The Memories That Make Us in Aussie Readers

Oct 05, 2017 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: net-galley, aussie-authors, contemporary-fiction, 5000-books, read-on-kindle, own-read, 2018-release, arc

When Gracie Ashcroft woke in hospital, the confusion that hit her was intense. Because Gracie had no memory whatsoever of how she had ended up in hospital, who she was, who the woman crying in front of her was - nothing was there at all. She was terrified. But learning that she was engaged to marry Blake Beaumont - a man she didn't know, was the catalyst. The car accident had taken everything from Gracie, and even the doctors didn't know if she would ever get her memory back.

With Scarlett's help ...more

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Mar 14, 2018 Tanya rated it it was amazing

Confession time.
There are 2 reasons why I bought this book.
1. The beautiful cover. I mean, come on, isn't it gorgeous? How could you see this on a shelf and not go "OMG I must have you in my life!"?!?!? It practically jumps straight into your trolley.
2. The author, Vanessa Carnevale, is attending the West Coast Fiction Festival to be held in November this year. I'm trying to get one book by each author to get signed on the day. (Seriously, Google the festival if you haven't heard of it. One day ...more

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Mar 01, 2018 Janine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Its no secret that I absolutely loved Vanessa's first book The Florentine Bridge, so I was really keen to read her new book. The Memories that make us tells the story of Gracie who loses her memory after a motor vehicle accident with her fiancee Blake. Although only suffering minor physical injuries, her memory has been wiped and she has no knowledge of her best friend Scarlett and Blake. She retreats to her childhood home Summerhill Farm where she lived with her mother. It is in a state of disr ...more

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Jul 30, 2020 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: aww2020, australian, romance, amnesia

I don’t know how I haven’t read this book before now because amnesia is one of my absolute favourite tropes. I came across this scrolling through one of the apps my local library uses to lend out eBooks and I knew as soon as I read the blurb, I had to read it.

Gracie and her fiancé Blake are in a car accident that results in Gracie being in a coma. When she wakes up, she has no memory of herself and her life. She can identify flowers but she doesn’t know how to tie her own shoelaces. She can’t re I don’t know how I haven’t read this book before now because amnesia is one of my absolute favourite tropes. I came across this scrolling through one of the apps my local library uses to lend out eBooks and I knew as soon as I read the blurb, I had to read it.

Gracie and her fiancé Blake are in a car accident that results in Gracie being in a coma. When she wakes up, she has no memory of herself and her life. She can identify flowers but she doesn’t know how to tie her own shoelaces. She can’t remember how to cook an omelet. And she has absolutely no memory of Blake and the love that they apparently shared. And she cannot face him – she wants time to reassess her life, to see if the memories come back. She flees her Melbourne apartment for her late mother’s Daylesford farm, where they once grew fields of flowers. There she meets Flynn, a handsome and helpful neighbour who suddenly proves indispensable but makes her very confused about her future.

I think this book really captures the terror and disconnect of waking up and not having any of your memories – not just about the people you know, but about yourself as well. Gracie, free from the choices of her “previous self”, the self before the accident, finds herself drinking coffee, eating eggs, much to the shock of her best friend, who insists that she doesn’t eat eggs and she only drinks herbal tea. She finds herself in an apartment that is unfamiliar, with a career that feels uninspiring. When a real estate agent calls her about her mother’s property in Daylesford, Gracie decides that she will go there and see if there are any answers to be found.

One of the few things that Gracie seems to connect with, is flowers. They are among some of the first things that she can truly remember, with bits and pieces of information coming to her. When she arrives at the property, she can identify the remains of plants, but she still has to do research and suddenly comes up with the idea to passionately resurrect the flower farm. It’s going to be a challenge, but Gracie has something to focus on and it does seem that the more time she spends there, the more keeps trickling back to her although it’s the tiniest portions of information.

There’s a large portion of this plot where it’s difficult to talk about without spoiling a rather key piece of information. The key piece of information isn’t difficult for the reader to figure out at an appropriate time (well before Gracie does, but that is intentional, I think) but it’s something where they shouldn’t be informed about prior to beginning the book. I did find it really interesting but I was also in two minds about it as well because it involved someone not following someone else’s wishes. I understand why they did it but the fact of the matter was that they still did it and that did make me feel very conflicted about that. I can only guess at how confused and betrayed Gracie must’ve felt upon the reveal, how a lot of her inner turmoil was exacerbated because of this.

I really like fresh flowers but I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about them. I enjoy buying the odd bunch when I’m out and about, to brighten up my home (not that that’s a thing, these days!). So I really enjoyed a lot of the information about growing them for commercial sale and Daylesford is a place that’s not too far from where I live and it’s a place I’ve visited. It’s a beautiful town (cold in the winter though!) and it was great to enjoy a book in a setting that was familiar but not necessarily one that I’ve come across too many times before, reading Australian-set fiction. I appreciated the connections Gracie forged in the town, the friendships she built as she struggled to find herself in more ways than one. I found it interesting that this was a catalyst for her changing almost every aspect of her life, rebuilding it almost by herself, as she seeks to find the person she once was. She doesn’t want people to tell her about her past likes and dislikes, her past jobs and hobbies, she wants to remember them or if she cannot do that, discover them on her own. Makes me wonder – if the same thing happened to me, what would I discover about myself? Would I reach for a book each day? Still make myself a cup of tea first thing in the morning? Choose that certain chocolate or favourite treat? Would I still dislike all seafood? Or completely free of my prejudices and established biases, would I feel differently about many things? It’s a really interesting thing to ponder, I think.

I really enjoyed this – it was a beautiful, thoughtful story and explored a lot of the reasons why I love books that feature amnesia. ...more

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Jun 20, 2018 Cathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The book opens with Gracie and Blake in a car on their way to a party, but they never make it. They are involved in a car crash that results in Gracie losing her memory. The rest of the story involves her trying to piece her life back together again.

She ends up leaving Melbourne and heading to the flower farm in Daylesford where she grew up with her mother. It is as she spends time at the farm that she comes to realise what is important to her. But there are twists and turns along the way as she ...more

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Oct 11, 2019 Dzintra aka Ingrid rated it it was amazing

A very hard book to put down! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this delightful book which is full of love and compassion and flowers and leaves one with a big smile on their face at the end!

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