Love Water Memory Paperback – January 14, 2014

Lucie disappears for 9 days and is found standing in San Francisco Bay with amnesia. What traumatic event triggered this? This is an interesting thing because Lucie is normally an uptight, control freak. It all comes from another traumatic event from her childhood. But what if we were freed from the baggage of our pasts? Who could we be? This is theinteresting part. As Lucie resumes life with her wounded fiancé, who also has a difficult past, who will she be as she tries to recover her memories? The old Lucie or the newly freed Lucie? What annoyed me about the story was the tentativeness of the characters. Of course, this would happen initially, but they never communicate with each other and I found it odd that Lucie wouldn’t be plying him with questions in her quest to rediscover herself. Also, it’s never really explained why she hates the aunt who took her in so much. This story could’ve delved deeper into the fascinating premise of reinventing yourself and overcoming your past.

I really enjoyed this book; highly recommend it!

I thought it would be just another "amnesia story," but I found it to be not at all formulaic. The amnesia victim's story unfolds gradually and is always interesting, especially because of the difference between the personality of her "old" and "new" selves. I got drawn into the story right away and stayed that way until the end.

What kind of ending was that ? I was not pleased with the ending but everything else was fine. Would not recommend it

You can get the general plot from the other reviews (& I agree this is a thoroughly engrossing read). What I find most fascinating in LWM is the notion of what it must be like to get to/have to view yourself solely through the eyes and reactions of others and whatever 'evidence' you've left. Talk about opportunity for redemption! I'm a Shortridge fan from way back and this is my favorite of her novels.

How this achieved a 4+ rating, let alone got published, is beyond me. Akin to a movie of the week in terms of subject matter and predictability, this book not only bored me, but I felt insulted by the sensationalistic topic, overt sentimentality, and superficial characterizations.Grady was better-developed at first, but the book took an unfortunate shift in emphasis, sacrificing insight in favor of story-telling as it progressed to its facile, tied-up-in-a-bow ending. There were many unanswered questions; for instance, why did Lucie hate her aunt? And if Lucie's aunt so adored her niece and was desperate to connect, why then was she withholding, cold and unavailable? Where was the back story? Also (as if this wasn't enough), given the broad strokes with which Lucie was portrayed as superficial, narcissistic and unavailable, I failed to apprehend Grady's slavish devotion let alone adoration for her, particularly given the extent to which the author made it a point to convey that Lucy was an object of benign dislike if not outright distaste by everyone who knew her. Finally, amnesia may explain the inability to recall history, but it does not explain the transformative ability to rewrite character.This book afforded opportunity for so much more had the author not abandoned character development for the sake of a safe but puerile conclusion. I cannot help but wonder how magnificently the subject could have been handled had it been in the accomplished hands of a writer like Alice Munro, David Wroblewski or Michael Chabon.This book may have an appeal to someone who still believes in magic wands and happy endings but even fairy tales have better characterization and depth. My recommendation: pass, time is short and there are better and far worthier books out there.

Love Water Memory is a wonderful book to read. Jennie has produced new characters as in Lucie and Grady and they come alive in your life and you cannot help but keep reading until the book is over. I didn't want the book to end. I highly recommend this story to anyone starting new with author; Jennie Shortridge or if you have followed her before you will love this read.

What a lovely story beautifully told, with the power and gracefulness of water, as the title eludes. So well put together, even though it's like a puzzle, it is as smooth as an "all in one piece" glossy photograph. Great characters, settings, rhythms.

Not into love stories but this was was enjoyable and I wanted to keep reading to see how it ended up. Well written to how main characters evolved and how new and old memories are made. Really liked the book!