A very interesting and unique story. Quite a slow build but well paced and very beautifully written. Recommended for a different read. Like nothing I’ve ever read x

This book intrigued me as it was described as a slow-burn thriller, and it certainly was. Author Karen Hugg expertly juggles secrets, half-truths, lies, and flashbacks while gradually leading the reader into the labyrinth of the gritty underground of Paris. Renia Baranczka has a secret: she’s hiding a unique hybrid plant whose odor can cause amnesia. She ostensibly left Poland with the plant to save her twin sister who has fallen under the spell of the plant and whose boyfriend is dealing the flowers. Renia has slowly built a sanctuary in a botanically-oriented boutique, Le Sanctuaire.

An international thriller, The Forgetting Flower, is set between Paris and Poland, with vivid details of each. Overlying the setting is the role of the immigrant in large cities. Renia tries to fit in, but with her Polish accent, she really doesn’t. While Renia is living hand-to-month, her rich French boss's out-of-control spending threatens Le Sanctuaire. Working with Renia is Minh, a Vietnamese immigrant who’s forced to work under-the-table to help pay for her mother’s chemotherapy. Renia’s life spins out of control when her friend Alain is found dead and her sister’s old drug-dealing boyfriend finds Renia in Paris and pulls her into the dark underworld of drug dealing. I stayed up half the night reading this and was engrossed the whole time.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

A great novel, beautiful depiction of the characters with some tense moments thrown into the mix. Will definitely pick more books by this talented author.

I’m so excited about The Forgetting Flower by Karen Hugg!

What a beautifully written novel by an author I cannot wait to read more from. Get your hands on it right now!

Secrets and half-truths. These litter Renia Baranczka’s past, but the city of Paris has offered an escape and the refuge of a dream job. The specialty plant shop buzzes with activity and has brought her to a new friend, Alain. His presence buffers the guilt that keeps her up at night, dwelling on the endless replays of what happened to her sister.

All too suddenly, the City of Light seems more sinister when Alain turns up dead. His demise threatens every secret Renia holds dear, including the rare plant hidden in the shop’s tiny nook. It emits a special fragrance that can erase a person’s memory—and perhaps much more than that.

As Renia races to figure out the extent of the plant’s powers, she’s confronted by figures from her past who offer a proposal she can’t outright refuse. Bit by bit, she descends into a menacing underworld of blackmarket mobsters, navigating threats and fending off abuse to protect the safe peaceful life she’s worked so hard for. Desperate to outwit her enemies, Renia maneuvers carefully, knowing one wrong move will destroy not only the plant, but the lives of her sister and herself.

This is a fantastic book, I highly recommend it. I’m not the only one who loved it, The Forgetting Flower is getting awesome reviews. Here’s the link to buy it.

Renia has a dream job in Paris but is haunted by secrets and half truths. She has a special plant that has powers she doesn’t completely understand, then her friend Alain unexpectedly dies and she has doubts about what really happened. A terrific mystery filled with suspense and surprise twists.

Thank you NetGalley and Magnolia Press for this early edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

Thank you to Magnolia Press and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read, with a very intriguing premise - the flower of the title is a hybrid which produces blooms that drug those catching a whiff of the scent, and cause amnesia. The author writes beautiful, evocative prose that puts you in the middle of intersecting layers of the protagonist's lives. At once you are relaxing into the charm of Paris, while also sniffing the fear and desperation of being poor and barely scraping by - and the burden of memories of life before that you left behind, but are also always carrying with you.

During the course of the book, I got a bit frustrated with the obsequiousness of the heroine, but did also understand the constraining and conflicting circumstances in which she was caught - and so the ending was wonderfully satisfying.

“The Forgetting Flower” was hard to put down once I reached the halfway point. The beginning was a bit slow and sometimes the jumps between time periods were hard to follow. The story was beautifully written and the characters and scenes came to life before my eyes.