Amnesia is a topic that can capture the imagination. Goodreads, a book review web site, has a list of popular amnesia books. There are 1,366 books on the list. Clearly it is an intriguing subject for authors.

When I started reading Then and Always, I did not know it was about a woman with amnesia. Since I had finished What Alice Forgot within the last two weeks, I was surprised that the theme of amnesia had come up again in my reading.

Reading two books about women with amnesia within such a short period of time leads one to compare the books. While I see in the description of Then and Always, a comparison to What Alice Forgot, they are very different.

In Then and Always, the main character, Rachel Wiltshire suffers from amnesia. In her case, the five year time period is not a blank slate. When she wakes up in the hospital, she finds that everything that she thinks happened for the last 5 years is not what happened. Her life is much different and in fact much better than what she feels it has been. While happy about the differences in some ways, she is perplexed about some things. The biggest difference is that her friend is alive. In the life she feels she has been living, he was dead.

I am sorry that I read both books so close together. I caught myself making comparisons. Then and Always is a good read. There is a huge plot twist at the end that I think was very well done. Then and Always is a good story. What Alice Forgot is a story that made me think more about life and wonder about the lifespan of relationships and the changes that happen in life. It was much easier to identify with Alice and wonder about changes in my life. Reading about Rachel was reading a story.

What Alice Forgot was a happy surprise as it was so much better than I expected. Then and Always was a book that I enjoyed reading. It will make a good beach read this summer.

Then and Always will be released in the US on May 20, 2014. I received a pre-publication copy. (That is my way of telling you that it was a freebie so that I would read and review the book.) It appears that the book was first released in Great Britain under the title Fractured.

If you are trying to decide between these two books, I think it depends upon what you want out of your reading at the moment. If you are looking for a good read that won’t take much thought, then opt for getting lost in the plot of Then and Always. If you want to have a more thoughtful read, then What Alice Forgot is the choice.

Now that the weather is finally starting to warm up here in the Midwest, it is time to start thinking of summer reading. I need to go over my list of books that I wanted to read this year and see how I am doing. How about you? Have you a list? I would be interested to hear what book you are going to read next.  Please let me know in the comments section.

Thanks for reading!

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Happy Spring to you!