Kate's world has always been defined by her faith. Doing the right thing meant following the lessons she learned at church; you don't lie, cheat or steal. You don't hang out with the wrong type of people. You don't end up at WalMart two towns over buying a pregnancy test for your best friend, or helping her make a very hard decision. For Kate this is what happens at the end of her senior year. She was supposed to be a counselor at Cumberland Creek Summer Camp with her best friend Emily, but after Emily got kicked out of her house, it is just Kate going to camp.
Instead of being able to work with her best friend, she has no one. Sure there is Will and Parker from school, but they are a couple, and she wasn't really friends with them in the first place. There are the other girls there, but they don't seem to like her that much. Then there is Matt Brown, the boy who was her first and only kiss many summers ago at this same camp. Matt is a college boy, and has grown from a shy boy into a very attractive man. Matt remembers Kate, and there is a mutual attraction.
Things that were once certain for Kate become a bit more challenging. New friends and situations have her rethinking parts of her faith, especially when it comes to Matt. Kate is afraid that she will go down that road with Matt, the one that got Emily in trouble and gave Parker her bad reputation. Will she be able to keep her own feeling in line with her faith, and will Matt understand how she really feels? And she has to think about Emily. Does getting involved with Matt mean she was wrong?
Comparable to Melissa Walker's Small Town Sinners or Robin Brande's Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature, Things I Can't Forget is about one girls questioning a faith she was so certain of. Kate is a sweet well intended girl, whose small world was limited to people who were just like her. Faced with new situations and new people, those solid beliefs are challenged, especially with the decisions that Emily made that damaged their friendship.
Miranda Kenneally gives a mature look at how faith can be challenged, and how a person can change yet still keep their values. Fans of Catching Jordan and Chasing Parker won't be disappointed as both characters make appearances here, and you will enjoy Things I cant' Forget without reading either one. Really, you should read them both and as a bonus both are available on Freading!
I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Now reading Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler. Interesting that I had two "crisis of faith" books in a row!)
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