Do you remember when? Cast your mind back... to that time in your life where the most important thing was, what party were you going to with your friends. Before life truly got in the way. Once you are there - remember how it all made you feel.
Now you can come along on my Remember When journey.... Keep reading for my thoughts on T. Torrest's Remember When and Remember When 2.
Remember When
Blurb
Ever wonder how often Brad Pitt’s high school girlfriend must ponder jumping off a bridge? Ever think about the girl that had her hooks in George Clooney before he took off for TV stardom? How about Leonardo DiCaprio’s ex, or Johnny Depp’s first groupie, or any number of young women who got left behind when their boyfriends set off for greener pastures and eventually achieved unfathomable Hollywood fame?
My name is Layla Warren and I don’t need to wonder about any of those things. I already know. Because years before Trip Wiley could be seen on movie screens all over the world, he could be seen sitting in the desk behind me in my high school English class.
This was back in 1990, and I cite the year only to avoid dumbfounding you when references to big hair or stretch pants are mentioned. Although, come to think of it, I am from New Jersey, which may serve as explanation enough. We were teenagers then, way back in a time before anyone could even dream he’d turn into the Hollywood commodity that he is today.
In case you live under a rock and don't know who Trip Wiley is, just know that these days, he’s the actor found at the top of every casting director’s wish list. He’s incredibly talented and insanely gorgeous, the combination of which has made him very rich, very famous and very desirable.
And not just to casting directors, either.
I can’t confirm any of the gossip from his early years out in Tinseltown, but based on what I knew of his life before he was famous, I can tell you that the idea of Girls-Throwing-Themselves-At-Trip is not a new concept.
I should know. I was one of them.
And my life hasn’t been the same since.
Excerpt
It was the summer between seventh and eighth grade when Lisa went into full-on Frankenstein mode with me. She armed me with a bottle of Love’s Baby Soft and a tube of Zinc Pink lipstick and gave me a complete beauty lesson, showing me how to put on makeup to suit my “season”, and went clothes shopping with me to find outfits that would best show off my new boobs without making me look trashy. When all was said and done, I was surprised to find the girl looking back at me through the mirror. Until that moment, I had no idea that I ever wanted to be... pretty. But there I was, all made up, hair done and dressed like a real, live girl, and I realized that Lisa’s description actually held some truth.
The makeover did wonders for my self-esteem. Not that anyone would have mistaken me for the most popular girl in school (that distinction belonged exclusively to Lisa), but I was confident that I was going to be able to carve out a nice little social status on my own, even without the fact that I had hitched my wagon to her star.
I couldn’t wait to run into my crush and his friends at the lake or the park or something, envisioning myself making a smash as big as Sandy’s at the end of Grease. I would walk onto the playground or someplace where all our friends would be hanging out and I’d snub a cigarette out with my high-heeled shoe. Every guy’s jaw would drop and then we’d all break into “We Go Together”.
That fantasy was squelched, however, when my father refused to let me buy a pair of black spandex pants that I’d found at the nearby Clothing Town. Plus, there was a slight problem with the perm that I had gotten, because it made me look more like Little Orphan Annie than Olivia Newton-John.
Lisa spent her allowance that week to buy me a home permanent kit, explaining that if we just brushed it straight through my hair and let it set for a few minutes, the afro on my head should relax.
She turned out to be right, because the treatment ended up giving me a decent head of soft waves. Thank God, because otherwise, I would have spent the summer looking like Weird Al Yankovic.
Review
So Remember When was set in 1990, the era of BIG HAIR, John Hughes movies, Great (really, in hindsight we know it was) music, and a million other things that made us love the ‘80’s.
This is the story of Layla and her group of friends in their senior year of high school. It’s about crushing on cute guys, cliques, parties, fitting in, experimenting and pretty much all of the embarrassing things that happen to teenagers as they become young adults.
This is a sweet YA/NA story, that takes you on a journey of first loves, consequences, and awesome 80’s references. I certainly flashed back to growing up in the 80’s and finishing school. Layla and I both graduated High School in 1991, so the time frame was very relevant to me. This story does contain underage drinking, and sexual acts however, these do not dominate this story rather they are part of the journey. And let’s face it, anyone that grew up in that era experimented – right???
Ultimately, we see this group of friends commence probably their first serious relationships that must endure the test of going away to college. We also follow Layla, as she falls in love with Trip, and all of the insecurities that she faces, while she is unsure if this love, or even a level of care, is returned.
This story ends with Layla going off to college, without Trip. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the ten years that follow when I start reading Remember When 2.
My only issue – and maybe it was me, and my mind wondering as I read, but I struggled slightly with the perspective the story was told from. I was not sure I knew if we were in 1990 and living the experience through Layla’s eyes, or if we were in ‘present’ day while Layla reflected on her experience in 1990. I think the reason for this was that sporadically there were mixtures of the tense in the story telling. That said – it was a reasonably minor distraction, because for the most part I was happily ensconced in 1990 with Layla and the guys!
Thank you for a sweet story, that was very relate-able for me and reminded me why I love recording Bon Jovi on my cassette player, listening to my Boom Box, and watching Judd Nelson, River Phoenix, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Will Weaton, the two Coreys (and on on and on the list goes…) in my favourite movies… and hell let’s not forget to save Ferris!
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Remember When Two
Blurb
You know how sometimes, your high school crush grows up to be an insanely famous movie star? Okay, probably not. But I do. ~Layla Warren
Back in high school, Trip Wiley’s fanbase only encompassed the denizens of the nothing little suburb of Norman, New Jersey.
Ten years later, all that is about to change.
In the summer of 2000, Layla Warren is enjoying her career as a journalist in New York City (well, sort of), while Trip spends most of his time grabbing Hollywood by the balls. In the days before what will turn out to be his skyrocketing fame, they’ll find themselves confronted with some life-altering choices.
Remember When 2 is the second story in an NA romance trilogy. It will bring you back to that exuberant and riotous time of life in your twenties when you struggled to figure out your place in the world and the person you were meant to be…
…and the person you were meant to be with.
Excerpt
It was excruciating at first, getting over Trip. Not that I ever really did, mind you. But during those first years, I had no other choice but to go on with my life. Because do you ever really get over your first love?
Even during your twenties, when you experience that initial taste of being a grown-up… that teenager still lives inside you. That person you were before the world started telling you how to be, what to say, who you should be with. Before you lost yourself in expectations and plans, and could just be a work-in-progress with only the vaguest of results in mind.
At the age of twenty-six, I hadn’t yet mastered the art of growing up. Truth is, I was a bit lost. I wasn’t quite sure I knew who I was or if I’d ever be found again.
Review
T Torrest has done it again with this sequel. In the preceding 10 years, Trip and Layla had lost touch. From Layla’s point of view that time in her senior year with Trip would always be remembered fondly (well maybe a little more than that) but life goes on.
Layla is living the life in New York, working for a magazine and in a relationship. But as life would have it, Layla is soon presented the opportunity to make contact with Trip and see if he even remembered her.
The events that unfold are nothing if not steamy, entertaining and clearly right place wrong time moments.
Even though Layla is living away from home, we still hear about the gang, Lisa is ever present and nothing has changed between Layla and Lisa even with Lisa being that bit more mature than Layla.
This book is set in the year 2000, Layla is 26 and starting to think about the future. But does she end up settling, or has she found the love of her life?
Trip is rapidly making a name for himself as an actor, he is living the Hollywood dream, when an encounter between him and Layla let him remember how much they meant to each other. But time has moved on, and so have both Trip and Layla.
This story moved me. The author has a great ability to tell a story, and I lived this with the characters, I rolled my eyes with them, laughed with them, and then I even cried with them. I am desperate for the final chapter in this story. Trip and Layla deserve to be happy no matter the outcome. Fate can be kind or it can be cruel, but these characters are so likable that they deserve happiness.
There is much to be resolved in the next book, so much was touched on but remained unspoken with Trip and that has done nothing but left me wanting to hug him, and smack him in the head at the same time. The dynamics of this story were very believable, I just couldn’t put it down.
I would have to say my only criticism is that it left so many unanswered questions. Clearly it was determined to be a trilogy from the get go – but that meant that book 2 was more of a setting the scene book for the finale. I wanted more…
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| Because I was left with the cliff hanger, and with so many unanswered questions I am giving Remember When Two 4 ½ hearts. I have great expectations for the final installment and I am sure T Torrest won’t disappoint me. |
About the Author
T. Torrest is a New Adult fiction writer from the U.S. She has written many books, but prays that only a handful of them will ever see the light of day. Her stories are geared toward readers of any age that know how to enjoy a good laugh and a dreamy romance.
She likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. She's not much into health food, but she does enjoy talking about herself in the third person.
A lifelong Jersey girl, she currently resides there with her husband and two boys.
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