Julie's Review: We Came Here to Forget

Author: Andrea Dunlop
Series: None
Publication Date: July 2, 2019
Publisher: Atria
Pages: 352
Obtained: Publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Angst, first love, true love, tragedy, redemption with fantastic characters
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Summary: Katie Cleary has always known exactly what she wants: to be the best skier in the world. As a teenager, she leaves her home to live and train full time with her two best friends, all-American brothers Luke and Blair, whose wealthy father has hired the best coaches money can buy. Together, they are the USA’s best shot at bringing home Olympic gold. But as the upward trajectory of Katie’s elite skiing career nears its zenith, a terrifying truth about her sister becomes impossible to ignore—one that will lay ruin not only to Katie’s career but to her family and her relationship with Luke and Blair. With her life shattered and nothing left to lose, Katie flees the snowy mountainsides of home for Buenos Aires. There, she reinvents herself as Liz Sullivan, and meets a colorful group of ex-pats and the alluring, charismatic Gianluca Fortunado, a tango teacher with secrets of his own. This beautiful city, with its dark history and wild promise, seems like the perfect refuge, but can she really outrun her demons? In alternating chapters, Katie grows up, falls in love, and races down the highest peaks on the planet—while Liz is reborn, falls into lust, and sinks into the underground tango scene at the bottom of the world. From the moneyed ski chalets of the American West to the dimly lit milongas of Argentina, We Came Here to Forget explores what it means to dream, to desire, to achieve—and what’s left behind after it all disappears. ~amazon.com 

Review: What can shatter someone so much that they literally get on the next plane out of town? What made Katie give up her dream of Olympic gold when the destruction wasn't caused by her own actions? The answer is guilt. Guilt that she could have done something, didn't see what she should have, etc. 

So Katie leaves for Buenos Aires and reinvents herself at Liz Sullivan who is running away from heartbreak, apparently like all the other expats she happens upon. She immerses herself in the culture by taking Spanish lessons to become a tour guide and then decides to take tango to put her body back to use. 

What she finds is that everyone is dealing with heartbreak in some way and that everyone has their own way of dealing and healing. She has to find her own way back and dealing with the hurt and pain. Once she opens up to her new friends and herself she begins to heal and understand that not all things are within her control she can let go.
 
What I loved about this book was that it was raw, emotional and real. You feel for Katie especially when it's revealed what it was that sent her into distress. You want her to find her way back to the things and people she truly loves while maintaining what she learned during her time in Buenos Aries. 

Ms. Dunlop does an excellent job of pulling the story together with writing that is superb and  character development is spot on. She is an author that I look forward to reading her next book.


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