The Selective Collective: Loud, Awake and Lost

Welcome to The Selective Collective. Together with our friends at The Book Addict’s Guide, Gone Pecan, The Grown Up YA and Teen Lit Rocks, we’ll be exploring a new release in its entirety, from review to author spotlight, to a roundtable chat, among other fun things.

This week we’re discussing Loud, Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin.

LOUD. There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. She suffered back injuries and brain trauma. But she is alive. That’s the only thing left she can cling to.

AWAKE. Eight months later, Ember feels broken. The pieces of her former self no longer fit together. She can’t even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won’t talk about?

LOST. One by one, Ember discovers the answers to these questions, like a twisted game of dominoes. And little by little, the person she used to be slips further and further away. (Goodreads)

This week, I have the pleasure of hosting a free topic in relation to this book.

I really enjoyed Loud, Awake and Lost because it felt like it had a little bit of everything. There was a romance (more than one), there was friendship and family and, of course, tragedy. But there was also the mystery of what happened to Ember in those weeks leading up to her accident.  All signs indicate that she was a different person entirely, but her parents and her best friend seem to be working to hide this. In fact, her own mind is working against her, repressing the memories that are just too painful to bear.

I love stories that have a twist like this, that delve into the mind and how complex our brains can be, especially when it comes to protecting us. Here are a few other books that deal with some form of amnesia or repressed memories due to a traumatic event. Each one has a little mystery to it, just like Griffin’s latest book.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesic By Gabrielle Zevin

I really enjoyed this book. Naomi fell and hit her head and awoke with no memory of her boyfriend, of her dad’s fiance, or of her mom’s new family. And more, she’s a different person now, and certain friends (and boyfriends) don’t know how to handle it. This is my favorite Zevin book.

Rosebush by Michelle Jafe

Someone tried to kill Jane. When she wakes up in the hospital, we aren’t quite sure who has it in for her, but as the story unfolds and Jane begins to piece her memories together, the only thing that’s clear is that there are a ton of people who probably have reason to off poor little Jane (seriously, she hangs out with some awful people).

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

This story is less about repressed memories and more about finding justice when a girl is date raped, but Alex, the main character, while she’s certain she’s been wronged, is foggy on many of the details of that terrible night when a boy from school took advantage of her. The memories come back to her slowly, piece by piece, and it’s a heartbreaking process.

Level 2 (The Memory Chronicles) by Lenore Appelhans

Felicia is trapped in the afterlife and while she has access to many images and moments from her life on Earth, we don’t know exactly how she died, or who she can trust. That story unfolds slowly, through a series of memories and flashbacks and as the reader, you experience them as Felicia does, as though it’s the first time for her. I liked this book. It was very different, not at all what I expected.

There are probably tons more out there (believe it or not, I haven’t read them all!), but these are the books that came to mind for me.

Thanks for stopping by this week! Be sure to check out my blogging partners as they further explore Loud, Awake and Lost:

The Book Addict’s Guide- Page to Screen

Gone Pecan- Review

The Grown Up YA-Roundtable

Teen Lit Rocks-Author Profile & Giveaway

Sincere thanks to Random House for sending each member of The Selective Collective review copies of Loud, Awake and Lost.