From the author of She Regrets Nothing, which BuzzFeed called a “sharp, glittering story of wealth, family, and fate,” a vivid novel about a young Olympic skier who loses everything and reinvents herself in Buenos Aires, where she meets a man keeping dark secrets of his own. Katie Cleary has always known exactly what she wants: to be the best skier in the world. As a teenager, she leaves her … As a teenager, she leaves her home to live and train full time with her two best friends, brothers Luke and Blair. Their wealthy father hires the best coaches money can buy and after years of training, the three friends are the USA’s best shot at bringing home Olympic gold.
But as the upward trajectory of Katie’s elite skiing career nears its zenith, a terrifying truth about her sister becomes impossible to ignore–one that will lay ruin not only to Katie’s career but to her family and her relationship with Luke and Blair.
With her life shattered and nothing left to lose, Katie flees the snowy mountainsides of home for Buenos Aires. There, she reinvents herself and meets a colorful group of ex-pats and the alluring, charismatic Gianluca Fortunado, a tango teacher with secrets of his own. This beautiful city, with its dark history and wild promise, seems like the perfect refuge, but can she really outrun her demons?
“Searing, gripping…a complicated story of sisterhood unlike any told before” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six), We Came Here to Forget explores what it means to dream, to desire, to achieve–and what’s left behind after it all disappears.
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I have loved Andrea Dunlop ever since I saw her in an author event a few years ago with my friend, so I have zero idea why it took me so incredibly long to get to We Came Here to Forget. This book doesn’t just have a beautiful cover, it was surprising and emotional as well. I was immediately sucked into Katie’s story, and I listened to the audiobook in only two sittings. It also didn’t hurt that the audio is narrated by one of my favorites, Julia Whelan. I really liked the way the book was structured with Katie’s present time as ‘Liz’ in Buenos Aires, as well as chapters from her past. Little by little, we find out what happened in her family and it was not at all what I was expecting.
We Came Here to Forget is a beautiful work of contemporary fiction mixed with a bit of mystery, and there is a darker tone to the story that I was intrigued by. I love the way Dunlop writes and this book has a little bit of everything. There is heartache, joy, romance, sadness and so much more that I couldn’t possibly list everything. I really liked Katie as a character, and I ADORED the setting in Buenos Aires. I feel like I learned a lot of things I didn’t know about it and I loved the way Dunlop brought it to life through the eyes of Katie. I was expecting more about Katie’s Olympic career, but the focus was more on her sister Penny as well as what happens during her time in Buenos Aires. All in all, this was a heartbreaking, but also heartwarming novel and I loved the journey it took me on.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This novel took me on a completely unexpected ride through one woman’s journey of triumph, tragedy, pain, and resilience. I’ve not before read an Andrea Dunlop story but plan to remedy that fact. She explores a very dark side of human nature in this book through eyes of a woman who bears witness to a great collapse in her family and eventually her own personal life as a result of the actions of others of which she can not understand. Through a series of toggling chapters between past and present we see where she came from with a slow build to how that came crashing down juxtaposed to something unfamiliar and new that seems doomed for the same fate.
I loved this book because it was a unique story with a deeply troubled and emotional heroine and while her story doesn’t match my own in the details her fragile emotions, wavering mental state, and intense need for understanding completely hit home. This book is mysterious in a subtle way that keeps you guessing as what this tragedy is exactly but explosive in the emotions that tether you to this woman’s life both in real time and in her recounting of how it all came to this. There’s a certain magic in the setting that keeps the darkness from completely creeping in. I was charmed completely by new relationships with people who share those same emotions and are looking for a form of escapism. I was memorized by old friendships and how those change so drastically. I was moved as much as I was horrified. I was conflicted as much as I was resolute in my belief of this character and her actions. I sympathize with her needs in this story and the choices she makes in her quest for clarity and peace. I find her journey and those characters her play direct roles in it grossly compelling.
Andrea Dunlop’s storytelling is wonderful and keeps you engaged the entire time. It took me several sittings to read this book because I wanted to savor the details and the twisted emotions. It’s more than romance even though there are different threads of it throughout. The only thing I wish for would be a little more conclusive epilogue but I think that’s just personal preference because the way it ended enhanced the unique and engaging parts of the story. One that terrified me and engaged me fully. A truly great read.