Don't Look Back

I wasn't expecting for Don't Look Back to become a one-day read, but there was no way I couldn't not finish it yesterday! Jennifer L. Armentrout is freaking amazing!! She does it all, YA, NA, Adult...contemporary, paranormal and now mystery suspense! This woman is truly genius!! Don't Look Back was a very promising read and despite it being contemporary, I was deeply intrigued by the mystery! And oh wow, was that mystery part good! Sam was your typical mean girl, an all-around b****, but then something happened. She and her best friend, Cassie, went missing and only Sam turned up. And she has no idea who she is. Granted she has some basic memory skills, such as the year and remedial things like talking and what not. But as to her identity, there's nothing. The characters to this story were awesome! Scott, Sam's twin brother was awesome. He's a nice guy and takes Sam's new personality in stride. Carson was another interesting surprise. I totally fell for him early on. The way he warmed back up to Sam was endearing. As for Sam's friends and boyfriend, I have the complete opposite feelings. They are the picture of mean girls and jerky boyfriend. Sam's memory is basically lost and it has to be rebuilt. And all the while, Cassie's murder is still a mystery. Sam struggles to remember what happened to her in the days she was gone. She does get bits and pieces of memory back. It happens in flashes and dreams. Creepy yet, are the notes she's getting that leave her clues or warnings of some kind and she thinks they are linked to Cassie's death. I am struggling to write this review without getting too lengthy or reveal too much, but it's soooo hard when the book was soooo good! I wasn't expecting this thrilling of a mystery when I decided to pick it up. And the bits of Sam's dreams and her seeing things is almost supernatural in a way. Is it Cassie's ghost haunting her? I didn't know and I was desperate to find out. And as I said, I wasn't expecting our who-done-it murderer. It came as a complete shock! And the details behind it all even more shocking! But I loved it! I love when I can be taken by surprise so well! And don't think this is all mystery, there's some romance going on too! For Sam and Carson grow closer for a second time. I loved it! It was a sweet build up too, nothing insta about it! And Sam's character development was also enjoyable. To see the once cruel mean girl turn into a different person was remarkable. I enjoyed that part as well! Don't Look Back is yet another addition to the fabulous Jennifer L. Armentrout's compendium of novels! She is a truly remarkable author and I cannot wait to read what else she cooks up! Overall Rating 5/5 stars

Hey all, just finished this standalone YA/NA book by the fabulous Jennifer L. Armentrout​. It's a mystery and romance all wrapped up in one.It's a mystery and romance all wrapped up in one. Think Mean Girls meets (a girl with amnesia who has a personality transplant and can’t stand who she used to be, all the while trying to solve what happened to her and her missing BFF). Yeah that works! Actually it did. It’s chalk full of romance, mystery and catty girls. Granted it’s not going to win a Pulitzer but it’s well written, the mystery makes sense (with clues peppered from the get-go) and like I said, it’s chalk full of angsty romance, childhood friends, high school hierarchy, small town legacy folks and a once in a lifetime love story. When you can’t remember anything and someone has thrown you from a cliff, who do you trust? I just loved all the characters. Every single one, whether primary or secondary, they all have a role to play and no one is just fluff. It was a great book for when my brain needed scrubbing from a previous book hangover. It had my HEA, a bit of mystery that was easy enough to only need half my brain and had a great moral to send to teens…….. What choices would you make if you got a second chance?

I have come to the conclusion that anything JLA writes I will love. I don’t normally pick up books like this, but because it was JLA of course I was going to give it a go, and honestly this may be my new favorite of hers. It is just so so different from her other books and it really stands out. It’s addictive and crazy and simply amazing. I stayed up late to finish this one and I can’t regret the lack of sleep. Samantha is a very different kind of heroine. She is straightforward and determined. She is torn apart over the loss of her memories and determined to fill in the gaps. She wants to know what happened to her friend Cassie and how she lost her memories. Where her situation may have broken others, Sam was determined to move on. She is clearly shaken and scared and doesn’t really know what to make of her life, but she is going to keep on living it. The most important thing is that her memory loss gives her a second chance. She is appalled by the Before Samantha and honestly she was not a nice person. However, it takes a strong person to acknowledge that and try to make up for it; which is exactly what After Samantha does. We then have Carson who is incredibly swoony; he is sweet and caring. He helps Samantha even though she was horrible to him. He stands by her side when everyone else she knew turns on her. He has faith in her when she lacks faith in herself. Carson always knows the perfect thing to say and is everything you want in a book boyfriend. I loved though that the romance in this one was secondary to everything else. It was there and it was prominent, but the main factor was Samantha and the mystery surrounding her memory loss. The story is truly about Samantha coping with the after effects of that night and trying to unravel the fragments in her memory. This book will keep you on your toes. It is so hard to put together the mystery. I swear, I changed my mind on the suspect pretty much every single chapter. I was able to put together some of the pieces, but I was never ever sure, I only had really strong guesses. No matter what I guessed or suspected I never had that moment where I went “yes that’s it” and I was 100% sure in my answer. I can’t even tell you how many times I changed my mind and when the moment with the big reveal came, I still hadn’t pieced it all together until Sam did. Don’t Look Back is a highly addictive read and I dare you to put it down. JLA delivers again and continues to show how diverse she is with her writing. It delivers everything we have come to expect from her, but it also adds so much more and I seriously hope we get to read more contemporary thrillers from her.

Ich habe das Buch innerhalb eines Tages verschlungen. Man kann es einfach nicht zur Seite legen. Ich lese sehr viel, aber an die Bücher von Armentrout kommt fast niemand ran!! Highly recommended

J'ai adoré le côté enquête couplé à l'amnésie de l'héroïne. Samantha est une héroïne qu'on suit avec plaisir dans sa recherche de vérité. Et le book boyfriend est au top, comme d'habitude avec JLA Dommage que les livres soient de plus en plus souvent abîmés...

Find the original review here: [...] Hey, look, another JLA book. So of course when my drug dealer(the postman) delivered my crack and like any good addict there was no waiting before I devoured this book. Especially because it was a new genre for JLA. We know her for her awesome paranormal romances and new adult. This one my friends is a stand alone thriller. And man does it pack in the suspense. But don't worry, there's a hot guy too. I think it's literally impossible for JLA to write a book not packed full of swoon. Our MC is Samantha and she's just turned up after 5 days missing with amnesia. So pretty much we get right into the mystery. Samantha and her best friend Cassie went missing and than Sam is the only one to turn up. What happened? Where is Cassie? Where were they? With Sam not remembering anything, not her name, family, life, etc... and the fact that she returned without Cassie has left her in a very shady situation. Her family and friends are just relieved to have her back. But you can tell the cops are a little weary of her supposed amnesia. We quickly start to realize what kind of person Sam was before she disappeared. A mean girl. And the top mean girl at that. She was absolutely horrible to everyone even her twin brother. Apparently she wasn't always like that. She started to turn into an outright bitch when she started hanging out with Cassie before starting high school. But because she doesn't remember her past self she's shocked to learn that she's now acting differently. Her brother and parents keep saying how weird it is having her being nice to them. Her friends are weary with how she's dressing(very casually instead of high end). And she's sticking up for classmates she previously would have been the first to shot down with a nasty comment or remark. That's what I love about the after Sam, she's realized she has a second chance and she's taking full advantage of that. She's being who she wants to be, talking and hanging out with who she wants to and she has no qualms or second thoughts about telling someone that is being rude or racist where to shove it. But after Sam comes with some problems too. She's having sudden flashes of the night she disappeared. Not full memories necessarily, just images to begin with. She's receiving notes with warnings. And she's got the feeling that someone is watching her or even following her. Sam's scared and doesn't know what to do. The police are all over her, she's falling out with her supposed friends and boyfriend and her brother has told her to ignore it. Maybe she's going crazy? That's how everyone is making her feel anyhow. So she ends up turning to her childhood friend, Carson. Oh Carson. When JLA said he was her most swoon worthy guy so far she wasn't lying. Car is near perfect. *dies of swoon* Car is the son of the "help". Him and his farther live in the guest house of Sam's families estate. His farther takes care of a lot of the household maintenance and such. Car and Sam used to be best friends until she started hanging out with Cassie and than she was an absolute terror to him like she was to everyone else. But Car remained best friends with her brother. It's obvious he never stopped caring for her, he clearly always hoped she'd return to her old self at some point. And now that Sam has, Car is the first one to be by her side helping her through everything. He's adorable, trusting and caring. And the only one to believe everything Sam says is happening to her. God, I love him. It's obvious Sam does too. Well at least their attraction is just screaming between them. JLA does her job brilliantly when she wrote Don't Look Back. I was absolutely suspicious of EVERYONE. At some point throughout reading I was 100% sure it was one person or another. My mind was changed every few pages. I even thought it was Car at one point. And well there might have been booking throwing involved when I got there. How dare JLA put me in a position to suspect Car! That's just mean. There is secrets at every turn as well. There was not one character carrying some big secret that had Sam(and me) thinking "what the hell?". There was always someone hiding something or lying to Sam when she thought she was getting somewhere with Cassie's disappearance. She'd have a flashback and someone would ask her what she remembered with a look of total desperation on their face. And she'd tell them it was nothing really, and you could just see them deflate with relief. It was just another way JLA would have you suspecting someone. If you are a little weary of picking up Don't Look Back because it's something totally new from JLA. Don't be. JLA packs in the suspense, secrets and swoon. She always knows where to hit her reader and it's one the reasons she's quickly become one of my favourite authors. The only downside to reading this book is that it's a stand alone. I sure could go for some more Sam and Car. Hopefully JLA has a little something more hidden up her selves. A few extra scenes she's like to share. Please!

I liked the romance between the two leads. Carson is my favourite character in this novel. I could not guess the identity of the culprit. How the protagonist suffering from amnesia keeps seeing flashes from her past at regular intervals, lacks credibility. I don't see myself reading this book again any time soon.

O livro consegue nos dar uma visão da personagem não apenas superficial, mas emotiva também. Conseguimos entender o que ela pensa e como ela se sente após sofrer uma amnésia. É diferente você ouvir falar sobre algum distúrbio ou doença ligada á memória e saber como ela de fato funciona. A história em si já é sensacional e embora possua algumas características típicas do gênero, o final é surpreendente. Já a escrita em inglês superou minhas expectativas. Vocabulário moderno e leitura fácil. Para quem gosta de aprender inglês lendo livros, esse livro é certamente uma opção excelente.