<i>I received a copy of this story from Netgalley in exchange of an <u>honest</u> review</i>.

This story was enjoyable and I honestly think many people would get something from it.

Let me preface this with content warnings for mentions of death of a parental figure, mentions of death in relation to a stabbing, and mentions of open-heart surgery.

In Case You Forgot (ICYF) follows two gay, male protagonists by the names of Kenny and Zaire. Each character is struggling through life, whether it be grief over a death of a loved one, and heartache from relationships and dating). Whilst I believe this book is advertised as a romance, it is part of the story; however, I really feel the focus is more on the mental growth of both characters and how they handle what life throws at them. There is romance, but it's probably not in the way you think.

If you're looking for a fluffy read, this is not the story for you (save this story for when you want something angsty).

I loved the diversity in the story, there's people of colour everywhere - even a brief mention of a filipino guy, which always makes me happy. You can characters who are gay and pansexual, there's mentions of open relationships, and characters who go by they/them pronouns. I really enjoyed seeing this so openly depicted in a novel, I think the authors did such a wonderful job in including all walks of life.

In terms of the writing style - I don't think it was for me. The story was completely written in inner thoughts as well as dialogue, there was no descriptive writing like you'd see in other books. Due to this, it felt so colloquial. You saw terms like <i>Lordt</i> and <i>Le Sigh</i> in the text because that is what the character is thinking (but I do wonder, and I don't want to be rude and I apologise if this is, do 30-40 year olds really talk like that? I stopped using 'le sigh' after I hit 15.)

The writing also did not help differentiate between the two characters. I constantly found myself thinking I was reading Kenny's chapters but really I was reading Zaire's. I think they really needed to be depicted differently - and I think with more descriptive writing, and less inner thought monologue's, this could have been really well done.

I found Kenny's story to be more compelling to read, I think in terms of both characters, he held a lot more substance to the story. I enjoyed Zaire's when he was around his family - I enjoyed getting to know his siblings (I particularly enjoyed the flashback of the phone call between Zaire and Harlem, my favourite scene of the whole story).

I did like it though! I'm not upset I read the story, and it did make me laugh and smile at times. I'm not blown away by it, unfortunately.

This was an interesting book with an incredibly diverse cast of characters. I enjoyed the story lines, although the dual narrative confused me sometimes - I had to check who was speaking at times. I'm a teacher so find myself pretty confident in understanding different colloquialisms etc and some of the lingo was meaningless to me!
But overall a good book.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

In Case You Forgot is told through the eyes of Zaire and Kenny. They end up living across the street from each other in West Hollywood. I'm a huge fan of the duel narrative.

4 pride-supporting stars

A while ago I have noticed that I need to consciously up my diversity game in the reading department. I was always super excited if I stumbled upon it by accident in books. They are often only the side characters, however, and I was therefore very happy to see my request for this BlaQueer book granted via NetGalley, thank you so much! It is also at this point that I have to make clear that this is not a Romance novel. It was categorized that way by the publisher, which was very misleading in the beginning.

I suspect that white readers might feel alienated from this book, but welcome to the world of diversity: language and just the general reality of things is different when you are not the most privileged being on earth (white, male, hetero, ...). Aside from the BlaQueer aspect of the book, I found it interesting that it doesn't tell one love story from two POVs, but rather two different stories whose characters overlap. I am not used to this kind of storytelling but found it super refreshing and well done. The authors also tackle mental health issues such as coping with grief, overcoming toxic relationships and dealing with an alcohol problem. I myself can somewhat relate to all of these aspects, either due to personal experience or because close friends/family have gone or are going through it. As you guys can see, this book checks lots of boxes that have been underrepresented in the literature up until recently.

I am also pretty impressed by the overall structure of the book. Each chapter is titled with some kind of takeaway message. It took me a while to figure it out. At first, the chapter-names seemed random and confused me, but a white girl can learn.

The only thing that really bothered me that I sometimes felt as if there were chunks missing that made the stories flow easily with the reader. It wasn't uncommon that characters would relate to situations that have happened within the timeframe of the book but haven't been illustrated at all for the reader. I suppose you could expect grown readers to be able to deal with it, but it just wasn't integrated smoothly enough in my opinion.

➺What's happening.
Zaire. Zaire just moved to WeHo after separating from his husband of many years. On the surface, it always seemed like they were a dream come true but it was mostly Mario who had the last say in everything. And that can get hella frustrating. Even though he has a supportive family, a cool flatmate and decent co-workers, it cannot be hidden that alcohol is his best friend. Grieving a marriage and dead parents is a terrible combination, as you can both imagine. He notices his Black neighbour Kenny from early on and feels somewhat connected, as they pretty much make up the majority of the Black population in the neighbourhood.

Kenny. Kenny has troubles dealing with his mother's death. Grief and helplessness are taking their toll on him. To top it all up, his instagram-famous model boyfriend Brandon-Malik (BM for short for the rest of this review and Kenny's sister in general). breaks up with him, as BM "doesn't know how to offer support for Kenny". It took me about 25% into BM's long text message - that's right, the slimy arse didn't even make it a face2face break-up - to see through his toxic manipulative bullshit. Alone in West-Hollywood (WeHo), Kenny is mostly busy with his thoughts, dealing with grief in various ways and missing BM way more than I can understand. At first, it seems like meeting Zaire might improve his situation but troubles loom at every corner.

I suppose many expect that if two broken people meet and get involved, all the problems just vanished. I like that this book breaks with this expectation. Sure, it can work, but there is no guarantee. Lack of communication is always a bad idea, except when surprises are involved.

Also, I'm now single for pretty much 2 years and I've never really gone back into the realm of dating. The last two years were about me, my studies and just settling back to the real me. Seriously, guys, it's fucking weird, this dating business. A lot of the situations in "In Case You Forgot" just felt kinda awkward for me and that was pretty much a wake-up call for me. (Not that I'm gonna change my habits - ha - still hoping my crush from work will magically notice me one day and ask me out on a date :D)
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Writing Quality + ease of reading = 4*

pace = 3,5*

plot development = 3,5*

characters = 5*

enjoyability = 4*

insightfulness = 5* (Dating is fucking weird. (just like me))
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This eArc was given to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First let me say this was a leap for me. I love male/male romance and LGBTIA fiction in general. Although billed as a romance that is not really an accurate description. This is a contemporary story about two gay men who each I independently reach a point in their lives where they are questioning their decisions in life. Each of the two main characters has his own journey that intersects at points in the narrative.

I struggled to connect with the writing which felt clunky in places. There were times when I wondered if the writers were making a specific conscious attempt to avoid using pronouns. For example, when talking about three friends gathering, once introduced the writer would continue to reference the group by misting all their names again rather then saying they, or the group. It felt awkward.

It took awhile to grow to know the characters. One major struggle is they had so much in common that I had a difficult time differentiating them from each other. That resolved as I spent more time with them and they diverged in their choices. Zaire's character never really popped for me. Once he meets Elijah, I was fascinated with him and wanted to know more. I found Kenney's journey more compelling. His struggle and desire for change was compelling. Again, though, I wanted to read about his ideas for bringing school to the community and his diversity work. His ideas excited me.

With all of this said, I am not the target demographic for this book. As a almost 60 white woman, I spent time looking up words in the urban dictionary. So take my opinions with this in mind.

ARC provided in exchange for honest review. 👩‍🔬
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When I first read the description of this novel on Netgalley, I was genuinely excited. It hits a lot of my soft spots - #ownvoices writers, m/m romance, socially aware, complex characters and diverse leads. I am particularly enjoying the number of romances being published that are either diverse or engage in social issues. I want novels like these to be successful and try to support them every way I can.

This is how I approached In Case You Forgot by Frederick Smith and Chaz Lamar. Told in the first person present, the story althernates POVs between Zaire and Kenney. Each chapter title ties in with the main title to complete an aphorism. For example, ICYF: Be Honest, ICYF: Leave on Read, and so on, implying that each chapter should serve as a lesson reinforcing the aphorism presented. It's a clever way of organizing the novel and provides thematic structure to each chapter.

We meet our first main character, Zaire, in chapter one when he asks his huband, Mario, for a divorce. This act sets off Zaire's search for self-realization as he recognizes the need to be free of his partner in order to find the fulfillment he seeks. In contrast, Kenny Kane is not the agent of his own change in the beginning. When we meet him, he is at his mother's funeral, where his on-again/off-again boyfriend, Brandon-Malik, breaks up with him by text. It's an act that haunts Kenny throughout the entire novel and, while it is clear Brandon-Malik is not an ideal partner, Kenny spends the better part of the novel pining after him.

And here is where we get to the crux of my struggle with this novel. On Amazon, this novel is categorized as African American Romance Fiction and LGBT Romance. Therefore I went in, fully expecting a romance read, complete with a meet-cute, beats, declaration, resolution including an HEA/HFN. Instead, the main characters don't even meet until about 30% through the narrative and spend the better part of the book apart. Because of the expectations, I kept trying to read this novel as a romance and grew frustrated with it.

This is not an indie publication, therefore I hold the publisher responsible for the miscategorization. I'm certain I would have enjoyed the novel much more if I had gone into it expecting an LGBT fiction read without the expectation of romance. Realizing the dissonance between genre and content, I reread the book in an attempt to reframe the narrative in my mind and give it a chance to be successful.

Apart from that, the novel is enjoyable on its own terms. It serves as tableau of black youth trying to find connection and love in West Hollywood, complete with all the racial, social, and personal challenges that implies. Zaire and Kenny's struggles feel very relateable and there's a hipness to the characters that I find refreshing.

The point of view was a bit of a struggle for me. I normally don't favor any one viewpoint over another - whatever works for a novel works for me. However, the first person point of view reminds me of the YA genre, in particular when paired with the present tense. As a reference point, The Hunger Games trilogy is told in this very specific pov/tense. It lends immediacy and intensity to the narrative but it's hard to pull off if the internal dialogue isn't rich and engaging. In ICYF, there were times where the transition from internal dialogue to action was jerky and took me out of the reading.

What really works in this novel is the worldbuilding. The setting and supporting characters provide a convincing backdrop against which the characters grow. When I ignored the flaws in narration, I was able to enjoy the realistic character arcs of  Zaire and Kenny overcoming their respective struggles to arrive at a place where they are doing what they like to do and are satisfied with the outcome of their lives. As I stated earlier, this journey felt real to me. If I had read it that way from the beginning, I would have gotten more out of it. While there are romantic elements, this novel would be better marketed as straight fiction. Knowing this in advance will allow reader to better manage their expectations and choices.

4 out of 5 stars

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.