Forget This Ever Happened

by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Overview

Sometimes there's a town called Indianola.

And sometimes there isn't.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

June, 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 sweltering, a pin-dot on the Gulf Coast.

Except there is something remarkable. Memories shimmer and change. Lizards whisper riddles under the pecan trees. People disappear as if they never existed. Yesterday keeps coming unspooled, like a video tape. And worst of all, a red-lightning storm from beyond our world may just wipe the whole town off the map, if Claire and her maybe-girlfriend Julie can't stop it.

Because reality doesn't apply in Indianola. Indianola is not supposed to exist.

Surprising, brilliant, and, like, totally tight, Forget This Ever Happened is speculative horror at its finest, featuring a queer romance from a queer author and dark, dazzling world-building.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823451296
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	557,203
Product dimensions:	5.52(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.86(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Cassandra Rose Clarke has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and the Phillip K. Dick Award, and is frequently published in magazines like Fantasy & Science Fiction and Strange Horizons. Her 2012 novel THE ASSASSIN'S CURSE was a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults and a Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year. She is a graduate of Clarion West, the country's premier writing program for speculative fiction.

Editorial Reviews

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Reading the West Nominee

★ "Small-town politics, weird creatures, and LGBTQ first love elevate this fast-paced piece of speculative horror… The town’s mystery [unfolds] with a compulsively building menace, while delightfully alien monsters, sweet queer representation, and a riot grrrl soundtrack keep even tense moments fun."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
 
"Forget This Ever Happened is a queer YA speculative fiction romance featuring monsters, hurricanes, time- and space-bending, and loads of 90s references!"—The Nerd Daily
 
"The slow-burn lesbian romance, convoluted family mysteries, and the paranormal aspects of memory loss and the nature of reality will hook readers… A twisty labyrinth."—Kirkus Reviews
 
"Clarke slowly ratchets up the tension of this fascinating, genre-bending mystery… Original and compelling." —Booklist
 
"The disorientation Claire feels as she makes her way through Indianola is shared by the reader to fun and atmospheric effect, and the depiction of the benign, but deeply out-of-place, monsters is well done… Mysterious."—School Library Journal
 
"Forget This Ever Happened was so atmospheric and so gay! I loved the plot and the writing style… A unique and mind-bending atmosphere."—TBR and Beyond
 
"A mystery filled with suspense [and] many plot twists that I enjoyed and never saw coming."—Belmont Public Library Online

"Something which I haven’t ever come across before... A perfect blend… Quite charming."—Yours A-fiction-ately
 
"Claire and Julie’s romance seemed completely genuine… Extremely interesting."—For the Novel Lovers
 
"This book is weird in all the best ways and I LOVED IT! …You know when a book lives up to its hype and it’s just SO GOOD? That’s what this book was for me!"—Kait Plus Books

From the Publisher

★ 09/14/2020

Small-town politics, weird creatures, and LGBTQ first love elevate this fast-paced piece of speculative horror from nostalgic homage to gleeful update. It’s 1993, and 17-year-old Claire Whitmore is stuck in her mother’s retrograde hometown of Indianola, Tex., for the summer, caring for her chronically ill grandmother. But when furred lizard-creatures speak to her in the backyard, Claire learns about the town’s secret: the monster colony in its old power plant, whose reality-bending powers force anyone leaving Indianola to forget them. But as Polish American Claire and 17-year-old Mexican American monster exterminator Julie Alvarez investigate the monsters’ interest in Claire—as well as a cheerful, ominous neighbor—they discover the buried connection between their families, a hidden love affair, and the truth behind Indianola’s monsters. Clarke (Star’s End) unfolds the town’s mystery with a compulsively building menace, while delightfully alien monsters, sweet queer representation, and a riot grrrl soundtrack keep even tense moments fun. Fans of Brenna Yovanoff, Christopher Pike, and Stranger Things will enjoy this light, smart thriller. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

08/01/2020

Gr 7 Up—What happens in Indianola, TX, stays in Indianola, TX—by design. For reasons the adults in her life don't seem to want to articulate, Claire has been shipped off to the small town to take care of her ailing (and unpleasant) grandmother for the summer. The surprise of encountering a bizarre monster-like creature in her backyard is surpassed by her surprise at the town's resigned nonchalance about its presence. It turns out Indianola has "had" monsters for years, but once you leave the city limits you forget about them. Breaking the historical boundary agreements about where they are and aren't allowed to be, the monsters seem to be circling in closer to town, or more specifically, closer to Claire. As she gets to know some other local teens—the unsettlingly perfect Audrey, and the cool (and cute) monster exterminator, Julie—Claire's memory and perception becomes increasingly muted and foggy. It's clear there are dark forces at play, and Julie and Claire dig into the town's past to try to find some answers. This quick, fun sci-fi mystery is uncomplicated but intriguing, has a fair amount of buried small-town resentments, and involves a sweet queer romance plotline. The disorientation Claire feels as she makes her way through Indianola is shared by the reader to fun and atmospheric effect, and the depiction of the benign, but deeply out-of-place, monsters is well done. VERDICT A fun, mysterious read for fans of light sci-fi.—Beth McIntyre, formerly at Madison P.L., WI

School Library Journal

2020-06-15
Claire’s summer becomes a mind-bending, life-changing mystery.

It’s 1993, and Claire is trapped in small-town Indianola, Texas, spending the summer caring for her ailing Grammy. Homesick and missing her new boyfriend, Claire is eager to leave harsh, critical Grammy’s sweltering house and get to know her new friends better: charismatic Julie, whom Claire just can’t stop thinking about, and the perky, old-fashioned, and sometimes unnerving Audrey. When a strange monster appears—a small, alligatorlike creature covered in fur that speaks to Claire and turns out to be just the first of many monsters that inhabit the town—and her memory starts slipping, Claire realizes Indianola has hidden, dangerous secrets woven in its history. Alternating between Claire’s and Julie’s perspectives, the mystery is slow to unveil itself, intermingling elements of supernatural horror and an idyllic, rural summer to ratchet up the tension. Likewise, Julie’s insider view as a local who works for her family’s monster exterminator business gives the mystery an extra twist. As Claire delves deeper into Indianola’s past, new family secrets emerge and change everything. The slow-burn lesbian romance, convoluted family mysteries, and the paranormal aspects of memory loss and the nature of reality will hook readers. Claire and Audrey are cued as white; Julie and her family are Latinx.

Will send readers through a twisty labyrinth to a satisfying conclusion. (Paranormal mystery. 12-adult)

Kirkus Reviews