Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i love liane moriarty. her writing is just phenomenal and i am always so captivated by her writing and her storytelling. i was disappointed last year with ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ so i am so pleased that this one, for me at least, was brilliant. it reminded me of ‘Big Little Lies’ and ‘What Alice Forgot’.
the premise was interesting and not one i’d read before. as someone who often thinks about death/dying, it posed an interesting question of “what would you do if someone told you when and how you would die?”. i found myself worried for these characters, hoping that fate would change and that their ‘predictions’ wouldn’t come true. i was immediately invested in all of their stories and i was keen to read on to see what would happen to each. i grew attached to each of the characters quickly and was worried that they would meet the fate given to them and i didn’t want any of them to die! i think my favourite characters were Allegra, Ethan and Leo but to be honest, i liked all of them. a few characters did get pushed to the side but you expect that when you’re focusing on 7 main characters. but saying that, at no point did i feel like i’d been ‘cheated’ out of their tale.
the story, like so many of Moriarty’s books, has a twist which you feel like you should see coming and can’t believe you didn’t guess. the pacing was great and at no point was i bored or wishing for it to hurry up. if anything i took longer to read this because i didn’t want it to end!
this book hit me a lot more than i was anticipating. it had a lot of mention of death, of course, but was so much more about grief and the dealing of loss. i probably could have done with a few trigger warnings on this one as a LOT of it hit incredibly close to home but that’s just personal preference. i would say that, (and slight spoiler alert here), Moriarty writes OCD and compulsions incredibly well! not many people understand it but this was done brilliantly.
i laughed, i cried, i sighed huge breaths of relief throughout. i thoroughly enjoyed it and hope she doesn’t keep us waiting for her next novel!
the premise was interesting and not one i’d read before. as someone who often thinks about death/dying, it posed an interesting question of “what would you do if someone told you when and how you would die?”. i found myself worried for these characters, hoping that fate would change and that their ‘predictions’ wouldn’t come true. i was immediately invested in all of their stories and i was keen to read on to see what would happen to each. i grew attached to each of the characters quickly and was worried that they would meet the fate given to them and i didn’t want any of them to die! i think my favourite characters were Allegra, Ethan and Leo but to be honest, i liked all of them. a few characters did get pushed to the side but you expect that when you’re focusing on 7 main characters. but saying that, at no point did i feel like i’d been ‘cheated’ out of their tale.
the story, like so many of Moriarty’s books, has a twist which you feel like you should see coming and can’t believe you didn’t guess. the pacing was great and at no point was i bored or wishing for it to hurry up. if anything i took longer to read this because i didn’t want it to end!
this book hit me a lot more than i was anticipating. it had a lot of mention of death, of course, but was so much more about grief and the dealing of loss. i probably could have done with a few trigger warnings on this one as a LOT of it hit incredibly close to home but that’s just personal preference. i would say that, (and slight spoiler alert here), Moriarty writes OCD and compulsions incredibly well! not many people understand it but this was done brilliantly.
i laughed, i cried, i sighed huge breaths of relief throughout. i thoroughly enjoyed it and hope she doesn’t keep us waiting for her next novel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting premise, but I felt it sort of fell flat at the ending. I didn't feel very satisfied by the wrap up, though it wasn't bad.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicide, Death of parent
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the premise and had high expectations for the execution. Instead I just kept waiting for something to happen. The characters were very real and often funny but I think I wanted a little something more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Self harm, Alcohol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Audiobook is very well done.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Was intrigued by the premise and Cherry’s storyline in particular had me tearing up a few times. But I got lost in the different characters’ storylines a few times and didn’t get closure with all of them - it might’ve been helpful to focus on just a few since that would’ve made the same point without getting a bit muddied and circuitous.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Car accident
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol