This queer romance with Stranger Things vibes is creepily compelling.
It's summer 1993 and 17-year-old Claire Whitmore is caring for her ill grandmother in Indianola, Tex., where "nothing's impossible." This proves scarily true when Claire must call an exterminator for a monster with "thick, glossy gray fur" wearing a red scarf that's in Grammy's backyard. Seventeen-year-old Julie Alvarez, whose family owns the extermination company, tells Claire about the century-old treaty her ancestors created that's supposed to keep the monsters out of town. But why are the monsters targeting Claire? Together, Claire and Julie learn about their families' entangled pasts and uncover their own "cosmically interesting" connection--and a romantic one, too.
Alternating between Claire's and Julie's perspectives, Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Our Lady of the Ice) is an endearing queer romance with elements of sci-fi, mystery and horror. Clarke masterfully uses coincidences, a hot Texas summer and unreliable memories to help readers feel Claire's disquiet. The slow unveiling of the story's central mystery--with historical gaps and creatures that can't easily communicate--increasingly builds tension. Clarke aptly balances the intense supernatural goings-on with Claire and Julie's sweet slow-burn romance. Whether it's Claire navigating unfamiliar feelings or Julie suppressing her own "forbidden" ones, their blossoming relationship injects warmth into the unnerving events. This original sci-fi mystery with its memory-distortion and remarkable world-building is thoroughly satisfying. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader