My rating: 7 out of 10 stars
        This was not exactly the book I expected it to be, and, in some ways, that was to it's detriment, but, in others, it complimented the story nicely.
        The story of Remember is the story of Marina "Mara" Stone, who lives with her grandmother after her father has been killed and her mother has run off to use dark magic. Mara helps care for Meg, her younger sister, and spends time with Cole, her boyfriend. When her grandmother unbinds the magic powers that have been kept dormant within Mara, she needs to learn how to use them to protect the people she loves.
        Let me say this for the book; because the character list was so small, these characters are well drawn and easy to invest in. Their back stories are all given attention and develop organically through the plot. Their connections to one another are clear and well-defined.
        However, the setting is a bit more confusing, and it left me wishing for more detail. Mara seems to inhabit a town in which magic is accepted. They hold festivals to honor the moon and her grandmother sells baked goods as well as herbs and remedies that I took as potions. Now that's all well and good, but has something happened to bring about this community of magic-believers? There's a bizarre hunting incident in the first chapter that I thought was setting me up to read a novel set in a world that had undergone a change of some kind, maybe not post-apocalyptic, but changed in some way. However, this development is never brought up again, so I was left feeling a bit unbalanced by the whole thing. I'm game for other worlds and tweaks on this one (I encourage them, in fact), but I need to be able to picture what kind of world I'm inhabiting, and this one was incomplete.
        The tone of the book was the aforementioned challenge to my expectations. I guess I went into it anticipating suspense and action. What I actually got was a very tender, cozy story. At first, this was a problem for me. The elements are presented as these anthropomorphic-with-a-Disney/Pixar-twist beings who fly and tease and giggle. The romance between Cole and Mara is very innocent (lots of cuddling and sweet-nothings). There are bad guys, but they show up rarely, and their threats are handled with a calm, plodding reaction. I actually had to put the book down for awhile, thinking that it wasn't really up my alley.
        However, once I embraced the book for what it was, I found it much more enjoyable. Really, the magic used in this novel is child-like and innocent, so it's only fitting that the novel feel like an animated movie. The plot was steady and there were no major surprises, but that was OK. There's a very gentle and respectful undertone to the whole thing that actually compliments the subject matter. This is a pleasant, cozy story about a pleasant, cozy family (who eat really well - be warned: you will get hungry). Even in the way they speak, rarely using contractions so that the dialogue is slower and more deliberate, this feels like a faerie tale in more ways than not.
        I would recommend this novel to anybody who likes books about magic and special skills regardless of age, I think even young children would enjoy reading this one along with their parents. Just be warned that this is not necessarily a tear through it page-turner. It will grow on you and make you feel at home. A great book to snuggle up with.

Pick up a copy here.