Overall, what do you think of 'You'll Forget This Ever Happened'?

Overall, what do you think of 'You'll Forget This Ever Happened"? Please try to avoid major spoilers in this topic.

i found this a helpful and satisfying story. i was adopted in 1952 as a 6 month old baby. I was able to relate to Laura because she is my age, so i understood the times she wrote about and particularly the music, which is so important to someone of that age. Having read about young, unmarried women after the war, i knew that the experience she had was, sadly, a typical one.

it was also a painful story for me, because from what i understand, my bio-mom wanted nothing to do with me after I was born. (fyi it worked out, my family couldn’t have been better!)

I was captivated by her writing and how she brought me into the book. I married in 1968 and identified with how things were back then. I looked forward to going to bed early every night to see what happened next. She was full of hope as young girls are at that age and my heart broke along with hers many times. Laura Engel knows how to bring all those feeling back to life and I liked this book very much.

I had a hard time putting this book down. I thought it was a beautiful depiction of Laura's situation and life.

I had a bitter sweet experience with this book since I could have written it with relatively minor revisions to the story. I was 16 when I became a birthmother. This story rings very true and is not exaggerated. It’s hard to believe people held such stigmas in that day and time but it was true. This life event changed my world forever along with my Mom’s. I was reunited with my birth son in 2020 and we have thrived on our weekly communications and family visits ever since. It’s a miracle of love that was never forgotten nor diminished. This book provides a look inside the lifelong trauma birth mothers and many birth fathers remember oh so well.

I loved this book. The author bares her soul to tell a sad, but true, story of being forced to give up her baby. She tells the story without sugar coating anything. I was also a 60's teenage and the values of the day were exactly as she told it. She is courageous in telling her story, especially the epilogue. Yet, I'm so glad she found him and is a part of his children's lives. I recommend this book!

This is a very well-written personal story about adoption in the 1960’s. I found myself engaged in the story from the very first page. Definitely recommend this book!

I enjoyed this book tremendously. I was a teenage when this book was set so I can relate to the way things were. Then in my 30’s I adopted a baby of my own. It was an open adoption and it worked out well although it had some painful moments. This was a very good book.

I thought this book was excellent; the author did an incredible job of making each scene come alive as if the readers are right there with Laura. The cultural references, popular songs, etc., were a wonderful and fun addition to an already outstanding story. I have recommended this book to many friends.

This book drew me in from the start! Laura Engel has an almost conversational writing style. Many of her words resonated with me such as p.51. . . ."Now decades later, I wish I had had the confidence and strength to demand to see Clay. As a young girl in the 1960s, I had no voice. Men decided what was best for me.". Now 5O plus years later, I feel this is still occurring with male legislators making laws for women's bodies!

I felt Laura’s story let us glimpse a time that is not widely known and remembered. I know Laura must have felt abandoned and frightened.

I did not find the writing particularly compelling. The story was good.

This book had a great beginning and the story is an age-old saga for many girls. We all got the gist of the pain someone would undergo having a child and then not. It was just a little too whiny. No one would expect Laura to not think about her trauma; however, others may not have the same empathy and think it best that she move on. Also, it was funny how Laura kept saying she never shared her story...except again and again...

Judgement can’t possibly be accurate until you’ve walked a mile in the moccasins.

I was a bit skeptical about whether a story of this magnitude could be told in less than 350 pages. My skepticism was totally erased before I was half through the book. My only wish was that she delved a bit more into the spiritual aspect of her story. At times, she touched on prayer and a few spiritual moments her life, but I was left wondering whether there was more to that part of her life both as a young mother and as a grandmother.

This is one of the best memoirs I’ve read in a long time. I had a hard time putting it down and found myself reading it at every chance I got. I was all in the entire book. After I finished the book I emailed Laura and had a great conversation via email with her.

I want to tell all my friends to watch for this book to hit the market. I believe Laura's story will stay with me for ever. It's one of those books that doesn't come along every day. She gave her soul to this book and all her love. She lost him in the end but not before he completed her life. God Bless You Laura

I was so drawn to this story. My family was touched in the 1950's with an unwanted pregnancy, however, the couple married and the home for unwed mothers never was an option. And even though our family life was turned upside down with emotion, it was done within the confines of the family home where the young couple received support, both financially and emotionally. I so feel for Laura, all alone with no family support. She bared her soul in the book and I thank her for sharing her story with others.

JanBB--no need to wait as Laura's book is already published, In this Book Club, we only discuss published books. You may be thinking of our other program First Impressions, where we review books before they publish.

When I started this book, I couldn't put it down. Laura's story was so compelling. I cannot imagine giving up a baby. I had a high school friend who gave up her baby for adoption. Her Mother was so afraid her bridge club would find out.
My heart hurt for Laura. I thought her parents, especially her mother were horrible to her.

I found the book to be a moving and bittersweet story. Laura showed great courage in the face of obstacles she was forced to handle essentially alone. Her family was not really there for her, did not understand how she felt and were consumed entirely by worries of how everyone would react to the news of her pregnancy. What people thought was more important to her Mother and Grandmother than anything else. This was probably a sign of the times but sad to see unfold.

The book was well told and was a fast read. It did accurately depict the attitudes of the time period.

The book was well told and was a fast read. It did accurately depict the attitudes of the time period.

I had a hard time reading the memoir, but I believe it was important that the truth be told. The times were very cruel to anyone who transgressed against accepted behaviors. And are still cruel in some ways, because many women still live with their painful secret. Studies have shown that mothers who relinquished children either remained childless, or they quickly had more children. Like the title of the book that ‘you’ll forget this,’ the suggestion to just move on is just mean. We all mourn in different ways, and Laura’s feelings were legitimate.

I am glad I read it. Read more like a novel than a memoir and while I knew of that reality, the book made me feel it. It's hard to say I liked it because of the difficult topic. But I did and will share.

I thought this was a very good book. I enjoyed reading it right from the start. It definitely reminded me of the way things were when I was growing up. We certainly did not treat our young women very well and caused them so much suffering. We have come a long way, there is still more to do. I am glad I read this book.

This book initially interested me, as an adoptive mother of two children. I wanted to hear the other side of adoption, the birthmother’s story, and this certainly gave me insight. This book was written really well and I applaud the author for bearing her soul. It evoked many emotions in me, and at times brought tears to my eyes. I will recommend this book to my friends and to my adult adopted children.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I thought Laura did a great job keeping me interested in the book. It was interesting to hear her story and gave me insight. She really had a rough time.

Overall, I thought it was a really good story, one that needed to be told not only for Laura's sake, but for all the other unwed mothers who went through similar circumstances. I read the book in just a day so it definitely kept me interested.

I enjoyed the book very much. I felt Laura's emotion because her writing was so descriptive and heart felt. I marked several pages so I could go back and reread them.
I especially liked, "Time truly does have a way of healing, and once we open our minds and hearts, the universe imparts wisdom that eventually lays peace upon us."

Thank you Laura for telling your story! You are an amazing woman, wife, and mother.

While I can't say that I enjoyed this book as it had such a strong undercurrent of sadness and loss through out, the reader was given a clear picture of how these women were treated.