Book Review: The Forgotten Locket by Lisa Mangum

The Forgotten Locket

by Lisa Mangum
Published: May 30, 2011
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover (416 pages)
Source: Library

Abby is trapped in a full-fledged battle for her own mind and life and heart.  Even worse, Zo's evil intent reaches beyond simple revenge against her and Dante.  The whole world is in danger of collapsing unless Abby can summon her courage and undertake a journey that will lead her beyond the origins of the hourglass door.

Spoiler free even if you haven’t read the first two books in this series. 

I think the best way to describe The Forgotten Locket was melodramatic.  Meaning that it felt so dramatic that I was disconnected from it.  It was more entertaining when I read it in my head with a super dramatic voice.

I was honestly kind of bored while reading this.  Abby is rescued from her problems too quickly so they didn’t seem that dire to me.  It was also painfully obvious how things would resolve since the really big threats were taken away too fast.  There seemed to be no rules and if there were rules they quickly found ways to “break” them to do the “impossible.”  So everything seemed possible and it made it feel like there were no problems because there will always be a magical solution.  Not only that but EVERY problem was completely solved with a very nice bow on top.

I hated that most of the world building was unexplained.  “Impossible” things happen (though since the rules are extremely loose a better word than impossible would be “new”).  And the explanation for events was mostly “who knows just cuz.”  That was the answer more often than I allow for a story to be interesting.  This world kind of feels like it was made up as it went along. And I could have driven a DeLorean through all those plot holes in the way time travel worked. 

I felt like I didn’t have to think or imagine for this whole book.  This whole series.

And oh the romance. It was nice I guess to read about a guy who always stood by his girl and did the right thing but it was highly unrealistic.  They never fought. Ever.  Except maybe about who loved the other person more. Gag.

I know one star is a harsh rating and I usually only give it for books that I didn’t finish, but I really should have put this one down and walked away.  I knew exactly what was going to happen so the only reason I finished is because of my need not to quit on books.   I know a lot of people liked this series but it was really not for me.

Overall, poor world building and an extremely predictable ending really dragged this story down.

Content Rating: Mild, for a few kissing scenes.