It’s every chapter, every page Stevie spends in Wyatt, her hometown, surrounded by people but never truly being seen.
It’s other people’s careless words which linger even when you’re alone. There is an impossible divide you can’t quite breach between you and everyone else. The novel brilliantly captures the experiences of living in a town that’s never felt like home to you because of your identity as a queer person of color. How could Stevie not assume she is straight when she’s being told it’s her only option? By trying to conform to the expectations of those around her, Stevie only unravels further, losing herself increasingly to fear, doubt and shame. Learning the difference between who you are and who others want you to be is confusing for anyone coming of age, but especially for queer kids. That denial of her true self is heartbreaking to read because, as readers, we understand where it comes from. Through Stevie’s storyline, Derrick thoroughly examines compulsory heterosexuality, a reality for many lesbians which isn’t commonly depicted in fiction. Stevie finds herself dating and pursuing a boy, all because she’s been told she likes him, even if she doesn’t feel it. The revelation of Stevie’s sexuality is erased by her amnesia. Stevie makes herself smaller as she faces microaggressions from her friends and homophobic comments from her parents, drifting aimlessly in a life she doesn’t recognize but is forced to inhabit. Derrick writes an intimate portrayal of small-town life through Stevie’s eyes, exploring the ways in which her identity as a biracial Korean-American lesbian isolatess her from her white, straight peers, even as she desperately tries to connect with them in the wake of her accident.
“Forget Me Not” is romantic fiction as it’s meant to be - tender, devastating and hopeful. But their dream for their future unravels when a tragic accident steals years of Stevie’s memory - including that of meeting and falling for Nora.Įvery page of this book pulls at your heartstrings. By doing so, they would no longer have to keep their relationship a secret. The story follows two girls, Stevie and Nora, who’ve been planning to escape their conservative town after graduation and flee to California. Alyson Derrick’s solo debut, “Forget Me Not,” is an upcoming sapphic young adult romance novel.
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