Things I Can't Forget - Miranda Kenneally

Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): From the bestselling author of Catching Jordan comes a new teen romance sure to appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen.
SOME RULES WERE MEANT TO BE BROKEN.
Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different...
This summer she's a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He's the first guy she ever kissed, and he's gone from geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt...with her.
Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn't that easy...

MY OPINION: **

I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the first one of the series. I'm tempted to abandon this series but I read the fifth one a few years ago and I would love to get there again and see if it really was as good as I thought it was at the time. Considering I'm only two away, I'll probably continue on, even if I don't find these books enjoyable.

My biggest problem with the book was the main character, Kate. She was the most judgmental, insufferable, whiny, snobbish, narrow-minded girl and I couldn't stand her. Even at the end of the book, when she had begun to realize her mistakes, I still didn't like her in the slightest. She's very committed to her religion and to God, so much so that she judges other people and views their actions as sins. She did not respect anyone else's beliefs or opinions and just expected everyone to respect hers. Her best friend was justified in her actions, and I sided with Emily the entire way through.

Kate believes that she has lost touch with God after committing the worst sin possible. SPOILER She helped her best friend get an abortion. I personally believe that an abortion should be the woman's choice, no matter what anyone or God has to say about it. However, Kate spends the entire book feeling bad about it and not understanding why her best friend has changed into the person she is today rather than the "Jesus Freak" religious girls they used to be. END SPOILER Kate cannot accept the fact that her friend's beliefs about God have changed and tries to force Emily into praying with her and believing in God in the same way that she does.

Kate believes in not having sex before marriage, which is perfectly fine. However, she judges every single person who chooses to have sex before marriage, including her friends. We see cameos from Parker and Will from the previous book, and Kate judges their flirtatious relationship as well. We also learn that she used to like Will, which isn't that important but still made me feel sort of uncomfortable (if I were Parker, I couldn't have been friends with Kate, sorry).

I did like Matt for the most part and I liked how he was respectful of Kate, but their relationship seemed to have zero chemistry. Kate constantly tries to wear less clothing to "make herself look good for him" but judges other girls for doing the same thing. When they get together, she and Matt make out and she feels ashamed of it but realizes that she can't help herself. The book sort of leads to the idea that any relationship will end in sex, which I personally do not believe to be true at all. Also, Kate realizes the hypocrisy of her statements before but doesn't really do anything to apologize to every person she has judged for the same actions she has committed.

Her church needs help. The previous book mentioned the same church and their judgmental opinions towards Parker and the same existed in this book. The pastor seems awful and I truly believe that everyone should just join Will's church from the second book because they seemed way more chill and respectful.

I am not religious in the slightest, so I personally found the entire religious aspect of it really boring. Instead of teaching me about the religion, it preached at me the entire time with the more negative aspects of the religion. I would have liked to have seen less of that and more of a plot.

I did like the camp aspect of it because it was a different setting than the sports fields that the past two books have been set in. Megan was an awful person and I really hope she doesn't get the job that she wants (karma!).

I would honestly recommend skipping this book in the series if you are not a fan of judgmental characters. However, if you do want to read the full extent of this series, I'm just going to warn you that the main character is annoying and insufferable and will make you want to chuck the book (or in my case, my phone) across the room half the time.

Main Character: Kate
Sidekick(s): Matt, etc
Villain(s): Judgment, negative aspects of religious teachings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.