Don't You Forget About Me by Alexandra Potter

About the Book

Title: Don't You Forget About Me
Author: Alexandra Potter
Publication: Hodder (19 July 2012)/Amazon Kindle
Summary:  Tess is heartbroken when Seb breaks up with her and can't help blaming herself. If only she'd done things differently. If only she could make right all her regrets. Drunk and upset on New Year's Eve she wishes she'd never met him. But when she wakes up to discover this dream has come true, she realises she has a chance. To do it all over again. And to get it right this time.

What I Think

Tess Connolly, the main character of Don't You Forget About Me, is a little ridiculous, but not totally unlikable. There are a couple of cringe-worthy moments when I can't believe girls like this really exist and furthermore that other people, presumably also girls, want to read about them. At times the character seems so shallow, and frankly quite stupid too, that I can't believe I didn't stop reading immediately. 

What saves this book is that its moral is sound: don't pretend to be something you're not. In order to keep her boyfriend Seb happy and their relationship thriving, Tess is constantly trying to be something she's not, often with disastrous consequences. This message of being true to yourself is reinforced by the character Fiona, Tess' flatmate, who not only is the most unhealthy health & beauty editor, but she's prepared to adopt a fake persona to fit in with the 'posh set'.  

Throughout the year that we follow the characters they discover more about themselves and who they truly are. With this new-found knowledge they are able to form better and stronger relationships with the people around them and ultimately be happier. 

About the Author

Alexandra Potter (b. May 8, 1970) is an award-winning British author who previously worked as a features writer and sub-editor for women's glossies in both the UK and Australia. In 2007 she won the prize for Best New Fiction at the Jane Austen Regency World Awards for her bestselling novel, Me and Mr Darcy. Her novels have been translated into seventeen languages and her latest novel, You're the One That I Don't Want, is being adapted into a film. She now lives between London and Los Angeles and writes full-time.