Forgetful Hearts

A Hometown Jasper Novel, Book 3

By: Nicky James

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Why can't Shay remember when his nemesis became his lover?

Shay would never associate with Josiah. Not only is he his brother’s ex-best friend, but he’s arrogant, cocky, and rude.

When Josiah claims they’re dating and that Shay forgave him for his past transgressions, Shay is convinced he’s lying. Except, since the accident that left him with no memory, Shay isn’t sure of anything.

The last six months are a black hole in his mind. What’s worse, Shay is convinced that whatever happened to him wasn’t an accident, at all. But the only person who believes him is Josiah.

Perhaps, together, they can figure out the truth. Maybe, retracing their steps will shake loose those missing pieces.

Can Shay put trust in the man he swore to hate? Will regaining those memories be good or bad? What if the truth was written on his heart the whole time?

Forgetful Hearts is a low angst MM romance novel with amnesia, age gap, enemies-to-lovers, and brother's ex-best friend tropes. It is part of the Hometown Jasper Series but can be listened to as a stand-alone.

©2020 Nicky James (P)2021 Nicky James

Enjoying This Series!

I'm really enjoying this series on audio and listening to Nick J. Russo bring all the wonderful people of Jasper to life. He is really nailing the entire series!

Nicky James gets me every single time! I admit I was weary going into this book because amnesia stories are not something I normally will read. They are just not something that usually interest me. I NEVER should doubt Nicky though because no matter what she writes it is fantastic! The feelings, emotion, character development, dialogue, love, steamy times...everything is always spot on and this book was no exception.

Josiah--sweet, misunderstood Josiah--oh how I adored him. It was evident from the start how much Shay meant to him. The clear pain he was feeling after Shay's accident made my heart hurt for him. But he never wavered and he stood by Shay's side the entire time. And poor Shay, he was so frustrated and I felt bad watching him struggle, but he was also a fierce and determined fighter. He never wallowed, he just dug in with grit and determination and kept moving forward. Watching Shay and Josiah reconnect and rediscover their love was just splendid!

Let's talk about other fabulous things with this book! There was humor (the text conversations had me laughing out loud), there was mystery, their was this wonderful town of Jasper with all the awesome townspeople (Lady Mallory is a favorite of mine!), there was love, there was feeling, and there were some very steamy times too! As I'm reading the books in this series I want to go to Jasper and sit at the bar and chat with Lucky, read a copy of Jasper's paper, or go get my fortune read--I want to know more about The Chief and I cannot wait to read Tomi's story next! If you haven't been reading this series, you need to, it is wonderful!

Enemies-to-lovers with a detour

I love Nicky James books, and I’ve enjoyed the first two Jasper novels. I met the character of Josiah early on and I didn’t like him. Wore glasses even though he didn’t need them? Never completed sentences? Too pretentious for me. Especially because everyone else in town is so honest and friendly.

I was introduced to Shay in a previous book where he wanted to do an amazing skiing trick. Now, I’d known he would fail at it, so I was curious where this book would pick up. I was surprised, honestly. A good surprised.

Josiah and Shay have actually become a couple in the intervening time. Josiah has real feelings for Shay and he understood it to be reciprocated. Except Shay’s lost six months of his life, and still believes he and Josiah are enemies. Shay blames him for his beloved brother leaving Jasper and never coming back. But when Shay is injured, his brother does return. And boy does that complicate things. And provide more potential stories so, yay for that.

Shay wants nothing to do with Josiah, but Josiah’s not willing to give up on them. He’s proving far more patient than I’d ever give him credit for. He knows he needs to woo Shay. Give the injured man time to rediscover what they had. To remember the truth that drew them together. Figure out why Josiah is so certain the previous animosity is gone.


This author often takes medical and psychological issues and makes them feel real. I was immersed in Shay’s injury and subsequent memory loss. I was cheering, hoping those memories would come back. I was even cheering for Josiah, learning he’s not such a bad guy and first impressions can be deceiving.

The ending was perfect. The entire book was pretty darn close as well. And I have to mention Nick J. Russo’s narration. He’s just great in this series and I’m so glad he’s helming the audio project. I cannot wait for the final book.

Love the book and Nick

Nick Russo is simply amazing. His voice, narration, performance just pulls me in. He has created the voice to this series that is phenomenal. He has become a new favorite of mine.

4.5 STARS

I love the town of Jasper and this series. I couldn’t get anymore excited each time Nicky announces the next cover reveal in the series than I do. I want to live there.

This book is much different than the first two as there is the suspense aspect to it. I loved the mystery of what really happened and who did it. It kept me on my toes.

Let’s talk Josiah. He totally swept me off my feet and that’s saying a lot ad I was not a fan from previous books. Learning about why he doesn’t complete sentences broke my heart. He is so sweet, understanding, he loves his work and so proud of his newspaper. He dealt with Shay with love and patience and let me say this, Shay’s words to him broke my heart and Josiah is a strong man for letting it slide knowing the pain that Shay was going through.

Shay struggles to express himself and doesn’t allow himself to be vulnerable. Until, one day he finds himself losing a chunk of time in his life. Specifically his connection with Josiah. With as much I felt his words were hurtful, they did become funny banter to me eventually.

I loved when Shay finally opened his eyes to Josiah again and felt the connection and that Josiah was also on his side believing in him and supporting him from the get go. What more could you ask for in a loving and supportive relationship??

Ok I can’t not mention the funniest character of them all, Jordie. His dialogue with Josiah has me on the floor laughing.

This book is low angst, funny, suspenseful, sweet, and you will walk away with a huge smile on your face. And, Nicky has set up the next book where I am desperate for more.

Enjoyed It a Lot

I enjoyed this story from the first minutes of listening till the epilogue. Forgetful Hearts was my first book in Jasper town series and even though it made me very interested in learning what happened between Josiah and Shay in previous books, I feel this can be enjoyed as a standalone, there was plenty of clarification to let me know their history. Enemies to Lovers is my favorite trope, I read/listened so many stories that I thought I experienced all kinds of variations on this kind of relationship development. This book offered a different twist on the enemies to lovers trope with amnesia aspect, disconnect between Shay's mind and heart as well as Josiah's helplessness in the face of these circumstances. I loved following relationship development and interactions where Josiah's manner of speaking offered funny and entertaining moments in how Shay completed his questions. Narrator did a great job and made this a perfect listening experience. I am going to listen to the other stories in Jasper town series and hope they will be just as good as Forgetful Hearts.

A second chance enemies to lovers romance

This was a sweet, opposites attract, unconventional enemies to lovers romance.

I absolutely loved the concept of the story.
Once enemies, now lovers getting a second chance to love again.

The writing style was engaging, compelling and enthralling.

I do recommend listening to this in the series order for maximum enjoyment although it can be read as a standalone as well.

The narrator did an exceptional audio delivery and narration as well.

Second Chance Love

I loved this story so much when I read it, I knew the audio would be a must as well! Once again Nick J Russo did an amazing job of pulling me into the town of Jasper for Josiah and Shay’s story! His narration made me feel part of the story and really brought the amazing words and characters to life for me. In the past I’ve shied away from amnesia stories, I just didn’t think they were for me. If anyone can take me out of my comfort zone, and show me wrong, it’s this author. I loved Josiah and Shay’s story. It had some great humor, mystery, low angst and great sexy times! I listened almost straight through, and didn’t want to stop! It was really pulled in from the start. I’d been fascinated by Josiah since the first book. Who wouldn’t be? His half finished sentences and his crazy paper. I knew Shay would give him a run for his money. There was so much to love about these two men. Josiah his such an honorable and caring person that he inside and away from everyone. The face that Shay showed the outside world, wasn’t what he necessarily was inside. I absolutely loved Josiah’s devotion to Shay. He was by his side through the good times, the uncomfortable and the heated. He never gave up showing Shay what they had was real and making Shay realize that. Not once, but twice. I loved that Shay chose Josiah. Swoon! He needed to be chosen so badly. These two men deserved their HEA they found together. They navigated past hurts, injury, and family crisis to come out the other side together.

Not my fave, but still great!

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one going in - to be fair, Josiah grew on me in book 2, so I did love it. And the story in general was fantastic as usual with NJ. But I still found myself slightly annoyed with Josiah’s speech, since it doesn’t seem to have a reason other than “habit”. Also, I’m not a big fan of the amnesia trope. BUT, again, this author is fantastic and can clearly make anything amazing.

Loved it!!!!

I loved the sparks that were flying between Shay and Josiah in the previous book and they were still shooting off through this book. My heart broke for Josiah. You could tell from the beginning he had very strong feelings for Shay and to have to start all over, that must’ve been tough. I loved seeing their relationship blossom over a short span of time.
Nick did a fantastic job narrating this story! I enjoyed every minute of it!

I hated this book

I think it's the worst in my opinion out of all four Jasper novels.
90% of the story has nothing to do with love but I don't want to give any spoilers away.
The two main protagonists have nothing in common besides the enjoyment of sex.
it was a very weak submission and everything is tied up in a 4-minute epilogue which I hated.
I recommend reading the Concealed hearts book before this to get an understanding of Tommy.
He is a secondary character and will feature prominently in the Concealed book and I actually am going to go reread it.
The narration of course as always was flawless.

❤❤❤❤

I loved this while reading it. But after hearing Nick Russo, caused me to love it even more! Amazing job Nick and Nicky!!