Things I Can't Forget Series: Hundred Oaks #3 on March 5th 2013
Format: Paperback (320 pages) • Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes & Noble
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...
This was not an easy book for me to read. You’d never guess that, considering I read it all in one night. Because of Kenneally’s writing and my love for the rest of this series, I’m really tempted to bump my rating up… but I just can’t do it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I read the book and got to see some of my favorite people again (Parker and Will, obvs). The events in this series kind of roll into each other for the rest of the books, so it’s awesome catching glimpses of people like JEREMIAH who I already know is going to be PERFECT in Breathe, Annie, Breathe. I don’t think you have to read this series in order (obviously I didn’t for the most part) but it really helps in that aspect.
Anyway, again I’ll probably be divisive in my thoughts on this. It seems like most people really enjoyed this book. It was hard for me to let myself enjoy it because of the main character and her beliefs. I like to think I’m an understanding person that can respect others’ opinions, but that doesn’t mean I WANT to hear about some of them for 320 pages. I really can’t do it. I’m surprised I was able to push by some of that and eventually grow to (kind of) like Kate.
Kate has always been the epitome of a good girl. She’s been kissed once, never EVER does anything bad, goes to church, and strongly believes in everything the bible says. Like, everything. Towards the beginning of the book, she’s told she’s “judgmental” by two people. They’re right. Since she takes the bible so literally, she believes you’re either a good Christian or a sinner. No in-between. Any Christian who smokes, has sex, drinks, or even sleeps in the same room as a boy, is a sinner. Parker tells her what’s up and it made me like her character even more. You can tell, though, that Kate will have some major character development by the end. She became slightly looser and more confident in herself, but still had a hard time separating her beliefs from other people’s.
I did like a few things in this one though! First of all, Matt’s obsession with ranch dressing was flawless and incredibly true to my life. “Ranch dressing exists. Therefore, I must eat it” is prob going to be my next tattoo. Also, as usual, I loved the cameos. They were so perfect. Seeing more of Parker and Will was a lot of fun, as well as some glimpses at a few other Hundred Oaks people. It was nice seeing Kate develop a friendship with Parker, especially after they had some issues at the beginning. Another thing I liked was the complexity of each character’s story. I feel like the secondary characters had a lot of face time in this book and they each had a lot of complicated stuff to be explored.
If you are a religious person, or at least more open to hearing about other people’s religious beliefs, this could be a good fit for you. I promise I’m not trying to be disrespectful – just sharing that I personally would rather not read books within this subject area.
Things I Can’t Forget is the most polarizing novel in the Kenneally series, just because Kate herself is an extremely difficult girl to read about. She’s so stubborn about what she thinks is wrong or right, and it’s definitely hard to read about someone so judgmental! Her journey from start to finish did make me cry though, so I suppose it was worth my read 😉
Haha yes exactly – it was worth the read overall!