We Came Here to Forget

A Novel

By: Andrea Dunlop

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of She Regrets Nothing, which BuzzFeed called a “sharp, glittering story of wealth, family, and fate”, comes 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 becomes enmeshed with a man keeping 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.

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?

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.

©2019 Andrea Dunlop (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

Incredible!

Complex and real relationships in an entertaining and engaging story. We all have a reason to forget

I forced myself to finish it

The MC truly frustrated me.
Honestly, if it weren't for Julia Whelan I probably would've stopped the book several chapters in.
In the first few chapters it was really interesting and then it was "all downhill" from there. :/
The ending was almost lazy, especially because the plot was SO drawn out just for it to end abruptly.

We Came Here to Forget

This was a great story, that rings of the truth of a very severe problem. Great information, don’t miss this novel! Great narration, and wonderful author!! Kudos!!

Hypnotizing Read

I greatly enjoyed this story. the voice talent, Julia Whelan, was fabulous with her varied accents and tones of voice. Andrea Dunlop has created a weave of reality with her fiction that drew me in and kept me listening to the end. The reality of factitious disorder by proxy is terrifyingly real and she portrays it honestly in this fictive story.

as someone who is asexual, I will say that the sexual scenes were not difficult to listen to. though I did skip the longest one because of my discomfort. her writing is enjoyable and so I kept going.

A good book but ...

...it took too long to get to the actual story. I enjoyed greatly the this book moved back and forth in time. The characters were all believable and well-fleshed out. The problem I had with it was how long it took to finally find out what happened. Without revealing too much, I think the story would have been better with knowing the secret in the beginning because it would have interesting to see how the characters developed earlier. I would recommend it but know in advance it is going to take about 75-80% of the book for something to be revealed.

The twist is pretty obvious

Maybe because I kept reading reviews about the twist being so surprising colored my view but the author leaves some pretty big bread crumbs and I found myself just wanting to get to the end to see what the big twist was and was ultimately disappointed

Addicting to read

This was a book I couldn’t put down, I had to know what happened! It’s the first book in awhile I have felt that way about so I am giving it five stars across the board!

Interesting story...but

Interesting story; but the ending was quick. It left me with several questions. The reader was fantastic as usual!

This one had me hooked! From the beginning…

…. and I hope it will for others as well. Julia Whelan’s perfect narrative skills and talented author Andrea Dunlop combine their efforts to bring forth a tale unlike any other I’ve had the pleasure in listening. Don’t miss this remarkable story that grabbed me from the very beginning. Going back and forth in time, family secrets are revealed. "How fierce is denial when acceptance means losing so much?" Never a disappointment from Whelan and a new author [to me] that I look forward to. “Liz” travels far to Buenos Aires to hide and get try her life back on track, a difficult task for her and the listener as well. Along the way, we are introduced to her many new friends. It’s true: everyone has a past they’d like keep to themselves. Closets hold many skeletons in every closet and I must say quite a few come tumbling out. Whelan shows us her performances are “number 1” with her flawless and extraordinary vocal range of each and every character. How DOES she do it? I’m proud to saw I have quite a vast library of her books. (Note: Search by narrator [maybe many already do] and you may be surprised at what you find.) Family confidences are revealed in just the time to keep the listener obsessed. There are so many raw emotions, subplots and surprises throughout this jaw-dropping must-have in this audictive adventure. I found myself laughing out loud and grabbing a tissue to catch my tears steaming down my face. Highly recommended! Epic, I say, EPIC! EPIC! EPIC!

✍🏻👏🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟👏✍🏻

sad story

so sad. but easy to listen to. love this narrator. she is my favorite
I was confused by the Edward interactions in the beginning, he was too elusive. I would either make him more or less accessible as to not confuse to reader.
I can not seem to like G, he is a douchebag through and through. Narcissistic, like her sister, maybe its why she is drawn to him?
anyway, easy listening, was always struggling to stop and save more for my next commute