Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

We Came Here to Forget by Andrea Dunlop grabbed my attention right away and I wasn’t able to put it down. It’s a story about Katie Cleary, a young Olympic skier whose family issues get her into a downward spiral, causing her to lose her career, her friends, and her self confidence. She flees to Buenos Aires to reinvent herself, meeting a group of ex-pats who are also running away from their own lives, and slowly discovers who she is now that her life is so altered.

I loved all of the characters in the book, I thought they were rich and interesting and well developed. I’ve never been to Buenos Aires but I certainly have a taste for it now, and reading this book prompted me to do some research of my own into the history of the place and learn more about its heartbreaking past.

The book is written in alternating chapters, split between her current-day reality in Buenos Aires and the past that led her there. The suspense of finding out what happens in both times definitely kept me turning the pages.

I was also fortunate enough to meet the author at a book signing at Edmonds Bookshop, and spend some time chatting with her and some friends about the book, her research, our kids, and life in general. Turns out she lives right near me! I can’t wait to dive into her other books now, including She Regrets Nothing, a tale about family, fortune, and fate—and the dark side of wealth. Intriguing!

Synopsis:

A vivid novel about a young Olympic skier who loses everything and escapes to Buenos Aires, where she reinvents herself, meets a colorful group of ex-pats, and is swept off her feet by a mysterious young man with dark secrets of his own.

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—as well as a love triangle waiting to happen.

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?

Told 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.