Harmony Kent's Blog, page 31

#BookReview: The Visionary by J C Gemmell @JcGemmell @bookroar_tweets

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a read I picked up via a review site. I haven’t come across this writer before, but I’ll be checking out more of J C Gemmell’s books >>>

About the Book:

At the beginning of February 2060, Mount Erebus erupted, the first of a chain of Antarctic volcanoes that forever changed Earth’s future. Within days, sea levels began to rise, until sixty metres of water claimed coastlines worldwide.

Twelve-year-old Xin-yi and her mother fled their home, surviving amongst a community of rice farmers. A year later, a chance conversation with international census officials prepared her for a new life.

Now fourteen, Xin-yi commences her training as a visionary. It is her task to imagine a new Earth, rising above the drowning waters. Thousands of young people strive to design a world in which the displaced millions can live, and engineer a solution that will take a millennium to populate.

But Xin-yi’s challenges are more personal: coming to terms with the loss of her brother and unexpected feelings toward a friend. She has to choose between working to benefit humanity and her internal conflict with love.

Set over three decades after the 2060 flood, The Visionary combines dystopian, future and science fiction, and introduces J.C. Gemmell’s Tion series. 

 

My Review:

A quick and easy dystopian read on the possible effects of global warming.

I haven’t read this author before, but I shall be sure to check out more of J C Gemmell’s books.

“A dragon is coming for us.” From this compelling opening line, we meet the main character, Xin Yi, who we follow over a period of decades. Each chapter covers a particular Chinese year, and there can be a leap of quite a few years from one to the next.

I found the characters a little wooden in places but on the whole real enough. The word building and scenarios were entirely believable, and I loved the idea of the visionaries and their inner selves made real. I would love to see this story written as a full novel rather than a novella, which would allow the characters to come more fully alive without the gaps of time the reader is presented with here.

The writing is compelling and creative, and here are some lines I loved …

“The water seemed slow enough to outrun, but it was as terrifying as the Antarctic dragon.”

And …

“Tej was his own person whilst being part of me at the same time. I had to listen to him because I was him.”

Sometimes I found it difficult to identify who was speaking due to a lack of dialogue tags and/or beats. At times, the tense kept switching between past and present. Apart from these glitches, the writing was done well, and the story is engrossing and all too realistic. The Visionary gets a solid four stars from me. Go read this book!

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

 

#TANKATUESDAY Weekly #POETRYCHALLENGE #255 @SyllabicPoetry @ColleenChesebro #TasteTheRainbow #Tanka

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!

Today, I’ve joined Colleen’s weekly TankaTuesday challenge, which asks for a Syllabic poem of the author’s choice, featuring a colour.

You can find Colleen’s post HERE.

I’ve chosen a Senryu in three lines of 3-5-3 syllables.

 

vivid red

from embarrassment

wardrobe fail

 

I hope you enjoyed this short verse on the awkward moments of life

 

© Harmony Kent 2022

 

#BookReview: Hype by Yvette M Calleiro @YvetteMCalleiro

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a read from fellow author and friend, Yvette M Calleiro. I’ve posted this book review on a Monday instead of my usual review Thursday because I won’t be online so much on the 23rd. Happy Holidays, everyone! >>>

About the Book:

Cici’s junior year in high school is going to be the best year ever. Popular co-captain of the varsity cheerleading team, she’s dating the starting quarterback. Even her jealous co-captain’s attempts to steal her boyfriend can’t curb her enthusiasm.

When her mom moves in with her fiancé, a handsome, wealthy man, only one small detail threatens Cici’s perfect life. The school’s social pariah is about to become her stepsister, and Cici wants nothing to do with her.

Everything changes when someone Cici cares about throws her life into a tailspin, and the one person Cici couldn’t stand becomes her only ally.

Warning: This story contains scenes of sexual assault.

 

My Review:

An intense YA read which tackles some hefty and important issues.

Cici has the perfect life … until she doesn’t. Her mom drops the bombshell news that she’s going to marry her boyfriend, and this means that Grub (Gaby) will become her stepsister and move in with Cici and her mom. She likes the rich, successful, and attractive husband-to-be but does NOT want anyone at school to know she’s becoming family with the dark goth misfit.

Life rolls on, and the first half of the book shows us a world of teens, their cliques, and all the mini-dramas that come with older adolescence, including the pressure to have sex and drink and all of that. The book really gets moving, and heavy, at a little after the halfway point when Cici is raped by someone close to her. The rapist then threatens to kill her mother if she ever tells a soul. Cici feels trapped and terrified and withdraws from her boyfriend and BFF.

I felt the author did a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life and making me feel for them all, including hating the abuser and rolling my eyes at the petty co-captain.

Here are some lines I loved …

“I swear that girl loves to crawl under my skin and roll around like a dog in the grass.”

And …

“The glare she gave him would send gladiators running for the hills.”

And …

“There are moments in our lives that forever change us, but how we choose to allow it to change us is within our control.”

This is a good read that will pull you in slowly as the build-up hooks you and piques your interest.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

 

That’s it from me until the new year now. Thank you, everyone, for your support and friendship this year! Happy Holidays and stay safe.

#BookReview: The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville @stuartneville @bonnierbooks_uk

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a read I picked up via NetGalley. I haven’t come across this writer before, but I’ll be checking out more of his work >>>

About the Book:

For fans of Gillian Flynn and Tana French, a chilling story of a Northern Irish murder sixty years buried

Sara Keane’s husband, Damien, has uprooted them from England and moved them to his native Northern Ireland for a “fresh start” in the wake of her nervous breakdown. Sara, who knows no one in Northern Ireland, is jobless, carless, friendless—all but a prisoner in her own house. When a blood-soaked old woman beats on the door, insisting the house is hers before being bundled back to her care facility, Sara begins to understand the house has a terrible history her husband never intended for her to discover.

Through the counterpoint voices of two women—one modern Englishwoman, one Northern Irish farmgirl speaking from half a century earlier—Stuart Neville offers a chilling and gorgeous portrait of violence and resilience in this truly haunting narrative.

 

My Review:

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier books for a free advanced review copy of this book.

A perfect portrayal of a controlling, abusive husband and a psychologically damaged wife.

“Glass breaks downstairs and she freezes in her bed, the blankets tight around her.” From this opening line, the reader is taken on a dark journey in both the past and the present.

I enjoyed this crime thriller immensely, and for me, the element of the unsettled ghosts added to the fun of the read. While it’s a dark tale, much of the heavy stuff happens off page, so the reader knows what’s going on but doesn’t have to suffer through it with the characters.

The narrative is through the lens of different characters but primarily from present day Sara and the young (decades ago) Mary. I really felt for the characters in this book and found the situations all too believable. Here are some lines that stood out for me:

“Not real sleep, not the warm dark that brings light, but the dim hinterland where bitter memories surfaced to torment her.”

And …

“Then she imagined having to explain it to her husband, and the idea drained away like the drink she had just poured out.”

And …

“… an ache of sadness passing between them.”

The ending felt a little too open-ended for my liking, but otherwise this was a gripping and satisfying read, and I felt that certain characters got what was coming to them. I give The House of Ashes a solid five stars.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

 

#BookReview: Riebeckite by O R Lea @ORLeaAuthor @bookroar_tweets

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a read I picked up via a review site. I haven’t come across this writer before, but I’ll be waiting for more >>>

About the Book:

What if you learned an environmental crisis the world thought it had under control was actually an alien invasion?

Growing up in the aftermath of an asteroid moon strike which showered the earth with deadly spores, Tahira promised her childhood friend, Zareen, that overcoming the crisis would one day unite their feuding Azerbaijani and Iranian people.

Tahira is now a biologist for a corporation constructing experimental towers which force the spores, known as ‘riebeckites’, to germinate into harmless colonies. Rumours of riebeckite colonies forming into flesh-eating, animal-mimicking monsters in the Iranian Annex are largely dismissed as propaganda from the Talafi, an Iranian militant group who oppose Azeri occupation.

But when Tahira makes a discovery linking these stories to the Skyscrubber towers, her own employer suppresses her findings and frames her as a Talafi collaborator. In a race for her freedom and her life, Tahira has only one person she can rely on: Zareen, now an Iranian freedom fighter. Together they must escape Azeri police and Talafi militants, and survive the horrifying next stage of the riebeckites’ development. Only if they expose the truth can the world unite against a danger which has been gathering at its feet while everyone was watching the sky. 

 

My Review:

I came across this author and book via a review site, and I am so glad I picked up Riebeckite to read. I haven’t read O R Lea before, but I shall be sure to check out more books from this writer.

Riebeckite is the first novel in a planned series, and I look forward to reading the sequels when they publish. The novel opens during a pogrom to expel the Iranians from Azerbaijan, and two eight-year-old girls–best friends–get caught up in the tumult. Then the story jumps ahead a couple of decades, and we see a completely changed situation. Zareen is an Iranian struggling to survive in the Iranian Annexe. Her old friend Tahira gained a university education and now works for Azkord, a mega-corporation on the mainland, as a biologist. Their lives and livelihoods couldn’t be more opposite.

At some point before the novel opens, an asteroid collided with the moon and left a blue crater, which dropped spores down to Earth. While the story has a futuristic feel, it is also down to earth and wholly believable. The writing is gritty and relevant to current times. The characterisation, world building, and plot are brilliantly done. The author has a way of describing things beautifully. Here are some lines that stood out for me …

“The sound of the crowd changed. It came in two tones now, like the sound of a river and the sound of water running through a pipe beneath your feet.”

And …

“There was no smoke in the air, but the hate and fear were just as thick and choking.”

And …

“In the following silence, Tahira wasn’t sure if her words were being weighed or woven into the rope from which she would hang.”

And …

“The promise which had driven her since the age of eighteen was hanging by one last thread. If Zareen cut it, what would it all have been for?”

The ending was somewhat open-ended and leads into the next book of the series. The main story thread was tied off, and the author gives us a short bonus tale at the end of the book. This first book raises issues and resolves some battles, and it’s all too clear that the protagonists have a lot more to face yet. Riebeckite gets a solid five stars from me, and I look forward to reading more from O R Lea.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

 

#BookReview: The Maid by Nita Prose @NitaProse @HarperCollins

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a read I picked up via NetGalley. This is Nita Prose’s first novel, and what a debut >>>

About the Book:

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.

 

 

My Review:

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this Advanced Review Copy.

“I am your maid. I’m the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you’re out gallivanting for the day, no care at all about what you’ve left behind, the mess, or what I might see when you’re gone.”

With these opening lines we meet Molly the maid. In this wonderful debut novel from Nita Prose (and what a debut!) we read from the point of view of a wonderfully naive and unreliable narrator. The prose is excellently written, and I loved that I could guess at much of what Molly missed yet couldn’t warn her. Not only does Molly struggle to gauge facial expressions and body language, she also misses the more obvious clues in social interactions and takes sarcasm literally.

I loved so much about this read and struggled to pull just a few lines to quote in this review. Here goes …

“Your polished mirror reflects your face of innocence back at you. It’s as though you were never here. It’s as though all of your filth, all of your lies and deceits, have been erased.”

And …

“Without her, home isn’t home. It’s as though all the color has been drained from the apartment we shared.”

And …

“My uniform is freedom. It is the ultimate invisibility cloak.”

And …

“I don’t cut corners, I shine them.”

The characters came alive in this novel, and I fell in love with Molly. The plot is all too believable, and the world of the hotel felt realistic and atmospheric. I will be sure to follow this new author and look forward to reading more from her. The Maid gets a resounding five stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

 

#TANKATUESDAY Weekly #POETRYCHALLENGE #254 @SyllabicPoetry @ColleenChesebro #SpecificForm #Tanka

Hi everyone! Today, I’ve joined Colleen’s weekly TankaTuesday challenge, which asks for a Tanka Prose.

You can find Colleen’s post HERE.

I wanted to bracket my prose paragraph with a Tanka either side. It’s entitled:

PAINSTAKING 

When you feel grumpy

For no obvious reason 

You try to cajole 

Yourself to a better mood

Stuck with codeine hangover 

 

In the dark of night, when you cannot sleep, and the pain finds creative ways to heighten the torture, you sometimes seek relief in medication. Even while knowing the morning will bring a headache and regret. For hours, you’ve held out. Remained stubborn. Eventually, you cave. … was it worth it? Having written this poem, I felt it would work better in a circle. We all know that relentless merry-go-round, I’m sure. Where you want to get off, but it spins too fast, the horse leaps too high, and you struggle to make the leap.

 

The merry-go-round

Relentless pointless ceaseless 

Excruciating 

Agonised muscles and nerves

Stop you from making the leap

#NewBook: Mountain Laurel Christmas by Jan Sikes @JanSikes3

Hi everyone. Today, it gives me great pleasure to host fellow author, friend, blogger, and Story Empire contributor, Jan Sikes, who wants to tell us about her new book. Take it away, Jan >>>

It has been said many times that you can never go home again. While I think the context of that saying is quite different from what my character has to do in Mountain Laurel Christmas, he faces a powerful urge to return to his roots. Maybe there he’ll find some answers and, if he is lucky, peace.

But the home he remembers is not the same.

Here’s an excerpt:

Three hours later, the moon is rising high in the inky sky over the mountain when I turn down the snow-covered rutted lane that leads to the familiar miner’s shack just over the Kentucky line.

My Firebird hits a snowdrift and flounders. I fight to keep it going. The tires slide into deep ruts, and still, I press forward.

Eventually, I slide to a stop in front of the cabin. The car’s headlights shine on the weathered boards.

A withering hand of death has swept across what was once a home filled with love, laughter, and music.

Thankful for the full moon, I make my way up the rickety steps. Boards are rotting and missing. My boot slips between a large gap I don’t see.

“Dammit.” The fact that I’m more than half-drunk doesn’t help, but I don’t stop.

Inside, I find decaying walls and holes in the wood floor. Varmints have taken up residence.

 

When a structure is abandoned for any length of time, it falls into disrepair and decay. And that is exactly what my character finds when he returns to the cabin he grew up in.

Have you ever visited an old family home that has been abandoned? The closest I’ve come to that experience is when I moved away from Coleman and left our home. It did fall into a horrible state and was even vandalized. Not a good experience.

Mountain Laurel Christmas Blurb:

Orphaned, his family torn apart by tragedy, Cole Knight has come a long way from a ramshackle miner’s cabin on the side of the Cumberland Mountain.

Daring to follow an impossible dream, he’s made it big in the music business. Now, he’s a country music sensation with a huge house, fancy cars, plenty of willing women, money, and adoring fans. He should be on top of the world. Instead, he’s drowning in a swirling pool of self-contempt and relentless guilt.

It’s easier to lose himself in a bottle than face the hard truth…he hasn’t delivered on a promise he made to his father.

It’s almost Christmas, and the sting of failure drives him back to that tiny cabin in the mountains. But has he waited too late to put the shattered pieces back together—to find himself and restore a lost family?

PURCHASE LINK:

https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Laurel-Christmas-Jan-Sikes-ebook/dp/B09KJYMVT9/

 

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#BookReview: Meno-What? by D G Kaye @pokercubster #Menopause #womensissues

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a favourite writer of mine, D G Kaye … an author many of us know and love >>>

About the Book:

“I often found myself drifting from a state of normal in a sudden twist of bitchiness.”

From PMS to menopause to what the hell?

D.G. adds a touch of humor to a tale about a not-so-humorous time. While bidding farewell to her dearly departing estrogen, D.G. struggles to tame her raging hormones of fire, relentless dryness, flooding and droughts and other unflattering symptoms.

Join D.G. on her meno-journey to slay the dragons of menopause as she tries to hold on to her sanity, memory, hair, and so much more!

My Review:

I have read this author before, and her humour in adversity shines through every time. This knack makes what could be a depressing read into an inspiring one, and Meno-What? doesn’t disappoint. At 66 Kindle pages, this is a quick yet informative read.

I would say this is a must-read for all women going through or approaching a certain stage of life: the menopause. I might go so far as to say that their loved ones should read this too! … Although, when I made the same suggestion to dear hubby, I received a noncommittal grunt in reply, lols.

The author tells us that “major body trauma or surgery can ignite the process.” Tick!
And … “Those meno dragons can creep up on you like the night.” Tick! (Love that imagery.)
And … “If you can’t laugh, there’s no fun in existing!” Tick!

Some comments show the massive differences between healthcare in the UK and that in the US. For instance, many of us over this side of the pond can’t imagine having our own dermatologist or gynae person to go to at need. Apart from this difference in health care provision, the book and its examples is highly relatable.

As an amputee, I’m experiencing a whole new level of fun living with a false leg during hot sweats. Just yesterday, after the supposedly-tight-and-skin-gripping liner slipped off my residual limb three times in half an hour, and took my prosthetic with it mid-step, I decided to give myself a break and had a wheelchair day. As the author advises, seeing the funny side sure does help!

Reading this book had me chortling away throughout, as well as nodding in recognition. Honestly, I wish I’d read this a few years ago! While each experience of menopause is individual, there are some common truths that hold for us all, and this book is a wonderful reminder that we’re not alone, as well as offering some general advice from a lay perspective. This treat of a memoir gets a solid five stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

 

#BookReview: The Measure by Nikki Erlick @nikkierlick @HarperCollins

Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for a read I picked up via NetGalley. This is Nikki Erlick’s first novel, and what a debut. Please note that the book cover is a place holder, and the novel publishes in July 2022 in the UK and May 2022 in the US >>>

About the Book:

Age of Miracles meets The Immortalists in this spirit-lifting, high-concept blockbuster debut set in a world where people can find out how much time they have left to live.

Would you choose to find out the length of your life?

One spring day, small wooden boxes arrive for every person, all over the world, from suburban doorsteps to desert tents. All the boxes feature the same inscription, “The measure of your life lies within,” and vary in only two ways: the name of the recipient and the length of the single string inside. Instantly, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy, first to ascertain their origin and meaning, and then to confront the truth of the strings.

Told through multiple perspectives, The Measure introduces an unforgettable cast of characters whose lives weave and interlock with one another upon the arrival of the strings: a doctor who cannot save himself, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, and a politician whose string becomes a powder keg in an increasingly turbulent world.

As society divides itself, the truth has the power to unravel their long-held beliefs and relationships all while forging new alliances and philosophies about our time on this earth and our place in the community. Both heartbreaking and profoundly uplifting, The Measure is a sweeping, ambitious meditation on life, family, and society that challenges us to consider the best way to live life to the fullest. 

 

My Review:

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this Advanced Review Copy.

The title and premise of this story caught my attention completely. I am so thrilled to have received an ARC of this book. Absolute dynamite that addresses so many social and cultural issues that plague our modern world. At first, I feared this was going to be a retelling of the 2019 movie “Countdown” but was soon disabused of that notion.

“It was difficult to imagine a time before them, a world in which they hadn’t come.”

From this opening line, we meet one character after another faced with whether or not to open the mysterious and indestructible box that arrives on each and every person’s doorstep around the globe. Even those who don’t have doorsteps, such as the homeless or nomads who live in tents, receive their own box. Everyone, that is, aged 22 and over. The boxes bear the legend, “The measure of your life lies within” and contain a string of a certain length, which tells you how long you have left to live.

The changes that come rock the world. This is a shocking read because it is all too believable. The book contains so many great lines that I struggled to choose only a few to highlight in this review. Here goes …

“When your sample size is the entire world, you’re bound to find anecdotes that support any theory.”

And …

“Ben tried to maintain eye contact with the floor.”

And …

“Did a patient receive less care because her string was short, or was a patient’s string short because she received less care?” … A wonderful take on the classic chicken-and-egg question. Although the author undid this achievement in the very next sentence by then telling us it’s “a wonderful chicken-and-egg question”. Argh.

One character I found incredibly naive. Amie, a woman in her twenties, who teaches 10-year-olds at a private school. This character brings us nonsense such as: “Amie smiled at the thought of her parents, still active in their late fifties” … erm, I should think so!!!!

Also, in the same vein: “… Still working full-time and filling their weekends …” they’re in their 50s for heaven’s sakes! Amie is only a couple of decades or so younger. I might expect this kind of mistaken ageism from a kid or a teen but not from someone in their mid-to-late twenties. Obviously, this character is blissfully unaware of retirement ages despite being employed herself.

Okay, mini rant over with. That was the only place in the book that pulled me up short and had me asking, WTF??? The rest of the read was brilliant. One final quote I loved: “Even if we can’t affect someone’s longevity, at least we can still impact their quality of life.”

This read gets 4.5 stars from me, rounded up to five for rating purposes. I connected with all the characters and found the plot entirely believable and plausible. I finished this read in two sittings, and some of the questions it raises will stick with me for a while.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

 

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/