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A bittersweet masterpiece filled with longing and hope, Jennie Shortridge’s emotional novel explores the raw, tender complexities of relationships and personal identity.
Who is Lucie Walker? Even Lucie herself can’t answer that question after she comes to, confused and up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay. Back home in Seattle, she adjusts to life with amnesia, growing unsettled by the clues she finds to the selfish, carefully guarded person she used to be. Will she ever fall in love with her handsome, kindhearted fiancé, Grady? Can he devote himself to the vulnerable, easygoing Lucie 2.0, who is so unlike her controlling former self? When Lucie learns that Grady has been hiding some very painful secrets that could change the course of their relationship, she musters the courage to search for the shocking, long-repressed childhood memories that will finally set her free.
—Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
“Part tense mystery and part brilliant psychological drama, Shortridge’s eloquent novel is a breathtaking story of how well we really know the people we love—and ourselves.”
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You
"Intriguing, resonant, and deeply satisfying, Love Water Memory takes us into the mystery of one woman's past and her attempts to reclaim both herself and the love she left behind.”
—Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients
"Love Water Memory is a beautiful novel about what the mind forgets and what the heart remembers. A story of memories as shadows, elongated and distorted by time, until they eclipse cherished loves, familial connections, and painful truths. A captivating read from start to finish."
—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
"By the end of page one of Love Water Memory, readers care about Lucie and why she's standing in frigid San Francisco Bay in an Armani suit. Jennie Shortridge's fifth novel moves like a thriller, as along with Lucie we discover what led to her flight from her fiance Grady and her high-powered career. In the hands of a less accomplished author the plot could have become maudlin. Here, it’s credible; Grady is loving but flawed; the pre-amnesiac Lucie not always likable. But they fight for understanding and happiness, and readers will be cheering for them all the way."
—Cheryl Krocker McKeon, Rakestraw Books, Danville CA
"Love Water Memory is slowly and sweetly revelatory as Lucie, coming out of the fog of amnesia, and Grady, finally swimming to a surface without his father, move toward each other in a new recognition of themselves and each other, leaving behind disguises they no longer need. There is laughter and there are tears as these two people learn to trust each other and to be fearless in finding a better, more honest way of loving than what they once knew."
—Valerie Jean Ryan, Cannon Beach Books, Cannon Beach, OR
"Engaging characters, beautiful settings, and a story that keeps the reader’s interest from the very start. Lucie ran away from her fiancé 8 days ago, now she has no memory of who she is or anyone else either. Grady is coming to get her, but he would just as soon Lucie not remember the day she ran. Aunt Helen holds the secrets of a childhood gone terribly wrong. As the characters face the challenges from the past and present, the reader will be rooting for them. These are characters that make you care and a plot line that will not let you go."
—Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books & Music, Sunriver, OR
GrammyReading
Posted May 17, 2013
this book made me happy to read it..not because the story was overwhelmingly jolly and bright..but because of the hope it instilled..reminding me of how fortunate we are when we can identify the simplest things..ourselves, our loved ones, our past, and even whatever present situation exists in our lives....to forget, to not know, to yearn for missing pieces and parts of yourself....to prevent yourself from past pain by forgetting who, and what, and why, and how....and yet the ability to reinvent yourself, to work at being better, doing more, transforming the who that you were....never give five stars, but the complex simplicity of this story earned it
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.JudiRohrig
Posted May 16, 2013
Terrific dive inside!
LOVE WATER MEMORY explores the upturned life of Lucie Walker who suddenly becomes conscious knee-deep in the San Francisco Bay. But it isn't just Lucie who struggles to find herself again. Her fiance Grady must accomplish his own wade inland. This was an impossible book to put down and left me wondering how different I'd be if I couldn't remember who I'd already decided who I was. Terrific story. Well told!
cindymt
Posted May 13, 2013
What if something hit your re-set? Just booted the old programs without any data? Would you like who you were? Would you even recognize who you were? That is what happened to Lucie. The story follows Lucie and her fiancée Grady as they learn who they are together and who Lucie is/was. All kinds of things come up about Lucie and her past. This is a story of hope, essentially, and the characters and situations are well done. Lots of good parallels between love and water and memory plus how we’re buoyed by all three. Received free copy for review.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Lucie Walker....who is that? Even Lucie doesn't know. She comes to consciousnesses knee deep in San Francisco bay, with no idea who she is or why she is there. She ends up in the psych ward, and on the news...which is how she was found by her fiance Grady. Slowly, she begins to realize that she is not the same Lucie who left Grady a week before. She isn't sure she would want to be that Lucie! Controlling, distant, maybe even unfriendly... Follow along as she slowly uncovers her past, old memories that can effect the rest of her life. Others think some memories are too hard, too horrible to be remembered at all. A fascinating peek inside a human mind. Don't start reading this one evening...you will be up all night reading!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The first page pulls you into the deep end. Lucie is found, standing knee-deep in the San Francisco Bay, dressed in her Armani suit. She has no idea who she is or how she got there. News coverage in hopes of finding her identity bring her fiance, Grady to her side, all the way from Seattle. Going 'home' does not jog her memory, Grady is a stranger to her, but she sees what a good person he is.
What we learn through Grady's thoughts and seeing post-amnesia Lucie is that the old Lucie wasn't all that likable, being demanding, precise, rigid and a loner who refused to open up about herself or her past. New Lucie is friendly, outgoing, sweet, but still has that headstrong attitude. Which is the real Lucie? Why has she blocked out her past? What does it take to 'fix' her?
It's obvious that Grady cares for the new Lucie, possibly more than the old Lucie, whom he used to help hide himself from his own feelings of inadequacy and weakness, after all, his life was always run by overbearing, strong, over-protective women.
Then, there is Lucie's long estranged aunt, who reconnects with her after almost two decades.
I fell in love with this story, written so vibrantly, yet so delicately, like watching a red rose unfold as Lucie, Grady and Helen heal from their past wounds.
This ARC copy of Love Water Memory was given to me by NetGalley and Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review. Pub Date Apr 2 2013
Anonymous
Posted April 21, 2013
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
A bittersweet masterpiece filled with longing and hope, Jennie Shortridge’s emotional novel explores the raw, tender complexities of relationships and personal identity.
Who is Lucie Walker? Even Lucie herself can’t answer that question after she comes to, confused and up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay. Back home in Seattle, she adjusts to life with amnesia, growing unsettled by the clues she finds to the selfish, carefully guarded person she used to be. Will she ...