The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy is a book I was excited to get my hands on as it has an interesting premise that I hadn’t really read before.

Etta Lark lives in a world where memories can be stolen and sold to the highest bidder. Due to an accident that has left her mother bedridden in the city’s asylum, Etta has very few choices available to her and when her situation takes a turn and her mother is put up for auction, she will do whatever it will take to save her. That means she needs to turn to the Shadows, the rebel group she used to work for.

I thought Etta was a solid character. She grows a lot through this story and learns so much about herself along the way. When she is tasked to steal the memory of a map of a prison created by a neighboring realm, Etta is partnered with a boy, Reid, who has his own motives for going with her. As Etta shares more about her past with Reid, his motivation for going with her becomes clear to Etta and she has to tell him something she doesn’t want to admit.

I thought the first half of this book was well done but as the story kept going, it lost me. The romance wasn’t my favorite as it felt like insta-love and everything felt rushed. Everything that happens as they enter the neighboring realm seems to just fall into place and a lot of it seemed too convenient.

Overall, this book was just okay for me. There were parts that I enjoyed and others that I didn’t. I thought Etta was well-developed but didn’t love a lot of the other characters in the story. In the end, I thought this was well written but the story itself lacked a little something. I’ll be watching for what Mansy writes next as the premise of this book was promising.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.