Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie

In Forgotten, Emma Tupper, a young lawyer, becomes stranded in Africa after a terrible earthquake. Instead of the planned one month trip, she spends six months in a remote village, unable to contact those back home. When she finally returns home, she discovers that everyone she knows thought she was dead. They've moved on with their lives. Her apartment has been rented to someone else; her boyfriend is seeing someone new; her office is occupied by someone else. Getting her old life back is going to be harder than she thought.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it. I know McKenzie writes chick-lit (not a genre I normally read), but the premise was so interesting, I wanted to give it a shot. As it turns out, it was a little too fluffy and a little too farfetched for me.

Several things in the story struck me as unbelievable. For instance, she returns home to find that her apartment has been rented to someone else. Instead of going to live in her mother's house which sits vacant, she chooses to live in the apartment with the stranger.   Besides that, doesn't someone need to check on the house after her six month absence? This isn't even mentioned. I really wanted to hear more about the grief she suffered over her mother's recent death as well as her struggles in Africa.

Having said that, there were parts of the book I liked. With McKenzie being a lawyer herself, she's definitely writing what she knows and it shows. Parts of the story dealing with the law practice appeared realistic, as least to me. I also really liked the parts where Emma and her colleagues were trying to figure out how the piece of art was stolen from the museum. Those parts read like a cozy mystery and peaked my interest. Unfortunately, they weren't a large part of the book.

I've also read McKenzie's Arranged (my review.)

Even though I had a few problems with the story, I'm sure McKenzie fans and fans of chick-lit will enjoy this one. It might make a good beach read.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the HarperCollins website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Catherine McKenzie's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie, HarperCollins, ©2012. ISBN 9780062115416(Trade paperback), 420p.