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Remember the Time
In an extraordinary debut that shimmers with rare emotion, Annette Reynolds weaves a story of passion, loss, and betrayal--and a woman who must risk everything to find the courage to love again....
They were childhood buddies who swore they'd never let a girl come between them. Then they met the only girl who ever beautiful, funny, smart Kate
Moran. Yet it was Paul who finally married her--and Mike who resigned himself to a lifetime of hiding what he truly feels. Until life took an unexpected turn...
What do you do if your perfect marriage isn't perfect? If you find yourself harboring a secret desire for your husband's best friend--and then, tragically,
your husband dies? For Kate, rocked by grief and guilt, the only way to deal with the loss is to retreat. Yet you can't run away from what's in your heart...and soon Kate will have to face the about the man she married, the man she wants, and the devastating secrets only lovers can conceal.
They were childhood buddies who swore they'd never let a girl come between them. Then they met the only girl who ever beautiful, funny, smart Kate
Moran. Yet it was Paul who finally married her--and Mike who resigned himself to a lifetime of hiding what he truly feels. Until life took an unexpected turn...
What do you do if your perfect marriage isn't perfect? If you find yourself harboring a secret desire for your husband's best friend--and then, tragically,
your husband dies? For Kate, rocked by grief and guilt, the only way to deal with the loss is to retreat. Yet you can't run away from what's in your heart...and soon Kate will have to face the about the man she married, the man she wants, and the devastating secrets only lovers can conceal.
432 pages, Paperback
First published June 2, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 11, 2011
~* 3.5 Stars *~
A Sometimes Painful Reminder
Mike Fitzgerald has loved Kate Moran since the moment she first walked into the high school class he sat in with his best friend Paul Armstrong. Since that fateful day, he's been her best friend and closest confidante. He loved her when Paul and Kate started dating, he loved her when they were married, loved her while Paul's career as a Major League Baseball player made him famous, and loved her as Paul's infidelity and lies slowly turned Kate into a shadow of the vibrant girl he'd known.
Then Paul died.
In the three years since his best friend's tragic accident, Mike has watched Kate slip further and further away from life, until grief and despair had crippled her and alcohol was her crutch. And things got so much worse when Kate was informed of their alma mater's plans to dedicate a building to Paul and she was invited to talk at the ceremony. Intent on keeping an eye on her as Kate spirals even deeper into misery and loss, and with growing concern for her neglected house given the coming winter, he maneuvers her into accepting his offer to work on some much needed repairs and renovations.
Seeing the woman he loves destroy herself right in front of him, though, turns out to be a much more painful task than Mike had anticipated, and twenty-one years of longing and need finally explode. Confessing his love for her may unburden his soul, but as bitter memories of the past swarm and the ghost of an old friend rattles chains of betrayal and long buried secrets, Mike comes to the devastating realization that Paul may have been right all those years ago...Kate will never be his.
When originally published in 1997, Remember the Time marked Annette Reynolds' authorial debut. Now released in eReader format as a part of the Loveswept collection, a new generation will get a chance to read this well written novel. It is a sweeping, poignant, and powerful story heavy-laden with gripping emotion that lasts long after the final page is turned.
For all that, I can't say that the book was to my personal taste. That's a problem for someone who's favorite plot themes in romance are the friends-to-lovers and unrequited-to-requited love themes, because both aspects were featured in this novel. Yet instead of being able to revel in those themes, I felt emotionally battered by a preponderance of plot that seemed to detail every single facet of Kate's struggles with grief, despondency, and pain, and the cruelty inherent in a deceitful, selfish, cheating husband whose sole redeeming trait is that he's dead.
I wasn't able to sympathize with Kate, whose unrelenting grief after three long years was completely incomprehensible to me given her awareness of the true nature of her utterly reprehensible playboy husband. Paul Armstrong was - excuse my language - a total dickhead. Yet instead of owning her poor marriage choice and embracing the responsibility for her own joy in life, Kate crawled into the coffin with Paul and let him steal her soul, oblivious to the quiet adoration of the man who has loved her far longer than she's loved herself.
Had any significant portion of the book focused on the relationship evolution between Kate and Mike, I would have felt much different, but with every page, the revelations about Paul's spoiled, self important, overly entitled, abhorrent behavior just kept coming. The damage he inflicted spread across the lives of the primary and secondary characters like a malignancy and the pathos it generated weighed down this lengthy novel. There was too little romance and happiness to relieve the oppressive weight of it all for me.
I wish that the romance between Mike and Kate had been given more attention in the book. That being said, I also think Reynolds' writing is powerful and intense, wringing out a reader's emotions from the first word to the last. For readers who appreciate a lot of angst in their romances, I'd highly recommend Remember the Time. It may not have been to my tastes, but for those whose tastes it meets, it'll be tremendously popular.
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Loveswept, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group, via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.
~*~*~*~
Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.
A Sometimes Painful Reminder
Mike Fitzgerald has loved Kate Moran since the moment she first walked into the high school class he sat in with his best friend Paul Armstrong. Since that fateful day, he's been her best friend and closest confidante. He loved her when Paul and Kate started dating, he loved her when they were married, loved her while Paul's career as a Major League Baseball player made him famous, and loved her as Paul's infidelity and lies slowly turned Kate into a shadow of the vibrant girl he'd known.
Then Paul died.
In the three years since his best friend's tragic accident, Mike has watched Kate slip further and further away from life, until grief and despair had crippled her and alcohol was her crutch. And things got so much worse when Kate was informed of their alma mater's plans to dedicate a building to Paul and she was invited to talk at the ceremony. Intent on keeping an eye on her as Kate spirals even deeper into misery and loss, and with growing concern for her neglected house given the coming winter, he maneuvers her into accepting his offer to work on some much needed repairs and renovations.
Seeing the woman he loves destroy herself right in front of him, though, turns out to be a much more painful task than Mike had anticipated, and twenty-one years of longing and need finally explode. Confessing his love for her may unburden his soul, but as bitter memories of the past swarm and the ghost of an old friend rattles chains of betrayal and long buried secrets, Mike comes to the devastating realization that Paul may have been right all those years ago...Kate will never be his.
When originally published in 1997, Remember the Time marked Annette Reynolds' authorial debut. Now released in eReader format as a part of the Loveswept collection, a new generation will get a chance to read this well written novel. It is a sweeping, poignant, and powerful story heavy-laden with gripping emotion that lasts long after the final page is turned.
For all that, I can't say that the book was to my personal taste. That's a problem for someone who's favorite plot themes in romance are the friends-to-lovers and unrequited-to-requited love themes, because both aspects were featured in this novel. Yet instead of being able to revel in those themes, I felt emotionally battered by a preponderance of plot that seemed to detail every single facet of Kate's struggles with grief, despondency, and pain, and the cruelty inherent in a deceitful, selfish, cheating husband whose sole redeeming trait is that he's dead.
I wasn't able to sympathize with Kate, whose unrelenting grief after three long years was completely incomprehensible to me given her awareness of the true nature of her utterly reprehensible playboy husband. Paul Armstrong was - excuse my language - a total dickhead. Yet instead of owning her poor marriage choice and embracing the responsibility for her own joy in life, Kate crawled into the coffin with Paul and let him steal her soul, oblivious to the quiet adoration of the man who has loved her far longer than she's loved herself.
Had any significant portion of the book focused on the relationship evolution between Kate and Mike, I would have felt much different, but with every page, the revelations about Paul's spoiled, self important, overly entitled, abhorrent behavior just kept coming. The damage he inflicted spread across the lives of the primary and secondary characters like a malignancy and the pathos it generated weighed down this lengthy novel. There was too little romance and happiness to relieve the oppressive weight of it all for me.
I wish that the romance between Mike and Kate had been given more attention in the book. That being said, I also think Reynolds' writing is powerful and intense, wringing out a reader's emotions from the first word to the last. For readers who appreciate a lot of angst in their romances, I'd highly recommend Remember the Time. It may not have been to my tastes, but for those whose tastes it meets, it'll be tremendously popular.
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Loveswept, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group, via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.
~*~*~*~
Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.
March 26, 2012
This was a frustrating read. Some aspects I really loved but others were head-bangingly annoying.
In some ways, it feels more like chick-lit than a category romance. Much of the book is devoted to flashbacks of Katie and Paul, her now deceased husband and what their relationship was like. Also, there is a really involved story line with Mike's nephew (Matt) that I found completely off-putting and irritating. Toward the end, I was pretty much skipping anything to do with Matt. As a result of the backstory and side characters, it feelslike Mike and Katie's romance gets short-changed. When the focus is on Katie & Mike, the book soars. When the focus is Paul & Katie or Katie & Matt (with all of their associated dysfunction), the book sinks like a melodramatic stone.
In some ways, it feels more like chick-lit than a category romance. Much of the book is devoted to flashbacks of Katie and Paul, her now deceased husband and what their relationship was like. Also, there is a really involved story line with Mike's nephew (Matt) that I found completely off-putting and irritating. Toward the end, I was pretty much skipping anything to do with Matt. As a result of the backstory and side characters, it feelslike Mike and Katie's romance gets short-changed. When the focus is on Katie & Mike, the book soars. When the focus is Paul & Katie or Katie & Matt (with all of their associated dysfunction), the book sinks like a melodramatic stone.
November 28, 2011
this was a really good book it was about three best friends kate and paul and mike.
The beginning of the book that was a tragic accident and Paul was killed. Kate was married to Paul but Mike he lived beside her in his house. He always loved Kate from the first time he seen her but Paul was his best friend and Kate pick him. Paul was a famous baseball player so he traveled alot and had many women on the side That pist Mike off how Paul could hurt Kate like that but Mike was always there to be Kate friend someone she could talk to. When Paul died Kate started to drink that made Mike really mad he hated to see how Kate was ruining her life all he wanted to do was hold her and tell her everything will be ok. One night Kate hit rock bottom and went to eat with her best friend nepher name Matt she was drunk and the took a pain pill to Matt came on to her and she thought it was Paul she woke up the next morning half naked and did not know what happen. that is when she changed her life around.
This was a sad book for me i really felt for Kate and for Mike I knew Kate loved both of them and she still loved Paul even though he cheated on her but her rock was always Mike.
The beginning of the book that was a tragic accident and Paul was killed. Kate was married to Paul but Mike he lived beside her in his house. He always loved Kate from the first time he seen her but Paul was his best friend and Kate pick him. Paul was a famous baseball player so he traveled alot and had many women on the side That pist Mike off how Paul could hurt Kate like that but Mike was always there to be Kate friend someone she could talk to. When Paul died Kate started to drink that made Mike really mad he hated to see how Kate was ruining her life all he wanted to do was hold her and tell her everything will be ok. One night Kate hit rock bottom and went to eat with her best friend nepher name Matt she was drunk and the took a pain pill to Matt came on to her and she thought it was Paul she woke up the next morning half naked and did not know what happen. that is when she changed her life around.
This was a sad book for me i really felt for Kate and for Mike I knew Kate loved both of them and she still loved Paul even though he cheated on her but her rock was always Mike.
June 28, 2016
I give it 2.5 stars. This is one long, dark, painful, depressing book. Every character is deeply flawed (and unlikable). Depression, alcohol and prescription drug abuse, infidelity, backstabbing friends and relatives. I don't expect unicorns and glitter but I certainly don't expect to need antidepressants just because I read a book. Time for a rom-com next to lighten the mood. I finished the book but I don't plan to read anything else by this author.
August 29, 2011
This book is one more reason I'm celebrating the return of Loveswept. It's an exceptional, emotional friends-to-lovers story.
My full review can be found at Just Janga.
http://justjanga.blogspot.com/2011/08...
My full review can be found at Just Janga.
http://justjanga.blogspot.com/2011/08...
February 20, 2012
I cried. I laughed and I wish this author had more books available. Very emotional read.
January 4, 2018
You know how you are watching a soap opera and just when you think everything is finally OK with a couple or a character, they throw in a one more scandal or issue just to stir things up? That is exactly what Remember the Time is like. I felt like I was reading a soap opera. It was kind of exhausting. I mean how many things can life throw at one person? I actually rolled my eyes at about the 60% mark.
The story involves Kate who was married to Paul, a famous baseball player. They were childhood sweethearts. His best friend Mike has been in love with her since they were all kids. Paul is killed in a freak accident and Mike now sees his opening. As the story progresses, we get flashbacks to see what Kate and Paul's marriage was really like. In a few words, Paul was a cheating, possessive jerk and I'm surprised anyone liked him. As I said, the story is exhausting. I never really felt like I got to know Mike and Kate as a couple. There was just too much drama between the two of them. Don't even get me started on the whole scenario with Kate the nephew. That was kind of off putting.
The book was written in the late 90s, but it had a very 70s feel to it. If you like day time soaps, then this one might hit the spot. Otherwise, I would say you could skip it.
February 4, 2025
2.5 stars. This 417 page book has more uncomfortable layers than hinted at in the description. Pages and plot points should have a good pruning.
The dead husband was too stereotypically "bad." I feel rather neutral about the Hero but the Heroine is a dumb-dumb. The arc including Matt was uncomfortable in all sorts of ways.
I thought this older romance would have aged gracefully, like a Judith Ivory or Judith McNaught. As much as I prefer books 40 years old as opposed to new novels, I wouldn't recommend this one.
The dead husband was too stereotypically "bad." I feel rather neutral about the Hero but the Heroine is a dumb-dumb. The arc including Matt was uncomfortable in all sorts of ways.
I thought this older romance would have aged gracefully, like a Judith Ivory or Judith McNaught. As much as I prefer books 40 years old as opposed to new novels, I wouldn't recommend this one.
August 19, 2019
I didn't really like Kate, the main character I found her weak and very selfish but I loved every other character. The only problem with me was the huge Unnecessary flashbacks and in some scenes I wanted to cry out of frustration because of Kate. I wish her personality would have done more accurate to actually what real life is and for her to become less selfish and stubborn. Other than that it was an entertaining and exciting book for me.
August 29, 2011
Remember the Time by Annette Reynolds eISBN-978-0-307-79875-6
Paul Armstrong & Michael Fitzgerald had been best friends since the third grade. They had a rule that if one of them liked a girl the other would leave her be. That was until Katie Moran entered their lives. They were both goners. But Paul always got what he wanted and he wanted Kate.
Paul makes it to Major League baseball and soon after he marries Kate. Mike is always there as Kate's best friend. Time passes and when Paul and Kate find out she will never be able to have children they grow apart as Paul always wanted a son, especially after he made the big leagues. Kate finds out about the women he is with while on the road trips but sticks with. Kate is always able to talk and confide in Mike and he never stops loving her. Mike has failed relationships and a failed marriage because his heart is always committed to the one woman he can never have and he never tells Kate how he feels about her.
During Spring Training Paul and his friend Mitch borrow a jeep and go to the washes** to collect rocks for Mitch's daughter. Paul has been rethinking his life. He has a secret that he decided to bring to the open and he is going to make things right with Kate. And then the storm hits. Paul is able to save Mitch but as he goes back to his jeep to get his wallet and look at the picture inside, a boulder hits the soft jeep roof and he dies.
Kate almost dies that day as well. She turns to drinking and away from friends. Finally after almost three years she gets pulled out of her deadened state when Mike tells her he is in love with her, and she realizes maybe she has loved him as well. There are so many things between them. A secret comes out, Paul still stands between them even in death, a betrayal from a friend and other situations.
This is not your normal romance as situations are sometimes darker where it surrounds Paul. Kate starts seeing his human faults and betrayals years after his death. One man has touched many lives and not always in a positive way.
*Contains language and sexual situations
Book received through NetGalley for review
**Washes are deep rock filled ravines. They are pretty wide in some places. When it rains up in the mountains these washes quickly fill with fast moving water. In 1995 Arizona passed a law called “The Arizona Stupid Motorist Law”.
It is illegal to drive through the washes when there is water as it becomes dangerous for those who have to be rescued as well as the rescuers. In this story there was not water in the ravine but a storm came and caused the rushing water while they were in a wash.
Paul Armstrong & Michael Fitzgerald had been best friends since the third grade. They had a rule that if one of them liked a girl the other would leave her be. That was until Katie Moran entered their lives. They were both goners. But Paul always got what he wanted and he wanted Kate.
Paul makes it to Major League baseball and soon after he marries Kate. Mike is always there as Kate's best friend. Time passes and when Paul and Kate find out she will never be able to have children they grow apart as Paul always wanted a son, especially after he made the big leagues. Kate finds out about the women he is with while on the road trips but sticks with. Kate is always able to talk and confide in Mike and he never stops loving her. Mike has failed relationships and a failed marriage because his heart is always committed to the one woman he can never have and he never tells Kate how he feels about her.
During Spring Training Paul and his friend Mitch borrow a jeep and go to the washes** to collect rocks for Mitch's daughter. Paul has been rethinking his life. He has a secret that he decided to bring to the open and he is going to make things right with Kate. And then the storm hits. Paul is able to save Mitch but as he goes back to his jeep to get his wallet and look at the picture inside, a boulder hits the soft jeep roof and he dies.
Kate almost dies that day as well. She turns to drinking and away from friends. Finally after almost three years she gets pulled out of her deadened state when Mike tells her he is in love with her, and she realizes maybe she has loved him as well. There are so many things between them. A secret comes out, Paul still stands between them even in death, a betrayal from a friend and other situations.
This is not your normal romance as situations are sometimes darker where it surrounds Paul. Kate starts seeing his human faults and betrayals years after his death. One man has touched many lives and not always in a positive way.
*Contains language and sexual situations
Book received through NetGalley for review
**Washes are deep rock filled ravines. They are pretty wide in some places. When it rains up in the mountains these washes quickly fill with fast moving water. In 1995 Arizona passed a law called “The Arizona Stupid Motorist Law”.
It is illegal to drive through the washes when there is water as it becomes dangerous for those who have to be rescued as well as the rescuers. In this story there was not water in the ravine but a storm came and caused the rushing water while they were in a wash.
March 2, 2014
Library Request. Seriously, I can't seem to warm up to the heroine in this book, she's selfish, childish, down right tease. How throughout the first half of this book she actually leads Mike on throughout the lives where he can't actually commit to another women because she keeps him dangling with the possibilities of her, she's selfish.
I have to say that the author built the characters so well I could physically feel there presents, and because of that I truly felt Kate was one of the most selfish, weakest character I've ever encourtered.
Glad I finished,it could have benefited with some editing, i found it dragged in areas and sprinted in other areas. All said it was an interesting read.
I have to say that the author built the characters so well I could physically feel there presents, and because of that I truly felt Kate was one of the most selfish, weakest character I've ever encourtered.
Glad I finished,it could have benefited with some editing, i found it dragged in areas and sprinted in other areas. All said it was an interesting read.
dnf
July 5, 2016I am a sucker for Friends to lovers stories but I gave up one this at about 70%. It was just too much of a mess in the middle andI really didn't like the heroine at all. She's had a tough time, in her marriage, but that makes it harder to understand why she is so bad off. the hero was fine, but his long suffering love for his best friend's wife didn't work for me here and he sleeps with another woman once he started to pursue her, which is also a No for me. And don't get me started on the flashbacKs ...
February 19, 2016
Any book that keeps my attention these days (too busy with kids & life) is a good book in my estimation. I did get a annoyed at the main female character. She was a bit desperate and clueless. Other than that I enjoyed the relationship she shared with her best friend and was happy with the ending of the book.
January 18, 2019
Still my favorite book of all time.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews