Alex

You Won't Forget Me is a love letter to those that pushed down the attraction of same gendered folks and had no idea they were doing so until it hits like a ton of bricks. Cubby, girl, same. It is quite different from the typical romance novels, it is heavily focused on the themes relating to social media addiction, mental health and compulsory heterosexuality. All of these themes hit so close to home for me, the most recent of which I have been dealing with being comp het. The theory that heterosexuality is assumed, expected, and enforced upon people by patriarchal and heteronormative societal pressures. It asserts that being attracted to the opposite sex is treated as the default, "natural" way of life. Cubby having kissed her best friend Darcy believes it was just platonic because of course she is attracted to boys, right? RIGHT???

It is only through talking it out to a couple of friends that she questions her sexuality. My personal awakening came in the way of Is This A Cry for Help? by Emily Austin. I was already questioning things but that book made it very clear to me that my lack of sexual attraction to men was not in fact because I am demi or ace, but rather that I was trying to fix into a box that society planned for me. I felt so deeply for Cubby in so many ways.

When I was younger I also dealt with a social media addiction, it was only that after stepping away for days that I could take a moment to grasp how unhealthy it was. That compulsion to check socials is so real and is really so toxic. I don't see very many books touch on this subject so that was nice to see.

I will say that I noticed the relationship between Darcy and Cubby took a back seat to the themes in the book, I was hoping for more of the focus being on the relationship, but overall I really enjoyed this story and the writing captivated me. I finished the book in just two days.