! Get it today.


Cover coming soon!

Genres: Lesbian, Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Novella, Lesbian Fiction, Contemporary Romance

70 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2022

About the author

Isabel Hansen is an emerging Canadian romance author. She is an asexual lesbian, and an LGBTQIA+ advocate. When she is not writing, Isabel likes to read and play with her two dogs.

If you'd like to get notifications of new releases and special offers on her books, join her email list or visit her website.

Reviews

[pipsqueakreviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best friend's sister.

I got all the feels reading this one. After getting locked out of her family home by accident, Aurora spend a couple of days alone with her best friend's sister, Lyla. The complication isn't just that Aurora doesn't get along with Lyla but that Aurora is also secretly in love with her.

This is 5 years of pining away for the best friend's sister condensed into one really short story, and I really enjoyed this one and felt all the emotions that Auora felt. Really enjoyable and I would totally recommend it.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really short, but it didn't really need to be that long. Aurora has been pining over her best friend's sister since pretty much forever. And I can see why. Lyla is sweet and kind and takes Aurora's little aggressions in stride and without anger.

The setup is a bit forced (Aurora being locked out of her home for a weekend has no better refuge than next door) and Aurora is a bit rote in her insistence that she just can't be with Lyla because it would jeopardize her friendship—an obviously untested hypothesis and it's no surprise when it turns out her best friend isn't actually an unfeeling monster.

Still, I was pretty engaged with this throughout. Let's call it four stars for characters I was truly rooting for, even if the setup was a bit pat.

A note about Steamy: There's a single explicit sex scene putting this short story in the middle of my steam tolerance. It was about right and exactly what it needed to be.

[bee 🍉 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me feel nostalgic in the way it brought me back to my first crush on a girl. I loved how realistic and relatable it was. I could feel the secondhand embarrassment when it came to doing mortifyingly embarrassing things in front of your crush that made you want to disappear on the spot.

“Love… it’s the scariest thing in the world. And loving someone, especially someone you think you shouldn’t, is even scarier. But do you know what's worse? Taking away someone's privilege to know that they were loved. That in this messy world, they were cared about endlessly by a loving heart. It’s a privilege, to get to love someone. It's an even bigger one to be loved.”

Having a crush on someone who you don’t believe you have a chance with sucks. Having a crush on someone you believe you shouldn’t have a crush on in the first place is even worse. This is something so many people can relate to.

My only real criticism is that I wanted it to be longer. This was such a cute story and I would definitely revisit it in the future.

Thank you to BookSirens and Isabel Hansen for this Arc!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Iman (hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

fking confusing: do you love her or do you hate her 🧐

Page 14: “Sometimes, I felt so small in the face of her sentences, no matter how kind or teasing they may be, that I thought I could disappear.”

Page 17: “I caught glimpses from time to time when she let her guard down involuntarily, when she smiled a little too long or spoke a little too softly. Intimately.”

And later it was claimed in the last part that she was “pining” this whole time. Where is the pining in this? 🙂

[Netgyrl (Laura) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars just meh.

The “older” sister was a whole year older, big whoop.

There was too much inner dialogue that just rehashed the same thoughts and feelings over and over again which I found myself skipping over.

The only reason I finished it was because it was so short.

[Librarian Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars*

A cute quick read about a girl who is in love with her best friend's older sister but is too scared to do anything about it. I thought it would be a little spicy but I was wrong, the spice was very subtle. This is a cute romantic story if you need something to read while waiting at the doctor's office or in line at a coffee shop.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Tempe Luvs Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!
I really loved this sweet take on a scenario that is sure to have been the true situation for many WLW. Aurora, locked out of her house while her family is out of town stays next door with Lyla, the older sister of her best friend, Hope. Aurora struggles with such intense angst over the feelings she’s had for Lyla for years. She’s been conditioned to “hate” Lyla because of listening to Hope complain about her, yet, she knows Lyla could never see her in a romantic light, so she can only accept that nothing can ever happen between them. Another reason she and Lyla can never be together is the risk that if anything went wrong with their relationship, too many people would be hurt and relationships damaged. After everything is sorted out, a natural conclusion is reached. You’ll have to read the book to see if you agree!
I think this author did a great job of painting an accurate truth of a real life situation. Again, I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

[LGBT Representation in Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: cursing, alcohol

Representation: Lesbian

Forget Me Not is a romance novella about Aurora and Lyla. When Aurora is accidentally locked out of her house, she looks to Lyla for help. The only problem is that Lyla is Aurora’s best friend’s sister and Aurora has secretly loved her for years.

This eARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great story! A very cute love story and a quick and easy read. I love a happy ever after and loved the banter between the couple.

[Wicked Fox ✨️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite sweet and short. I enjoyed it thoroughly and will be looking to read more from this author :)

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confused.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some of the most beautiful language I've ever seen in a romance book. The quotes used in this book are so good that it feels almost wasted on a novella. I would love to see this book become a novel, I just want more of Lyla and Aurora.
That aside, this novella is pretty good. From the beginning scenario to the imagery used in describing some of the more romantic scenes.
The only things I could find wrong about this is that it's not long enough and that the parents never actually show up, even in the epilogue. Their reactions to Lyla and Aurora's relationship would've been nice to see.

My favourite quote (slight spoilers):
“You promise me?” She said. She
leaned her forehead against mine. “You
won’t meet some other pretty girl and
forget all about me?"
“Never,” I whispered, because how
could I? How could I ever forget the
stars, the moon, the entire fucking
universe? “I could never forget you,
Lyla.”

I received the ebook for free - in exchange for a completely honest review - from BookSirens.

[cleo ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the third book i've read by isabel hansen and as always, it's a sweet sapphic romance, angsty yet ultimately feel-good and sooo cute. i swear her books are always a go-to for anyone who needs a sweet, short wlw story!

that said, while i loved this of course, i think it does suffer a little from being a little too short, because there were some scenes/aspects that i thought could've been expanded on more, to show the friendship between Rory and Hope, and more of Rory and Lyla just hanging out one-on-one to show Lyla's side of the feelings, because it felt slightly underdeveloped. but those are just small things that didn't really detract from the overall sweetness and angst of this cute story 🥰🥰

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Stellar Space · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Girl Code"

Two young women windup spending a weekend together after having secretly pined for the other since high school. They hadn't dared say anything because the relationship was taboo according to "The Girl Code" meaning a best friend's sister and the sister's best friend are off limits. Now they awkwardly try to keep up the facade of friendly hostile banter while sneaking glances and wondering how to keep from giving in and wrecking everything.

There are plenty of laugh out loud moments and tension filled tender scenes conflicted with doubts and what ifs as Lyla and Rory try to come to terms with their feelings and the impact on the other important relationships in their lives.

Isabel Hansen, as usual, has written an engaging, plausible and fun story with characters who are believable and likable. If you enjoy well written YA romance then pickup a copy of Forget Me Not. You'll be delighted you did!

I received an ARC of this enjoyable ebook and I'm leaving an honest review.

[Tabatha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one, but it had a few issues that I couldn’t get past.

Plot wise I think there was ample potential there for a gripping novella that could wrap up nicely and make the most of the short format. The author has a good idea of who these characters are, and there obvious intention to flesh out a history for them all. I’m pretty certain there’s a more fleshed out backstory to each character in the authors mind, that didn’t make it to the page.

There are several very cute moments, and generally I think the chemistry in earlier scenes was pretty good. Unfortunately a lot of the better elements of the novella got lost here I think.

My main issues were down to tone and several editorial aspects. There’s a big issue throughout of not quite finding the right narration or dialogue to reflect the age of the characters, with a tendency to read immature and overly dramatic. There is also the issue of overwriting when I comes to the narration generally, in the sense that a big part of it could be cut with little impact to the plot and characterisation. I think the author has a very poetic tendency, which results in some beautiful turns of phrase, that unfortunately feel out of place and a little muddling in this piece. There’s also really a lot of repetition and inner-monologuing that I don’t think is serving much purpose, other than to pad out the novella.

More to that point, it felt like there was a real lack of dialogue for such a short piece. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but with a short form story I really do think dialogue is key to best fleshing out characters and relationships to the reader. More was needed here!

Also I can’t avoid mentioning the issues I found with the conjugation and syntax at certain points, that just don’t read correctly and would be an easy fix. Do I think it’s something that will bother every reader? No. But for others, like myself, it can be really bothersome to suddenly shift to a present whist narrating in the past tense.

“Just for a moment, I allowed myself to imagine that she meant it in all the ways that I want, and not as a simple sentence said to her sister's best friend.”

It’s a simple issue of the book needing a few more passes of copy editing, but one that does contribute to ruining immersion as it does force you to re-read sections at times.


Overall, I think this novella has a lot of potential, and I hope that the author continues to polish her writing as to best convey the stories and characters that she creates going forwards!

[Justinbookcase · Rating 2 out of 5]

admittedly i went into this expecting a more romantic and possibly spicy story, so my bad. but it was relentless to be in this main characters head. constantly agonizing over feelings for this girl, and paragraphs upon paragraphs of it. omg this was really short but that’s mostly what it was. not really a cute and fun light love story.
there were random beautiful prose in here though, that’s why it’s a two star.

[Squid · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Nothing extraordinary. Kinda reminded me of something you’d read on Wattpad.

[rallu · Rating 3 out of 5]

i received an ARC in exchange of an honest review, all the opinions are mine.

being in love with your best friend's sister - who's off limits and isn't even interested in you that way (or so you thought) - is hard enough as it is, but throw in the fact that you have to spend an entire weekend with her because you got locked out of your own house and you've got aurora's definition of a disaster.
overall this was an entertaining and very quick read, which isn't that bad, in and of itself, but it does, however, mean i didn't get to connect with the characters that well so some things fell a little bit flat for me. i am well aware that this is a novella, so things are supposed to be fast paced but they were maybe a bit too fast paced for me to get attached to anything - the plot, the characters, the setting, etc.
one thing that didn't fall that flat for me was the romance, which is why i decided to be less harsh about the story itself than i orginally wanted to since the romance was the one thing i was there for. it was cute, i felt the chemistry the main characters and their moments were sweet and managed to get a smile or a chuckle out of me at times. i even highlighted some paragraphs and bookmarked some pages so at least it left me with that. i also liked that we got glimpses of their past and that helped consolidate their relationship one way or another in my eyes, but it still left me wanting more.
i wish the characters on their own got a bit more developement because they felt a bit 2D sometimes, but i understand that the author couldn't get too deep into it given the length of the novella. i would, however, read a full novel about the characters with the same plot but developed because the premise was really good and it has a lot of potential.
i think the story lacked some depth when it comes to aurora's friendship with hope which is why i couldn't really understand why aurora thought it would the end of the world if hope found out she liked her sister. the only time we got somewhat of a look into their bond was towards the end, but when it comes to understanding their dynamic in relation to lyla it was a bit too late for me, although on its own that scene is one of my favorites. it was really hard for me to care about their friendship getting ruined when i didn't see said friendship on paper, i was only told about it.
the angst almost got me, but not quite and, as a huge angst with a happy ending lover, it was kind of disappointing. i knew i was supposed to feel it and i wasn't totally indifferent, but at the same time it didn't really affect me the way it was supposed to because i didn't care about the characters enough at the time. call it schrodinger's angst, if you will.
the end was cute, it wrapped everything out really nicely and i was content with the way everything turned out. it's promising without being too idealistic and it definitely left me feeling pretty good about the story. it wasn't a masterpiece or something that i will think about for a long time, but that's okay because not every read has to be this groundbreaking piece that has you questioning your life. i'm glad i could enjoy it for what it was.
as for the author, as a side note, the premises of her novels are so good sometimes i wish we could get full on novels instead of novellas just so i can properly get to enjoy them and their whole potential.

[neka herondale ꕤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Love… it’s the scariest thing in the world. And loving someone, especially someone you think you shouldn’t, is even scarier. But do you know what's worse? Taking away someone's privilege to know that they were loved. That in this messy world, they were cared about endlessly by a loving heart. It’s a privilege, to get to love someone. It's an even bigger one to be loved.”
wow wow it's been so long since I gave 5 stars to a book, I received the arc of this book and I didn't know what to expect
It was a funny, cute and short read
It has included many things that I love and it has become one of my favourite sapphic books
best friend's sister and have been in love for years??? that is my shit
then angry love confesion??? amazing
“What more is there to understand?” I yelled. “I have been in love with you ever since the eleventh grade, Lyla! Ever since that weekend you and I spent the weekend alone on your parents’ boat!”
and the cute moments that made me love them they were too cute and now I want something like that
“Most of all, I wanted to stop the world, to break time in half, and to live in this moment, in this reality where she was kissing me like she meant it.”
and the ending😭😭😭 my new babies
“You won’t meet some other pretty girl and forget all about me?”
“Never,” I whispered, because how could I? How could I ever forget the stars, the moon, the entire fucking universe? “I could never forget you, Lyla.” 💌💌

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first time reading anything by the author, and I thought it was a very cute novella. I enjoyed the banter between Rory and Lyla and could definitely understand how Rory was feeling about the whole situation between them.

I do wish this was longer even though I know this was just a novella, but sometimes they just aren’t long enough for me and I’m left wanting so much more! I would love to see where things would go from where they leave off.

I noticed the trigger warnings for this but I don’t feel like the content warranted them. I was expecting something a little different but I am not dissatisfied either way. However, I do appreciate the sensitivity of this author and it never hurts to put them in just in case.

I enjoyed the writing style; the piece flowed cohesively and it didn’t make me feel like I was reading fiction, the conversation flowed naturally. I will most likely pick up another book by this author.

*I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Vee ౨ৎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Special thanks to BookSirens and the author for proving me with an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This was a quick and fun read. And while I really enjoy novellas, some of them miss the mark because there's only so much story and plot you can fit in less than 200 pages. This one however, was only 70 pages long so it had a harder task at encompassing a full on romance. From a bit of backstory, to the tension and anticipation to finally a resolution and a newly formed couple. Because of this, everything felt rushed and the story was severly underdeveloped.

I still enjoyed most of the romantic scenes and internal conflict we saw from the MC, but at some point the inner dialogue was too much and it overpowered any form of dialogue amongst the characters.

And lastly, the resolution and the way the best friend handled everything was too perfect and convenient, I would have loved to see more conflict coming from Hope. Although I understand where she was coming from.

At the end I did I love this story and wish I could read more about it!

[lady moon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rep: sapphic MC and love interest

If you judge the situation only through the MCs inner monolog, you'd think she's in love with her bestie's mortal enemy, and not the bestie's slightly annoying sibling. Her melodrama was worthy for Spanish telenovela. I rolled my eyes so many times it's a wonder they didn't fall off. The author forgot to leave Wattpad behind when they published this. (And it wasn't even romantic! There was no tension, no excitement, nothing. I was bored out of my mind.)

[Jessica Rush · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a cute little novella about having feelings for someone you think is off-limits. For having feelings for someone whom you think would in no way feel the same way about you.

I found this novella short and sweet and cute. It makes me want to read more about Aurora and Lyla.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was positively adorable. Unlike a lot of the novellas I've read, this one didn't feel hugely rushed. It was enough time to get all the backstory, but also get enough of the present that it doesn't feel like insta-love.

[Celina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good and simple read that I enjoyed.

The good thing about novellas is that they get to point without so much angst, which I usually don't mind. I liked the little backstory this book had, esp when Rory did that recap about the her love development for Lyla. It was kinda sad but also beautiful in its own way.


I liked how the best friend drama was resolved and the way Hope was protective of her sister. It was really sweet. ".......you are my best friend... but she is my sister.." Sweetie got heart-points for that.

"I am quite selfish when it comes to things that makes me happy. So if you were my best friend and I fell in love with your sister, unless if you love me romantically, honey, there is nothing you can do to stop me from lovung your sister. Unless if she doesn't feel the same way about me." - Celina's take on love-life.

I have read a few books with this "mythical girl-code" and in my life, only exes are off-limits. Moms and sisters are game, sorry.


𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a super cute novella. I was interested to see if the best friend had an issue with her best friend and her sister having feelings for one another. Check this novella out!

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's painfully clear that someone skipped the memo on the golden rule of storytelling: "Show, don't tell." Honestly, it's as if the author made a point of telling us about Aurora's feelings for Lyla on repeat, without ever bothering to give us the emotional depth to understand why we should even care.

The novella kicks off with a bang, roping us in with promises of intrigue, only to fizzle out like a dud firecracker. Before we know it, Aurora is trapped in a never-ending loop of pining for Lyla that drags on and on, leaving us wondering if there's anything more to the story. Spoiler alert: there isn't.

Instead of taking us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, with twists and turns that leave us breathless, we're stuck on a merry-go-round of Aurora's superficial feelings. The lack of depth and nuance in the storytelling is about as satisfying as ordering a five-star meal and being served a stale sandwich.

In conclusion, 'Forget Me Not' by Isabel Hansen is a prime example of why the "Show, don't tell" mantra exists in the first place. Unfortunately, the novella misses the mark by a mile, with an excessive focus on Aurora's pining and a glaring absence of emotional context. If you're looking for a captivating story, you might want to forget this one and keep searching.

[valentina ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Love… it’s the scariest thing in the world. And loving someone, especially someone you think you shouldn’t, is even scarier. But do you know what's worse? Taking away someone's privilege to know that they were loved. That in this messy world, they were cared about endlessly by a loving heart. It’s a privilege, to get to love someone. It's an even bigger one to be loved.”

[teagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s a privilege, to get to love someone. It's an even bigger one to be loved.”

Ive got to be honest, when I go into novellas I never usually expect much because its really difficult for authors to get you to like characters in such a short timeframe but this one was an exception. This was just overall a really cute, short sapphic romance.

Firstly the character of Aurora or Rory as she’s affectionately nicknamed. I really enjoyed her character, I saw a lot of myself in her honestly, as a young lesbian I was also in love with unattainable women (not my best friends sister however). She has such a strong moral compass and its so obvious she just wants the best for everyone around her and doesn’t want to see anyone hurt and thats really admirable.

Lyla serves as the love interest who swoops in to save the day after Rory gets locked out of her house. I completely get why Aurora fell in love with her, I did too almost immediately after we got introduced to her. I loved every scene of Aurora getting flustered over Lyla just because its something I could see myself doing. Shes just so cool and such a well written love interest.

Despite this book following a major romance trope (best friends sibling) I was pleasantly surprised that it managed to avoid a lit of cliches. There was no villanising random women to add drama to the main romance, there was no pointless drama, there was no homophobia despite centring a queer romance. This was just a breath of fresh air honestly.

Ive got to say, I had so much trouble picking a quote for this review because theres simply so many stand out quotes. This whole story is so beautifully written and you can tell the amount of care the author put in to make sure every single page was perfect. So many quotes managed to resonate with me and I can tell that a lot of these will stick with me for quite a while.

My main qualm with this is that I wish this was longer, aspects of this could’ve been explored better if it was a full length novel. There was quite a few drastic shifts in reactions and emotions that were quite jarring because there was no time for them to set in.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

~2-5~

For a queer, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity novella (plus best friend's sister, but that isn't on my top 5 fav tropes), I can't shake that I feel a little disappointed. For 16k words, I didn't expect a lot to happen in such a short reading time, but I certainly didn't expect such a Speedy Gonzales plot. It's not necessarily bad, I enjoyed the way the story worked out in the end, but I just wished that that enemies-to-lovers relationship had taken a little bit more time to become an actual lovers relationship. Even though it is a novella, I hoped the storyline flowed a bit more slowly, giving the reader a bit more enjoyment in the whole enemies-to-lovers aspect of this.

Something that did confuse me was: did they hate each other?, did just one of them hate the other?, did anybody hate anybody?. It is sort of explained why there is the "hate" relationship quite early on, but it is still so confusing as to why it exists. It left me wondering sometimes if Aurora, the character whose POV we read, hated Lyla, the best friend's sister, or loved her. Plus, it sometimes made me wonder why there was ever the aspect of the hate/enemies, since it is quite clear that it wasn't something either character actually had toward the other.

I did enjoy the plot twist that was presented to the characters. It felt like a domino piece that was placed to change the course of the story, and it worked very well. It made Aurora announce some truths and share some feelings, allowing the plot to have a sweet ending to what could have been a much more complicated situation if the plot twist was not introduced.

Lastly, the epilogue had a very sweet ending. It almost didn't felt like an ending, but the possible beginning to something new. It was an easy read, despite the confusions and it did give me a good time to relax and just enjoy.

Signing off,
B.

(Free ARC from Book Sirens that I decided to review after reading)

[Kaitlin Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novellas can often be difficult to write (and equally difficult to review) due to their brevity. How can someone possibly get a full understanding of the characters — their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and little quirks — in under 150 words? In "Forget Me Not," Isabel Hansen not only did a great job ensuring that the story never felt rushed, but she also effectively developed the main characters and revealed their inner struggles. In particular, I liked how she established and portrayed the relationship between our protagonists: the playful yet caring Lyla, and the introspective "Rory" Aurora, who strived to conceal her feelings for her best friend's sister for many years.

Although the mutual longing between Rory and Lyla was really well written, I wish that the author dedicated more time in the book to showing the heroines as a couple, rather than just providing one scene of them together in the final few pages. I understand that a novella will inevitably leave certain parts of a story out, but I believe that the ending would have been more satisfying if we were treated to a few additional glimpses of the happy couple. Likewise, Rory and Lyla had fantastic chemistry, so I expected — and would have liked to see — a bit more heat in "Forget Me Not." However, if you are looking for a quick and enjoyable sapphic romance to occupy your attention for a few hours, then I highly recommend this book.

*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.