Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

well where to start with this one... its intriguing to say the least...

marlie rose is in so much pain she just wants to forget all of those memories that cause her that pain...so when she finds out that she can she sets about to do the very thing.... she books herself in for the treatment that guarantees to remove her painful memories and hopefully she can then live her life as happy as she can be... free from the pain of those memories

but this book is about more than that.....its about her life where she started from and how she fought to be the biggest star on broadway...but it was her love for elle and what they had growing up in that orphanage that gives you a clue to how things should be....

its a powerful storyline and i am sure some of us think wow that would be wonderful to erase things that are painful in our memories and this book explores the pain and the loss and how marlies life pans out

but its about the love between two people that shone out for me in this book.... wow

Sappy and im absolutely in love with it. I cried so much through all the pages. Excited to read the next book from this author.

Very interesting story with a unique storyline. I don't know if I would want to have my memories erased like Maris did. It's kind of heartbreaking to think this was the only way that she could cope with life's disappointments. I liked this story and the ending was very satisfying. I would definitely recommend this book too my friends and family. And, I look forward to what's coming next from this author.

3.5 stars
I was immediately drawn into this story by the concept of erasing your memories. What an unusual concept for a lesbian romance. And the first 25% was interesting but then I realized that I was going to be reading all of Marlie's past memories...(hence the title..duh) and it got a bit boring to me. So I skipped to 75% and then the story took off again. Now we deal with what happens after you erase memories.
This is a very well written sad story with a pleasant ending.

Marlie Rose is a star of Broadway. She finds a new procedure that erases old memories. There is a lot she wants to forget. She thinks if she is able to erase much of the past she will be happier. What she doesn't realize is what she will lose when the memories are erased.
This is a wonderful book and I would highly recommend.

The Memories of Marlie Rose by Morgan Lee Miller is an intensely emotional journey about one woman’s decision to erase her most defining and painful memories, and ultimately her journey to reclaim her story. If you’re in the mood for a tear-jerker this book is for you, I was ugly crying by the second chapter.

One place I was a little disappointed however was the retelling of the beginning of Marlie and Elle’s relationship. Perhaps because she was retelling her past it felt a bit autobiographical to me, and I didn’t feel much chemistry between the two.

It’s hard to review this book in depth without giving away spoilers so I’ll just give my recommendation. Per usual, Morgan Lee Miller has crafted another piece of excellent romantic fiction, and I highly recommend to anyone looking to use up extra boxes of tissues to pick it up, it’s an emotional (at times gritty) but ultimately satisfying ride.

Thank you Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really loved this book. I had a feeling I was going to enjoy it given my love for Morgan Lee Miller and celebrity related romances. The plot was super unique and engaging. I also have to admit that there were multiple times that I felt on the verge of tears because the writing was so emotional. You could feel Marlie’s pain. The only thing I would hope for more of was the interaction with her family at the end. I highly recommend reading this book!

An ARC was given for my honest review.

The vibes of this book are San Junipero tech meets the 7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo. If that doesn't tell you about wht you can expect, I don't know what will.

Marlie Rose is a Broadway star who's had a full if not painful life. She's looking to erase the pain so she can live life without the hurt. So she starts this procedure that erases all the painful experiences and memories that prevent her from being happy. But is this really the way to go?

The way the tale is told feels like you are living Marlie's life. Her joy but also her pain. I had a hard time reading through some of her hardships and could totally understand why she choose to erase some of the hurt. It's not an easy life to have had and just like Marlie I found strenght in the parts with Elle. She's Marlie's BFF and rock in life pulling her through the hard parts and grounding her when she needed a place to call home. I loved every second of their story together and could not root more for them even if I wanted to.

This is a book that will make you cry and laugh and consider your life all at once.

An ARC was provided to me via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

The Memories of Marlie Rose is a rags to riches tale. A little girl from the poor side of New York grows up to be a legend on the Broadway stage. In some ways, it reminds me of the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. But Marlie Rose is her own force. Although Marlie has reached the peak of success, she is now haunted by a painful past and decides to undergo a treatment to remove the memories. The medical procedure requires Marlie to recount her life’s events so that is how we learn about her climb to success and her relationships. From a young age, Marlie knows she is only attracted to other girls then later, to women, so she is never involved with men. But from the age of 15, she has only eyes for her best friend, Elle, who is an equally strong character. I appreciated that the author chose to make Elle a high school teacher, a regular person but with her own self knowledge who could go toe to toe with Marlie. No matter what chapter in their relationship, there is always this sense of Elle telling Marlie, hey, don’t pull that on me, I knew you back when we were kids in the foster home. Another great character is Peter who becomes Marlie’s oft costar in the musicals and surrogate brother. He is full of verve and color. Unforgettable. I could picture them all so well that I would honestly forget for brief moments that this was fiction and tried going to youtube to check their old performances. The majority of the timeline spans from the 1960’s to the 1980’s which gives a window into NYC during those years.

The emotional core of the Memories of Marlie Rose is the question of what makes a person who they are? Marlie has to face this inevitability when she begins to lose pieces of her past. The book alludes to people with Alzheimer’s who lose their memories and cannot recall their lives or their people anymore.

For the most part, I loved the book but I felt that the story should have been expanded at the back end and included the latter years so we could have witnessed some important moments first hand. Maybe the author thought the book was getting too long so she tied it all up at the end but I would have been fine with more pages. Fantastic start to 2024 reads.

This was a book. I can tell you that much. I am just confused.

Marlie Rose decides to have a procedure that erases her memories due to some bad times she went through, but her good memories are also removed. Which, ok, sci-fi. If they can remove memories and are offering this service to people, don't you think they'd finetune before so that you don't just basically pay for amnesia? Just fall off a horse like Michelle in Full House and that's free.

You follow Marlie throughout her life, and you get to see the good and the bad she erased, and as she exits the procedure she tries to figure out who people were to her in the past. And this sounds interesting, I guess, in theory. But, it wasn't executed well, in my opinion, and I was so bored that this took me a week to finish.

It just felt like Marlie Rose (not the character, but the idea of her) was trying to be Evelyn Hugo so badly, but I could not give less of a crap about her. Also, this was categorized as a Romance on NetGalley and it was more Women's Fiction than Romance.

I’ve been thinking for a while what I want to say about this book, my reasons why and how to write this review. Usually, when I finish a book, it is very clear to me where I stand on the love to hate spectrum of the book. Sometimes a book is terribly written, but I end up loving it simply because of the story and/or the characters. Other times, the prose can be wonderful, and I will still not like it.

So, where do I stand when it comes to The Memories of Marlie Rose? I have absolutely no fucking clue. Because of this, I will talk about each of the things that I value the most when it comes to a book, and how Marley Rose did in each of those things.



For starters, the characters. Marlie Rose introduces us to a few characters, none of them remarkable in any way. I mean, sure, their influence and place in the story is undeniable, as it is their place in Marley’s heart, but there is nothing about them that makes them stand out. I feel that the issue is that none of the personalities are truly developed. They have a role and they play it well, but nothing else. This for me, will never truly work, because as the story is told, I still do not manage to care about the characters. Sure, they do things that make me feel things, and they were interesting enough to keep me reading, but they never truly made me care about them. I cared about the story, not about them.

This leads to the relationships. As I’m sure you could guess, this book is queer, telling the love story between Broadway star Marlie, and the love of her life, Eleanor. And I’m sure you could also guess that I’m drawn to anything queer like a moth is to the light. So of course I was interested.

But for me, their relationship felt lacking. This is tied to my previous point, because, how could I ever really care about their relationship if I couldn’t bring myself to really deeply care about them on their own? Again, I cared about their place in the story and how it developed, but they never had a personality developed enough for me to get me interested in them.

The one relationship I was more than less interested in was Marlie and her friend, Peter. To be honest, I truly adore friendship, and reading about it will never not make me happy and gushy. Although we only see a few moments between them, they were precious and had such deep love it made me cry a little (if you’ve read the book, you know in which part) and resent not being able to do so with the other relationships.

Now, another thing I consider when talking about a book, is the pace. There is truly nothing more horrendous to me in a book than horrible pacing. In this book, Morgan Lee Miller manages to keep a good pace, showing us important moments of Marlie’s life but never getting too tied up in the details of the rest, but then kind of misses at the end. The resolution was too fast, too suddenly, and I would’ve liked it way more if it had taken more time to solve. Although I completely understand why it happened that way, I’m still not truly satisfied with it.

While I do value other things when considering if a book is good or not (the writing, themes, how well certain topics are handled, etc), I do think these are the ones holding me back from giving this book a great review. It felt lukewarm to me. Like the relationships, the book felt lacking. So I guess, the only rating I could give it and be truthful about it, is a three star. To me, a three star is not good nor bad, it’s a book that you will enjoy while reading and will think about it later on, but it will have no impact in your life and won’t change it in anyway. And that is how I feel about this book.

What an unusual book this was! The book begins when Marlie Rose, a star of film and Broadway, is a young child. The reader follows her life to date and shares in her happiness and misery. Because of the latter, Marlie decides to go through a procedure that will erase all of the painful memories. The problem is, the good memories are also erased, leaving Marlie wondering who some people in her past are, or what their significance in her life they've played.

I really loved the timeline of history woven into the book. We read about the Stonewall Riots, and sadly, the AIDS epidemic "first hand" through Marlie's viepoint.

Overall, very nice book. It was hard to put down and had a very satisfactory ending.

DNF @ 33% - I really tried to get into this one but unfortunately, I could not. I’d hope the more I read the more interest I’d gain but it honestly just began to feel like a chore instead. I’m really grateful for the opportunity though and thank you to the publisher!

It is accurate to describe this book as a blend of the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Eternal sunshine. Marlie and Elle's story is beautiful and painful, making readers suffer breakups and reunions through the years. I felt invested in Marlie's story and eventually, got attached to side characters. I even found myself crying reading the book. And I do love to suffer when I am reading. Several times, I found myself yelling "nooo" when Marlie erased a memory. The book is easy to read and a page turner. Miller chose a difficult exercise dealing with a Marlie from the past and a Marlie with partially erased memory. It was well executed, though once I found myself thinking: wait was she supposed to remember that?The travel through Marlie's memory was my favorite. The last past soothes reader's pain after Miller broke their heart, allowing them to finally breathe. I felt it was a bit rushed after the thorough development of Marlie's life and the heavy impact of her decisions ; I wouldn't have mind a few more chapters. I don't want to spoil too much, but I also wished we could read more of Elle's diary. Bringing more of her point of view could have finished ripping our hearts and gave even more depth to an already beautiful love story.
Though angsty and sometimes painful to read, this book portrayed the kind of inevitable great love story that I love ; A real demonstration of ripping then mending reader's heart.

There was much to enjoy yet be challenged by this read. Which in my opinion is a good thing. Although I am uncertain if I would engage in the elimination of selected memories, it was fascinating to read about this possibility. Marlie Rose, talented and famous Broadway and movie star. Marlie has a best friend Peter and no other significant person in her life or does she. Eleanor Olson, supportive friend with a big heart. She works to be a teacher and she also wants to have children. Marlie and Eleanor meet while both are in Kindred Hearts. Both girls wanted to be wanted and loved. Unfortunately, a forever home was not in the cards for them. The plot was interesting as the reader got a look at true love and complex characters. I enjoyed reading about the different plays, social issues of the time and locations (restaurants) in the various cities.

I absolutely loved this book. I didn’t know if I would when I first started reading it. But it definitely stuck with me. I definitely will be recommending this one!

Marlie Rose has lived quite a life so far. Now in her sixties Marlie is being pulled down by the loss of all the special people in her life. Seeking relief Marlie tries a new procedure which erases the memories she no longer wishes to carry. But is her life really better for not knowing love and everything that comes with it?

The Memories of Marlie Rose is a remarkably written story of true love lasting throughout the decades. The ingenious plot coupled with the compelling characters held me spellbound. I did not want this story to end. 

Marlie, as a Broadway star, is the wonderful composite of all the best women who have played the great roles. Elle as the love of her life is not a pushover. She makes difficult decisions time and again based on what she wants out of life.

Peter, as Marlie’s best friend, warmed my heart by reminding me of dear friends lost to Aids during the 1980’s. The world lost far too many incredible men and women during this time. I too lost many kind, funny, occasionally catty and wildly witty gay friends. Through the author’s words I was gifted the opportunity to remember that time vividly, both the good and the sad. This touched me to my very core. To this day I still have names in my contact list who never lived to see the 1990’s. My heart will not allow me to erase them. 

Morgan has found the perfect balance, tone and characters for this story. Marlie’s voice will stay in my head for a long time to come. 

* My best read of 2023.

I received an advance review copy from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary drama about a woman who resorts to a memory erasing procedure to ease her pain. Good characters and plot. Interesting themes.

Story Synopsis:
2016. Malibu, California. Marlie Rose, a sixty-two-year-old Broadway and movie star, is both successful and beloved. However, only she knows how much sadness her painful memories are causing her. Unable to bear the burden alone anymore, she decides to undergo a neurological reimaging process, which guarantees to delete whatever memories she isn't interested in retaining. Marlie begins the procedure with great hope, but as the sessions go by, she begins to wonder if she made a mistake.
The story comes to us in Marlie’s first person perspective, a great part of it being narrated in the form of a frame story, with the frame being the medical procedure that Marlie is undergoing.

PSA: The blurb reveals too much.

Bookish Yays:
😍 Marlie as the lead is excellent. Confident in some ways, diffident in others. Adamant on some beliefs, malleable in others. She makes for a compelling flawed protagonist.
😍 The LGBTQ+ rep in the book is outstanding. Right from social pressures to keep sexual identities secret, to the problems faced in getting homes or adopting children, the story gives us a very factual glimpse of what it meant to be a homosexual a few decades ago in the USA.
😍 The book also explores several other themes such as music and its healing power, the trials of foster kids, the impact of parental abandonment, the AIDS scare, and so on. All the themes fit into the story at just the right level without making anything feel overdone.
😍 The plot offers a great insight on how our past, including our regrets and their repercussions, makes us who we are. Life doesn't always offer us an undo, so Marlie’s sci-fi ‘undo’ of her memory offers much to ponder over.
😍 The author seems to have done her historical research very well. Through Marlie’s narration of her past, we get to see several key historical events and trivia. A lot of this relates to Broadway and awards, both of which are vital elements of Marlie’s life.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
😐 The concept of using a scientific procedure for memory culling through neurological reimaging is a good idea, though not really unique. The most popular example of such a technique is in ‘Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind’. However, the technological details aren’t explored much in the novel. The process stays only a method of keeping the plot going. This was somewhat disappointing to me, though I suppose readers who aren’t fond of sci-fi elements will be relieved by this.
😐 The frame story of Marlie narrating her past to the doctor who would then erase the memories she chose works very well in helping us understand the kind of person Marlie is and why she felt so compelled to destroy a part of her past. However, the writing of the past narrative does not match its tone, that of being a professional doctor-patient conversation. Many of the details are written like they would be in novels, not in conversations. Moreover, Marlie goes into vivid detail about her past sexual intimacies with the love of her life, Eleanor. While a part of this could be explained away by saying that she is a movie/theatre star and hence is more open about such matters, the extent of the detailing (can’t provide examples, else my review will become R-rated) is definitely too much for the medical team’s ears.

Bookish Nays:
😣 The above also lends itself to a great big doubt. How the heck is Marlie’s memory so detailed and accurate when I, much younger than her, can’t remember what I did even a couple of days ago! 👀 Not once does Marlie hesitate while recollecting her past – her flow of thought is silky smooth. So much so that in one scene, she recollects an entire journal entry verbatim to her medical team. Too unrealistic!
😣 The resolution of the issue is too easy and instant.

All in all, the story definitely has merit. There might be some exaggerations and some coincidences, but other than that, it offers plenty to think about, and also has some interesting characters. Recommended to those looking for a thought-provoking love story without the romantic mush but with a fair amount of steam.
3.75 stars.
My thanks to Bold Strokes Books, Inc. and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Memories of Marlie Rose”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This is a beautiful well written story that proves love conquers all. This story is emotionally charged and will have you tearing up or sobbing in a good way as it's so heartfelt. The depth of this story will stay with you forever.
Great job Morgan.


I recommend 5 stars. Thank you, Morgan Lee, Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley.