Remembrance by Michelle Madow

Title: Remembrance
Author: Michelle Madow
Release Date: July 27th, 2011
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Pages: 314
Format: Paperback
Acquired: Bought
Interest: Series
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 4 Stars

New Hampshire high school junior Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she seem to get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, the pair of them soon find that fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

This book is beyond cute. I absolutely loved Michelle and all her characters. Whenever dealing with past lives, I find that the toughest thing to do is find a connection between the past character and the present character, but in this book Michelle did an amazing job in gathering each character and really reflecting all their personalities.

Another thing I loved about this book is that besides the supernatural about the rebirth, there's really nothing too extreme. It's a very self-explanatory and Michelle keeps it simple and clean. I could not relate this back to the Taylor Swift song, though. I tried thinking back to the video and what she was doing, but besides Elizabethan period nothing really close. Though, I would say that one big inspiration would probably be Jane Austen, because there was a lot more connections between the Jane's book, Pride and Prejudice then the Taylor Swift song.

The character of Drew really frustrated me and I was so mad at Liz for always forgiving him. He said such awful things to her that even if I was in love with him I would not forgive him for those comments. But I like the idea of this love is stronger than anything else, which is the essential theme.

I was surprised by the villain's though. One of the character's as the bad guy was obvious, but there was another that took me by surprise. And I like how everyone in Liz's life had some sort of connection to her in her past life. So, it wasn't just Drew but there was more, and the idea of time repeating itself is also interesting.

Besides Liz's fascination with Drew, which could be annoying, I loved it. The only problem I had is that it was too cliche. The idea of forbidden love is on the rise and I like to see the different ways authors tackle this, but the problem with Michelle is that hers was no different than some other authors. I didn't really find anything in the book about Liz and Drew's romance that really made me say, "Hey, that's cool!" I kind of just found it all the same.

Overall a good book. I highly recommend it for those who want a quick, easy read.