“Aurora” by Emma L. McGeown is a sweet, slow burn romance about an amnesiac patient who loses her memory after being hit by a bus.
Elena Ricci wakes up one day in a hospital to find out she’s been in an accident. As the doctor asks her questions, it becomes obvious she can’t remember anything from the last eight years of her life. She has no memory that she’s had a son, Jamie, that she’s come out as gay, and last but not least, that she’s married a woman, Jax.
Elena did not have the best life in her younger years. She was sent to a Catholic school that believed in conversion therapy when she was fifteen. She spent years denying her sexuality because she felt it was wrong and ended up spending a lot of time in therapy trying to undo all of the damage and to accept who she is. This is all undone by her accident. Elena once again, tries to deny she’s attracted to women even when she finds out she’s married to one. She gets in touch with the last person she remembers being with, Tom.
While I really liked the book overall but there were some pretty frustrating parts I didn’t understand. I failed to understand why the doctors didn’t want anyone to tell her any of the things that matter. They don’t tell her she’s married to Jax, yet, they send her home with her (a complete stranger), pretending to be roommates. Jax also becomes a single parent as it is determined they can’t tell Elena about her son as well or it could be too traumatic for her. I also had a hard time understanding why she would contact her old boyfriend after everyone has told her they broke up a long time ago. Even if that’s the last thing she remembers, she knows it’s been eight years since they were together and there would be a reason for that.
Although I had those issues, they still don’t take away that this is a very good book. There’s the standard angst that comes with amnesia and forgetting one’s family. It’s well written, (though it was a little confusing at times with the timeline but I eventually just ignored it.) There are also some secondary characters which add some comedic relief such as Elena’s sister, Cat and Jax’s best friend, Greg.
It sent me on a pretty broad emotional spectrum while reading. It made me laugh, it made me mad and it made me tear up a bit. It’s a debut book by McGeown and it has me excited to see what she comes out with next.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

This is a debut novel from Emma McGeown. Elena wakes up in the hospital after. being hit by a bus. What she doesn't realize is the accident was eight years ago. Her wife goes along with the plan to allow Elena to remember on her own. Meddling parents re=enter her life and try to convince her to love her ex-boyfriend. Lots of drama and angst. Great believable characters. I look forward to reading more from. her in the future.

I was given a copy of the book in exchange for a review.

Stories with amnesic characters are quite common and in general, I tend to like them. I like that underlying emotion of knowing that at any moment everything that the character does not remember comes to them suddenly.

In this story, the author has caught me from the beginning and I have to say that she has held me captivated until the final word.

Because it has been much more than a simple situation of amnesia. Elena's life has been so complex that when she wakes up without a single memory of the last eight years of her life, it seems that all the effort she has had to make to get rid of her traumatic adolescence has been for nothing. Not to mention the people around her who do nothing to make her aware of the situation she was in when she had the accident. And the generosity, patience and utter love of her wife Jax, At some point it seems that she is going to stop fighting, because there are things that are not explained to us until the end and they are things that weigh on Jax.

Therefore, a seemingly simple story hides some complex aspects, painful to read, that make up a story that was really interesting. In addition, she does it in a way that allows us to know at all times the vision of the two women, each chapter consists of their two points of view on the scene.

It has been a story with a lot of emotion on the surface and much more on the inside.

This was a fun read. Lots of great she and frustration as well as love and discovery. If you enjoy a slow burn this is the perfect read.

This book was equal parts frustrating and sweet.

When Elena wakes up in a hospital she's lost 8 years of her memories. Forgotten is her marriage to a woman, her son, and her family issues. Her wife, Keelin Jax, accommodates Elena to no end. Jax goes from spouse to platonic roommate overnight, their son has to pretend Elena is just a roommate as well. On top of all this Elena thinks she still has feelings for Tom, her cheating ex-boyfriend (and baby daddy). Elena's family tells her nothing, hoping she'll get her memories back by herself. When it is all taking too long and Elena seems to be heading into the arms of Tom, Jax can't take it anymore and their relationship or whatever is left of it will be gone.

There are so many instances in this book that I just want to slap Elena. She has all these feelings for Jax, even without her memories, but she decides to not let herself feel them. She'd rather be pushed into "normalcy". Jax is extremely patient and understanding with Elena, I really don't know if anyone could ever be this way. I guess it's clear to Jax Elena is the love of her life and she is willing to do whatever it takes to have her in her life in one way or another, no matter how painful. And I imagine it being extremely painful. The supporting characters are strong as well, I like how Cat - Elena's sister - and her marriage are a part of the story as well, not a big part but certainly not a side note. This book really is about family, friends, and love. Although it's frustrating with Elena's memory loss and subsequent actions I do find this book very sweet and heartwarming.

I liked the premise of this book more than I liked its execution. That's not to say it's not written well - it is, or that the author didn't create a good story - she did. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I was waiting for the drama, for the thing in the story that would pull me in and make me want to keep reading, but I just didn't get that.

The plot was interesting and fun. Elena, a married mother, loses her memory and can't remember anything since she's come out. She doesn't remember her wife or her son. I thought it was very clever to set this up so that Elena forgets she's gay so that the reader gets to ride along while she figures this all out and basically falls in love all over again. Overall, nice read.

For a first debut book this was a good read although I was torn I usually don’t like amnesia stories because not only is it’s hard on the person with the memory loss it’s harder on the people who know you.

Elena absentmindedly walk off a curb and gets hit by a bus. She wakes up after being unconscious with losing eight years of memories. Jax who is her wife who also is a doctor is alarmed that Elena doesn’t remember the important moments in their life ,her or their son Jamie.

Jax is reluctant to agree with the doctor who tells her not to tell Elena anything and let her memories comes back on her own so she tells Elena their roommates and Jamie is her son. When Elena learns that’s she gay and Jax and her are married she doesn’t believe it’s and tries to see if she can rekindle her relationship with her ex boyfriend Tom who is a jerk and if he loves Elena like he said he would’ve done the honorable thing instead of trying to take advantage.

I like Jamie he was such cutie way more smart then the adults in his life. I didn’t like Jax being passive but I get it she was trying to protect herself and their son but I didn’t like that instead of trying to tell Elena who she is why not show her what made her fall for you in the first place. I love Elena sister and Jax friend they provide telling like it is and humor. I also think the things Elena was doing to please her mother comes from when she was teenager went to school and they had conversion therapy there but also think Elena had issues that she never dealt with being gay meant to her. Like you can be proud of who you are but still have issues with it that’s my opinion anyway.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

This book had me torn. On one hand, I was interested in the story the whole time I was reading. On the other hand, there were parts that annoyed me so much that I just couldn't believe what was happening.

The good - I found the dialogue at times pretty funny. I also found the concept that Elena lost her memory before she had her realization that she was gay refreshing. I've never seen that plot point in an amnesia book before. That was by far the most interesting part. How difficult must it be not only for yourself to not know who you are anymore, but for everyone around you to also have to do almost a reverse coming out.

The bad - Right from the beginning, the idea of not telling Elena anything about her life was dumb. There is no way a doctor would tell the family not to tell someone they have a kid, when the kid is 5 years old. The whole time I thought it was ridiculous that they would inflect that kind of pain on a kid, and make them lie so much. I don't buy it. If you found out that you're now in your mid 30s, you can't tell me that saying you also have a kid would do brain damage. One more rant, the whole conversation about not telling Elena what Tom did to her also didn't make sense. How does letting her know what an ass he was prohibit her recovery? There is no way that wouldn't be the first thing I said to Elena as her sister. Good riddance.

I gave it 4 stars strictly based on the fact that I still wanted to finish it until the end, and that the author does have writing talent. Maybe next time, just air on the side of believable.

Elena Ricci absentmindedly stepped off the curb and was hit by a bus A few days later she woke up with multiple injuries and an eighth year memory loss. Those lost memories encompassed the most important parts of her life- her wife Jax and son Jamie. Following doctor orders not to fill in Elena’s missing pieces of her life in the hope of allowing her memories to return naturally, Jax reluctantly agreed to let Elena believe they were roommates and Jamie was solely her son. The major problem with this was Elena thinking she was straight with her ex boyfriend still currently a part of her life.

This seemed to be a debut book by this author and it was a good read. I read other stories along this line but this author created many interesting characters to add to its entertainment value.

The setting took place in London, but for some reason I thought it had more of an American city feel to it like Boston. I think it was also because of the description of Elena’s strict Roman Catholic Italian parents and their adherents to the church’s teachings on homosexuality. Unfortunately, I know people just like them who live in Boston.
When Elena was 15, they sent her to a Catholic high school where conversion therapy took place. These scenes helped explain Elena’s indecisiveness and emotional state of mind regarding her relationship with Jax. This also allowed the reader to be more sympathetic to some of those crazy decisions she was making to please her mother.

I enjoyed the scenes between the mains and secondary characters. Elena’s sister and Jax’s best friend, who was trans, added not only emotional support but also a bit of humor even though they were also going through their own personal problems.

I think the author did a good job in showing not only the emotional turmoil experienced by Elena, but also by Jax and six year old Jamie, whose lives were also upended by her memory loss. Jamie longed for his mommy to remember him so he could openly acknowledge her role in his life. At times, with his role playing, Jamie seemed to be wise beyond his years.

Before I read any book, I think about the title and how the author connects it to the story. Some of the connections are quite obvious while others have a deeper meaning to it. This title was the latter and its meaning was beautifully connected to the emotional events of the story.

The only problem I had with the story was the reference to the passage of time. Sometimes months or weeks passed, but then it was only a week’s time. Or characters meeting/speaking regularly then a few paragraphs later those same characters hadn’t spoken in weeks. It was a bit confusing. Other than that, it was an interesting, emotional and engaging story. I would definitely read other books by this author.

An ARC was given for an honest review.

3.5 stars Minor spoiler alerts

The book was well written, it just wasn’t my cuppa. Elena lost all of her memories for the past 8 years so she doesn’t remember her wife or her son. And even when folks tell her that she’s married she fights against it. It’s not true because she’s straight! I felt like her amnesia, her railing against being gay, her still talking to her Jerk-off of an ex, and Jax doing absolutely nothing about anything went on too long.

I liked the idea of the book. there's some things I hated here and there, otherwise I found it nice read. I did not like the fact that Jax was so passive most of the book. tho realistically I think what she did was right. giving her space But she already knew her, so why not show her what she was like. help her. instead she completely let go!.

Loved the sister, and the ending was so cute. Great job on the writing.

Was this a debut book for this author? I didn't see any other books listed for her on Goodreads. If that is the case, then consider me impressed. This was a fully engaging drama that was so affecting, I had a lump in my throat trying to keep tears from falling.

I don't now what it is about the amnesia trope, but I can always get into it no matter how cheesy it is. Only this one wasn't silly at all. It was very realistic and complete convincing.

Keelin/Jax is a doctor who is freaking out because her wife, Elena, got hit by a bus and can't remember anything of their life together. Not their relationship, not their home, and not even their child. To top it all off, she doesn't even remember her sexuality! There is an 8 year memory gap that they hope will resolve itself in time.

I have been saying that I want a love triangle in my lesbian fiction for awhile now. This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, though. Elena's memories are when she was still with her ex boyfriend. So one of the major conflicts in this book is her trying to see if there could still be something there between them. While it is slowly killing her wife, Jax, inside.

This was all just really well done. Full of believable drama and angst for the situation. I was never sure how things would resolve. I wasn't sure things WOULD resolve.

I liked all of the characters. You could sense how close everyone was before the accident and how they tried to support each other afterward. The characters were flawed in the way that everyone is. And you couldn't help but be drawn in and get invested in their journey.

Overall, this was a very emotional story worthy of your time. Read this when you are feeling like you need something that that will make your heart ache.

I recommend this to those who like to read about romance, amnesia, internalized homophobia, family, children, expectations, and kitchen counters.