When the World Was Flat

by Ingrid Jonach

Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.

But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.

When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.

An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder of true love itself.

Read the first chapter at: http://ingridjonach.com.au/when-the-w...

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Fiction, High School

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Ingrid Jonach writes books for kids and teens. Her debut young adult novel When the World was Flat (and we were in love) was released in September 2013 by global imprint Strange Chemistry and was later re-released as an ebook along with her latest YA novel In The Beginning There Was Us.

She is also the author of the picture book A Lot of Things and the chapter books The Frank Frankie and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan Australia.

Ingrid has worked as a journalist and public relations consultant, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing with Honors in Communications.

She lives down under — in Canberra, Australia.

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actual rating: 1.5, rounded down for the slut-shaming.

Writing science fiction based on actual science or physical theories is a tricky thing. More often than not, unless you have an absolutely rock-solid premise and your plot is firmly based on said scientific theories, plot holes will emerge, and ultimately the faulty premise on which the pseudo-scientific plot is based will come back to bite you firmly in the ass. Add that to extreme slut-shaming and you have the formula for a book I wish I had not read.

I have a high respect for the author for even attempting an ambitious topic such as this. But the author's credentials is that of a writer; she is not a scientist. It shows in this book.

I am not a scientist myself, but I am a fan of it. I am a scientific dillettante. Esteemed physicists like Michio Kaku and Neil DeGrasse Tyson make string theory, extradimensional science understandable for the layman. This book is not to be used as a reference in any way, shape or form for anyone remotely interested in science. It is supposedly based on actual science, the words Einstein, dimensions, string theory, etc. are tossed around like candy strewn from a piñata. E=mc², W=VxT, parallel dimensions, etc. are mentioned. They are meaningless. The underlying plot in this book is based around flimsy pseudo-scientific theory that the author has bent to fit her plot, not the other way around.

The science does not work with the story, the story bends the science to fit its needs. A good book on parallel dimensions and string theory is hard to find; in some cases, it can be well-done. The problem is that this book goes into too much details and therefore created more questions than it was able to answer. If you are throwing parallel dimensions out there, and explaining it in details, you had better be prepared for the possibilities. Saying that every decision made creates a parallel dimensions is well and good, that may be true. But here comes the plot holes (extradimensional worm holes?). If there are so many dimensions, who's to say which is the real one? How did they know to find each other? We are not talking about one person for each possible dimensions, even so, there is a infinite possibility because we make so many choices every day. Who's to say which decision will split into a different dimension? Who's to say how many different parallel universe there exists out there? Who's to say that the main character in this particular universe is the main character? What makes her so special from all the other Lillies from all the other infinities of existing dimensions? And yet this is the premise of the book.

The first half was a cliché of high school drama, filled with overwrought high school stereotypes. The nerds, the wealthy bitches, the queen bee, the jocks, the sycophants. Name a high school trope, I will find them in this parade of pre-cut characters. The second half is a painful mess as the author remembers that there's supposed to be a plot beyond the Mean Girls setup and struggles to weave in the actual sci-fi stuff because that's actually the backbone of the book.

I wanted to read this book for two reasons:

1. The cover: it is a pretty cover, it is a mysterious cover. Anything with a key on a red ribbon on it just screams "mystery" and "UNE GRANDE AFFAIRE D'AMOUR" to me, because as much as I pretend to be a mature adult, there's a 13-year old lurking in the deepest corner of my psyche who just wants a legendary love story. With added secrecy. Because that's what the key not-so-subtly implies. Judging a book by the cover? It's not just a proverb for me, because I am easily distracted by shiny things.

2. The summary: the very, very vague summary that hints of a possibly interesting Big Reveal. I had no idea what this book was about. The vagueness of the premise added to the mystery of this book, and gosh darn it, I wanted to find out.

Sadly, the book did not work for me. It started off well-enough, and I loved the writing style initially. Lillie and her friends, Sylv and Jo seemed like your typical teenagers. Dorky, geeky, quirky. Each has a very distinct personality of her own, and I could very realistically imagine that these could be actual characters that I could know in real life. I loved the description of the small town of Green Grove, the tiny little backwaters town where everyone knows everyone, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Where newcomers are a rare treat, and like our love interest Tom, treated like a mythical Loch Ness monster until they actually emerge. I love the little details and commentary of the town and its people. Even Deb, Lillie's "mother" only in the very faintest sense of the word, is initially an interesting character, and I thought I could see her potential growth into a mature woman who actually has a relationship with her daughter.

I had a lot of expectations that had every possibility of being fulfilled from the extremely promising first three chapter. I thought I could see where the characters would grow, how their characters would develop gradually into complexity, from immature teenagers with silly dreams into realistically flawed characters, wiser from their experience. But then I read on, and my hopes were destroyed. Everything ended with the entrance of the Loch Ness Monster. Tom.

From then on, it was an excruciatingly painful downhill slide complete with pot holes (plot holes?) and jutting rocks where I never expected there to be.

Lillie: initially sympathetic, average small town girl with an artistic bent. Falls into horrifying insta-love with new boy, feels like she's known him her whole life. Is shocked and dismayed despite her rational sense when he doesn't return her feelings. She behaves idiotically, contrarily. She makes excuses for someone who could have killed her, because HE DIDN'T MEAN IT. Yes, it's so easy to forgive someone who places you within (literally) a microsecond of death and dismemberment. But no, she's not such a martyr. Lillie becomes angry at the Love of Her Life (although he doesn't know it yet) for saying her photographs were overexposed (they really were).

Tom: I haven't much to say about him. He's your typical hot-and-cold love interest. He smiles at her one moment (and the sun broke out of the sky, the birds sang, a double rainbow forms), and ignores her for the queen-bitch Melissa in the next. He says cryptic things, hints at a Mysterious Past, etc. Nothing new here. It's just his Big Reveal that has my mind completely boggled, and not in a good way. Personality-wise, Tom is no better or worse than the majority of your YA love interests.

And here we get to the part that makes my blood boils. Slut shaming. Lots of it. There is no such thing as slut-shaming a girl by accident in a book. It is done deliberately, provocatively. I would say this book is one of the worst I have read when it comes to making snide comments about girls who dress provocatively and act sexually precocious. Other books piss me off because the main character refers to a girl she hates as a slut, a whore, etc. This book is worse because it is done so underhandedly.

Sylv is one of Lillie's best friend. Sylv is an aspiring model, she is sexually outgoing. Lillie constantly makes offhanded remarks in her narrative about Sylv's looks, the way she dresses, the way her underwear shows, the way she sits with her crotch hanging out for the world to see, the way she flirts, makes obscene and crude gestures towards older boys, the way she turns everything into a sexual metaphor, the way she refers to a love story as a "porno," etc. It is as if the author goes out of her way to make her disapproval of the character known, and I absolute hated it. It is constant, it is pervasive, it is repetitive. Sylv is rarely called an actual SLUT by her friends, but the sneakiness of the commentary and the sly backhanded tone of disapproval makes me furious. This behavior of hers continues throughout the book, and it was so upsetting to me.

Furthermore, other characters are portrayed in the same way. And what's worse, it is the other girls. Every single girl in this book, Lillie's best friends included, are portrayed as bad. I hate it when a book rips other girls apart at the expense of the main character. From the insecure fat best friend Jo, who acts out and does something sexually taboo, to the queen bee Melissa (Tom's would-be seducer) who dresses like a streetwalker, complete with copious amounts of self-tanner. This book is a portrayal of the worst of female stereotypes, that women hate each other; I, for one, am sick of it.

I received a copy of this book for review from Netgalley.

[Scarlet · Rating 1 out of 5]

When the Book fell Flat (and I was not in love) - A Review

I'm not someone who doles out one-star ratings so easily. I feel particularly bad in this case since the book is a debut that's yet to be released. But this was just... not good. NOTHING about this book worked for me. Not one tiny thing. The only reason I kept turning the pages was because I felt obligated, having got this through NetGalley and all.

When the World was Flat is not science fiction. It's a romance that tries to masquerade as sci-fi and fails miserably. Worse, it's the same old stereotypical high-school romance, where the girl senses an instant connection with the new mysterious boy in town and the next thing you know, words like "soulmates" and "forever" are being thrown around.

The MC, Lillie, is yet another clone of the lovesick YA heroine with an absent mother and nightmares and low self-esteem and blah blah. She's also a terribly annoying narrator. Lillie constantly disses everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, except Tom. She defines the people around her using one-word-labels - Jo is "the tomboy", Sylv is, as Lillie constantly implies, "the slut" (SO. MUCH. SLUT. SHAMING. MY. GOD.), her mother is "the hippie", Melissa is "the meanie" - and everything that these characters do or say is bound by their labels, so they all come across as painfully one-dimensional. All I know about Lillie's mother, for example, is that she makes terrible chamomile tea because such denigrating facts are all that Lillie focuses on.

And of course, Lillie is spectacularly dumb.

"When we die, we simply slide into another dimension."

"What if you have a heart-attack?"

"I would slide."

"What if you are hit by a truck?"

"I would slide."

"Drown?"

WTF, Lillie??!! Don't you have one functioning neuron in your brain?


Tom is no better. He's the new boy in town who never smiles, keeps to himself, seems "bothered" while talking to Lillie, drives expensive cars, lives outside town in a sprawling mansion.... sound familiar? He also has remarkable "glacial" eyes that bore into Lillie so deep that she constantly uses her hair "as a curtain" to hide her flushing face. At least, Tom doesn't glitter in the sunlight, but that doesn't stop Lillie from comparing him to a "brilliantly cut diamond". *facepalm*

The plot, though ambitious, is a shoddily executed mess. If you are going to meddle with string theory and parallel dimensions in a standalone, you cannot waste the first 60% of the book in meaningless cringe-worthy insta-love. A major bulk of the "science", if you can call it that, is explained during a dinner conversation between Lillie and Tom. It's rushed, it's underwhelming, it's boring, it's a big pile of BS.

And now, my least favorite aspect of this book - the writing.

Bad writing grates on my nerves. It's my biggest dealbreaker. Lush descriptions and metaphors are all great but not necessary; I don't mind simplistic prose in YA. But if every other sentence makes me pause and cringe internally, chances are the book will end up on my 1-star list, plot be damned.

Here's my take on Ingrid Jonach's writing: HER SIMILES ARE TERRIBLE. JUVENILE AND UNNECESSARY AND TERRIBLE. I HATE THEM.

I know you're not supposed to quote from an uncorrected proof but I'm going to because I want to know if I'm the only one who finds these sentences stupid:

"The words stuck in my mind like corn in my teeth."

"...leaving me as stunned as a mounted deer head."

"...but he was as disconnected as an unplugged TV."

"...adrenaline rushing through my body like a flash flood in a storm water drain."

"My stomach was like a front loader on a spin cycle."

"I hissed, the sound like the seal being broken on a soda can."

"The realization left a taste in my mouth like tea laced with arsenic."

"The skin on my forehead crawled like it was covered in cockroaches."

Why why WHY spoil perfectly meaningful sentences with such... ridiculous comparisons?? Corn stuck in teeth??! Cockroaches??! Tea with arsenic??! What does that even taste like? Won't you have to, like, kill yourself, to find out?

By the way, the lines above are a tiny selection. I have 57 highlights in my arc copy, all of the bad kind.

The only part of this book that did not annoy me was the ending, not because I cared, but because it was over. Finally over.

Not recommended.

If you want to read a good YA book that blends sci-fi and romance, I suggest you try Cristin Terrill's All Our Yesterdays.


*With thanks to Netgalley for the free digital copy*

[Stuti Rai · Rating 1 out of 5]

here be a story


an elephant in outer space, meeting aliens and having neighborly quarrels. such a reforming and evocative thought!

here be a spoiler


but this is not that story. this story is a flimsy rendition of what it could have been.

here be some characters
all defined by their stereotypes

~mc:well-meaning, tired of the world protagonist, constantly making snarky comments about her mother and best friend. her name is lillie.

~best friend 1: the fat, 'un-feminine', nerdy girl with responsibilities. of course, when she does stray from label and starts to get some personality, it's because it ain't her at all. and that be a spoiler. her name is jo.

~best friend 2: the hot, slutty girl with various boyfriends who is constantly described by her sexual antics. she might be the one character i actually liked in the entire book. her name is sylv.

~mother: a hippie who doesn't care about her daughter. her name i don't remember.

~romantic interest: glacial eyes, brooding nature, i am a-swooning! kidding, oh goodness he's the archetype of all heroes that have no personality. add the fact that he's the one character lillie doesn't make offensive remarks about and you have a recipe for warding off my sympathies.

~meangirl: the on prerequisite every YA book must mean. the girl who used to be good back in elementary school but with the rise of boobs and girl-competitions to conquer the most boys, she became a meanie and has been since. and so obviously she isn't owed any human decency, and guys like tom can set up dates and then stand her up because she doesn't have feelings, right? her name is melissa.

~the... useless?: this guy deliberately puts lillie's life in jeopardy. she forgives him because it's not like he was planning on killing her; he just wanted to have some fun, and if there were some acute perils involved and if there were girls screaming 'noooo!' in the car, well the peer pressure forced him. his name is jackson.

and these are the characters whose meaningless brooding, commentary, dancing, drama and, at the shame of using such a beautiful word on these vile folks, shenanigans fill up the first 60% of the novel. by this point i wasn't even interested in the story but i wanted to finish and review it properly because sadly, my review to requests ratio on netgalley is pitiful.

here be the science


now that makes a lot more sense than the mashup going on in this book. science? who cares about the actual science? let's bend a few rules so it's easier for the vile protagonists to live a happily ever after, and let's also create senseless obstacles because it isn't a love story unless they've had face some face-offs with villains and troubles overcome. they actually try to dabble in string theory and the concept of parallel dimensions but the execution and extra tidbits of the author's creation left me with a headache; after a certain point, i stopped trying to figure it out.

here be the plot


it's a hole, it's an asshole, it's a PLOT HOLE! these are the kind of plot holes that one can't fill with shirtless jared's as they do in supernatural.



it's a steaming mess that is iced over with fine sugar so we won't see the crap underneath, unless you are emerging from that crap.

here be le confusion

It was a dead-behind-the-eyes look and in that split second we locked gazes he was as connected with me as Jo was with her femininity.

whatever she is trying to say here, me no dig.

I could see his face as if it were inches away, his broad cheekbones, straight nose and strong jawline, as symmetrical as you like.

did you guys know that people with uncannily symmetrical faces live terrible lives because others deem them untrustworthy? i learned of that in a story so much cooler than this one. poor tom. on that note, don't waste your time on this book, go read that one.

the structure of the narrative lacks integrity and cohesiveness. you have to maintain a flow in the storytelling to keep the reader's interest, is something i have learned over years of reading. you don't jump from one timeframe to another, one anecdote to another, you bloody well finish one scene and then move on. and the writing! it's filled with awkward similes and so underwhelming. in my non-professional opinion, it would have gone over well with me were it written in simplistic sentences. the piteous attempt at creative writing didn't work out.

also, there's a new algorithm added to my brain:

australia----bad book
|
|
good book

this book? no recommendo.

review copy provided by the publishers.

[jesse · Rating 1 out of 5]

i knew that sooner or later the day would come where an aussie novel would not be able to meet my expectations. in this case it was sooner.

with when the world was flat, ingrid jonach safely ticked off everything in her checklist that makes the debut in a set of three (i assume). here we have a textbook example of a story that hit all the wrong notes and recycled the same old, same old in the ya-paranormal genre

☺ small town
☻ girl with 2 obligatory friends (one 'tramp', the other 'man-girl')
☺ interest in particular subject (here: photography)
☻ convenient absent parent syndrome with a hipster mom
☻ lonely, mysterious, brooding bad guy who's rude and keeping female lead ignorant
☻ discovery of the dark secret
☻ tru lurve, soul mates
☻ love triangle of sorts
☻ mean girl clique

i honestly tried giving this a chance, especially because of strange chemistry being the publisher. if at least the girl friendship had been more developed instead of the female lead constantly dissing her 'friends' in her mind if not out loud, i could have put up with this book. but this was one huge snoozefest in flatville.

no, thank you and bye bye!

this arc has been kindly provided by strange chemistry through netgalley

[Nafiza · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the World Was Flat presents an intriguing premise but unfortunately the execution falls short of greatness. Multiverses are not new to YA lit; A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty and Parallel by Lauren Miller both deal with the concept in different ways. The novel follows interesting twists and plot threads but inexplicably abandons these twists and threads only to reintroduce them at a later point when the tension has fallen and the conflict is tangled.

Lillie could have been more of a substantial character had more time been spent in developing her as her own person rather than her self being a reflection of her feelings for Tom. It seemed as though Lillie was perpetually being defined by the boy she proclaimed to love. The romance is very troubling and I will need a spoiler box to talk about it.

At the denouement of the novel, Lillie is ready to commit suicide just to follow Tom in order to “slip” into a different world. There is no guarantee that this would happen and I cannot condone a novel which presents suicide as a viable way to a reunite with a lover. There is also the question of whether Tom even loves this Lillie. The Lillie he loves was in another universe and while he does admit to loving this Lillie, there is no development of the relationship between them and I remain confused about when exactly he fell in love with her. It is much more likely that his feelings are a tepid reaction to this Lillie who resembles his first Lillie.

Tom, himself, is not that wonderful a character. We don’t learn anything about him that sets him apart from the rest of the mediocre love interests floating around. His character is bland and the only thing he does with any consistency is glare at Lillie.

I think what I came away with from the novel was predominantly a sense of confusion, as though the author had waded in too deep and was now flailing to remain on her feet. Because it was so difficult to connect to Lillie, I was neither surprised nor affected when the major twist revealed itself. There was no justification for Lillie being forbidden to see Tom. There was no confrontation between Lillie and her best friend – this was actually necessary and would have made the narrative tighter.

If you are looking for a novel with a scientific fact woven around a fictional narrative, a novel that plays with the what-ifs in a logical manner, a novel that presents a reasonable multiverse theory without resorting to ambiguous potions and injections, you should keep looking. While Jonach’s novel has the elements, it fails to bring them together to create a memorable experience.

[Tanja (Tanychy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interview with Ingird at Ja čitam, a ti? on August 19th!
Review also posted at Ja čitam, a ti?


There are some things that I'm really afraid of while reading books. One of my fears is that I'll get a book with great idea and then the whole story will start to remind me of some mainstream stories - like Harry Potter or lately Twilight. I had the same fears when I started this one, but luckily they disappeared soon.

Here is why. We start with high school here and of course there is a girl Lillie who is just average teen girl, she is not popular or anything so when she gets into staring contest with the hottest new guy in high school it turned some alarms in my head, but only for short as later it turned out to be something I'd never dream of. Soon enough it turned out that Tom even though was mysterious he acted like that for a reason. When you go through everything he went through to find the way to be happy and tries to get what his hearts wants the most it's really easy to love him. Especially when the romance develops slowly and you get to know both characters better. So soon after I started reading this book I was so interested in it that I read it nearly in one sitting.

All in all this was the very unique idea, at least for me, and it worked out properly, or better said the author made it work. I liked the combination of a well know theory with sci-fi elements and of course going through love and world-bending wonder. I could see characters grow and with them their love which made it even sweeter.

What makes me really happy is that Ingrid told me in the interview that she thinks about writing a new book that will be only loosely connected with this story as for me Lillie and Tom's story has got it's perfect ending, but at the same time I'd love to see more of this idea.

[Tzippy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is different from books like Twilight (and its ilk) in that it's science fiction instead of paranormal. So that's a good thing. But the romance/high school angle is pretty much the same. Unfortunately.

(Also, it's a myth that people used to think the Earth was flat.)

There's the same old he's-standoffish-because-he-loves-you angle, and of course there's the mean girl who wants to get with the love interest (but of course he sees right through her), and most of that stuff is similar to all those other books.

There's one aspect of the story that really bothers me--a male character does something illegal and horribly stupid which nearly kills Lillie (the main character). For some reason, she doesn't want to tell the police. And then when someone does tip the police off, she gets mad at the person she thinks did it. Because...laws don't matter?

There's also an issue that was never fully explored with one of Lillie's best friends. Apparently, this best friend developed early, and another character started spreading rumors about her...so now the best friend dresses in revealing clothing and brags about hooking up with a different guy every day. We're never really told what's up with this--does she just like casual hookups, does she do this out of defiance, or is she all talk? The book devotes, like, two sentences to this question, and it doesn't go anywhere.

I do kind of like the overall romance story and the way it ties into the sci-fi premise (even though it's more fi and less sci, but then again, so was Star Trek). And I like the way it ends. I just didn't like a whole bunch of things in the middle.

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Maja (The Nocturnal Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are very few people who can tell me to go read a book without offering any further details and expect to be obeyed, and Ann Aguirre is definitely one of them. So when she told me to read this book because it made her feel all the feels, I didn’t hesitate for a split second – I ordered the hardcover that very same day. I knew in my heart she would never steer me wrong.

When the World Was Flat is one of those books that sneak up on you while you’re busy looking the other way. It starts with a series of tropes, a small town setting and a girl that doesn’t quite fit in. But let me tell you this: never has the new-boy-in-school trope been used better than in this book. I wish I could spend a day in Ingrid Jonach’s head, it must be a real wonderland in there.*

If I tell you that Ingrid Jonach is Australian, will that make things clearer for you? Yes, I bet it will, this is pure Aussie magic at work. Going into the details would ruin the experience, it’s best to read this without any prior knowledge about it, but suffice it to say that I fell in love with the details and unexpected developments in this book.

The science part of this story is flimsy, stretched far too thin, but I don’t think Ingrid Jonach had been trying to write a science fiction novel. It is a romance, and if you read it as such, you won’t be bothered by much of anything, especially not the theory of relativity.

I trusted a dear friend and ended up a richer person for it. You can now choose to trust me and do yourself the same favor. When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) is a book with a soul. You may end up not liking that soul, but at least you’ll know it has one. And if you decide to pick it up, please let me know whether it made you cry.

*And I will, in fact, be spending a day in her head, we all will. She’ll be at The Nocturnal Library with a guest post for Something Wicked Returns very soon.

[Christian Schoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, this book rocks. Basically, 'cause I'm a sucker for a deftly crafted story where credible characters fall for each other in a finely built fictional world and the hero and heroine manage to strike skin-tingly-emotional-sparks off of each other as they pick apart the Theory of Everything. Don't think Albert Einstein's musings can pump a fusion-reactor-full of hot, seething goodness into a YA SF-ish romantic adventure story? Then you gotta read Ingrid Jonach's When the World Was Flat (And We Were in Love). Talk about your Strange Attractors... the two love interests in this story come across like they're sitting next to you, living, breathing, squabbling, overcoming, illuminating, and basically spilling out their tale of damn-close to immortal, timeless love that kinda takes a fire axe to all their/our comfortable realities and ultimately reveals that they... OK, I'll quit now. Just pick up this novel. Dive in. And prep your demanding little word-neurons for a wild, laws-of-physics-busting roller coaster ride into a seriously immersive chronicle that'll put your brain in a very special dimension all its own.

[Jillyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lillie's life is relatively normal. She's a small town girl, with friends she's known forever, in a school where everyone knows everyone else's business. But her world comes crashing down when a new boy moves to town. He seems eerily familiar. Between this strange newcomer, horrible nightmares that she can't quite understand, and the return of a schoolmate who moved away years ago, the landscape quickly seems to be changing. Slowly she learns the truth behind her dreams and why Tom is so familiar... But is it too late for her in this world?

----

Ugh. Every once in a while a book comes along that I just don't know how to rate. There are aspects of this book that I adored, and others that made me almost give up on the book entirely. I guess the good and bad even out to a three for me.

Let's get my negative rants out of the way first:

I hate the protagonist. Lillie is a girl that I would never knowingly be friends with. It's no wonder she's invisible and average at her high school- she's judgemental and unpleasant. She's constantly remarking to herself over how big of a slut her "best friend" Sylv is, because she wears short skirts and makeup. And then there's the other "friend" Jo, whom she refers to as being masculine and that some makeup wouldn't kill her. But it's not just these characters. The goth/emo girl in her art class is automatically called a potential serial killer. She turns up her nose at the nerds who are into manga and D&D like she's so much better, when she makes a point of ho humming about what an average person she is. She's hypocritical about her feelings for her mother, an eccentric hippie/bohemian type, as well. One minute she's thinking about how big of an embarrassment her mom is, with her tie dye shirts, odd herbal remedies, and praying to a variety of gods. And yet, when she has nightmares she turns to her mom and her dream dictionaries, uses the oils in her bath, and drinks the teas to calm herself. Lillie's whole outlook on everything is negative, until she meets Tom, and thereafter her existence is defined by having a boy in her life. She also somehow manages to get drunk on one sip of alcohol. I know she's in high school, but, bull.

This book was a very strange mix of stories that I've heard before and originality all jumbled into one. It's an odd mixture of Doctor Who, Twilight, Slide, and The City of Masks, with some original influence. By definition I shouldn't have enjoyed this book...

But for some reason, I did. As much as I don't like Lillie, I wanted to know how the story ended, and why she was having the dreams, as well as what her connection to the new boy Tom was. I also rather liked the side plots that were happening to her friends. Somehow, Sylv, Jo, Tom, Jackson, and even her mom helped me to press through this story until the end.

There's a dark tone (other than Lillie's outlook) that haunts the writing of this book, that gives the whole thing the sense that something really bad is going to happen. The details were well written, though in my opinion too much time was spent on clothes and the like.

I could go on a tangent about the science aspect of it, but, it's a work of fiction inspired by a theory. I understand that liberties are to be taken.

I wish I could explain why I liked this book, despite the fact that I find more flaw in it than good. I just liked it.

If you're a die hard sci fi fan, I wouldn't read this. But if you're into YA insta-love fantasy, maybe this book is for you. There's slut shaming and judging that goes beyond typical high school drama, but for me the intrigue of the plot was enough for me to keep with it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Strange Chemistry for my copy. This review can also be found on my blog, Bitches n Prose.

[Joy (joyous reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out fantastically. For the most part, I was able to forgive the heroine’s annoying quirks (until I couldn’t), and the book’s seemingly lack of desire to stand out. The author also tried to explain the dynamics in relatively simple terms. However, the deeper we delve into parallel universe and multiple dimensions, the more confused I’ve become. And just like that, the book fell apart like a leaning tower of Jenga blocks.

Will the real Lillie Hart please stand up?

Really unfortunate considering this is one of those books that had me in its grips 75% of the time. But once the explanations of how many versions of themselves had lived and died, and which versions of themselves are actually in the present, it was buh-bye rapt attention. Because they’ve lived numerous dimensions already, it was really hard to figure out each characters’ real personalities. It became vague, convoluted and just plain muddy.

It was hard to reconcile the generally immature Lillie Hart to the Lillie Hart that Tom had fallen in love with. This one is just way too obsessed with a boy who avoids her like she carries the black plague.

And the general confusion doesn’t end with the unhappy couple. It always irks me when a character treats another like the scum of the earth because he or she was doing it for their own good. After a few push and pull from Tom, it had become increasingly annoying.

There was a lot of allusion to the evil “evacuees”, but not enough evidence that they were, in fact, the villains in the story. Other than the fact that “evacuees” are meant to kill the original sliders, none of them really made an attempt.

This is not Science Fiction.

In this book’s defence, it was not really marketed as YA Sci-Fi. I mean, the title alone tells you that it had to be romance, right? And yet the focal point of the story really is about Tom and Lillie’s connection. The readers will get tiny crumbs throughout the story, and it will drive you nuts. Too many dreams of dying, deja vu, and insinuations of how they’re connected, but the author doesn’t reveal the core of the plot until near the end. So if you’re going into this in the hopes that it will satiate your taste for parallel worlds, you might be a bit disappointed. However, most YA readers would enjoy the romance.

Ho-hum.

The following over used tropes can be found in this novel:

1. Copious amounts of slut shaming.
2. Small town girl whose self-confidence can fit into a thimble.
3. Said small town girl pines for mysterious, rich, unattainable English boy.
4. Cliques, and Mean Girls mentality.
5. Absence of parental units.
6. Secrets. Lots and lots of secrets.

When the World was Flat has an interesting premise, but the Sci-fi elements were abysmal. It spent too much time showcasing the push and pull relationship between Lillie and Tom and not enough effort in explaining the dynamics of “sliding” and parallel dimensions. The result was a convoluted story arch that had become dangerously close to becoming inconsequential.

[Liviania · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was psyched to read this book. I mean, just say the title aloud and marvel at it. WHEN THE WORLD WAS FLAT (and we were in love). That's poetry. Through in the fact that it was standalone sci-fi and I was lining up to read it. But somewhere along the way, I fell out of love with this book.

I love that YA blurs genre lines and blends tropes together in new ways. But WHEN THE WORLD WAS FLAT is never quite convincing as a romance or as a work of science fiction. In the beginning, there's a nice sense of dread. Protagonist Lillie can't sleep, haunted by creepy dreams that are getting worse. Around forty percent in, nothing more unexplainable has happened than strange dreams and deja vu. Then, suddenly everything gets explained. In fact, it all gets so explained that even shivers and the human imagination are no mystery. And yet, there's still quite a bit of book to go. What crazy parallel universe hijinks will fill that space? Not much.

As for the romance, Lillie is drawn by new guy Tom (much like the other girls in school). But she really thinks there's something there, despite the fact that the dude is withdrawn from everybody and completely hot and cold to Lillie. But not to worry, because it all gets explained. And they aren't just in love because they're soul mates, they're also in love because Lillie has a sense of humor. No, it isn't much more convincing in context. I was expecting some major swoon, but there is zero spark to this romance.

Going back to those creepy, haunting dreams . . . they're perhaps the biggest disappointment. They seem to foreshadow a showdown, one that never comes. Honestly, WHEN THE WORLD WAS FLAT is brimming with potential. I particularly liked Lillie's relationship with her best friends at the beginning. Sylv and Jo are very different from Lillie and each other, but none of them are suited to the popular crowd, and they're used to each others' foibles. At the same time, they're also the best at poking each others' soft spots. Friendships being tested, dreams coming true, and then it all becomes bogged down in a boy with the personality of wet paper.

Ingrid Jonach is a competent writer, but WHEN THE WORLD WAS FLAT has serious pacing issues and a lack of real action and suspense. Her female characters are varied and flawed, particularly in their propensity to insecure teen girl slut-shaming. I'd be interested in seeing what she's doing a couple of novels from now, because she seems to have some nifty ideas. Unfortunately, WHEN THE WORLD WAS FLAT falls flat (and I'm not in love).

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazingly different Young Adult book. Different in a very good way. It captivated me from the first chapter and didn’t disappoint throughout the book. Do not let the science fiction genre title on this book scare you away!

Lillie lives in a small town with her Mom and has a small group of friends. Over the last few months she’s been having nightmares that feel very real and terrifying. But she doesn’t mention these to anyone because it’s kind of weird when you’re 16 and talking about bad dreams right?

It’s big news when Tom moves to the small town as there are very few new people in her school ever. Lillie feels very drawn to him but is rebuffed almost immediately. Yet they keep having interactions and at each one she feels that he may have the key to telling her what exactly is going on with her.

She eventually finds the truth and has to deal with that and how it affects the rest of her life and those around her since it changes things forever.

I loved the way this was written – I didn’t mean to finish it in one night but it just happened because I needed to know what was going on. I thought that Lillie was a very relatable character, I felt for her as she tried to figure out her feelings. Feelings of being so awkward around a boy she liked, trying to figure out what the hell was going on with her friends and dealing with bitchy girls in high school.

But on top of that traditional YA part of the book was the sci-fi part of the book. I don’t read sci-fi. Like ever. But this melded extremely well together and I loved the way it was done. I was fascinated throughout. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves YA books but wants something a little bit different.

I received this ARC in return for an honest review.

[Tammy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes. Interesting concept, but I found the execution of it to be very messy and one big jumble of confusion. However, this is not the biggest issue with this novel. What really got to me was the main character, Lillie and her Grundyist attitude towards one of her closest friends.

Mini review to come.

[Kate (The Bookaholic Blurbs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review over at The Bookaholic Blurbs!

When the World was Flat defies the norm and brilliantly showcases timeless love in a whole new level. Truly engaging, this book surely puts romance to the pedestal it deserves.

Thank you, Dianne of Oops, I Read a Book Again!, for lending me the copy!

[Michael Underwood]

It takes a while for the SFinal parts of this novel to show up, but once they do, it builds to a very strong character-driven conclusion. For fans of Sliders, Meet Joe Black, or a contemporary YA reader who is interested in expanding their horizons.

[Cass]

I rarely ever add books published by smaller houses*, but I think Strange Chemistry is getting some really interesting ones out. Mostly, the title of this book is fantastic.

* I do like Hot Key Books, but that's about all.

[Amanda Thai · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star.
Dimension-hopping, my arse.

When I strongly dislike books such as these, I love reading the endorsements plastered over them.
”A thoroughly original dimension-hopping love story. The fusion of the dreamlike plot and the completely believable characters makes for an addictive read.”



How about:
“A dull, sudden romance that claims to transcend dimensions yet never taps into the vault of possibilities available with parallel dimensions. A basic formula plot almost completely comprised of deaths in dreams and high school drama, topped with an anticlimactic finale. The stereotypical characters are all about slut-shaming and unoriginality. This was a book I was playing endless games of Fruit Ninja to avoid reading.”
If you ask me, that’s much more accurate.

So many months ago, when I first heard of the publishing company, Strange Chemistry, this book immediately intrigued me because the author was Australian like me. I was hoping it’d be set in Melbourne, or even Sydney with places I could actually visualise.
Nope.
Turns out it’s set in America. Again. In some small country state/city/town I've never heard of. Again.
From there, I thought it would get better.

Only five chapters in, I wanted to chuck it to the DNF pile. Only problem was, after struggling through half of a required reading book for school during the summer holidays, I was behind on my reading challenge. I couldn’t afford to drop out.
And so I suffered.

The plotline is horribly melodramatic and stereotypically standard.
The main character, Lillie, has a slutty best friend, Sylv, and a tomboy best friend, Jo. There is a new guy in town, Tom, who the slutty friend is throwing herself over. Yet the new guy is somehow inexplicably connected to the main character. Main character also has a slutty ex-friend, Melissa, who’s now the most popular girl in high school.
Now where have I heard this before?

For a book so short (just over 300 pages), it takes far too long to get started. I was a third of the way in and getting extremely pissed off by the excessive amount of cryptic dream visions. In these cryptic dream visions is this balaclava-clad ‘enemy’ who quickly became annoying after only their second appearance. Top it off with superficial mean girl high school drama and I was tempted to hit my head against the wall. But I persisted, waiting for the promised dimension hopping to occur.
Hah, past-me was so naïve.

The book staved off my frustration for about half a chapter when it finally told us about this dimension travelling. But this was A) an infodump, B) introduced far too late (about halfway through the book), and C) completely tossed aside seconds after in favour of the drama.
Yay! There are parallel dimensi—wait a second! Hold up! We never got to see the end of the school drama plaguing the entire first half of the book. Let’s just forget everything we were told about other dimensions and see how the friendship scuffle between Jo and Lillie turned out! And all teenagers will overjoyed because they just eat up that kind of melodrama!
I am fifteen years old and I can’t stand high school drama.
But still I waited for the dimension information to actually be put in practice.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll give you a hand:
Throughout the whole book, the characters never travel between dimensions.
The parallel dimensions idea is the selling point of the book, at least for me. I feel totally ripped off.
Apparently, it’s not like time travelling, where you can jump around as you wish. No, apparently you have to die to “slide” from dimension to dimension because of some weird apocalyptic science experiment that went on in the first dimension.

I don’t even think I can call this a science-fiction book. More like a fantasy.
Because there is barely any science in it. I think the author or editors realised it in the last thirty pages because suddenly I was bombarded with basic physics formulas that Lillie was researching. I’m sorry, but things like “Distance equals Speed multiplied by Time” (page 306 of 310) will not save you, especially so late in the book. I’m in Week 5 of my first high school physics class ever and I know those. I think dimensional travel would be a little more complicated than that.
Just a smidge.

Lillie’s stupidity astounded me.
It’s hailing, and some black SUV pulls up and offers her a ride.
What would you do? Keep walking and find a safe place away from stalker creepers, right?
Apparently Lillie missed that memo because she hops in the car! Luckily enough, it’s Tom’s car, but if it wasn’t fiction, it’d be some creep.

The “new guy in town” romance was not cutting it either. Lillie instantly has a mega-crush on Tom and feels they “have a connection.” She incessantly describes his gorgeous eyes and hair and body.
If I facepalmed for every stupidly cheesy description, I don’t think I’d have any skin on my face not bruise-coloured.
Tom is the classic “push you away for your own good.” Sometimes I like this trope, but this was a time where I hated it. The romance is sudden to the point of instalove with no build up whatsoever. It did improve, I’ll admit, but not to any respectable standard.
And the attempt to justify the instalove at the end was completely unbelievable. Being together in a weak description of another dimension is not an excuse to use instalove.

I couldn’t stand Sylv, the best friend. Not because she was provocative. Not because she could be annoying.
Because every little thing she did simply had to be described in an exaggerated way to make her into the biggest slut.
Without a doubt, this is severe slut-shaming. Even though I don’t know much about this issue, I can tell.
I am reminded every two sentences that she wears low cut, revealing clothes, and she shags all the boys, and she is extremely dumb. It was needlessly emphasised. She is blown out of proportion and ridiculed by her own descriptions and the reactions of her own friends. I may not want to live that kind of lifestyle, or necessarily approve of it, but I won’t go out of my way to antagonise it. She should’ve been portrayed neutrally, not negatively. This exaggeration made Sylv not only stereotypical and unrealistic, but annoying and potentially offensive too.

Speaking of stereotypical characters, Melissa, the ex-friend, probably takes the cake. She is a bitchy, “slutty” mean girl who has absolutely no point in the story other than to try and steal the love interest and create drama. She has nothing to do with the dimension thing that drew me to the book in the first place. She is nothing more than a perfect stereotype only there to accessorise the high school setting.

Hah, the irony of Jo, Lillie’s tomboy best friend, was not lost on me. She corrects spelling and grammar errors in all books she reads. It’s ironic how this book has two rather obvious errors:
“His background remained the subject of spec-ulation…” – p.40
“…before breaking into peels of laughter.” – p.173.
No joke. It actually says “peels”.

The “climax” was not described well at all.
What happened in the second car crash? Did the dimensions split and one Lillie died? So she slid into a dimension without Tom? Did Tom die and slide out of her dimension? It’s still evacuee Lillie, isn’t it?
And that’s when I gave up understanding this book and its false science.

The ending is anticlimactic, boring, a little bittersweet, but overall, just weird. Is she trying to pay Tom back for being with Seventh Dimension Lillie and not Evacuee Lillie? I don’t understand why she’d settle for a copy version of Tom instead of the real one she fell in love with.

Repetitive and amateur are two words I’d use to describe the writing. Almost every sentence starts with “I”: I glared, I scowled, I thought, I doubted, etc. All throughout the book there is this running motif of “the rule of repeititon.” It’s some theory a scientist said and that Lillie lives by. It’s about how repeating something over and over will make it true or make it happen. And it is frustratingly pointless. In fact, I think it’s only in the book as an excuse to repeat phrases over and over and boost the word count.

I can’t believe I considered pre-ordering this book.

But, on the brighter side, I do believe one good thing came out of reading When the World was Flat.
By procrastinating over reading it, I earned the 10,000 Starfruit I needed to buy the Comet Blade on Fruit Ninja.

[Jennifer Madero (Boricuan Bookworms) · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can find more of my reviews on my co-owned blog Boricuan Bookworms

ARC Physical Copy Provided by Publisher in Exchange of Review

Is there a way of getting over a book hangover? I don’t know if I’d like that remedy anyways, or to just drown in my own feels... I don’t cry in books, not usually. I might be sad, yeah, but not always enough to cry actual river of tears. In The Fault in Our Stars I cried like five tears at most, but felt extremely sad. In Mockingjay I only shed a tear. But in A Walk to Remember and The Last Song I cried like a baby. It’s not that easy. And ladies and gents, Ingrid Jonach has done that to me. I felt my heart being ripped out in those last chapters I can’t seem to get out of my head.

Lillie Hart has been having strange dreams where she always dies, and this have been happening since the news that there was a new boy in her small town in Nebraska. She’s instantly attracted to him, and curious as to why she feels that she knows him, and that somehow they both know each other. Once Lillie starts to discover the truth of her nightmares and strange happenings around her, there’s no going back. A special and beautiful connection between them through time and space might not be enough to make things go back to normal. Even less when there are people behind Tom for not following some special rules that somehow involve Lillie. Once the world goes round, you can’t make it flat again. And once you love and know the truth, you can’t forget.

First off, I’ve seen a couple of reviews with people stating that one of the things they didn’t like in this book was the sci-fi aspect; there wasn’t much of it. I restate that fact. Though, I did like the book, there wasn’t much sci-fi in it. If you’re reading this book because of that, advice, don’t expect much. There is a lil bit, but it’s not the main point in the story, kinda. Imagine the Earth, and a story that happens in it. It’s in the Earth, yeah, but it is not entirely centered in the story. It’s like a secondary element or sub-plot. The main focus in this book is Lillie and how she somehow knows Tom, and the explanations of her weird dreams where she always dies. There are also other things in the story, but it’s mostly completely about what I said, how Lillie discovers a beautiful yet terrifying truth.

I loved how Ingrid incorporated Einstein’s Theory of Everything and Parallel Worlds and Universes. I’ve been recently reading a bit about those things, mostly of books by Michio Kaku, a Physics who makes complex subject look easy for Dummies like me... So it was nice to see how Ingrid twisted those theories in the story and how it all fit in.

I liked the book. Actually, I loved it. I lent my ARC copy to a friend and she says it’s one of her favorite books (if you’re reading this friend, yes, I had to include you xD). Anyways...

I liked the plot and the development of the story, how at first some things are just weird and don’t make any sense at all. But as the story goes, its like opening the blinders to a window and looking outside to the sun rising. We get to understand why things are happening and I found it amazing. The pacing was slow, yes, but I liked it, because it was made that way, my emotions felt more in sync and slowly made my heart to pound louder and louder in my chest.

The writing style was quite easy to read and, in my opinion, appropriate for Young Readers, since this is Young Adult Fiction. There are times when authors write books and they feel so formal and un-young like. There are some experiences where you think “This so not happens in my teen life.” Here though, I felt like I was reading a diary of an actual sixteen-year-old girl, almost as if she was telling it herself to me. It was like I was in her head too, and I love having that connection between the author’s words and my imagination. It makes the reading experience so much better.

I cried with this book. I threw it against my bed and screamed at it and laughed and cried more and laughed hysterically while sobbing. Maybe not that dramatic, but you get my idea...

I still have, after four or so weeks later, a book hangover. Wow, right? It’s not only how the book ended, but the science elements presented in this book. I’ve always wondered about time travel and parallel universes, and this just blew of my mind. I’m usually always thinking “Oh in another world, I did this other thing, or that...” and so on. But with this book, that’s shown in a way that you just can’t help but think if it’s all real! And books that leave that mark in me deserve an award. Period.

And the other thing that left me hungover... the ending. Oh.My.God. Other than this, I can’t remember when I was so shocked with an ending. I was sad, and hopeful, angry, oh beyond angry, and frustrated from Earth to the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy and back. Like really, WHO ENDS A BOOK THAT WAY?!?!

I find it horrible that someone dares to hurt me in that way... Ingrid, if you’re reading this, congrats, you’re among my list of authors like John Green, Suzanne Collins and Karen Amanda Hooper that leave me unsatisfied with the ending of their books, in a good way I suppose. It’s frustrating because I don’t get to know what happens then! There’s this reaaaally important detail between Lillie and Tom, and the book ends in this sentence that just... Ugh. Words aren’t enough to describe this. I felt like my copy was missing at least ten pages. But when I think of it, it was good, because I probably wouldn’t have liked what happened if more was added, it wouldn’t have left me wondering, wanting and imagining so many possibilities. I suppose there won’t be a sequel. Or maybe there will be but with different characters and same sci-fi concept of parallel worlds. Dunno. SO all in all, a great (AND FRUSTRATING) ending.

Would I read more by Ingrid Jonach? Heck yeah I will. She has proven to be worthy of reading time. Extremely extraordinary. From amazing characters (SWOOOON for TOM *.*), intriguing plot, and shocking endings, she’s a keeper.

Anyone searching for a good romantic novel between teenagers, with a slice of sci-fi and a beautiful tale, read this, like NOW. It will leave you speechless.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Be sure to stop by the blog to see our special stop on the Blog Tour on August 30th! We'll be having a Guest Post by Ingrid Jonach! You can also participate in a Giveaway to win a copy of When the World Was Flat, plus other prizes!

 

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars: A book with a romance challenged by time and physics.

Lillie can't seem to shake her reoccurring nightmares. She dreams over and over of being chased and killed by a mysterious figure in a mask. Why is she having these strange dreams? Her life has been uneventful up until this point. She lives in a small Nebraska town where nothing ever happens, until the new boy, Tom, shows up at school. Lillie is inexplicably drawn to him. Could Tom have the answers to her bad dreams and the feeling of deja vu she gets every time she is around him?
What I Liked:
*A book featuring Einstein's Theory of Everything and parallel dimensions is not something you encounter often in the YA genre. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this interesting sci-fi story that involves multiple dimensions and a love story that blazes across time and space. It is unique and it has depth and science. If you want a read that will make you think and open your mind to new possibilities, invest some time with When the World Was Flat and We Were in Love.
*I enjoyed investigating the idea of parallel dimensions. This books presents that we are living in a universe with many universes. Each time we face a decision, another reality is created, one for each choice. Eventually, we are living side by side with countless dimensions. In another dimension, scientists have cracked Einstein's Theory of Everything and life on Earth is in danger. Citizens of that dimension are forced to evacuate due to scientists interfering with matter. People begin sliding out of that dimension into other dimensions, which, as you can imagine, causes a whole host of problems and disruptions. At times, it is a bit of a challenge to keep up with the dimensions and the sliding, but I enjoyed tackling the ideas and wrapping my had around possibilities.
*The secondary characters are entertaining. I especially enjoyed Lillie's hippie mother who slips through life with an easy going attitude. Not much bothers her and she is fine with people coming to to crash on her couch for months at a time. She is a funny and entertaining character. Lillie's two best friends, Sylv and Jo, prove to be solid friends and they made me laugh. Sylv is comfortable with her role as the so called school slut, while Jo is a bit of a grammar nerd and tomboy.
*The romance takes its time to develop. At first, the pair are at odds, and the reason for this isn't revealed until late in the book, but once I had a clear understanding of what was going on, I was invested. It isn't a swoon worthy love affair, but I found that I enjoyed the idea of soulmates, and I was enchanted by the idea of one of them searching through time and dimensions to find the other.
*I appreciated that everything tied off at the end. This appears to be a standalone for now, but there is certainly room to expand. I also was pleased that there wasn't a love triangle, at first there was the possibility but it doesn't go there, at least in this dimension.
And The Not So Much:
*The book is set in a small town in Nebraska, but there were many sayings and words that were not pertinent to the American version of English. Some of the words the characters said would never have be spoken in small town America by American teens, such as pram, plaster instead of bandage, balaclava (which is a ski mask) and several others. The author currently lives in Australia, and it was clearly evident that some of the speech used was suited for Australia. I am curious as to why she didn't set the book somewhere that she was more familiar with, there was nothing in the book that indicated it needed to take place in the U.S. I just thought some of the dialect was out of place for the Midwest of the U.S.
*While I liked the idea of multiple dimensions and sliding through time, not everything was clear. Could only the people from the one dimension slide, or were there others? I didn't quite buy into the idea of so many seemingly inconsequential decisions splitting into other dimensions. If that were indeed the case, there would be hundreds of thousands of parallel universes for one person. I could see a new reality splitting from a big, life changing choice, but not from hundreds of simple questions. There were a few holes in the plot, but that is to be expected when taking on such a challenging topic. My advice, don't try and get too technical with all the science, just go with it.
*The book has a slow start. A great deal of time is devoted to getting to know the characters and establishing the parameters in the small, boring town of Green Grove. Plenty of time is spent at high school dealing with the everyday problems of teens. There are also appearances of the typical stereotypes such as the mean girls and school slut and the awkward boy who moved away and returns a hottie. Thankfully, there is a lot of focus on the mystery of Tom and his strange behavior and Lillie's reoccurring dreams of death to keep you engaged. Finally at the two thirds mark, the true story is revealed and things get interesting. There is also plenty of humor to keep you entertained as well.

When the World Was Flat and We Were in Love is a book that I found to be interesting and challenging. I liked exploring some of Einstein's ideas and learning more about multiple dimensions. This book provides plenty of food for thought. If you are in the mood for something that is different and has some depth, try this one. I am always excited to take a chance on a Strange Chemistry title as they are known for unique reads.

Favorite Quotations:
“He had a girlfriend back in England or Australia, who he was hung up on, and for all intents and purposes she was hung up on him as well. They probably poked each other on Facebook and Skyped for hours on end.”
"I realized as I pushed it open that I was still wearing his coat. I pulled the collar up around my neck and breathed in his scent, laughing as I wondered what the girls would say. Sylv would probably tell me I was one step away from sniffing his underwear."
"We ended up asking her dad about the training bra together. You know what they say about safety in numbers. "What are you in training for?" he had asked. "Big boobs," I responded."
"Soulmates," he continued, "are two people who have loved each other in another dimension."

A big thanks to Strange Chemistry for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
Posted@
Rainy Day Ramblings.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Also posted at Oops! I Read A Book Again*

Thank you so much to Caroline of Strange Chemistry for the review copy and for Ingrid Jonach for letting me join the blog tour! Still, receiving a review copy and being part of the tour did not affect my views of the novel.

Wow. I'm still breathing deeply as I just finished WTWWF. I'm having such a hard time reviewing this because you won't know how great it is until you've read it. Sure, I can say how much I love the characters and how compelling the narrative was. I can state how much I adore how Ingrid Jonach wrote this novel, with its fantastic pacing. How Ingrid made me resemble a panting dog anticipating everything and coming of utterly satisfied and a bit brokenhearted with how everything panned out. But still, it won't cover everything without me spoiling you and you wouldn't want to be spoiled.

In reality, I'm still in a book hangover from WTWWF. I actually sent four consecutive emails to Ingrid after I read it and it wasn't like we were talking. I just sent emails out into the ether, ranging from the short to the long ones and from the spazzy ones to the coherent ones. I just need to talk about it and probably get it out of my system but lo and behold, I still can't stop talking about it. I talked to myself in the bathroom, processing everything, but it's not enough. I NEED TO TALK TO A PERSON NOW. So please, if any of you have read WTWWF already, please talk to me. I need to bounce off my ideas, thoughts and everything without heeding for spoilers. I need to freely talk about spoilers!!!11 But for now, I will be dodgy and review this spoiler-free.

WTWWF was told in Lillie's perspective looking back to when she met Tom. Hints of what will happen keep on popping out and it will tickle your appetite for more. With the mystery hanging in the air, I still enjoyed how Lillie tells us the story of how Tom arrived in her life and how little she divulges. I didn't get frustrated with this mystery and in fact, I just wanted to know that I didn't realize the pages flying by. I finished this in half a day and knowing how slow I read, that was really fast. The science in this sci-fi romance didn't come until about halfway but it still held me enrapt to it as we slowly see how it unfolds. So you could say it's as much a contemporary romance than it is sci-fi. Gah, I love sci-fi romance.

Let's get to the characters! Lillie. I love Lillie. She's funny in an off-handed way. Not your usual sarcastic one but she has more of a self-deprecating humor. She gets it from her insecurities but she's not a pushover. She sounds and looks normal, which I totally appreciate. Some readers found her irritating but I don't know why! Sure, she's your common plagued-by-nightmares heroine but I never had a case with it because for one, the narrative was satisfying. You get some answers and you gain some more questions. There were arc conflicts, expected and totally unexpected ones, and an overarching one. Then it wasn't like Lillie was a damsel in distress wailing in grief and asking for help. It's just that Tom was there every single time. For me, I unapologetically love Lillie. Let's get to Tom. Oh, Tom. Tom Windsor-Smith (I am swooning just from his name) is the hot-and-cold new guy at Green Grove, Nebraska. He acts like he couldn't care less about Lillie but then he swoops in and goes chivalrous. I know, you might be rolling your eyes here. Handsome, hot, mysterious new guy who's everywhere? But seriously, even though the trope has been done to death, Tom isn't a bit irritating. He's a perfect gentleman and as rare as his smile and laugh are, when it appears, you know it's worth it. I can spout off a litany why Tom isn't like all the other hot, mysterious new guys in YA. Maybe it's because he rocks in Physics? #nerdsrock

The way Ingrid Jonach has written WTWWF was commendable. She gave Lillie a little quirk right from the start and I love how the novel shows it all the time, giving Lillie a unique voice. Moreover, as a nerd, I absolutely squeed when Albert Einstein was mentioned. As a fan of sci-fi (romance), I take it to heart that the science in the novel must make sense. It doesn't need to be true but in the world of the novel, everything must fall right into its place. And fell right into its place it did. The science in here was impeccable and it was explained in not so many words. Yes, no info dump in here. It was easy to understand too for those not heavy on the sci-fi. Gah, I can't even talk about the major plot of this novel without spoiling you! It's kind of frustrating. Just read it!

I was so giddy when the title was mentioned in the novel and how apt it was. Don't you love that bit when the title suddenly makes sense once you've read the novel? Truth be told, what attracted me to this novel was its title and how little the blurb gleams over the actual storyline. Being a mystery buff, I wanted to know what was the secret Tom was hiding. Moreover, why is it titled like this? Oh, how wonderfully apt, I tell you.

But probably what made me drunk on WTWWF the most was the marvelous ending and the epic love it showed. Once again, I can't disclose how epic this epic love was but it's AWESOME BEYOND WORDS. It will make you doubt and swoon. It will break your heart. It will be painful but it will be bittersweet. A love so selfless, a love that transcends, that's my favorite kind of love. #sappyromanticalert

When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach is a compelling and outstanding masterpiece weaving in mystery, mind-bending twists, alternate dimensions and an epic love altogether seamlessly. Perfect for fans of parallel universe and time travel romance novels like me, which makes this book perfect for me. You wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it long after you have finished reading it.

[Simona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 5/5

I have started reading this book after being intrigued by it's title and synopsis. I was really curious about the plot and I am really glad that I did so!

Starting slowly, with the protagonist's simple life, I was a little unsure if I have made the right decision to begin reading this book but my doubts were nowhere to be found when the plot blew my mind off! The author's really brilliant and interesting ideas about parallel universes and other things that are based on Einstein's lifetime searches made me sink deeper and deeper into this book.

Tom, a new transfer student that comes at Lillie's school, is no doubt really strange and mysterious since the very beginning. His looks towards Lillie make her heart skip a beat but she will keep having doubts after doubts about his intentions since he is usually distant and keeps everything for himself.

One step at a time, the story makes Tom and Lillie's encounters more and more frequent and so are Lillie's strange dreams in which she is killed.

I really did not expect the explanation of Tom and Lillie's relation. I was really attracted by Jonach's idea of soulmates and parallel universes. I felt that this became a really profound book at times (especially for me) and I could not put it down when the story captured me.

Not only were there really amazing theories about the above mentioned things, but there were also other explanations for the actual meaning of Déjà vus for example, explanations that made me really think more about what this Universe is keeping secret from us.

As I have mentioned before, the book was slowly paced at the begining but then it became a roller coaster which left me curious of the ending. the actual endng was not really WOW but I found it really lovely and the picture that formed in my mind was a really pretty one. I will just say this: it ends with Lillie (not going to say which Lillie since there are more than one - yes, you hear me right! - ), Tom (same goes for him, not telling which Tom) and a box. But I will not say what is in the box. That was a really nice thought thing by the author!

There are also some secondary characters that play an important place in this book but this time I want to keep my focus just on Tom and Lillie.

The author also introduces something new in the story: The Evacuees, people from other parallel worlds that can escape from there and go into other universes.

Quotes:

"Tom grimaced and I knew he was about to hit me with another bombshell. "Lillie, there is no such thing as imagination."

"Huh?"

"The human brain can record information, but it cannot make it up. What you call imagination is in fact your memories from other dimensions." "

"And even though I knew we spent hundreds of years together, I started counting the seconds until tomorrow anyway."

"His words warmed me to the core. I had been worried we were so alike that I would continue to wonder if it was me or her that he was kissing."

[Chiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A copy of this novel was provided by Strange Chemistry via Net Galley.

Ingrid Jonach is a mastermind.

That’s the first thing that comes to mind after finishing When the World Was Flat last night. I mean, how does someone even come up with an idea as fantastical and crazy and amazing as this one? Only a mastermind could do it – hence the first statement at the beginning of this review. Jonach is a mastermind in her ability to weave this story. There’s simply no other way to put it.

From the moment I picked up When the World Was Flat, I was hooked. The writing style was the kind that just grabs you, and Lillie’s character voice was incredible.

I went into this book not remembering anything about what I had read from other reviews; or from the blurb for that matter. All I could remember was that it was a love story, and had something to do with Einstein. It was so much more than that. It was about a normal teenage girl, who is terrified of her recurring nightmares. A girl who falls for a boy, who she seems to know. A girl who you can relate to. A girl who seems real.

With sci-fi books, and fantasy books, sometimes everything is so out there that it really does feel like you’re reading a story. But with When the World Was Flat, it was not like that at all. Everything was so normal, except for this wonderful plot that Jonach created. Lillie had a strange relationship with her even stranger mother, she had two best friends, a bully at her high school. Normal things that people in real life have, and face on a daily basis. I loved feeling that this story was real, even though for the most part the plot was crazy surreal.

I have rarely come across a main character as interesting and unique as Lillie. She is a little strange, but that makes her even more wonderful. I adored every minute of reading her thoughts and feelings. They were so completely attune to what a teenage girl in her situation would feel. It was amazing.

I have to mention Tom. And the fact that he has a slightly Australian accent. Hello, ladies! I love Tom's character. In fact, I loved every single character in this novel because Jonach wrote them with such precision I could see them so clearly in my mind. I could see the whole book playing out in my mind, like a movie. A truly awesome movie.

As you can probably tell already, I am in love with this book. I am so glad that the expiry on my Net Galley copy didn’t run out before I had the chance to read it, because I would have missed out on a truly amazing and wonderful young adult novel that is now one of my favourites. And Ingrid is such a nice person as well! We have even fan-girled over Supernatural together. That’s how awesome she is – she can write this superb novel and then fan-girl with me over Supernatural. Again, she is a mastermind. I cannot wait to read more from Ingrid, and I shall be impatiently waiting for a new novel!

© 2013, Chiara @ Books For A Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

[Isamlq · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the World was Flat (And We Were in Love), awesome title notwithstanding, I’m going with what tickled me pink in this one: that maybe in another dimension, another me would have liked it more:

Love fueled drama plus angsty almost giving up meets person X sliding from point A to point B made more convoluted with mentions of Einstein and parallel dimensions of left, right and center because of his Theory of Everything. And it all could have been so good too but here I think someone’s bitten off more than they could chew… and failed to get all those good bit and pieces into the great whole it could have been. Cool ending though.

The sliding thing and the other versions were what I liked… the whole merging thing too of one becoming another and another being gone. The concepts that are pulled out had me interested but when you consider the thing that pushes everything forward is this boy and that girl and how he will find her (or she him) well, yeah… for all that was interesting in it, it didn’t quite gel for me. Either some bit was left unexplored, or another bit – the wrong bit, at that - was focused on too much.

Maybe this is my poncho? ((Didn’t get the reference? It’s in the book.) Perhaps the me on the left right center liked/loved/hated (or will like/love/hate) (or is liking/loving /hating) this very book for whatever other reason, but for me, (of the now variety,) this simply didn’t work. I liked some of it, but in the end I’m saying it didn’t gel.

Thank you NG!

[Lalita Soumpta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inherited the ARC from a blogger friend who quit about half way through.

Should have taken the hint...

The problems in this book(and there are many) have already been pretty well stated by the other 1 and 2 star reviews so I won't beat the horse, but I will talk about the thing that irked me the most, the 1 dimensional characters that abound in this work. And you didn't even have to wonder what detention they each were because it was spelled out. There was the slut, the mean, girl, the cubby girl, etc, and the author didn't let any of them say or do one single thing outside of their labeled box. The slut ONLY did and said slutty things, and so on. I don't know if it was laziness on the part of the author or if she was trying to make a statement, but it just didn't work.

Basically, with all the labeling and slut shaming, the main character came across as the bitch who sits in the back of the room at a party because she's everyone else is beneath her for one reason or another, so she mocks and makes fun of everyone. I don't know about you, but I never wanted to be around that person, much less read a story about them.

Inherited ARC via NetGalley

[Amanda]

A Strange Chemistry novel. Science fiction and romance collide in a story that is gripping from the very first page.

[Kate Ormand]

A breathtaking story about a girl who dreams of death and a boy who wants to save her. Achingly beautiful.

[Laura's Book Addiction]

YA version pitched as Time Travelers Wife With Meet Joe Black. Hell yes!!!

[Kayla De Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A free paperback copy was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Caroline and Ingrid!

I’ve got a major book hangover. AS IN MAJOR. It’s such a hell of a tear-jerker and the worst part is, I read this book while I was in school. Everyone thought someone had died and someone did die but that person doesn’t exist in real life. How depressing.

When the World was Flat is a love story that occurs in parallel dimensions. Basically, parallel dimensions happen when you make a choice. For example, tacos or nachos? You choose nachos but in another dimension, you chose tacos and then a whole new world is born. So far, are you still with me? This sci-fi concept was really good and nothing that I have seen before but it would have been better if it had been explained more and in much clearer terms. I was lost a couple of times and was left really confused especially with the whole “merging” aspect. Perhaps a flashback chapter from Evacuation-dimension Tom would have improved the background of this concept. Nevertheless, the parallel dimensions gave When the World was Flat depth and substance as Lillie’s internal conflict for Tom was really evident and well played out.

"I watched her walk down the street again, wishing I had a ball of twine for the future like I did for the past. Then we could stick to the highways, instead of these country roads with their potholes and dead-ends."

I loved seeing everything from the perspective of Lillie because she had some lovely insights and wasn’t afraid to question Tom. A lot of YA female leads willingly go with whatever their boyfriend demanded, making their relationship seem a little abusive to the cynical mind, but Lillie was far from that. Sure, When the World was Flat was instalove but unlike other YA girls who completely disappears into the murky waters of the relationship, Lillie still lived her own life. She was her own individual, not determined by her relationship with Tom alone.

Jackson was another great character and I was pretty disappointed when he seemed to vanish right after Tom’s secret was revealed. He was the perfect Foil for Tom because Jackson provided some comic relief with his sunny disposition. Compared to Tom’s maturity and sensibleness, Jackson was every other teenaged guy encapsulated in a single character. Moreover, it was fantastic how their priorities and mindsets were juxtaposed. Jackson was very invoked in his art whereas Tom revolved around the dimension Lillie’s, resulting in a very serious and somewhat suffocating and one-dimensional personality. I mean, come on! He must have a hobby or something. Tom’s character didn’t sit well with me because he was too solemn and deep into his own mysteries and pity that he couldn’t even crack a joke. Or smile. Or laugh. He wasn’t portrayed as an individual so I wasn’t as connected with him as I was with Lillie. Still, regardless of all that, the chemistry in their relation was perfect in every way.

"They say you should take the road less traveled. You know, when two roads diverge in a wood? They say it makes all the difference. But how can you make a difference when you take all roads?"

I saw a review of When the World was Flat saying that the she didn’t like the book because of how Lillie frequently slut-shamed her friend, Sylv, and how her other friend, Jo, was portrayed as “manly”. I just have a few things to say about this so bear with me.

Sylv is made out to be a provocative girl who dresses in skimpy clothing and frequently talks about sex and other sexually related things while also making dirt jokes every now and then.

“What about a one night stand with a college professor?” Sylv asked. -p.20

Sylv kicked me under the table whenever he said, “Hot wax.” That girl could make a sermon sound sexual. -p.21

“How am I supposed to be scouted in Green Grove?” she complained, as she changed into a silver sequinned top with a V-neck that ended at her navel. -p.14

She was wearing a white micro miniskirt and black ankle boots. Her sparkly red top had a plunging neckline which showed a black lace bra. She was beyond breaking the dress code – she was annihilating it. -p.25-26

She was showing off, seeking the attention of a booth of college guys. They were ogling her thighs, which were bare under another micro miniskirt, which she continued to wear day in and day out, even though it was now fall. -p.45

But Sylv was giving it away for free at the Duck-In Diner this afternoon, making rude gestures involving her tongue. The college guys returned the signals threefold. -p.47

Sylv and I sat in the quad together at lunch the next day. Well, I sat. Sylv stretched out on a bench, using her bag as a pillow, her underwear on full display. -p.57

There is no doubt about it that Sylv is portrayed as girl with lewd and wanton behaviour but she is far from a slut. Lillie doesn’t slut-shame Sylv but rather, she makes observations about her friend’s overly-sexualized image. She doesn’t say that Sylv is a whore. Lillie merely implies that Sylv is too provocative, as seen in her commentary about her friend. Besides, Sylv is not a slut. There is an instance in WWTWF in which she was approached by a lecherous man about a modelling job, which turned out to be a way to get her to take her top off. Instead of obliging, Sylv tells the man that she is a minor, resulting in the man “nearly shatting himself”. This shows that although Sylv may be promiscuous, she is far from being an easy and cheap whore who sleeps with anyone in order to satisfy her sexual desire. Sylv’s actions are not that of a slut’s but of a hormonal teenager testing the boundaries of her sexuality. Yes, she may go too far at some points but the modelling job scene makes it clear enough that Sylv does set some limits for herself.

Jo, another one of Lillie’s friends, was portrayed as being manly. [It could be said that Jo was a bit masculine. Her mom had died of breast cancer when she was three and she had been raised by her dad - a truck driver. -p.17]. Why is being a tomboy considered bad? It’s evident in the previous text that Jo didn’t have a mother figure in her life, save for Lillie and her mother, Deb, who aren’t exactly girly. Naturally, Jo would emulate her lone parental figure; her father. I don’t get why whenever a female character is described to be a bit masculine, a lot of people immediately attack the book. In Jo’s case, it was an understandable product of a life without a mother and a childhood of being left alone by her dad at their house while he was off at work. As kids, it is drilled into us that men are the ones who protect the household and provide for the family and this social norm had undoubtedly made a huge impact on Jo. She was all alone with no mother and no father so she would take precautions to protect herself. How? By “manning” up and taking charge.

Ingrid Jonach has written a heartbreaking and bittersweet take that will leave its readers speechless. An honest to God tear-jerker, When the World was Flat (and we were in love) is not your typical or conventional love story. It is a love that transcends time (literally) and evokes emotion so powerful, I nearly had a heart attack.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://ilibrisonounantidotoallatriste...

La vita di Lillie procede tranquilla e senza intoppi: va a scuola, coltiva la sua passione per la fotografia, passa i pomeriggi con le sue amiche e la cittadina in cui vive è talmente piccola che perfino l'arrivo di un nuovo ragazzo viene salutato come l'avvento del nuovo Papa. Per Lillie però in quel ragazzo c'è qualcosa di strano: quando è vicino a lui ha degli strani flashback, come se lo avesse già conosciuto, e sa cose di lui che non sa spiegarsi. Come se non bastasse ha anche iniziato a fare strani sogni in cui vede la sua stessa morte. Quando Tom finalmente le permette di avvicinarsi, Lillie però scopre che verità a volte è più assurda di qualsiasi teoria cospiratoria.

Questo libro è partito con i migliori auspici, con un titolo accattivante, una bella copertina e una trama intrigante e piena di mistero, ma fin da subito mi è stato chiaro di averlo sopravalutato. La storia di base è davvero originale e mi ha colpito molto, non vi svelo nulla, ma parliamo di dimensioni parallele, viaggi dimensionali e di un grande amore che va oltre il tempo e lo spazio. Il problema è che questo è l'unico punto a favore del libro che sono riuscita a trovare, mentre i difetti abbondano. Per non infierire e non annoiarvi mi limiterò a segnalare solo quelli principali. Uno dei problemi più grossi è che la storia non è ben strutturata. E' normale che i primi capitoli siano un po' più lenti, per dare il tempo al lettore di conoscere i protagonisti e il loro mondo, ma in questo caso la parte introduttiva non solo è davvero lentissima e totalmente priva di eventi, ma si estende per più della metà del libro. Non succede nulla, ma proprio nulla e il mistero al centro della trama viene svelato troppo avanti. Ho letto pagine e pagine di descrizioni inutili, di eventi insignificanti e di gesti banali mentre nella mia testa non facevo che ripetermi 'Sì, e quindi?'. C'è una linea sottile tra la suspance e la noia e rimandare ogni spiegazione senza dare al lettore nemmeno qualche inizio a cui aggrapparsi conduce semplicemente alla noia. Ho iniziato questa lettura col fiato sospeso per la curiosità, ma dopo le prime cinquanta pagine ho iniziato a sbadigliare chiedendomi dove l'autrice volesse andare a parare. Dopo aver superato le prime cento pagine ho iniziato a maledire la protagonista, perchè sebbene si facesse molte domande non faceva nulla per trovare una risposta. Bastava chiedere. Un piccolo sforzo no? Ho dovuto aspettare il capitolo ventuno (di ventinove) per avere finalmente una risposta. Ma quel che è peggio è che anche quando le cose sembrano finalmente iniziare a farsi interessanti sul serio l'attenzione è sempre puntata più sul lato romantico che su quello paranormale. Fino ad un certo punto posso anche capirlo, ma poi viene da chiedersi che problemi abbia la protagonista. Lillie, oltre ad essere scontata e banale, ha anche dei comportamenti abbastanza folli, da potenziale stalker assassina. E' capace di rimanere impassibile di fronte alle rivelazioni più eclatanti e poi fare un dramma se Tom non le telefona o sparisce per qualche giorno. Come direbbe Ron Weasley 'Quella ha bisogno di rivedere le sue prirorità'. L'ho trovata davvero insipida e mal costruita, con una personalità variabile a seconda delle occasioni e a dir poco incoerente. Quando i personaggi sono deboli il protagonista è il primo a farne le spese, ma non è solo Lillie ad essere vittima di un trattamento infelice da parte della sua creatrice. Tutti i personaggi sono figli di un clichè e mostrano totale incoerenza. La madre di Lillie all'inizio è un po' sopra le righe, molto tranquilla e rilassata, un po' hippie, ma all'improvviso diventa una dittatrice, con punizioni e castighi molto severi. Le amiche di Lillie sono insipide come lei, sghignazzanti e frivole. Jackson è un personaggio assolutamente inutile, inserito per dare vita ad un triangolo amoroso che non prende davvero mai forma. L'unico che salverei, per un pelo, è Tom, che mi ha commosso con il suo grande amore. Volete un assaggio della follia che dilaga in questa città? Immaginate la scena. E' il primo giorno di scuola e alla notizia dell'arrivo di un nuovo studente tutte le ragazze, e ripeto tutte, sono in ritardo perchè hanno perso tempo a farsi carine per lui. Lillie compresa ovviamente, anche se l'ha menata per dei capitoli interi dicendo che non le importava. Immaginate un branco di ragazzine glitterate e sui tacchi che corrono a scuola in massa, tutte in ritardo. Non hanno avuto nemmeno l'intelligenza di svegliarsi dieci minuti prima. Nessuna. A me questa scena ha fatto davvero ridere per la sua follia. Io abito in un paesino piccolissimo e conosco tutti i ragazzi della mia età praticamente dalla culla, quindi mi riesco a mettere nei loro panni, ma l'arrivo di un ragazzo nuovo non ha mai causato tanto scompiglio. E' solo un ragazzo, mica uno dei One Direction in incognito! O uno dei Backstreet Boys, per chi è cresciuta negli anni '90 lol In ogni caso sapete che io sono buona e non mi accanisco mai, cerco sempre qualcosa di buono, ma stavolta non ce l'ho fatta davvero. Questo libro è l'apoteosi dei clichè del genere: c'è una protagonista insicura, una piccola città, due migliori amiche l'una l'opposto dell'altra, un triangolo amoroso, un bel tenebroso, una figura genitoriale assente e l'altra un po' suonata.. L'unico aspetto positivo, come dicevo all'inizio, è l'elemento paranormale, piuttosto interessante e originale, ma mal sfruttato. Mi sarebbe piaciuto che fosse stato privilegiato questo aspetto, piuttosto che quello romantico, perchè ho trovato l'idea di base davvero davvero originale e avrebbe meritato non solo più spazio, ma anche di essere sfruttata meglio. Il finale è molto affrettato e insoddisfacente, ma a quel punto ormai non ne potevo più. Mi dispiace molto stroncarlo, non è da me, ma ora spero solo di dimenticarlo in fretta.