Book 17: My Name is Memory

Finished: March 20
Pages: 11 CDs (342)

I figure it counts because it took up quite a bit of my time driving home from Denver. I saw it in the bookstore several times, but it wasn't until I was standing in a Borders that was closing that I actually decided to read it. The idea sounded just preposterous enough that the story would keep my interest on the (excruciating) drive home.
Here's the premise: girl meets boy at school, instantly intrigued by him, feels like she knows him somehow. The night of the senior dance, they meet and he talks to her for the first time, and explains that he knows her because they've known each other in past lives, she just doesn't remember. He calls her by a different name, totally freaks her out, and spends the next five or six years living in the shadows, reliving his past lives and trying to avoid seeing her. It's been a while, so I don't remember her name, maybe Lucy? (Just checked goodreads, that's her name, and his is Daniel.) Lucy slowly has a series of events, including a psychic reading and a hypnosis session, that awaken feelings that she might just be this Sophia he kept calling her. Then there is some conflict involving Daniel's brother, who is evil, and pretends to be Daniel when he meets Sophia, and takes her off to Mexico, and she goes with him even though she doesn't really like him. Lucy/Sophia is rescued by Daniel and he takes her to a monastery to keep safe while he goes to find and fight his evil brother.
The end of the book left me very angry, because it was a total cliffhanger, and there was no indication that this was a series. Goodreads and amazon.com reviews have now led me to believe that it will be a series, rather than a stand alone, but the book could have easily been a complete idea if she had spent less time having Daniel repeat himself when he is the narrator. I did enjoy some of his memories, and some of the stories that he told, particularly the parts about his interaction with Sophia in previous lives, but other parts seemed totally extraneous. But let's be honest, it's a story about someone who can remember all his past lives back to the year 200 A.D. or so. I can't imagine that all of the parts are supposed to make sense.
For a book written by the author of the Traveling Pants series, I suppose I shouldn't have expected brilliance, but over all the ending of the book left me too angry to appreciate the rest of the story, or even its ability to hold my attention for 17 hours striaght. I just couldn't get past the fact that I wouldn't know what happened next.

Good Reading,
Caitlin