Forget this Ever Happened

Written by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Narrated by Sandy Rustin

June, 1993.
City girl Claire has been shipped off to spend the summer in Indianola, Texas, a tiny town on the Gulf. There’s nothing too remarkable about Indianola. It’s Nowheresville: rundown, remote, and sweltering, the sunshine as hot as oil.

Except … there is something remarkable.
Memories shimmer and change.
Lizards whisper riddles under the pecan trees.
People disappear as if they never existed.
Yesterday keeps coming unspooled, like a videotape.

And worst of all, a red-lightning storm from beyond our world may just wipe the whole town off the map, if Claire and Julie (her new-friend-slash-maybegirlfriend) can’t stop it.

Because reality doesn’t apply in Indianola. Indianola is not supposed to exist.

A lush, thrilling genre bender, Forget This Ever Happened is the newest novel from award-winning author Cassandra Rose Clarke. Surprising, brilliant, and, like, totally tight, Forget This Ever Happened is speculative horror at its finest, featuring
an Own Voices Queer romance and dark, dazzling world-building.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705027721

Cassandra Rose Clarke

Cassandra Rose Clarke is the author of Star Trek: Prodigy: A Dangerous Trade, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Shadows Have Offended, Our Lady of the Ice, Magic of Blood and Sea, Magic of Wind and Mist, Star’s End, Halo: Battle Born, and Halo: Battle Born: Meridian Divide. She grew up in south Texas and currently lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she tends to multiple cats. Cassandra’s first adult novel, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, was a finalist for the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award, and her YA novel, The Assassin’s Curse, was nominated for YALSA’s 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons and Daily Science Fiction. Visit her at CassandraRoseClarke.com.  

Reviews for Forget this Ever Happened

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A first maybe romance is brought to an abrupt halt when Claire is hauled off to the small town of Indianola, Texas by her mom, who never listens to what's important to her daughter. Sentenced to take care of her failing grandmother, she's supposed to be satisfied with being a servant more than a companion by promises that she'll love the ocean and everything else will fall into place. Her memories of the place are hazy and shaped by every other Christmas visits that last only until her equally distant father can get them back in the car to return home.
Indianola, however, is not what it seems, people seem to change while Claire is looking at them, there are monsters that speak and have an uneasy agreement with the town, and her grandmother is colder and more demanding than Claire was led to believe she would be. Then there are the two girls she meets. Audrey, her grandmother's favorite, latches on immediately, even to the point of making Claire feel controlled at times. Julie Alvarez, on the other hand, is a bit of an outcast because of her sexual orientation and her working as an exterminator, tasked with keeping the monsters in check, but makes Claire feel comfortable and shares her love of movies..
What unfolds is a story way more complex than it seems when Claire arrives in Indianola, one that involves what happened 100 years before, a budding romance that was totally unexpected, and some very scary happenings. It's a dandy tale nicely wrapped up after some real surprises regarding who's behind the plot. Definitely a good choice for library collections where teens enjoy urban fantasy/magical realism tales.