I was drawn into the whimsical magic and storytelling of “The Forgotten Life of Ella Moon.”
Ella was found on the riverfront in town, without any memories or knowledge of who she is. She only has a lingering memory of man and a romantic connection she feels. I enjoyed the town and the side characters and I’m interested to see how this story may continue in a series. The romance felt a little too insta-love for my personal preference.

For those who enjoy:
🌙 Cozy Inn
🌙 Fairy Tales
🌙 Romantasy
🌙 Magic & gods
🌙 Star Crossed Lovers

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

The funny thing is that Thane and Riverton remind me of Skyrim because I've been playing it a lot recently. But about the book, I really loved this! It was whimsical and magical and I really enjoyed my time reading. I always enjoy reading fantasy with romance and this was great.

This was an okayish read. I felt like the author wanted to play with too many elements and then many fell flat. I did not really like any of the characters, their connections made little sense and most feelings were developed before the book so we just have to believe that these people love and like each other and just dont know why? There is a curse that I did not really understand at the end and many questions left unanswered
The writing at times did not feel rounded, could have needed some editing and there were some repetitions of the same old same old
The idea of the story was nice but I just could not deal with the execution
I think though that there is a lot of potential for this author and I would like to check out future works.

Thanks to netgalley for providing me with an ARC for this book

Wow. This was such a beautiful story. One of those books that feels like a dream you don’t want to wake up from.

It starts with a young woman waking up in a quiet little village, with no memory of who she is or where she came from. She builds a new life—makes friends, falls in love, finds work—but deep down, nothing feels quite right. Then, a year later, Thane shows up… and he’s looking for the girl he lost.

I was so hooked by the mystery and magic of it all. There’s this whole story woven through about light and darkness, and a love that feels ancient and cursed and just… epic. It’s heartbreaking in the most beautiful way.

I also loved how it pulled inspiration from mythology and even had a bit of that classic fairytale feel—like something old and timeless, but fresh and totally unique at the same time.

If you’re into emotional, magical stories with a touch of the mythical and a lot of heart, this one’s for you.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Victory Co-op for the chance to read this early!

DNF at 50%. The premise of this book was really good but it just felt very… juvenile to me. The FMC is 28 but it’s written like she’s 18. And the way she’s acting.. she should’ve been 18. Idk something about this didn’t land for me and at halfway I just still didn’t care.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc

3/5 stars.

The Forgotten Life of Ella Moon is about a girl who has no memory of her past life and is feeling trapped in a small river town. She feels she is missing something but has no way of retrieving it. A strangers blows into town and she feels a pull towards them, and the story unravels from there.

This book took me on a rollercoaster. I was immediately hooked by the premise and when I saw how the narrative was split via the chapters, I was excited to jump in. Think how Manacled is split in terms of story. That’s what this was like.

I really enjoyed the supporting characters and felt they added a level of depth and nuance that the protagonist was occasionally missing. Hearing the different perspectives of Sissy, Lilian and Pain etc. were really intriguing. I also loved the general premise for the story itself, however, I feel it didn’t achieve what it set out to do.

The setting is somewhat generic, and as the author herself stated in the acknowledgements, this is her first romantasy novel as she is more of a contemporary romance writer. This does come across quite apparently as the inspiration for the world building seems to be based on Roman or Greek mythology, but this is not always consistent and can be a bit jarring when reading and switching between half-formed places.

I also felt the plot in Part 2 dragged a bit and could’ve been shortened quite significantly. There was a section where “Ella” went to another realm as part of a task she was assigned, but this was not fully explored and so therefore unnecessary to the plot. This section onwards is where I really struggled to continue reading, which is a shame as I was genuinely enjoying the story until this point.

I think it’s a good beginner, romantasy read but not something I’d be itching to recommend to someone. If a person had shared their previous fave reads and the descriptions lined up with this, I’d let them know but I wouldn’t go out of my way to inform people otherwise.

Thank you NetGalley for the free e-ARC copy of this book. All opinions/reviews are all my own.

Book Review: The Forgotten Life of Ella Moon, Melissa Naatz

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4/5)

This tale follows Ella, who cannot recall her life in memories, or anything of her life at all as it came to be. Just as she starts to come to terms with it all, Thane appears and is instantly drawn to Ella, and she him; she feels deeply connected to him, and yet she cannot explain why. As the tale progresses, you get to know Ella more, and understand that in the process of finding out about her past, it will it cost her everything to get there- and possibly even heartbreak too….

Naatz really covers some great fantasy scopes in her writing, the tale is very original and tragically beautiful. There are at times where the pacing doesn’t flow organically (particularly from part 2) but all-in-all, it was a fantastic read. I loved it. If you ware wanting to read a slow-burn romance, with intertwined fairy tales, dark magic, tragic love and haunting mythology- this is the book for you! I would say fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue would eat this up, as I certainly did! <3

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the arc, all opinions shared are my own.

The concept of the book with the Romeo & Juliet re-imagining was intriguing but it just was not for me. I was bored and had no connection to anything. I only finished the book out of curiosity.

Do gods fall in love? If they do, do their hearts break like ours?

I did not know what to expect before reading The Forgotten Life of Ella Moon by Melissa Naatz. I was pleasantly surprised by the plot and the characters. I finished this book in one day.

The story revolves around Ella who woke up in a small town without memories of her life. She was taken in by a kind family who owns an inn. Ella then spends an entire year as an inn helper with two others - Sissy and Clara. For her rare beauty, Sissy is pursued by two villagers, William and Albert. Though attracted to William, Sissy does not understand why she cannot commit to him. That is until she meets the new mysterious guest at the inn Mr. Thane Tenebris.

The world building of the story can be improved a little. However, I liked the development of the characters especially Ella and Thane. Though their love transcended time and curses, they still did not forget their duties. The way they wanted to sacrifice everything for each other was heartbreaking.

I thought that the side characters were interesting, too. I have a soft spot for Sissy. Her kindness and understanding towards Ella were touching. From the moment she was introduced, I wanted nothing more than to see her happy.

The ending was a little abrupt. I wish that we see more of what happened with Ella and Thane in the end.

Overall, I recommend this book to those who love mythology, curses, love, found family, and destinies.

The big hits against this book were, to me, the excessive melodrama and love triangles that made the plot too similar to a cheap Mills & Boon (Harlequin) dime novel. The little sprinklings of borrowed Sleeping Beauty elements and the loans from Greek mythology for the worldbuilding could've been the saving part, when this book becomes interesting in the middle portion as lost memories return. Unfortunately, the three parts this book is split in suffer from the same flaw.

(Full review in link.)

I had a difficult time pulling all my thoughts together for this one!!

I loved the premise of the book and was instantly drawn to the Romeo and Juliet, star crossed lovers vibe! I liked Ella as a character, she was likeable and her character felt genuine right from the start!

I did feel that some of the characters could have been more developed as it would have helped build a stronger connection to them.

I was not expecting some of the twists and turns in the book, although it did feel that we were given everything quite early and I would have liked more suspense to build up.

This was a fun re-imagining and it had some amazing moments. I enjoyed and will look forward to seeing what Naatz does next.

** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

I really enjoyed this book! I love where we started and how we jumped back in time. I enjoyed how the gods were conveyed as different human emotions. I love the Romeo & Juliet star crossed lover vibe. I thought it was all put together nicely even though the ending made me so mad but it all working out in the end.

I found myself not liking some of the characters though and I think that is why I am giving it at 3 star. I didn't truly what happened to any of them except Ella and I was mad that we had to wait for her happiness.

3.5/5 ✩ - star-crossed lovers, romantasy (heavier on the romance), cursed gods, mystery, memory loss (obviously)

Ella wakes up in the small town of Riverton with no memory of her past life. Her gut feeling constantly tells her she's missing love and her old life. When a strange man who feels vaguely familiar comes to town, she feels pulled to him and can't figure out why. She battles the struggle of fighting to remember her old life and submitting to the life she has now.

What I loved

The way things were revealed: especially in the first part, I found myself SHOOK, I loved how things were sprinkled in and the easter eggs almost. I really enjoyed the first part of the book. I think the truth behind who the MMC really was, who Ella really was, and the things she could do was insane!

Cadel, Sissy and Pain when I say I love a side character, this is what I mean! These three were so fun and definitely provided a little hint of humour and fun for our main characters. I think they contributed well to the story. I loved the small insight into Pain and Ella at the end!

Concept/Plot: I think the idea and plot were interesting! It felt very innovative to me, and I haven’t (yet) read anything that deals with things like fate and love as beings/gods. The plot was engaging, and I found myself wanting to find out how it ends

Structure: I love the 3 separate parts, especially because the tone changed A LOT between each part. It is slow-paced, and I think the 3 parts made this better for me to digest as someone who is not a slow-paced gal!

It is beautiful: it's that type of story that sticks with you, the type that your mind floats to often and lives in your head RENT FREE, and that's tough for books nowadays. The writing was lovely, I enjoyed reading this for sure.

The complexity of the characters: the gods, especially! They were so intriguing to me, and I genuinely would love to read more about them!

What I didn’t love

So many characters: there were so many people, and it felt confusing sometimes, especially because sometimes nouns such as “love” and “fate” were used as names of beings/gods and then used to describe, I had to re-read so many times sometimes because it was sort of overwhelming. THAT BEING SAID, I think it is needed if the author is to continue writing books in this universe.

World building: sometimes I didn’t know where we were, like it felt jumpy going from place to place, and the movie in my head was blipping cause I could place a lot of scenes

Why were they in love: I understand they were fated but I felt like thats all it was… part of me wishes there were some flashbacks to times when they were just meeting and HOW they fell in love, I wanted to be shown not told more often than not and it made me feel like well all this hullabaloo for what? I wish I had a better insight into THEM, and it would’ve made more sense to me.

Anti-climactic at times: I feel like I wanted more, I don’t know whether that would be action or what. The way he broke her heart just didn’t feel that deep, but I am guessing that's because in my eyes, gods as a whole are just MORE.

Overall - I loved this concept so much, I know I'm going to be thinking about it for a while, and even though I wanted more, I enjoyed reading this and would love to see more from this world!

If you like curses. star-crossed lovers, and mortals interacting with gods then this book is for you. It's got an interesting narrative style that plays all of these elements against and with one another that makes it a unique read. While I liked the premise, the execution and characters weren't my favorite. I didn't see a lot of character development, which was disappointing for me.

3’8/5⭐️ First of all, thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an arc of “The forgotten life of Ella Moon”. I really enjoyed the story in this book, it reminded me a lot of Ella Enchanted. The first part was very interesting, getting to know all the characters and the main character, Ella. I found the second part a bit long for my liking. But nonetheless it’s a very romantic and magical fairytale (also really liked all the gods involved in this story).

3.5 stars! Such a beautifully written story!
It had me clutching at my chest a few times and I love when reading a story allows me to actually feel something within it!

Thank you NetGalley and Melissa Naatz for this arc!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t mentioned anywhere that it’s not available for Kindle. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have requested it

ARC kindly provided by the publisher – thank you!

This one should have been right up my alley: a woman with amnesia trying to piece together her life, a mysterious man with ties to her forgotten past, and a small town full of secrets. The concept? Right up my street! The execution? Just didn’t hook me.

There’s nothing wrong with this book. The writing is perfectly fine, the characters are perfectly fine, the pacing is a little slow but nothing wildly out of the ordinary. I just... wasn’t feeling it. I kept picking it up, reading a bit, and then putting it down again without any real desire to see what happens next. That’s never a great sign.

It’s very “tell not show” at times—one moment literally said “Ella felt better. Not as sad.” and I actually laughed. 😅 Despite loving a broody morally grey love interest nine times out of ten, in this case I was team Original Blonde Love Interest™️. William isn’t a book boyfriend, but he’s sweet and kind and actually accountable for his bad behaviour—which, considering how often romantic heroes get away with being jerks for plot reasons, is kind of refreshing. He deserved better than to be used as a plot device. (I still might be mad on his behalf.)

I finally started to feel a little tug of interest around 35% but by 44% I had to admit I just wasn’t enjoying the read enough to keep going. I may come back to it eventually, but for now it’s a soft DNF. The potential is there, it just didn’t connect with me this time.

Beautiful, emotional, and completely captivating! I absolutely loved this story and felt every bit of heartache and sorrow poor Aurora dealt with throughout her journey. The growth her and Thane went through in their relationship was great to see considering how tumultuous it was and how simple it would’ve been for them to take the “easy way” out and end their pain. All of the characters were interesting, multifaceted and saw growth throughout (even our girl Pain!), and while there were times I became frustrated with Thane, he did end up being Aurora’s happy ending. I would absolutely read this again and recommend it to anyone who loves this genre.