THE ART OF REMEMBERING by Alison Ragsdale

THE ART OF REMEMBERING by Alison Ragsdale

This book was a bit different from what I usually read. It was a very well written book about a young woman who is a ballerina and is having horrible headaches. She goes through a lot before finding out what is wrong and her husband is not the most understanding of people. While I didn’t like him for this I sort of understood that maybe he was in denial about her being anything less than perfect. I felt that he was a bit selfish at times but I also felt that way about her. Ailsa and Evan have a strange sort of marriage. At least to me they did. He supported her as a ballerina and seemed like it was all he wanted her to do. She wanted more but was kind of childish about letting anyone know. I just did’t much like Ailsa for a long time in this story. She seemed to let people walk all over her. After she had her surgery and started getting her memories back she seemed to grow a backbone and started expressing herself better. Both with Evan and with her controlling mother, who I also did not like. At least until way later in the story. After Ailsa finally stood up to her mother she seemed to sort of change and understand what her daughter was saying to her. I loved Ailsa’s dad. With the exception of him not standing up to his wife, he did seem to be a good dad. He helped her without question and that was very important.

The characters in this book, while I may not have liked some, were very richly developed and some truly likable. You will feel like you are on stage with Ailsa and feel her pain from her toes to her brain. Her heart is tender but she needed to grow up a lot, which she does. Evan I didn’t like for much of this book, but he grew on me. I was glad to see him happy finally. He was a broody kind of person and kept to many secrets, even from him Mum. I was hoping part of that would come out. Evan’s mother was a likable person. I understood her siding with her son as she didn’t know the whole story but she still loved and truly cared for Ailsa. 

This book was very well written and it help my attention. I learned quite a bit about the ballet and about brain conditions. I would have been terrified in Ailsa’s situation. At the end, reading the FROM THE AUTHOR was very enlightening. I never knew she lived this story to a point. I’m very glad she is ok now and my heart goes out to her. She’s a wonderful author and I truly look forward to reading more of her books

A big 4 stars from me and a huge thank you to the author for the ARC of this book.