“Love, Water, Memory” is a bittersweet masterpiece filled with longing and hope, Jennie Shortridge’s emotional novel explores the raw, tender complexities of relationships and personal identity. Who is Lucie Walker? Even Lucie herself can’t answer that question after she comes to, confused and up to her knees in the chilly San Francisco Bay. Back home in Seattle, she adjusts to life with amnesia, growing unsettled by the clues she finds to the selfish, carefully guarded person she used to be. Will she ever fall in love with her handsome, kindhearted fiancé, Grady? Can he devote himself to the vulnerable, easygoing Lucie 2.0, who is so unlike her controlling former self? When Lucie learns that Grady has been hiding some very painful secrets that could change the course of their relationship, she musters the courage to search for the shocking, long-repressed childhood memories that will finally set her free.

I found Shortridge’s “Love, Water, Memory” to be captivating and an easy read. I had thought that it would be more based around the romance of Lucie and Grady’s life together, but it ended up being a kind of coming-of-age story, where Lucie found her identity, even though she was nearly 40. It was also a tragedy in a way, a woman learning of a past that she had apparently repressed when it happened, which in turn caused her to turn into the materialistic, controlling woman that she was originally.

For Lucie, this reboot brought her heartache, but it also brought her back to the only remaining family member she had left, her Aunt Helen, and it brought her closer to Grady's family, who had previously disliked her for being too uptight. She was also able to start over with her neighbors, whom she had originally gotten on the bad side of by being fairly snotty to them.

I definitely recommend this book, and give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.