Elissa Janine Hoole

4.5 stars.

The Memory Jar by Elissa Janine Hoole is a poignant and thought-provoking young adult novel that takes a realistic approach to the subject of teen pregnancy.

Taylor and Scott are high school sweethearts who have been dating long distance now that Scott is going to college. An unexpected pregnancy sets the stage for a tragic chain of events that leaves Scott in a coma and Taylor unable to remember the events that led up to the accident. While trying to recall if she was responsible for the wreck, Taylor also must decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.

Taylor is an unapologetically and refreshingly honest character whose thoughts and decisions sometimes paint her in an unflattering light. An unplanned pregnancy will ruin her chance at a better life and she is pretty certain what choice she is going to make about the pregnancy. She deeply regrets that her inability to be straightforward with Scott indirectly led to the accident and she is desperate to remember what happened right before the wreck. Taylor feels guilty that she wanted to end things with Scott and her thoughts while sitting at his beside are a heartbreaking mix of memories of their relationship, agony over the accident and the heartwrenching decision about whether to terminate her pregnancy.

As if Taylor does not have enough things weighing on her mind, she is forced to deal with a few other issues during this tumultuous time. Scott’s younger brother Joey is angry and confrontational but he also becomes an surprising source of support. The unexpected arrival of someone from Scott’s college adds more turmoil to an already stressful situation. Unable to believe what she is being told, she begins to have doubts about what she thought she knew about Scott. A series of horrific texts add to her growing confusion her pregnancy and when private information goes public, Taylor cannot help but wonder if her closest friends have betrayed her trust.

With a unique and an unflinchingly honest storyline, The Memory Jar is an emotional and sometimes heartbreaking young adult novel. Taylor is a complex, multi-faceted protagonist whose thoughts, actions and emotions are realistically portrayed. Elissa Janine Hoole is an incredibly gifted storyteller who is not afraid to tackle hard-hitting, true to life issues. Impossible to put down, this beautifully rendered novel has an incredibly moving conclusion that is guaranteed to tug on readers’ heartstrings.… (más)

Goodreads Synopsis:
Since the accident, Taylor’s memory has been fuzzy. But at least she’s awake. Who knows what her boyfriend, Scott, will remember when he comes out of his coma. Will he remember that Taylor was driving the snowmobile when it crashed? Will he remember the engagement ring? Her pregnancy?
Will he remember that she tried to break up with him?
Taylor doesn’t know. And she doesn’t know if she wants him to remember. Plenty of things happened that night and before—secrets wrapped in secrets—that she’d prefer be forgotten.
Facing choices she’d rather ignore, Taylor searches for something more solid than whispers and something bigger than blame, so that she can face the future and forgive herself.

My Review:
I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for a review. I wasn't really sure what I was getting into when I started this book, but I loved every bit of it and I'm so glad I read it.
Taylor has been in a snowmobile accident with her boyfriend, Scott. He's in a coma, and she can't remember if they broke up or got engaged before it happened. She also can't remember the accident itself, and is riddled with anxiety and unanswered questions. She's also pregnant with his baby, and isn't sure what to do.
The story switches between Taylor now, and then, and a couple other peoples stories while they're talking around Scott at the hospital, trying to wake him up. The characters are super realistic and react to things the way I think any real person would. I didn't feel too old to be reading this, and I the cover is really pretty.
The book is heart wrenching and I really loved every moment, happy or sad. I thin it's one of my new favourites, I want to buy a copy. It faces very real issues that not a lot of books want to talk about, and I appreciate that. I loved the ending too, and remember going into this is that this is not a story with a happy or sad ending. The ending is to always remember to keep moving on. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Here's the amazon link to the book, and also the authors twitter handle in case you had any questions or wanted to buy the book for yourself.

https://twitter.com/elissajanine

https://www.amazon.ca/Memory-Jar-Elis...

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com… (más)

This book was good, but I feel like it started too fast. A lot of the conflict in the book had to deal with the death of Anna's mother in the previous year. Anna became emotionally distant after that, and her best friend Katy had trouble dealing with it. I understood that, but mainly from the dialogue that recounted the past year, which as a reader I never got to see. I feel like if the book had started earlier, like with the house-fire scene and then a few chapters illustrating Anna's change in behavior, it would give a better picture of the emotional dynamics. Less "tell", more "show". That said, the book definitely had some good points. I liked the secondary characters and I thought the scene with the bear was great. I felt the confused/unlabeled romance was too fast-paced, but definitely sympathetic. It's hard not knowing where you're at with someone. I wish we could have seen more of Anna's dad - he seemed like a promising character. So I'm giving this one three stars. Looking forward to seeing more from this author.… (más)

I wanted to read The Memory Jar because it has several of my reading wishlist criteria: pregnancy, memory loss, accidents, and emotions.

The narration goes back and forth between before the accident and after the accident. I'm not really sure how I felt about that time line because it was a little confusing. But I guess that makes sense because both Taylor and her boyfriend have been in that accident and Taylor lost some of her memory while boyfriend still in a coma. as of right now it just seems like Taylor can't remember exactly what happened in the crash. but she's very conflicted about the pregnancy and about the possible engagement and the fact that she had planned to break up with him right before they have their accident.

I like there was family dynamics in this one. Taylor and her mom got along okay but she didn't really trust her mom and talk to her about sex because her mom was always talking about the " sLutty girls" planned pregnancy he close to where she works and that kind of put an end to Taylor wanted to open up to her.
So is his family there very present his brother is very mad at Taylor not really sure why at first but of the story kept playing out in kind of figured that out. Her relationship with him developed too as they waited for him to wake up.

I ended up skimming towards the end because I was confused with the timeline, the thens didn't seem like in the past, and her fragmented memories added to my confusion. There was a character I was blindsided by and didn't think that she added to the plot.

I wanted to finish though and I was mostly okay with it, though I wanted something slightly different.

Bottom Line: Good premise, the timeline bugged me.… (más)