When Blue finds a note telling her to go to the bus stop at 7:45, she knows something weird is going on. Little does she expect to meet up with Adam, a boy she doesn't know but who feels oddly familiar. Blue has a good reason for her suspicions; she has undergone an operation to have her memories removed, and Adam was a part of those memories. Blue's journey to recover her memories and understand why she felt the need to wipe them will resonate with readers who have ever felt so much emotional pain that they, too, would have wiped the bad memories from their brains if they could. The ultimate question, though, is: If given the chance to forget the bad, how many good things would also be lost? Blue's journey to regain her memories and understand her grief is part-mystery, part-sf, part-romance, and all Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for teens.

If someone offered you the opportunity to forget your most painful memories, would you take it? In the year 2032, it's not a rhetorical question. Seventeen-year-old Blue notices some disturbing gaps in her memory; then she meets Adam, a boy her age who seems familiar. Adam helps Blue discover that she elected to undergo a medical procedure, called Release, to erase all memories of him. But why? Desperate for answers, Blue convinces the assistant at the memory clinic (which is called, appropriately, Tabula Rasa), to reverse the procedure. In extended flashbacks that make up most of the book's second half, Blue remembers falling in love with Adam -- and faces the tragedy that precipitated her decision. Blue finds strength in experiencing and acknowledging her feelings: "I let [pain] break me apart, and I'm amazed every single time at how I come back together and am whole." She has the support of family and friends, too, including Adam; her grandmother; her best friend, Turtle; and Turtle's nonbinary partner, Jack. While the science-fiction element allows for an intriguing storytelling device, this is really a story about grief -- and the love and courage it takes to live with it -- told in lyrical, emotional prose.

In the year 2031, bad memories can be erased.Blue Owens can't shake the strange feeling that something is amiss on the day before her 17th birthday. Teachers, friends, and family members are behaving strangely toward her, and she has discovered a mysterious note in her bedroom directing her to board the shuttle bus in her New Mexico ski town of Owl Nook. When a handsome stranger boards as well, Blue is immediately smitten, though she is confused about why he seems to know so much about her. She soon discovers that she has voluntarily participated in a Memory Release procedure through Tabula Rasa, Inc., that has wiped all her memories of her boyfriend, Adam Mendoza, and the tragic circumstances that led her to make the impossible decision to remove all memories of him. Declining mental health and a rash of suicides in Owl Nook have caused the controversial Memory Release to gain popularity despite the questionable ethics of its creator, Dr. Vargas. Blue will stop at nothing, no matter how painful, to restore her lost memories as she fights to reconnect with the people she loves and heal old wounds. Difficult themes of relationships and grief are tackled with a science-fiction bent in this tender and satisfying read. Blue is assumed White; Adam is described as Hispanic, and there is diversity in the supporting cast.A novel worth remembering. (Fiction. 14-18)

Gr 9 Up-In the near future, experts will be able to erase your memory of past trauma but is that good? It's 2032, and Blue Owens wakes up on her birthday at the end of her junior year. Instead of heading towards friends, school, and the comfort of small-town New Mexico, she impulsively decides to follow the instructions on a mysterious note she finds in her pocket, and meets Adam Mendoza who is or was her boyfriend? She's not sure. Something is missing. When she was small, Blue's parents, two white ski instructors, lived an itinerant lifestyle, with Blue in tow. Now, she relies on her grandmother and friends. Her boyfriend is Latinx and her best friends are a queer couple, one of whom is non-binary. While unable to change Blue's fate, they concede she's been reprogrammed at a futuristic but nefarious research facility that removed any trace of a recent family tragedy she blames herself for. Blue's independent pursuit of the truth leads her to a trustworthy doctor who may be able to help her remember, and learn how to accept the loss she suffered. VERDICT Sci-fi meets mystery/thriller as a high school junior reconstructs a tragic family history that's been erased to protect her from the truth. A compelling addition to high school shelves. Georgia Christgau, LaGuardia Community Coll., Long Island City, NY