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On the Other Side
Your soul is too heavy to pass through this door; leave the weight of the world in the world from before.
Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open.
Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love . . .
Powerful, magical and utterly romantic, On the Other Side will transport you to a world that is impossible to forget. This is a love story like no other which will have you weeping because of the sheer joy and beauty of it all.
Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open.
Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love . . .
Powerful, magical and utterly romantic, On the Other Side will transport you to a world that is impossible to forget. This is a love story like no other which will have you weeping because of the sheer joy and beauty of it all.
345 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2016
355 people are currently reading
11069 people want to read
About the author
Carrie Hope Fletcher
19 books5,709 followersCarrie Hope Fletcher is an English actress, author and singer-songwriter.
She played Eponine in the West End production of Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre until February 13th 2016. She is the first actress to have played both young Eponine and older Eponine. In 2019, she returned to Les Miserables as Fantine.
Fletcher played Truly Scrumptious in the UK touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Wednesday Addams in the UK touring production of The Addams Family. She then starred as Veronica Sawyer in the UK production of Heathers: The Musical.
Her debut book, All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully was published in May 2015. Her first fiction novel, On the Other Side was published in July 2016.
Fletcher is well known for her YouTube channel where she shares videos about her life and her work as an actress and author.
She played Eponine in the West End production of Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre until February 13th 2016. She is the first actress to have played both young Eponine and older Eponine. In 2019, she returned to Les Miserables as Fantine.
Fletcher played Truly Scrumptious in the UK touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Wednesday Addams in the UK touring production of The Addams Family. She then starred as Veronica Sawyer in the UK production of Heathers: The Musical.
Her debut book, All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully was published in May 2015. Her first fiction novel, On the Other Side was published in July 2016.
Fletcher is well known for her YouTube channel where she shares videos about her life and her work as an actress and author.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,247 reviews
July 30, 2016
Poorly Executed Vanity Project
I bought this book out of curiosity as I had watched some of the author’s YouTube videos where she had discussed writing and publishing.
The premise of this ‘magic realism’ novel appears to be an exploration of relationships - both romantic and familial - with the protagonist, Evie Snow, going on a journey in the afterlife to find her own ‘personal heaven.’ To unlock the door to her heaven, she must revisit moments from her past and visit loved ones in the present to answer three secrets that are preventing her from passing on. The book is split into three sections for each of the secrets, and chapters from her life are interspersed with chapters from the present.
The book does not appear to be set in any particular time period and there does not appear to be any difference between the world when Evie is 27 and the world when she dies at age 82. This is extremely problematic for several reasons.
Firstly, Evie’s outlook on life, her antiquated relationship with her parents and the language used to describe them (‘they were a terribly smart match,’ ‘a terribly successful law firm,’ ‘terribly sinister’ – terribly terrible) suggest that the book is set in a historical period, perhaps at the turn of the 20th century. As a 27 year old woman, Evie is so concerned with the views of her overbearing parents, their threat of an arranged marriage and the prospect of being cut off from her inheritance that (despite being able to live independently if she really wants to) she decides to end a relationship that she is happy in to meet their demands. The office that she works in has the misogynistic feel of the 1950s, her boss sexually assaults her on a daily basis and she feels she is helpless in the situation. It is not clear how this adds to or is of relevance to the story and it is quickly forgotten about by Fletcher. At the same time, this is a world (presumably Britain) with MacDonalds, where men wear skinny jeans and all sexual preferences appear to be accepted, suggesting a present day utopia.
Being unable to place the events in any time period is distracting and confusing for the reader and I am unable to understand why the author (or editor) thought this would work. It seems to me that perhaps the author did not want to undertake the research necessary to set the novel in a historical context and the lack of structure that this results in becomes tedious and frustrating.
The characters in the novel are two dimensional and clichéd. Their silly names (Evie Snow, Vincent Winter, Colin Autumn, August Summer, Grayson Pear, Sonny Shine) are cartoonish and the similes these names allow the author to create are predictable. The protagonist is a childish, self-absorbed goody two-shoes with ‘chocolate brown eyes’ (mentioned on pages two, eight, and ninety-two) and ‘fluffy caramel’ blonde curly hair (mentioned goodness knows how many times). She likes sweets and drinking tea, she wears a green coat and has a boyfriend with dark hair, green eyes and an interest in music. Viewers of the author’s YouTube channel will recognise her in the book as the character Evie and will recognise Fletcher’s boyfriend Pete as the character Vincent. This seems bizarrely narcissistic. It is quite cringe-inducing, especially when Fletcher references her YouTube fan base (‘I am a…hopeful’) and includes a mixed up version of both her initials and her boyfriend’s initials which are scrawled on Evie Snow’s door (‘CB luvs PF’). It’s a bit too contrived and I wonder if this was a request of Sphere to help the book appeal to her existing fans and therefore generate more revenue. Or perhaps the author took the advice ‘write about what you know’ a bit too literally.
It is clear that Fletcher wishes to portray Vincent Winter as a ruggedly handsome, impossibly kind romantic and that she intends for the reader to warm to him quickly. His first conversations with Evie struck me as creepy. With ‘quivering’ eyebrows he says things like ‘hello sweetie’ and ‘you’ve got a twinkle in your eyes’. It brought to mind a predatory old man, rather than a 28 year old harmless flirt.
The decisions that 27 year old Evie makes in the book are not explained in any depth. She decides to bow down to her parents’ demands once she realises that her 20 year old brother is gay and that his inevitable disinheritance means she will need to support him financially. This is bonkers. They’re both adults living in a seemingly accepting modern (except for in the workplace) city.
I am amazed that On the Other Side has been published seemingly with no editing. Sphere are clearly seeing this as purely a money making exercise based on the author’s online fan-base, rather than investing in creating something readable. This does a disservice to both the author and reader, the writing is so bad in places that it completely distracts from the story.
The author seems to have a fascination with characters’ eyebrows which are continually ‘twitching’, ‘furrowing’, ‘flickering’, ‘burrowing’, ‘knitting together’, ‘wrinkled’, ‘rising’ and even ‘quivering’. They are ‘bushy’, ‘slender’, ‘wildly untamed’ and at one point are compared to a dog’s ears. The repetition and the strange choice of adjectives become extremely irritating early on.
The clumsy use of weather metaphors reads like GCSE coursework. On page 108, ‘neither [character] could have known that this was the calm before the storm.’ On page 183, ‘like all storms, this was just the calm that came before.’ Yawn. The tree grown from Evie’s heart only bears fruit after a storm because Evie would ‘always make the best out of a bad situation.’
In contrast to this, when I actually thought I was reading a slightly more original metaphor on page 212, this turns out to be literal…’and in that moment, all her drawings turned to glass and fell from the walls, scattering around her, lost for ever.’ This is a moment of ‘magic realism’ which feels completely out of place in the book and only adds more clunk to the confused story.
The book is young adult fiction, not women’s fiction as the author has described it online. The book should be aimed at 10-12/13 year olds, I’m not sure that anyone older than this would get any enjoyment from it. The author has stated that she feels the book should only be read by ages 16 and upwards as ‘there are some swear words. There is a lead up to a sex scene but no actual sex scene and then there’s some adult themes like grief and loss and marriage and sex.’ This is extremely patronising. The greatest YA fiction books contain aspects of real life: the unpleasant bits and the adult bits and words that would be censored on TV pre-watershed. I would advise any teen over 13 to read Special by Bella Bathurst, Junk by Melvin Burgess and Love Lessons by David Belbin. These books are far more enriching and relatable, even though Fletcher may consider the content inappropriate.
The authorial voice dominates the novel and it feels that Fletcher’s concern for how she comes across to her YouTube fans dictates what she writes. 27 year old Evie’s reputation is snow white. She has never been kissed until she meets Vincent, would never go further than kissing on a first date and is even concerned about going for a walk with her date past 8pm in case she’s tired for work the next day – until she realises the next day is Saturday. Phew! At one point in the novel, Evie and Vincent ‘had been having a lovely day by the pond in a nearby park, which was filled with birds and old people.’ The highlight of the day out is when Vincent trips over a goose and falls into the pond – what a wholesome hoot!
In the world of Evie Snow, alcohol equals drunk behaviour and is therefore unacceptable. As a man in his early twenties, Vincent would behave ‘like a parent at a children’s birthday party’ to ensure that his friends behaved. ‘he would watch his friends run off to the dance floor and inevitably embarrass themselves before the evening was out while he’d wait at the bar and drink as few of the tiny bottles of overpriced Coke as he could without getting chucked out.’
When Sonny Shine is drunk while singing at a school party and wears Evie’s dress onto the stage (a tiring attempt at humour), Fletcher is at pains to point out that ‘Evie and Vincent were more than open-minded enough to accept Sonny wholeheartedly had he naturally felt more comfortable in women’s clothing, but seeing as this was unintentional (thanks to the amount of alcohol coursing through his bloodstream), they both felt embarrassment flush to their cheeks.’ A bit convoluted for an unnecessary authorial panic.
Similarly, Evie names her daughter Isla after a much older female servant she seemed to vaguely know, but who enlightened her with her openness about pansexuality. They don’t stay in touch when Isla is sacked by her mother for kissing a woman, but Evie admires her confidence in her own sexuality enough to name her child after her. In fact the whole section on different sexualities – Vincent is bisexual, Isla is pansexual, Evie is heterosexual and Eddie is homosexual - is written clumsily as an apparent attempt from the author to be inclusive. In Fletcher’s classic unsubtle style, instead of introducing this aspect of the characters’ lives gradually, by introducing partners or making it part of the interweaving narrative, the reader is treated to several pages of the authorial voice explaining each of the characters’ romantic experiences.
It is a book where good behaviour is rewarded (in the afterlife) and bad behaviour is not: Evie always tries to be ‘the best version of herself’ and is rewarded for this with eternal bliss. Vincent’s wife Cynthia Petal is desperate for a family, she commits adultery resulting in pregnancy and therefore is punished by losing the baby. It is a world where there is right, wrong and no in between and ultimately I do not feel that this is a helpful message for young readers (something Fletcher is always at pains to express her enthusiasm for in her YouTube videos).
Aside from the obvious comparison to regurgitated fairy tales, the author also seems to be trying to create an updated version of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights - with Vincent Winter as the smouldering dark haired Heathcliff who Evie (Cathy) loves but can’t allow herself to have and Jim Summer as the kindly but lacking-in-passion Edgar Linton who she marries. Only in the afterlife can peace be found for the lovers…it’s been done better before.
Unfortunately I fear Bronte would be spinning in her grave were she to read On the Other Side and I think perhaps the author should try and hone her writing skills (show, not tell! Calm down with the verbs, ‘said is often better than ‘growled’!) before attempting her (already threatened) second novel.
I bought this book out of curiosity as I had watched some of the author’s YouTube videos where she had discussed writing and publishing.
The premise of this ‘magic realism’ novel appears to be an exploration of relationships - both romantic and familial - with the protagonist, Evie Snow, going on a journey in the afterlife to find her own ‘personal heaven.’ To unlock the door to her heaven, she must revisit moments from her past and visit loved ones in the present to answer three secrets that are preventing her from passing on. The book is split into three sections for each of the secrets, and chapters from her life are interspersed with chapters from the present.
The book does not appear to be set in any particular time period and there does not appear to be any difference between the world when Evie is 27 and the world when she dies at age 82. This is extremely problematic for several reasons.
Firstly, Evie’s outlook on life, her antiquated relationship with her parents and the language used to describe them (‘they were a terribly smart match,’ ‘a terribly successful law firm,’ ‘terribly sinister’ – terribly terrible) suggest that the book is set in a historical period, perhaps at the turn of the 20th century. As a 27 year old woman, Evie is so concerned with the views of her overbearing parents, their threat of an arranged marriage and the prospect of being cut off from her inheritance that (despite being able to live independently if she really wants to) she decides to end a relationship that she is happy in to meet their demands. The office that she works in has the misogynistic feel of the 1950s, her boss sexually assaults her on a daily basis and she feels she is helpless in the situation. It is not clear how this adds to or is of relevance to the story and it is quickly forgotten about by Fletcher. At the same time, this is a world (presumably Britain) with MacDonalds, where men wear skinny jeans and all sexual preferences appear to be accepted, suggesting a present day utopia.
Being unable to place the events in any time period is distracting and confusing for the reader and I am unable to understand why the author (or editor) thought this would work. It seems to me that perhaps the author did not want to undertake the research necessary to set the novel in a historical context and the lack of structure that this results in becomes tedious and frustrating.
The characters in the novel are two dimensional and clichéd. Their silly names (Evie Snow, Vincent Winter, Colin Autumn, August Summer, Grayson Pear, Sonny Shine) are cartoonish and the similes these names allow the author to create are predictable. The protagonist is a childish, self-absorbed goody two-shoes with ‘chocolate brown eyes’ (mentioned on pages two, eight, and ninety-two) and ‘fluffy caramel’ blonde curly hair (mentioned goodness knows how many times). She likes sweets and drinking tea, she wears a green coat and has a boyfriend with dark hair, green eyes and an interest in music. Viewers of the author’s YouTube channel will recognise her in the book as the character Evie and will recognise Fletcher’s boyfriend Pete as the character Vincent. This seems bizarrely narcissistic. It is quite cringe-inducing, especially when Fletcher references her YouTube fan base (‘I am a…hopeful’) and includes a mixed up version of both her initials and her boyfriend’s initials which are scrawled on Evie Snow’s door (‘CB luvs PF’). It’s a bit too contrived and I wonder if this was a request of Sphere to help the book appeal to her existing fans and therefore generate more revenue. Or perhaps the author took the advice ‘write about what you know’ a bit too literally.
It is clear that Fletcher wishes to portray Vincent Winter as a ruggedly handsome, impossibly kind romantic and that she intends for the reader to warm to him quickly. His first conversations with Evie struck me as creepy. With ‘quivering’ eyebrows he says things like ‘hello sweetie’ and ‘you’ve got a twinkle in your eyes’. It brought to mind a predatory old man, rather than a 28 year old harmless flirt.
The decisions that 27 year old Evie makes in the book are not explained in any depth. She decides to bow down to her parents’ demands once she realises that her 20 year old brother is gay and that his inevitable disinheritance means she will need to support him financially. This is bonkers. They’re both adults living in a seemingly accepting modern (except for in the workplace) city.
I am amazed that On the Other Side has been published seemingly with no editing. Sphere are clearly seeing this as purely a money making exercise based on the author’s online fan-base, rather than investing in creating something readable. This does a disservice to both the author and reader, the writing is so bad in places that it completely distracts from the story.
The author seems to have a fascination with characters’ eyebrows which are continually ‘twitching’, ‘furrowing’, ‘flickering’, ‘burrowing’, ‘knitting together’, ‘wrinkled’, ‘rising’ and even ‘quivering’. They are ‘bushy’, ‘slender’, ‘wildly untamed’ and at one point are compared to a dog’s ears. The repetition and the strange choice of adjectives become extremely irritating early on.
The clumsy use of weather metaphors reads like GCSE coursework. On page 108, ‘neither [character] could have known that this was the calm before the storm.’ On page 183, ‘like all storms, this was just the calm that came before.’ Yawn. The tree grown from Evie’s heart only bears fruit after a storm because Evie would ‘always make the best out of a bad situation.’
In contrast to this, when I actually thought I was reading a slightly more original metaphor on page 212, this turns out to be literal…’and in that moment, all her drawings turned to glass and fell from the walls, scattering around her, lost for ever.’ This is a moment of ‘magic realism’ which feels completely out of place in the book and only adds more clunk to the confused story.
The book is young adult fiction, not women’s fiction as the author has described it online. The book should be aimed at 10-12/13 year olds, I’m not sure that anyone older than this would get any enjoyment from it. The author has stated that she feels the book should only be read by ages 16 and upwards as ‘there are some swear words. There is a lead up to a sex scene but no actual sex scene and then there’s some adult themes like grief and loss and marriage and sex.’ This is extremely patronising. The greatest YA fiction books contain aspects of real life: the unpleasant bits and the adult bits and words that would be censored on TV pre-watershed. I would advise any teen over 13 to read Special by Bella Bathurst, Junk by Melvin Burgess and Love Lessons by David Belbin. These books are far more enriching and relatable, even though Fletcher may consider the content inappropriate.
The authorial voice dominates the novel and it feels that Fletcher’s concern for how she comes across to her YouTube fans dictates what she writes. 27 year old Evie’s reputation is snow white. She has never been kissed until she meets Vincent, would never go further than kissing on a first date and is even concerned about going for a walk with her date past 8pm in case she’s tired for work the next day – until she realises the next day is Saturday. Phew! At one point in the novel, Evie and Vincent ‘had been having a lovely day by the pond in a nearby park, which was filled with birds and old people.’ The highlight of the day out is when Vincent trips over a goose and falls into the pond – what a wholesome hoot!
In the world of Evie Snow, alcohol equals drunk behaviour and is therefore unacceptable. As a man in his early twenties, Vincent would behave ‘like a parent at a children’s birthday party’ to ensure that his friends behaved. ‘he would watch his friends run off to the dance floor and inevitably embarrass themselves before the evening was out while he’d wait at the bar and drink as few of the tiny bottles of overpriced Coke as he could without getting chucked out.’
When Sonny Shine is drunk while singing at a school party and wears Evie’s dress onto the stage (a tiring attempt at humour), Fletcher is at pains to point out that ‘Evie and Vincent were more than open-minded enough to accept Sonny wholeheartedly had he naturally felt more comfortable in women’s clothing, but seeing as this was unintentional (thanks to the amount of alcohol coursing through his bloodstream), they both felt embarrassment flush to their cheeks.’ A bit convoluted for an unnecessary authorial panic.
Similarly, Evie names her daughter Isla after a much older female servant she seemed to vaguely know, but who enlightened her with her openness about pansexuality. They don’t stay in touch when Isla is sacked by her mother for kissing a woman, but Evie admires her confidence in her own sexuality enough to name her child after her. In fact the whole section on different sexualities – Vincent is bisexual, Isla is pansexual, Evie is heterosexual and Eddie is homosexual - is written clumsily as an apparent attempt from the author to be inclusive. In Fletcher’s classic unsubtle style, instead of introducing this aspect of the characters’ lives gradually, by introducing partners or making it part of the interweaving narrative, the reader is treated to several pages of the authorial voice explaining each of the characters’ romantic experiences.
It is a book where good behaviour is rewarded (in the afterlife) and bad behaviour is not: Evie always tries to be ‘the best version of herself’ and is rewarded for this with eternal bliss. Vincent’s wife Cynthia Petal is desperate for a family, she commits adultery resulting in pregnancy and therefore is punished by losing the baby. It is a world where there is right, wrong and no in between and ultimately I do not feel that this is a helpful message for young readers (something Fletcher is always at pains to express her enthusiasm for in her YouTube videos).
Aside from the obvious comparison to regurgitated fairy tales, the author also seems to be trying to create an updated version of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights - with Vincent Winter as the smouldering dark haired Heathcliff who Evie (Cathy) loves but can’t allow herself to have and Jim Summer as the kindly but lacking-in-passion Edgar Linton who she marries. Only in the afterlife can peace be found for the lovers…it’s been done better before.
Unfortunately I fear Bronte would be spinning in her grave were she to read On the Other Side and I think perhaps the author should try and hone her writing skills (show, not tell! Calm down with the verbs, ‘said is often better than ‘growled’!) before attempting her (already threatened) second novel.
April 11, 2017
This is a very hard review for me to write. Mainly because I'm such a big fan of Carrie's and it actually pains me that I didn't enjoy this book more and also because I was so excited about this book and ended up disappointed. The thing is, the issues I had with it are things that probably won't/wouldn't bother other people and I'm fully aware of that. I am also aware that my opinions on this story are probably also affected by the fact that this isn't the kind of story I usually enjoy anyway which I probably should've realised going into it. None of my comments about this book are necessarily bad things (depending on who you ask) but they're things I feel could be improved on.
The fact that Evie and Vincent were very clearly Carrie and Pete was very distracting. This wouldn't be a problem for someone who had never seen any of their videos or who didn't know anything about them but as someone who has been a fan of theirs for a while and watches their videos fairly religiously, it bothered me. It is a very common thing for authors to take inspiration from people they know and to take certain traits of their own and insert them into their characters and that is absolutely fine. I have no problem with that at all but it has to be slightly more subtle or at least not done to that extent. Evie didn't just have a few traits of Carrie's, she was Carrie. Same with Vincent and Pete. In fact, the only difference I can remember between Evie and Carrie was that Evie couldn't sing. What made it worse for me was the fact that it seemed like Evie was a fairly bland version of Carrie. She had no real flaws or faults and the only ones she did have were like those fake flaws that people use in job interviews when asked what their weaknesses are like 'oh, well I sometimes work too hard' or 'I'm too punctual' or 'I care too much'. It made Evie feel like a Mary Sue and it made me find the character irritating. Vincent was the same.
The writing itself was fine and showed promise but I felt like there was a lot more telling rather than showing. Switching that around is a skill that I think takes some fine tuning, though, and can definitely be improved upon in further writing.
The magical realism didn't always work for me. I love magical realism but I feel like there needs to be at least some consistency to how it works in the context of the story. If the magical realism in this story had just been the afterlife and the way she travels to and from the real world to deliver her messages then I probably would've been more on board with it but there was more than that and it seemed very randomly inserted. There was no prior indication that any of those magical things could be done until they sort of suddenly happened in the story and it took me a moment to grasp them each time they happened. I initially thought they were being used as metaphors but then it turned out that no those things had actually happened.
I'm aware that Carrie has officially stated that she deliberately didn't set it at any one time/year/century because she wanted the story to be more universal and to be able to be applied to any time. I can certainly appreciate that but the lack of a time period was confusing at times because it made certain things feel strange. The places they went to and things that existed and were going on around them made it feel like it was set in modern times. However, the thought processes and the views held by many people felt incredibly antiquated. I know they helped to drive the plot along but, in fairness, the plot itself didn't work for me. This is down to personal tastes but I just couldn't grasp what was happening.
WARNING: THIS PARAGRAPH HAS SPOILERS, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THEM SKIP AHEAD:
Evie's parents gave her an ultimatum. She could live on her own and work for a year but if she hadn't progressed in her chosen field by the time that year was up she had to come back and marry who they told her she had to marry. Not only do her parents buy her an apartment, she manages to get a job at a newspaper drawing cartoons. I'm with you so far but if Evie is so determined to do what she wants to do and not live under her parents and their ridiculous rules (which is fair enough) then why does she never attempt to do anything for herself? She could find her own job and her own place. Once she loses the job at the paper, why doesn't she find another job while she continues to look for something to do with drawing? Yes, it sucks to not be able to do exactly the line of work you want to do but if you're that adamant about wanting to do things on your own then that's what you would do. The ultimatum she ends up getting is absurd. If she disobeys her parents and her brother comes out to them they'll both be disinherited. Yeah, ok, and? They're both adults. They could both move out and find jobs and take care of themselves. It makes no sense as to why that would then get Evie to leave the love of her life and marry someone else (who of course is madly in love with her anyway, even though she doesn't feel the same way). The only character I felt true sympathy for was Jim. The poor guy was in love with Evie, spent his entire life knowing that she didn't love him back (at least not in the same way), and then probably spent his afterlife alone because Evie was busy spending hers with Vincent. I also felt sorry for Cynthia Petal (oh, yeah, the names were all a bit too sickeningly sweet for my liking too but, I digress) and felt annoyed that of course Vincent couldn't have met another lovely woman who he spent a happy life with, no, she had to be 'horrible' and do 'bad' things so that no one would care about her and feel bad that she also will be spending the afterlife alone.
END OF SPOILERS.
All the characters, in fact, are far too crystal clear in being either good or bad for my liking. There are no shades of grey, there's only black and white. That is not realistic and I'm not a fan and have never been a fan of such a bland worldview. I like depth. I like characters to be three dimensional. I like them to have positives and negatives. You know why? Because that's real. That's interesting.
I nearly rounded up to 3 stars because the acknowledgement at the end was lovely and because I felt bad giving it a lower rating considering how much I really do like Carrie but that would've been dishonest because unfortunately this story wasn't to my tastes and I didn't enjoy it that much. It was a 2.5 because the story was fairly sweet, I was entertained, there were some elements and ideas in it that I really liked (the doors being the way to get to the other side and things like that), and I do see a lot of promise and potential for Carrie to improve her skills and her writing in future books.
The fact that Evie and Vincent were very clearly Carrie and Pete was very distracting. This wouldn't be a problem for someone who had never seen any of their videos or who didn't know anything about them but as someone who has been a fan of theirs for a while and watches their videos fairly religiously, it bothered me. It is a very common thing for authors to take inspiration from people they know and to take certain traits of their own and insert them into their characters and that is absolutely fine. I have no problem with that at all but it has to be slightly more subtle or at least not done to that extent. Evie didn't just have a few traits of Carrie's, she was Carrie. Same with Vincent and Pete. In fact, the only difference I can remember between Evie and Carrie was that Evie couldn't sing. What made it worse for me was the fact that it seemed like Evie was a fairly bland version of Carrie. She had no real flaws or faults and the only ones she did have were like those fake flaws that people use in job interviews when asked what their weaknesses are like 'oh, well I sometimes work too hard' or 'I'm too punctual' or 'I care too much'. It made Evie feel like a Mary Sue and it made me find the character irritating. Vincent was the same.
The writing itself was fine and showed promise but I felt like there was a lot more telling rather than showing. Switching that around is a skill that I think takes some fine tuning, though, and can definitely be improved upon in further writing.
The magical realism didn't always work for me. I love magical realism but I feel like there needs to be at least some consistency to how it works in the context of the story. If the magical realism in this story had just been the afterlife and the way she travels to and from the real world to deliver her messages then I probably would've been more on board with it but there was more than that and it seemed very randomly inserted. There was no prior indication that any of those magical things could be done until they sort of suddenly happened in the story and it took me a moment to grasp them each time they happened. I initially thought they were being used as metaphors but then it turned out that no those things had actually happened.
I'm aware that Carrie has officially stated that she deliberately didn't set it at any one time/year/century because she wanted the story to be more universal and to be able to be applied to any time. I can certainly appreciate that but the lack of a time period was confusing at times because it made certain things feel strange. The places they went to and things that existed and were going on around them made it feel like it was set in modern times. However, the thought processes and the views held by many people felt incredibly antiquated. I know they helped to drive the plot along but, in fairness, the plot itself didn't work for me. This is down to personal tastes but I just couldn't grasp what was happening.
WARNING: THIS PARAGRAPH HAS SPOILERS, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THEM SKIP AHEAD:
Evie's parents gave her an ultimatum. She could live on her own and work for a year but if she hadn't progressed in her chosen field by the time that year was up she had to come back and marry who they told her she had to marry. Not only do her parents buy her an apartment, she manages to get a job at a newspaper drawing cartoons. I'm with you so far but if Evie is so determined to do what she wants to do and not live under her parents and their ridiculous rules (which is fair enough) then why does she never attempt to do anything for herself? She could find her own job and her own place. Once she loses the job at the paper, why doesn't she find another job while she continues to look for something to do with drawing? Yes, it sucks to not be able to do exactly the line of work you want to do but if you're that adamant about wanting to do things on your own then that's what you would do. The ultimatum she ends up getting is absurd. If she disobeys her parents and her brother comes out to them they'll both be disinherited. Yeah, ok, and? They're both adults. They could both move out and find jobs and take care of themselves. It makes no sense as to why that would then get Evie to leave the love of her life and marry someone else (who of course is madly in love with her anyway, even though she doesn't feel the same way). The only character I felt true sympathy for was Jim. The poor guy was in love with Evie, spent his entire life knowing that she didn't love him back (at least not in the same way), and then probably spent his afterlife alone because Evie was busy spending hers with Vincent. I also felt sorry for Cynthia Petal (oh, yeah, the names were all a bit too sickeningly sweet for my liking too but, I digress) and felt annoyed that of course Vincent couldn't have met another lovely woman who he spent a happy life with, no, she had to be 'horrible' and do 'bad' things so that no one would care about her and feel bad that she also will be spending the afterlife alone.
END OF SPOILERS.
All the characters, in fact, are far too crystal clear in being either good or bad for my liking. There are no shades of grey, there's only black and white. That is not realistic and I'm not a fan and have never been a fan of such a bland worldview. I like depth. I like characters to be three dimensional. I like them to have positives and negatives. You know why? Because that's real. That's interesting.
I nearly rounded up to 3 stars because the acknowledgement at the end was lovely and because I felt bad giving it a lower rating considering how much I really do like Carrie but that would've been dishonest because unfortunately this story wasn't to my tastes and I didn't enjoy it that much. It was a 2.5 because the story was fairly sweet, I was entertained, there were some elements and ideas in it that I really liked (the doors being the way to get to the other side and things like that), and I do see a lot of promise and potential for Carrie to improve her skills and her writing in future books.
October 12, 2016
I only finished this book because I bought it. I wish I didn't.
I normally wouldn't read something like this, but i've been a viewer of Carries channel for a long time and I really like her as a person so I thought this would be like my dream come true.
I loved Carries heartwarming All I Know Now, her first book, a nonfiction one. It was written so well, and her advice was really good.
This book starts horribly. Evie, the most perfect human being to ever exist, has died and can't get to heaven. The beginning is so slow and annoying I almost stopped reading after it. So, Evie has to reveal her biggest secrets before she can get to heaven. The book is split to three parts.
We go back to Evies past, to the 50-60's, where people wear skinny jeans and have mobile phones and all different sexualities are accepted. Wait, what??
This book is not set to any time period which is just absolutely stupid. Either state that this is a freaking alternative dimension or just write historical time periods.
The magic realism was done awfully, period. I have nothing else to say about that.
The quality of the writing was fanfiction writted by preteen. The main character was a perfect little angel who never did wrong, her love interest was a romantic handsome violist and their entire love story is ripped from a Nicholas Sparks novel (meaning so many cliches!).
The character were predictable and boring, and they were all different stereotypes. Evie-the goody two-shoes. Vincent-the handsome sweet prince. Jim-'the good guy'. Eleanor Snow - the villian, who just is evil, without any explanation. Grayson Pear - the douche. The Little One -plot device.
Also the whole bird thing was awful. First of all, that's animal abuse, second of all how was that bird still alive in their present day??
The book had three non-straight characters. Isla, a pansexual lady thats mentioned in like 4 pages but Evie decides to name her daughter after her. Eddie, Evies gay brother who apparently can't survive on his own without family money?! And lastly Vincent, Evies perfect prince is bisexual. I think that representation is important, but I feel like Carrie just wanted to show that she is inclusive. As a straight person she doesn't write her non-straight characters well and I don't want to see the day when her said second fiction novel will be published, because that apparently is about a WOC, and I'm very sure Carrie will not be able to write her well.
This book is FILLED with cliches and bad description, and it has very little originality.
It seems like Carrie can't write about original characters. Evie, the main character is literally herself, Vincent is her boyfriend, and all the other characters are basically just stereotypes from movies and books. Nothing original.
The telling was similar to a Disney movie. And as the writer is like the biggest fan of Disney, this isn't a suprise.
I feel like Sphere just published this without editing, it's that bad.
DO NOT BUY THIS. If you want to read it, burrow it or get it from the library but dont buy it. Or read. Well that's your call.
I normally wouldn't read something like this, but i've been a viewer of Carries channel for a long time and I really like her as a person so I thought this would be like my dream come true.
I loved Carries heartwarming All I Know Now, her first book, a nonfiction one. It was written so well, and her advice was really good.
This book starts horribly. Evie, the most perfect human being to ever exist, has died and can't get to heaven. The beginning is so slow and annoying I almost stopped reading after it. So, Evie has to reveal her biggest secrets before she can get to heaven. The book is split to three parts.
We go back to Evies past, to the 50-60's, where people wear skinny jeans and have mobile phones and all different sexualities are accepted. Wait, what??
This book is not set to any time period which is just absolutely stupid. Either state that this is a freaking alternative dimension or just write historical time periods.
The magic realism was done awfully, period. I have nothing else to say about that.
The quality of the writing was fanfiction writted by preteen. The main character was a perfect little angel who never did wrong, her love interest was a romantic handsome violist and their entire love story is ripped from a Nicholas Sparks novel (meaning so many cliches!).
The character were predictable and boring, and they were all different stereotypes. Evie-the goody two-shoes. Vincent-the handsome sweet prince. Jim-'the good guy'. Eleanor Snow - the villian, who just is evil, without any explanation. Grayson Pear - the douche. The Little One -plot device.
Also the whole bird thing was awful. First of all, that's animal abuse, second of all how was that bird still alive in their present day??
The book had three non-straight characters. Isla, a pansexual lady thats mentioned in like 4 pages but Evie decides to name her daughter after her. Eddie, Evies gay brother who apparently can't survive on his own without family money?! And lastly Vincent, Evies perfect prince is bisexual. I think that representation is important, but I feel like Carrie just wanted to show that she is inclusive. As a straight person she doesn't write her non-straight characters well and I don't want to see the day when her said second fiction novel will be published, because that apparently is about a WOC, and I'm very sure Carrie will not be able to write her well.
This book is FILLED with cliches and bad description, and it has very little originality.
It seems like Carrie can't write about original characters. Evie, the main character is literally herself, Vincent is her boyfriend, and all the other characters are basically just stereotypes from movies and books. Nothing original.
The telling was similar to a Disney movie. And as the writer is like the biggest fan of Disney, this isn't a suprise.
I feel like Sphere just published this without editing, it's that bad.
DO NOT BUY THIS. If you want to read it, burrow it or get it from the library but dont buy it. Or read. Well that's your call.
June 5, 2016
Carrie's writing is a lot stronger than I thought it would be! I was pretty impressed with that, especially considering her age and the fact it's her first book. Obviously I can't say anything about the plot, but I think that a few things were slightly too romanticised. It comes across as very sweet though so I think it will sit with a younger audience perfectly. Oh and there were quite a few typos in the book that I hope get cleared up before the official publication.
January 2, 2017
3.5 stars. This was a great first book of 2017. Lovely and whimsical. I'm a big fan of Carrie and so much of herself shone through in this story. If you're looking for an uplifting read, try this one!
August 1, 2016
Having recently completed a degree in English Literature, on Monday I went along to the first signing of Carrie Hope Fletcher’s On The Other Side, this being the first signing I was able to attend since Jacqueline Wilson as a child. Not only was I excited to meet someone whose online content I have followed for years, but I was also intrigued as to what I would find reading her first novel. Over the year leading up to its releases, Carrie gave enough hints to make me curious, whilst still entering into it with no clue what to expect.
Over the course of my degree I was often required to read not out of pleasure, but out of necessity, either to complete an assignment or to simply make it though that weeks’ lecture. And so, after coming to the end of those three years I’ve found it hard picking up a book and reading for the simple joy of it. However, upon getting to the train station to wait for my train after the signing, I was compelled to start reading out of plain curiosity and, over the next 24 hours, found myself unable to stop.
Unlike many who will probably read this book, I didn’t find myself routing for the central couple. Instead, all I cared about was Evie Snow’s positive, hopeful outlook on life and death, always trying to find happiness where it was possible, making the best out of bad situations and not giving up in the face of adversity. To me, Carrie highlights in a beautifully simplistic way the joys to be found in everyday life, as fleeting as they may be. As well as demonstrating the difficulties one may face no matter their origins, choices or goals, showing how every walk of life has its hardships, no one more significant than another, but all able to be overcome one way or another. In this regard, I found On The Other Side truly heartwarming to read.
One element I personally found most significant in the current social climate is Carrie’s representation of LGBT identity throughout the novel. So often in novels of this genre I find this kind of representation incredibly lacking, however I was pleasantly surprised to find openly bisexual, pansexual and gay characters who aren’t defined solely by their sexuality, or molded to fit particular stereotypes. Instead their sexualities are addressed respectfully and as legitimately as any other heterosexual character.
My only criticism for the novel would be the occasional awkward structuring of sentences, however I feel this became far less common the further I went into the story. Additionally, as this is Carrie’s first novel, I feel this doesn’t truly take much away from her story overall. Instead, I believe the extent to which I felt Carrie’s personality radiating through her writing to be far more significant to the touching and sincere nature of the story.
Over the course of my degree I was often required to read not out of pleasure, but out of necessity, either to complete an assignment or to simply make it though that weeks’ lecture. And so, after coming to the end of those three years I’ve found it hard picking up a book and reading for the simple joy of it. However, upon getting to the train station to wait for my train after the signing, I was compelled to start reading out of plain curiosity and, over the next 24 hours, found myself unable to stop.
Unlike many who will probably read this book, I didn’t find myself routing for the central couple. Instead, all I cared about was Evie Snow’s positive, hopeful outlook on life and death, always trying to find happiness where it was possible, making the best out of bad situations and not giving up in the face of adversity. To me, Carrie highlights in a beautifully simplistic way the joys to be found in everyday life, as fleeting as they may be. As well as demonstrating the difficulties one may face no matter their origins, choices or goals, showing how every walk of life has its hardships, no one more significant than another, but all able to be overcome one way or another. In this regard, I found On The Other Side truly heartwarming to read.
One element I personally found most significant in the current social climate is Carrie’s representation of LGBT identity throughout the novel. So often in novels of this genre I find this kind of representation incredibly lacking, however I was pleasantly surprised to find openly bisexual, pansexual and gay characters who aren’t defined solely by their sexuality, or molded to fit particular stereotypes. Instead their sexualities are addressed respectfully and as legitimately as any other heterosexual character.
My only criticism for the novel would be the occasional awkward structuring of sentences, however I feel this became far less common the further I went into the story. Additionally, as this is Carrie’s first novel, I feel this doesn’t truly take much away from her story overall. Instead, I believe the extent to which I felt Carrie’s personality radiating through her writing to be far more significant to the touching and sincere nature of the story.
March 26, 2017
The last three words of this book were "At long last" and honestly, that is how I felt finally finishing it. The idea behind this book was cute, but dear god was it poorly written. I struggled so much to get through it.
Here are a fun list of things that I really did not enjoy about this book:
1. That stupid "I won't become a hopeless, I'll be a hopeful" line like excuse me how dare you attack me like this I cringed so much at that line honestly y'all
2. What was the time period??????????
3. Casually mentioning Pete- oh sorry, I mean Vincent, was bisexual and then just completely ignoring that for the rest of the book
4. Y'all that fruit tree actually made me sick all goodbye
5. WHY WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS JUST CARRIE AND PETE??? There are pictures of Carrie where she was like "I was cosplaying as Evie guyzz" when Evie is literally her??? They wear the same clothes, they're the same people???? And every time somebody described Evie as being something, kind or a bit weird or something, she never actually did anything to back that claim up??? I'm so mad at this book guys omfg
6. I hate everybody's surnames, imagine trying to be so quirky you name a character Sonny Shines omfg
imma pretend i never read this book ktnxbai
Here are a fun list of things that I really did not enjoy about this book:
1. That stupid "I won't become a hopeless, I'll be a hopeful" line like excuse me how dare you attack me like this I cringed so much at that line honestly y'all
2. What was the time period??????????
3. Casually mentioning Pete- oh sorry, I mean Vincent, was bisexual and then just completely ignoring that for the rest of the book
4. Y'all that fruit tree actually made me sick all goodbye
5. WHY WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS JUST CARRIE AND PETE??? There are pictures of Carrie where she was like "I was cosplaying as Evie guyzz" when Evie is literally her??? They wear the same clothes, they're the same people???? And every time somebody described Evie as being something, kind or a bit weird or something, she never actually did anything to back that claim up??? I'm so mad at this book guys omfg
6. I hate everybody's surnames, imagine trying to be so quirky you name a character Sonny Shines omfg
imma pretend i never read this book ktnxbai
February 5, 2017
I actually stopped reading this at page 112. There were too many niggling things for me. I'm really disappointed because I met Carrie at YALC and she was lovely, we talked about her being an auntie to Buzz and she signed her other book for me (admittedly, I haven't read that one).
I'm going to come out and say this: I think Carrie's writing suffers from the same issue that Giovanna's does. Because of her experience in the West End, because of her successful YouTube channel, because of who her brother is ... the editors took a back seat, a quieter role. There were spell checks, sure, but there were a lot of inconsistencies and lack of research present, contradictory scenes and confusing messages just in that first third of the book that any editor worth their salt would fix (unless they knew copies would sell because this is a Carrie Fletcher book? Which I honestly think does Carrie - and Giovanna with her novels - a huge disservice. Imagine how good this book could have been with a little finessing. Is Carrie going to look back on this story and cringe when - if - her craft does improve?)
I will say this for the novel: it has an interesting premise. I like the idea that when you pass over, you have the opportunity to apologise to those you have wronged to get entrance to Heaven, or else you must wait in purgatory.
But it was confusing. It starts with Evie, the protagonist, waking in her old apartment block, and discovering what it represents, how to move forward. Her old landlord talks her through the transition, and asks what she needs to forgive herself for. She tells him 'her secrets', and divulges the biggest one. He has no idea who or what she's talking about, and reacts accordingly. However, at the point I left this book, the landlord had met and interacted with this person, and helped him bring a Christmas tree into her apartment. Why did he not remember, when he knew so much else?
I thought as well, with the premise, and Evie stating that there are three secrets, we would see them each played out, in the past and with her resolving them in the present. She said that she first needed to speak to her son ... but then we spend several chapters with Evie and her first love, Vincent. I got sick of waiting for the book to return to the son, wondering when the narrative would leave Vincent and explain why her son is relevant. It became apparent to me a few pages before I quit that this was a story about Evie and Vincent, and the premise I had fallen in love with was a secondary topic in which to bring relevance to their love story, though it would have existed better on its own, without me impatient to get on with the crux of the novel as outlined in the opening chapters.
The story is third-person, but told from Evie's perspective. Mostly. Every so often, the narrative will switch to give insight into Vincent's feelings and motivations, and then back to Evie's. It's a common mistake with new authors, but one that should be avoided because I did not care about Vincent's feelings. He was not my protagonist. And having those interjections put me off of him as a love interest. It would be much better to stick to Evie as the only narrator.
There's a lot of instalove between Evie and Vincent too, which felt forced. There's one point where Evie and Vincent are talking on their second date, and she says "I know how I feel" and honestly ... despite waxing lyrical about Vincent and his floppy black hair and so-dark-purple-it-looks-like-black coat, I didn't feel that attraction. The descriptions of falling in love shouldn't centre on their outfits, but on the sensations of goosebumps rippling into life along someone's skin, the thrumming of their heart speeding up in this person's presence, causing a strong yet pleasant heat in their chest. They should tremble, there should be electricity. There was none. I was not sold on anything more than lust and initial attraction. That's disappointing in a romance novel.
It felt timeless, in a bad way. You could make the argument that Heaven's waiting room was timeless and took the best of every person at each stage in their life and that could be the thing that urges them to find their Heaven but I'm not referring to the difference between the waiting room and the flashbacks. I'm talking about how her boss sexually assaults her every day, and she's hired to be a cartoonist but never gets her work picked (despite it being brilliant) yet her boyfriend has been bisexual and they can eat take out burger in a busy train station in the busking slot. What world is this? Is it archaic and patriarchal or modern and accepting? It's very confused, with not enough detail to really set the scene.
One of my final straws, just before I gave up, may seem small but to me it's relevant. They go to feed bread to ducks at the park. Evie claims ducks are her favourite animals. But bread expands in ducks and birds stomachs and can often kill them, or make them deeply unwell and they should have a diet of seed, berries, worms or fish. How can you actively hurt an animal you claim to love? If you love it, learn its diet. Geez.
Sorry, Carrie. You're lovely. But this book is poorly written, and I cannot carry on. I almost never put a book down, and not this early, but I'm doing too much editing in my head that someone else should have done before publishing.
I'm going to come out and say this: I think Carrie's writing suffers from the same issue that Giovanna's does. Because of her experience in the West End, because of her successful YouTube channel, because of who her brother is ... the editors took a back seat, a quieter role. There were spell checks, sure, but there were a lot of inconsistencies and lack of research present, contradictory scenes and confusing messages just in that first third of the book that any editor worth their salt would fix (unless they knew copies would sell because this is a Carrie Fletcher book? Which I honestly think does Carrie - and Giovanna with her novels - a huge disservice. Imagine how good this book could have been with a little finessing. Is Carrie going to look back on this story and cringe when - if - her craft does improve?)
I will say this for the novel: it has an interesting premise. I like the idea that when you pass over, you have the opportunity to apologise to those you have wronged to get entrance to Heaven, or else you must wait in purgatory.
But it was confusing. It starts with Evie, the protagonist, waking in her old apartment block, and discovering what it represents, how to move forward. Her old landlord talks her through the transition, and asks what she needs to forgive herself for. She tells him 'her secrets', and divulges the biggest one. He has no idea who or what she's talking about, and reacts accordingly. However, at the point I left this book, the landlord had met and interacted with this person, and helped him bring a Christmas tree into her apartment. Why did he not remember, when he knew so much else?
I thought as well, with the premise, and Evie stating that there are three secrets, we would see them each played out, in the past and with her resolving them in the present. She said that she first needed to speak to her son ... but then we spend several chapters with Evie and her first love, Vincent. I got sick of waiting for the book to return to the son, wondering when the narrative would leave Vincent and explain why her son is relevant. It became apparent to me a few pages before I quit that this was a story about Evie and Vincent, and the premise I had fallen in love with was a secondary topic in which to bring relevance to their love story, though it would have existed better on its own, without me impatient to get on with the crux of the novel as outlined in the opening chapters.
The story is third-person, but told from Evie's perspective. Mostly. Every so often, the narrative will switch to give insight into Vincent's feelings and motivations, and then back to Evie's. It's a common mistake with new authors, but one that should be avoided because I did not care about Vincent's feelings. He was not my protagonist. And having those interjections put me off of him as a love interest. It would be much better to stick to Evie as the only narrator.
There's a lot of instalove between Evie and Vincent too, which felt forced. There's one point where Evie and Vincent are talking on their second date, and she says "I know how I feel" and honestly ... despite waxing lyrical about Vincent and his floppy black hair and so-dark-purple-it-looks-like-black coat, I didn't feel that attraction. The descriptions of falling in love shouldn't centre on their outfits, but on the sensations of goosebumps rippling into life along someone's skin, the thrumming of their heart speeding up in this person's presence, causing a strong yet pleasant heat in their chest. They should tremble, there should be electricity. There was none. I was not sold on anything more than lust and initial attraction. That's disappointing in a romance novel.
It felt timeless, in a bad way. You could make the argument that Heaven's waiting room was timeless and took the best of every person at each stage in their life and that could be the thing that urges them to find their Heaven but I'm not referring to the difference between the waiting room and the flashbacks. I'm talking about how her boss sexually assaults her every day, and she's hired to be a cartoonist but never gets her work picked (despite it being brilliant) yet her boyfriend has been bisexual and they can eat take out burger in a busy train station in the busking slot. What world is this? Is it archaic and patriarchal or modern and accepting? It's very confused, with not enough detail to really set the scene.
One of my final straws, just before I gave up, may seem small but to me it's relevant. They go to feed bread to ducks at the park. Evie claims ducks are her favourite animals. But bread expands in ducks and birds stomachs and can often kill them, or make them deeply unwell and they should have a diet of seed, berries, worms or fish. How can you actively hurt an animal you claim to love? If you love it, learn its diet. Geez.
Sorry, Carrie. You're lovely. But this book is poorly written, and I cannot carry on. I almost never put a book down, and not this early, but I'm doing too much editing in my head that someone else should have done before publishing.
February 12, 2017
Evie Snow has lived a long and relatively happy life but now she is dead, she's suddenly faced with a door that won't open. Evie realised that her three biggest secrets are holding her back from entering her own heaven and she now has to face them and share her biggest, and secret, love story with the people in her life.
This is a super sweet idea and really love the image of people being faced with their doors when they enter the afterlife. There were some lovely phrases and a beautiful hint of magical realism now and again that reminded me a little bit of Once Upon a Time/ Fairytale land - the bird that was the notebook, the opening doors of Evie's chest, the tree. I enjoyed the story for what it was which a sweet romance but there was nothing spectacular about the book that blew me out of the water.
I felt like a lot of Evie's personality was lying heavily on that she seemed to be pretty much a carbon copy of Carrie (blonde, curly hair, chocolate brown eyes, not fat but not thin either, loves to doodle and has a huge sweet tooth) and that Vincent had a lot of Pete in him too (scraggy dark hair, green eyes, musical, tall and a bit oafish). Now in saying that, I know that people who don't know Carrie or Pete wouldn't be able to see this obviously so to back up what I mean is that Evie felt that tiny bit flat. I feel like I was being told how great she was all the time by these other characters. How she was super kind, and a bit bonkers and all sorts of things yet I never actually saw Evie do anything to back these claims up. I kept being told about Evie without actually seeing anything. All I could see was an adult woman letting her mother control every bit of her life, and who in the end had zero backbone.
While a lot of story flew nicely, there were some bits that were a bit hard to take. Sometimes I felt like phrases ran away with themselves but I think this is just a thing of it being Carrie's first fiction book. I think stuff like this will be ironed out over the next couple of books she writes (I've no doubt she can, and will, write another book). For example, this line just didn't do it for. There was too much of it, I think:
"He was a giant who had caught a butterfly and knew he'd only kill it if he kept it but was so reluctant to let it go for its beauty made him something he wouldn't be without it: happy"
I also couldn't quite stomach this one:
"You're like...that single firework that makes everyone gasp in a display that would otherwise have been quite disappointing."
Vincent and Evie were a bit childish considering they were 27 years old. As was Jim. Because of the way Evie and Jim acted in particular, I just had no respect for them. I don't think you can for people who let other people bully them their entire lives and never break out of the box. I think Evie had good reasons in the end, but I still don't think she should have done what she had done. In the end, I felt sad about the whole story because, despite reaching the 'other side', Evie, Jim and Vincent led half-full lives in my opinion. How could Jim be with someone who could never truly love him? How could they have children together? I dunno.
Also, just a small thing but at the start it really annoyed me that no-one had regular Joe surnames - Winters, Summer, Snow, Frost and there was even a Pear at one point, Mr Pear?? I think by the end I could tie all that in with the magical realism theme and go with it, but it bugged me for a while. The time period was also very confusing - Evie's family acted like it was the 20s, or 30s, but Vincent wore skinny jeans and Eddie had a phone. But Evie worked in an office full of men where apparently it was okay to slap her on the ass all the time like Mad Men or something? It confused me a lot until eventually I had to forget it and move on with the story.
June 24, 2016
A charming narrative on a Once Upon A Time, Wonderland, Magic Ride.
With elements taken from all the magic in the world. The writing style is excitable and happy. It's a Disney movie just waiting to be made, choc full of fantastical names, and a heroin you can't help but want to dance and introduce to all your friends.
A full Review will follow on release.
With elements taken from all the magic in the world. The writing style is excitable and happy. It's a Disney movie just waiting to be made, choc full of fantastical names, and a heroin you can't help but want to dance and introduce to all your friends.
A full Review will follow on release.
April 2, 2017
This book was, to me, a huge disappointment. With all the praise it has received, I expected it to be at least well written, but sadly, it's not.
"Show, don't tell" is rule #1 when it comes to writing fiction. Unfortunately, Fletcher tells a lot more than she shows. She often skips scenes and then have the characters give a quick summary of what happened afterwards. A lot of the story is just told as if she's writing it based on bullet points. It lacks feeling and some kind of flow. I was also quite confused by the perspective. The story is told through a third person POV with a narrator who knows the feelings and thoughts of ALL the characters. It switches from Evie's thoughts in one paragraphs to Vincent's thoughts in the next. This creates a lot of confusion throughout the book and honestly, it's just clumsy storytelling.
Another big problem has to do with the characters. They are either too perfect or too stereotypical. The main character, Evie, has no real flaws. She's "too perfect", "too kind", she's constantly being described by all the other characters as the most wonderful person in the world. Same goes for Vincent and Jim. They don't come off as people, they're characters created to be loved and gushed about. The other characters were mostly stereotypes with no real depth.
A lot of people have been praising Fletcher's inclusion of LGBT people in this novel, but honestly, it felt very forced. I get that she's trying to be inclusive and all, but it doesn't work when you push it too much. Is it not possible to have a bisexual character without specifically stating that he/she is bisexual? Does every characters that's not straight have to be defined by a label? Can't they just be whatever they are without it being specified? It didn't feel like natural inclusion and I really wish it had been done more elegantly. I have no doubt Fletcher's intensions were honorable, but it really just felt weird. Again: show, don't tell.
I also really need to comment on the supernatural/magical elements of this novel. The premise of the book is great: Evie reaches the door of her personal heaven and has to let go of her past to get in. This is for the most part done well. I love that Evie can be heard by her loved ones when they are asleep. I believe in it and accept it. As the novel progresses, however, something goes wrong. Fletcher chooses to involve elements that feel very out of place.
Another problem I have with this novel, is the time frame. I get that you don't necessarily want to choose a specific time for your story, but when you choose to follow a character from the age of 27 to her death at 80, you have to keep in mind that the world changes a lot during a life. I was really struggling to understand when the story took place, mostly because there seemed to be a huge mix of time elements. Evie is a grown woman, but apparently can't make any real choices about her own life. Her mother decides what she should do and who she should marry, and though Evie fights it a little, she eventually just accepts it. This seems like very old-fashioned arrangements, but apparently happens in a time of skinny jeans and cellphones. The world also seems to change very little throughout Evie's life. Everything seems to be set "now" and that doesn't really work. It's just confusing.
Maybe I'm being harsh. I've been following Carrie on youtube etc. for a long time and I do not doubt her talent, but this book is not good. Carrie can write, there's no doubt about that, but it really feels like I just read a first draft. Where was the editor in all of this? Did the publishers only want to publish this as soon as possible? Are they just trying to earn some money off of Carrie's fame? This book could have been really great, it would only take some editing, a little rewriting and a critical eye. All the major mistakes could have easily been fixed. I'm really just frustrated by the fact that books get published before they're ready.
"Show, don't tell" is rule #1 when it comes to writing fiction. Unfortunately, Fletcher tells a lot more than she shows. She often skips scenes and then have the characters give a quick summary of what happened afterwards. A lot of the story is just told as if she's writing it based on bullet points. It lacks feeling and some kind of flow. I was also quite confused by the perspective. The story is told through a third person POV with a narrator who knows the feelings and thoughts of ALL the characters. It switches from Evie's thoughts in one paragraphs to Vincent's thoughts in the next. This creates a lot of confusion throughout the book and honestly, it's just clumsy storytelling.
Another big problem has to do with the characters. They are either too perfect or too stereotypical. The main character, Evie, has no real flaws. She's "too perfect", "too kind", she's constantly being described by all the other characters as the most wonderful person in the world. Same goes for Vincent and Jim. They don't come off as people, they're characters created to be loved and gushed about. The other characters were mostly stereotypes with no real depth.
A lot of people have been praising Fletcher's inclusion of LGBT people in this novel, but honestly, it felt very forced. I get that she's trying to be inclusive and all, but it doesn't work when you push it too much. Is it not possible to have a bisexual character without specifically stating that he/she is bisexual? Does every characters that's not straight have to be defined by a label? Can't they just be whatever they are without it being specified? It didn't feel like natural inclusion and I really wish it had been done more elegantly. I have no doubt Fletcher's intensions were honorable, but it really just felt weird. Again: show, don't tell.
I also really need to comment on the supernatural/magical elements of this novel. The premise of the book is great: Evie reaches the door of her personal heaven and has to let go of her past to get in. This is for the most part done well. I love that Evie can be heard by her loved ones when they are asleep. I believe in it and accept it. As the novel progresses, however, something goes wrong. Fletcher chooses to involve elements that feel very out of place.
Another problem I have with this novel, is the time frame. I get that you don't necessarily want to choose a specific time for your story, but when you choose to follow a character from the age of 27 to her death at 80, you have to keep in mind that the world changes a lot during a life. I was really struggling to understand when the story took place, mostly because there seemed to be a huge mix of time elements. Evie is a grown woman, but apparently can't make any real choices about her own life. Her mother decides what she should do and who she should marry, and though Evie fights it a little, she eventually just accepts it. This seems like very old-fashioned arrangements, but apparently happens in a time of skinny jeans and cellphones. The world also seems to change very little throughout Evie's life. Everything seems to be set "now" and that doesn't really work. It's just confusing.
Maybe I'm being harsh. I've been following Carrie on youtube etc. for a long time and I do not doubt her talent, but this book is not good. Carrie can write, there's no doubt about that, but it really feels like I just read a first draft. Where was the editor in all of this? Did the publishers only want to publish this as soon as possible? Are they just trying to earn some money off of Carrie's fame? This book could have been really great, it would only take some editing, a little rewriting and a critical eye. All the major mistakes could have easily been fixed. I'm really just frustrated by the fact that books get published before they're ready.
July 19, 2016
IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS AHHHH
August 9, 2016
Although there were some things that bothered me about the story, the magical realism, the structure and the elements of LGBTQ+ representation made it a truly lovely read.
July 22, 2016
Nice enough but very rough round the edges
I've never bought a book by a youtuber before but I downloaded this book because I was intrigued by the storyline. However, it did not live up to my expectations at all. The writing is very awkward in places and reads like a piece of GCSE creative writing coursework. I don't know how the editing team didn't manage to clear up the some of the awkward wording or the grammatical errors throughout. I also couldn't stomach how obviously Evie and Vincent are based on Carrie and Pete. It was just way too self indulgent and fanfiction-esque for me.
Aside from that, I found the characters to be underdeveloped and the storyline just didn't cut it for me in the end. Evie is constantly described as this incredible, brave heroin who stands up to everyone and is a real force to be reckoned with, but this isn't portrayed at all through her own actions. The "secrets" we're very underwhelming and the magical parts didn't really fit. It took me a good few pages to realise the whole glass sketches thing was literal and not just a metaphor because of how out of place it was.
Lastly, carrie has addressed the fact that the story isn't actually set in any one time because she wanted it to be timeless and transcend time... I think that's a bit of a cop out. The story would've had so much more depth if she'd picked a timescale and stuck to it. To me, it comes across like she just couldn't be bothered to research the specifics of other decades like the 40s when this should've been set.
There were, however, some nice moments. It's a nice, light read for the younger end of the young adult spectrum, but nothing ground-breaking.
I've never bought a book by a youtuber before but I downloaded this book because I was intrigued by the storyline. However, it did not live up to my expectations at all. The writing is very awkward in places and reads like a piece of GCSE creative writing coursework. I don't know how the editing team didn't manage to clear up the some of the awkward wording or the grammatical errors throughout. I also couldn't stomach how obviously Evie and Vincent are based on Carrie and Pete. It was just way too self indulgent and fanfiction-esque for me.
Aside from that, I found the characters to be underdeveloped and the storyline just didn't cut it for me in the end. Evie is constantly described as this incredible, brave heroin who stands up to everyone and is a real force to be reckoned with, but this isn't portrayed at all through her own actions. The "secrets" we're very underwhelming and the magical parts didn't really fit. It took me a good few pages to realise the whole glass sketches thing was literal and not just a metaphor because of how out of place it was.
Lastly, carrie has addressed the fact that the story isn't actually set in any one time because she wanted it to be timeless and transcend time... I think that's a bit of a cop out. The story would've had so much more depth if she'd picked a timescale and stuck to it. To me, it comes across like she just couldn't be bothered to research the specifics of other decades like the 40s when this should've been set.
There were, however, some nice moments. It's a nice, light read for the younger end of the young adult spectrum, but nothing ground-breaking.
October 4, 2020
FULL REVIEW ON MY BLOG!! https://pagesandscreens99.wixsite.com...
CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER YOU HAVE BROKEN MY HEART INTO A MILLION PIECES AND THEN PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!
What an incredible story and so different from anything I've ever read! This book was like a love story to fairytales, magic, hope and being the best version of yourself you can be and I loved everything about it!
I am too emotional and stunned to fully express myself right now so my full review will be on my blog in the next couple of weeks!
CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER YOU HAVE BROKEN MY HEART INTO A MILLION PIECES AND THEN PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!
What an incredible story and so different from anything I've ever read! This book was like a love story to fairytales, magic, hope and being the best version of yourself you can be and I loved everything about it!
I am too emotional and stunned to fully express myself right now so my full review will be on my blog in the next couple of weeks!
August 26, 2016
Una historia tierna, con toques de realismo mágico que van desde lo cuqui hasta lo desconcertante. La primera mitad es bastande adorable, pero al final me empalagué un poco; el estilo era un pelín cursi para mi gusto.
May 26, 2016
I like the concept of this book, and I love a bit of magical realism. I don't want to be harsh as it wasn't a 'bad' book...But really, it's a bit of fluff written poorly.
July 19, 2016
Where to start with this book... Well, let's just say that it is a child dressing up in its mums clothing pretending to be an adult. That is to say that it is a YA novel claiming to be women's fiction. It reads for a much younger audience than it is intended for and due to this it would have worked much better had the main character, Evie Snow, been eighteen rather than twenty-seven; she certainly acted like an eighteen year old anyway! As a primarily YA reader this didn't bother me so much when I got used to it, but it certainly changed the entire feel of the book and the expectations I had entering it.
Now, my problems with this book are almost entirely due to the first half. And I do mean half. Unfortunately it takes Carrie that long to find her voice. The first half of this novel reads like averagely written fanfiction. The writing is all over the place, with some beautiful sentences mixed in with many long, muddled, boring ones. Carrie fails to show the audience much of what she instead tells us (show not tell people!) It also takes far too long to set up the novel and I almost gave up because of it.
My next issue with this book is the lack of creativity when it comes to Evie Snow herself. For those who don't know, Carrie Hope Fletcher is a very successful youtuber with a large fan base who go by the name of 'hopefuls.' Carrie shamelessly promotes this with a line where Evie announces herself as hopeful (I almost threw down the book there and then.) Worse than that, however, was the fact that Evie was very clearly Carrie herself. They shared the same blonde unruly curls, the same 'chocolate brown' eyes, the same curvy figure, the same love of sweets, hell, even the same green coat! Drawing inspiration from yourself is fine but blatantly indulging in your own dream fantasy is a bit much if you ask me. Especially when you consider the fact that Carrie is an actress and was probably banking on being cast as the lead should a film ever be made.
That being said, from 'the second secret,' exactly halfway through the book, Carrie's writing vastly improves and I finally started slightly enjoying the book. I don't know why it took her so long to find her voice and why it was not corrected in the editing stages but the second half reads much more like a novel rather than amateur fanfiction and, in parts, dare I say it, was rather lovely.
Although completely out of the blue with no lead up or explanation, I liked the magical aspects. I do feel that they would have worked far better in an obviously fictitious world though. Despite Carrie since claiming that this was intentional to give the book an ageless feel (it didn't work) the jarring timeline which couldn't make up its mind as to when it was set took away from the story rather than add. Should it have been set in the sixties? Why did they have mobile phones? ...I just... Sigh.
I didn't necessarily find the romance between Evie and Vincent believable but it was, in parts, a sweet novel nonetheless and I can see it making a beautiful movie should the rights ever be bought.
Mostly I think this book will be entirely forgettable and I certainly doubt I'll ever reread it. I can see the appeal to people who want a quick, easy read romance fix but to anyone who actually enjoys consistently well written fiction it may be worth giving it a miss. I do think Carrie's writing has potential though, and her creativity is certainly on point so perhaps her second novel will be better. One can certainly hope anyway as it doesn't seem she can't be stopped. Unlike Evie, Carrie doesn't seem to be one to give up on dreams.
To end my review I will share the one paragraph that has stuck with me and I did love:
'Evie felt overcome with sorrow and gratitude. She flung her arms around him and held on to him as tightly as she could, and in that moment, all her drawings turned to glass and fell from the walls, shattering around her, lost forever.'
3/5
Now, my problems with this book are almost entirely due to the first half. And I do mean half. Unfortunately it takes Carrie that long to find her voice. The first half of this novel reads like averagely written fanfiction. The writing is all over the place, with some beautiful sentences mixed in with many long, muddled, boring ones. Carrie fails to show the audience much of what she instead tells us (show not tell people!) It also takes far too long to set up the novel and I almost gave up because of it.
My next issue with this book is the lack of creativity when it comes to Evie Snow herself. For those who don't know, Carrie Hope Fletcher is a very successful youtuber with a large fan base who go by the name of 'hopefuls.' Carrie shamelessly promotes this with a line where Evie announces herself as hopeful (I almost threw down the book there and then.) Worse than that, however, was the fact that Evie was very clearly Carrie herself. They shared the same blonde unruly curls, the same 'chocolate brown' eyes, the same curvy figure, the same love of sweets, hell, even the same green coat! Drawing inspiration from yourself is fine but blatantly indulging in your own dream fantasy is a bit much if you ask me. Especially when you consider the fact that Carrie is an actress and was probably banking on being cast as the lead should a film ever be made.
That being said, from 'the second secret,' exactly halfway through the book, Carrie's writing vastly improves and I finally started slightly enjoying the book. I don't know why it took her so long to find her voice and why it was not corrected in the editing stages but the second half reads much more like a novel rather than amateur fanfiction and, in parts, dare I say it, was rather lovely.
Although completely out of the blue with no lead up or explanation, I liked the magical aspects. I do feel that they would have worked far better in an obviously fictitious world though. Despite Carrie since claiming that this was intentional to give the book an ageless feel (it didn't work) the jarring timeline which couldn't make up its mind as to when it was set took away from the story rather than add. Should it have been set in the sixties? Why did they have mobile phones? ...I just... Sigh.
I didn't necessarily find the romance between Evie and Vincent believable but it was, in parts, a sweet novel nonetheless and I can see it making a beautiful movie should the rights ever be bought.
Mostly I think this book will be entirely forgettable and I certainly doubt I'll ever reread it. I can see the appeal to people who want a quick, easy read romance fix but to anyone who actually enjoys consistently well written fiction it may be worth giving it a miss. I do think Carrie's writing has potential though, and her creativity is certainly on point so perhaps her second novel will be better. One can certainly hope anyway as it doesn't seem she can't be stopped. Unlike Evie, Carrie doesn't seem to be one to give up on dreams.
To end my review I will share the one paragraph that has stuck with me and I did love:
'Evie felt overcome with sorrow and gratitude. She flung her arms around him and held on to him as tightly as she could, and in that moment, all her drawings turned to glass and fell from the walls, shattering around her, lost forever.'
3/5
June 30, 2016
Ok. Reviewing this book is really difficult. And not just because I finished it over a fortnight ago. It's difficult because I love Carrie and I love this genre, so I think I am biased. To me, this book felt so close to being perfection, so close to being 5 star, and yet just missing. The romance in beautiful and believable. Those whirlwind, doomed romances are so hard to capture and yet Carrie does it beautiful. Also the moments of magic realism (a la The Night Circus) were truly wonderful. It gave me that light, magical feeling that reading The Night Circus did and I loved that.
However, all that being said, I was confused. Firstly, the writing style is definitely YA, if not teen/middle grade. It felt like an adult story being written for a younger audience, which was a bit strange (but I guess not if you remember that most of the Hopefuls are young teenagers). I also found myself entirely confused by the time/setting. The start felt like it was the 50s/60s, which would make sense if Evie died now. But there were too many modern situations and "props", which means Evie must be 27 now. However, that makes no sense with her old fashioned job and her controlling parents. No one nowadays, not even the upper class, are in situations like Evie is (having her life controlled by her parents). That meant that I found it very unbelievable and almost a childlike view of what it means to be an adult, if that makes sense.
I don't know. I just finished the book feeling very conflicted. I did cry and get completely wrapped up in the story but it just all felt a tad off. It was almost like it was a first draft of the most wonderful novel. Maybe it needed more rewriting and editing? I wouldn't be surprised in how fast Carrie wrote this and the fact that her editors may not have felt the need to edit heavily as she's a celebrity and they know it would sell anyway.
Anyway, there's a beautiful story underneath there and I felt it overall uplifting. I just wish I wasn't left with that niggling feeling that it didn't all fit together perfectly.
However, all that being said, I was confused. Firstly, the writing style is definitely YA, if not teen/middle grade. It felt like an adult story being written for a younger audience, which was a bit strange (but I guess not if you remember that most of the Hopefuls are young teenagers). I also found myself entirely confused by the time/setting. The start felt like it was the 50s/60s, which would make sense if Evie died now. But there were too many modern situations and "props", which means Evie must be 27 now. However, that makes no sense with her old fashioned job and her controlling parents. No one nowadays, not even the upper class, are in situations like Evie is (having her life controlled by her parents). That meant that I found it very unbelievable and almost a childlike view of what it means to be an adult, if that makes sense.
I don't know. I just finished the book feeling very conflicted. I did cry and get completely wrapped up in the story but it just all felt a tad off. It was almost like it was a first draft of the most wonderful novel. Maybe it needed more rewriting and editing? I wouldn't be surprised in how fast Carrie wrote this and the fact that her editors may not have felt the need to edit heavily as she's a celebrity and they know it would sell anyway.
Anyway, there's a beautiful story underneath there and I felt it overall uplifting. I just wish I wasn't left with that niggling feeling that it didn't all fit together perfectly.
June 15, 2017
Carrie, our honourary big sister, you've done it again!! This is absolutely brilliant!!! I've always knew you were a genius but this book proved my point even further. THIS BOOK OMG. Its magical, its romantic, its fantastic, its unique, its a huge page-turner, its heartbreaking (grab your tissues), but also funny and light, and yet deep and meaningful; but most of all, its HOPEFUL. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ LOVED IT!!!
July 14, 2016
Full Review: http://ellesbellesbookshelf.blogspot....
I wanted to love this book, I did, and I didn't. It's a shame - it'll do fine regardless though. I can't say much as that'll be unfair for future readers but there was just too much telling rather than showing for me. Full review will come nearer July...
I wanted to love this book, I did, and I didn't. It's a shame - it'll do fine regardless though. I can't say much as that'll be unfair for future readers but there was just too much telling rather than showing for me. Full review will come nearer July...
July 14, 2016
Oh, it's just so bloody lovely. A perfect escape if life's giving you a hard time. The dip into magical realism is gorgeous... ALSO I'M SO PROUD OF MY FRIEND FOR WRITING IT. SHE DID A THING! BEAMING.
July 8, 2017
Disappointing and Amateur.
Relies on a few moments of pretty imagery to sell a novel with limited plot, badly written, cliche prose, and preposterous characterisation
*SPOILERS*
I probably would have loved this book when I was aged 12/13 but I fear that no one over the age of 25 could find a favourite here, the fact that this was supposedly geared towards the adult market is a touch laughable. I picked up this book as a fan of the author and therefore went into reading this hoping for great things. I found the character's motives to be unbelievable and in places downright ludicrous. The majority of the story is described in dry, uninteresting, statements by the narrative voice rather than through the character’s actions or words - telling us how lovely, kind and selfless characters are, or describing their personalities to us (e.g. 'she's a sceptic, he's imaginative') instead of showing us through scenes and interactions - this means that the plot feels lifeless and the characters come off one dimensional - a list of personality traits with no real personality.
The 'magical realism' which can be really effective in other novels (The Census Taker by China Mieville being one example) is thrown in haphazardly half way through the book with the appearance of Little One (up until then anything supernatural is separated from the land of the living) creating a strange position where a thoughtful reader is unsure of how to react to it. Is magic commonplace in this world? The daughter, Isla, is supposed to be a sceptic casually denying the existence of the magic she’s already seen in conversation, which might lead you to believe magic is not generally known about in this world, as she wouldn’t be able to deny something that everyone knew was fact. So is the magic instead very rare or not know about, the miraculous doing of Evie/Vincent (or their love)? If it is unusual and special why are so many characters ready to accept it without even the slightest questioning, (which again ties into poor characterisation) or are we supposed to accept the lack of explanation for, or reaction to, the magical events just because they happen to be a bit beautiful or poetic?
The entire plot hinges on weird character choices which felt unrealistic and naive. One example from the novel being that Jim accepts being married to someone even though she repeatedly shows she doesn't love him or want him romantically, even going as far as to remove any chance for romantic love to grow between them by literally taking out her heart and burying it in the ground. As for the issue of their long term marriage, the idea of these characters having a healthy relationship that stands the test of time is ridiculous. We're told that they don't bother with a honeymoon as it wouldn't be proper, begging the question of whether or not they only eventually have sex to create children, assuming they weren't the result of insemination. Surely this is sad reality for their marriage, in particular for Jim who has to live in torturous proximity to woman he's in love with and sexually attracted to and can never (or rarely) be with, assuming he isn't secretly the token asexual character of the novel. Unless they do engage in regular sex in which case we are looking at a life of Evie being coerced by her sense of duty into reluctant sex with a man she "thought of as a brother" and for whom she has no genuine attraction and no ability to fall in love with thanks to the removal of her heart. Surely any human being wants to be loved in return, desired by the person they desire? Surely Jim should take some offence at Evie only agreeing to be married for financial security (any exploration reveals that protecting the brother is not a sensible motive for the marriage unless money is also a factor). Wouldn’t Jim be slightly jealous and resentful of Vincent for so easily having the love and affections of the woman he's devoted his entire life to loving. Conveniently however Jim just so happens to be the nicest, most caring man in the world with absolutely no qualms about being unwanted, but apparently not nice or caring enough not to permanently trap a woman in a loveless marriage as nothing explains why they don't devise a plan to give Evie her freedom by agreeing to divorce later, once the situation has changed.
As for the Evie’s children finding out that their mother never truly loved their father (it’s stated in the novel that she wouldn’t tell them anything because she knew they would find out everything, therefore they must have found out everything by the end of the novel) neither of them seem even slightly bothered or thrown by the fact that their mother wasn’t happy in life, instead they happily greet Vincent as if that’s a normal human reaction to meeting a man your mother would have rather been with then your own father.
The fact that the only discernible moral that can be taken from this book is that it's perfectly acceptable to spend decades living a sad, hallow life, giving up everything you've ever wanted and any real chance at happiness, just so that a few other people can have an easier time of it is bizarre. Evie's brother, Eddie, ultimately has the same choice as Evie in deciding to either live life as he wants to by following his dreams (in this case his dream of being out and proud) or to live a lie (and end up in a loveless marriage) for the sake of the financial security provided by his parents. Why is it then an acceptable conclusion for one sibling to live the lie just so they can both benefit from the continuation of their parents money? Vincent is poor but not homeless, so why couldn't Evie move in with him and continue to pursue her dreams, perhaps taking in Eddie if he also decides his freedom is worth being cut off from his parents money, all of them getting jobs so they can afford a suitable place together (without Sonny if he’s so terrible to live with) and slowly building the lives they want, thus providing the only chance for all of them to have long lasting happiness. Either Eddie has no understanding of the lifetime of suffering his sister has put upon herself just to stop him from being forced to get a job and support himself financially (it is hard to believe that anyone could be so clueless given the events of the story) or he simply doesn’t care that his sister is choosing to sacrifice her happiness so he can be free to tell his parents to f*** off without having to face any real consequences. The only logical reason that both siblings aren’t able to pursue their happiness is that they cannot stand to be poor and be forced to earn a living on their own. I suppose you could argue that Evie loves her brother so much that she protects Eddie from having to be poor without his full knowledge by giving up everything she’s ever wanted, as some sort of selfless act but by doing so she also sacrifices Vincent’s happiness without his consent (something he never fully recovers from) which seems a steep price to pay just so Eddie can stay rich and comfortable.
The plot requires all the characters within it to be simplistic unobservant “nice people” with no emotional depth in order to sustain itself, and no amount of interesting magical bits can make up for that in a book marketed towards adults.
Relies on a few moments of pretty imagery to sell a novel with limited plot, badly written, cliche prose, and preposterous characterisation
*SPOILERS*
I probably would have loved this book when I was aged 12/13 but I fear that no one over the age of 25 could find a favourite here, the fact that this was supposedly geared towards the adult market is a touch laughable. I picked up this book as a fan of the author and therefore went into reading this hoping for great things. I found the character's motives to be unbelievable and in places downright ludicrous. The majority of the story is described in dry, uninteresting, statements by the narrative voice rather than through the character’s actions or words - telling us how lovely, kind and selfless characters are, or describing their personalities to us (e.g. 'she's a sceptic, he's imaginative') instead of showing us through scenes and interactions - this means that the plot feels lifeless and the characters come off one dimensional - a list of personality traits with no real personality.
The 'magical realism' which can be really effective in other novels (The Census Taker by China Mieville being one example) is thrown in haphazardly half way through the book with the appearance of Little One (up until then anything supernatural is separated from the land of the living) creating a strange position where a thoughtful reader is unsure of how to react to it. Is magic commonplace in this world? The daughter, Isla, is supposed to be a sceptic casually denying the existence of the magic she’s already seen in conversation, which might lead you to believe magic is not generally known about in this world, as she wouldn’t be able to deny something that everyone knew was fact. So is the magic instead very rare or not know about, the miraculous doing of Evie/Vincent (or their love)? If it is unusual and special why are so many characters ready to accept it without even the slightest questioning, (which again ties into poor characterisation) or are we supposed to accept the lack of explanation for, or reaction to, the magical events just because they happen to be a bit beautiful or poetic?
The entire plot hinges on weird character choices which felt unrealistic and naive. One example from the novel being that Jim accepts being married to someone even though she repeatedly shows she doesn't love him or want him romantically, even going as far as to remove any chance for romantic love to grow between them by literally taking out her heart and burying it in the ground. As for the issue of their long term marriage, the idea of these characters having a healthy relationship that stands the test of time is ridiculous. We're told that they don't bother with a honeymoon as it wouldn't be proper, begging the question of whether or not they only eventually have sex to create children, assuming they weren't the result of insemination. Surely this is sad reality for their marriage, in particular for Jim who has to live in torturous proximity to woman he's in love with and sexually attracted to and can never (or rarely) be with, assuming he isn't secretly the token asexual character of the novel. Unless they do engage in regular sex in which case we are looking at a life of Evie being coerced by her sense of duty into reluctant sex with a man she "thought of as a brother" and for whom she has no genuine attraction and no ability to fall in love with thanks to the removal of her heart. Surely any human being wants to be loved in return, desired by the person they desire? Surely Jim should take some offence at Evie only agreeing to be married for financial security (any exploration reveals that protecting the brother is not a sensible motive for the marriage unless money is also a factor). Wouldn’t Jim be slightly jealous and resentful of Vincent for so easily having the love and affections of the woman he's devoted his entire life to loving. Conveniently however Jim just so happens to be the nicest, most caring man in the world with absolutely no qualms about being unwanted, but apparently not nice or caring enough not to permanently trap a woman in a loveless marriage as nothing explains why they don't devise a plan to give Evie her freedom by agreeing to divorce later, once the situation has changed.
As for the Evie’s children finding out that their mother never truly loved their father (it’s stated in the novel that she wouldn’t tell them anything because she knew they would find out everything, therefore they must have found out everything by the end of the novel) neither of them seem even slightly bothered or thrown by the fact that their mother wasn’t happy in life, instead they happily greet Vincent as if that’s a normal human reaction to meeting a man your mother would have rather been with then your own father.
The fact that the only discernible moral that can be taken from this book is that it's perfectly acceptable to spend decades living a sad, hallow life, giving up everything you've ever wanted and any real chance at happiness, just so that a few other people can have an easier time of it is bizarre. Evie's brother, Eddie, ultimately has the same choice as Evie in deciding to either live life as he wants to by following his dreams (in this case his dream of being out and proud) or to live a lie (and end up in a loveless marriage) for the sake of the financial security provided by his parents. Why is it then an acceptable conclusion for one sibling to live the lie just so they can both benefit from the continuation of their parents money? Vincent is poor but not homeless, so why couldn't Evie move in with him and continue to pursue her dreams, perhaps taking in Eddie if he also decides his freedom is worth being cut off from his parents money, all of them getting jobs so they can afford a suitable place together (without Sonny if he’s so terrible to live with) and slowly building the lives they want, thus providing the only chance for all of them to have long lasting happiness. Either Eddie has no understanding of the lifetime of suffering his sister has put upon herself just to stop him from being forced to get a job and support himself financially (it is hard to believe that anyone could be so clueless given the events of the story) or he simply doesn’t care that his sister is choosing to sacrifice her happiness so he can be free to tell his parents to f*** off without having to face any real consequences. The only logical reason that both siblings aren’t able to pursue their happiness is that they cannot stand to be poor and be forced to earn a living on their own. I suppose you could argue that Evie loves her brother so much that she protects Eddie from having to be poor without his full knowledge by giving up everything she’s ever wanted, as some sort of selfless act but by doing so she also sacrifices Vincent’s happiness without his consent (something he never fully recovers from) which seems a steep price to pay just so Eddie can stay rich and comfortable.
The plot requires all the characters within it to be simplistic unobservant “nice people” with no emotional depth in order to sustain itself, and no amount of interesting magical bits can make up for that in a book marketed towards adults.
January 10, 2017
I'm about half way through this book but I've had enough. I struggled with the premise, much as I like a bit of a redemption story it felt very simplistic and, dare I say it, dull? I didn't really care for Evie. I didn't really care for her bad boy boyfriend who calls her sweetie and was, I felt, a bit disturbing and intense. Still, I was willing to keep going. But then half way through the story, suddenly there is a dove. If you've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about! There's a stupid dove and, for some unknown reason, the two main characters start writing messages to each other ON THE DOVE! I mean, literally, on the wings of the dove. Why they don't just use a carrier pigeon in any sort of normal way I do not know. I have since read that this book is meant to be magical realism, but to my mind, that whole magical nonsense probably should have been made clear a lot sooner in the book. A waiting room for heaven is one thing, after all...writing in marker pen on a dove is an entirely different thing.
I'm afraid I was so annoyed with this dove business that I put the book down in disgust and I really don't want to pick it up again. I don't care anymore what secrets Evie had...her first secret was that she wrote messages to an unsuitable boyfriend on a dove and, for me, that's it! I'm done! I had other issues too, with the style of the writing (a little repetitive and simplistic) and the lack of any clear guidance on what era the book is set in - none of that side of things made any sense whatsoever! Perhaps I'm being unfair, and perhaps it all gets a lot better in the second half, but there are too many good books out there for me to waste anymore time on this one...
With thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy!
I'm afraid I was so annoyed with this dove business that I put the book down in disgust and I really don't want to pick it up again. I don't care anymore what secrets Evie had...her first secret was that she wrote messages to an unsuitable boyfriend on a dove and, for me, that's it! I'm done! I had other issues too, with the style of the writing (a little repetitive and simplistic) and the lack of any clear guidance on what era the book is set in - none of that side of things made any sense whatsoever! Perhaps I'm being unfair, and perhaps it all gets a lot better in the second half, but there are too many good books out there for me to waste anymore time on this one...
With thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy!
October 3, 2017
Dit boek had ik uit de bieb. Vrij snel na het begin wist ik dat ik dit boek wilde kopen, want het gaf me allemaal warme, bubbly feelings.
Toen ik op vakantie in Oxford was heb ik natuurlijk veel te veel boeken gekocht, waaronder haar andere boek in hardcover, All That She Can See. Deze was helaas niet op voorraad, maar kon de volgende dag wel voor me binnenkomen. Dat kon prima, want we brachten een paar dagen in de stad door. Dus toen had ik ze allebei in hardcover, yay! En wat zijn ze mooi onder de dustcover, wauw. Foto's zullen volgen op Instagram ;)
Zodra we na Oxford in ons cottage waren aangekomen, ging ik natuurlijk een fysiek boek lezen, ik had zo een grote stapel liggen *oeps*. Ik ging voor deze omdat ik hier eigenlijk al een stuk in was en ik wist dat dit een mooi boek zou worden.
Ik had een hartverwarmende roman verwacht, maar er bleek iets meer magie in te zitten dan ik verwacht had. Maar op een manier die ik mooi vond en bij het boek vond passen.
Wat sluit ik dit boek in mijn hart. Heerlijk!
Een aanrader voor liefhebbers van Dani Atkins, en dat zeg ik niet snel want ik heb haar heel hoog aangeschreven staan ;)
Toen ik op vakantie in Oxford was heb ik natuurlijk veel te veel boeken gekocht, waaronder haar andere boek in hardcover, All That She Can See. Deze was helaas niet op voorraad, maar kon de volgende dag wel voor me binnenkomen. Dat kon prima, want we brachten een paar dagen in de stad door. Dus toen had ik ze allebei in hardcover, yay! En wat zijn ze mooi onder de dustcover, wauw. Foto's zullen volgen op Instagram ;)
Zodra we na Oxford in ons cottage waren aangekomen, ging ik natuurlijk een fysiek boek lezen, ik had zo een grote stapel liggen *oeps*. Ik ging voor deze omdat ik hier eigenlijk al een stuk in was en ik wist dat dit een mooi boek zou worden.
Ik had een hartverwarmende roman verwacht, maar er bleek iets meer magie in te zitten dan ik verwacht had. Maar op een manier die ik mooi vond en bij het boek vond passen.
Wat sluit ik dit boek in mijn hart. Heerlijk!
Een aanrader voor liefhebbers van Dani Atkins, en dat zeg ik niet snel want ik heb haar heel hoog aangeschreven staan ;)
April 3, 2017
Not the greatest work of literary fiction! I suspect if she weren't a You Tuber and actress, this would be languishing among the many works of the self-published. So many clunky sentences, so many overused descriptive phrases and so many bloody references to appearances e.g. Her fluffy, blonde, curly hair; her chocolate brown eyes! However, the story was ok if, lacking in any real substance. I could just about deal with the magic realisms but the lack of any kind of concrete time frame was sloppy and full of contradictions. The ridiculous names set my teeth on edge. Would I recommend it? No. Will I read anymore of her work? Seriously doubtful.
August 15, 2016
I got this out at the Library and I'm not going to lie, I was avoiding it due to the front cover as I very rarely read love stories. But after I read the description I was intrigued by the story and the three secrets that had been hidden for a life time.
Unfortunately, it wasn't what I had expected it to be. I grew to really care for a character that hadn't really been given MUCH attention and who I had hoped was given a happy ending - Jim. I was disappointed at how selfish the story was regarding Jim and the children just because we were supposed to be cheering on Evie and Vincent (I liked Vincent, especially the elderly version, but no body was as selfless as Jim). I have a son and a husband I love and it doesn't sit right with me that her 'own personal heaven' was when she was 27 years old with her true love, surely as a mother she had been happier than her 27 year old self? Also what is going to happen to Jim when he gets to heaven? How is he even going to GET to Heaven when he has spent a life with a broken heart. Does that mean he is going to get stuck in the waiting zone? I was very invested to find out if he of all people would have a happy ending because he deserved that (I feel strongly about this character clearly) at the least. But I think this is one of the reasons that it strikes out to an audience younger than what the book was originally intended for - it was all very cheesy and full of selfish and strange decisions but I think those things are romanticised these days (I mean, look at Twilight).
Another issue I had was that I actually found the magic theme pretty unusual but enjoyable to read... if only it hadn't started randomly in the middle of the book without a hint that anything like that was going to happen (I had to double, no, triple take what I'd just read when Evie took out her own heart). The fact it was so random and half way through a book annoyed me, I felt like she should have kept this theme going from the beginning to the end. OH AND WHY THE HELL WAS NOBODY BATTING AN EYELID AT THIS STUFF? They were just sort of like "Yeah she planted her heart in the garden and lived the rest of her life without one lol you know what Evie was like, want some fruit?" I just didn't understand if the whole magical thing was meant to be a surprise to everyone else or not because Vincent started it with the 'blackbird' and that was treated pretty normally, they spoke about her heart like it was normal but Evie's 47 year old daughter didn't quite believe it all so they couldn't have been living in some magical world could they? I just wasn't keen on that.
The three secrets - was that it? Yeah we kind of gathered these things all happened to her in the first half of the book but life long secrets from her children? I mean the fact she couldn't even praise her own daughter for her passion and talent for art made me cringe. "I'd have to tell her everything"... no you wouldn't. Just praise her OR tell her that your mother didn't approve of your art so you had to stop... you didn't need to lie to hide your past life at all. THAT also really annoyed me.
Heaven concept - so is she living in that flat with Vincent for eternity without her husband and her children? How romantic. Also, how come she could pass through to heaven despite still resenting her parents? Surely she couldn't have reached Heaven until she had learnt to forgive them?
The fact that this had far too many plot holes, I managed to bond with the wrong guy and I have never heard of this youtuber in my life so I didn't really notice that her character resembled herself (I've seen this mentioned a lot in other reviews) I am afraid to say that it just didn't sit right with me and from a mothers point of view - it felt childish and rushed.
I know that apparently the writer confirmed that there was no time zone in this book (I know, I know, another time zone comment but hear me out) but the beginning was very 50s themed. The type of sweets, the dress and shoes, the vinyl records, the job, the sexual assault in the workplace dilemma (which also annoyed me because it's not really sending a great message out to younger women - "if you're assaulted in the workplace then don't say anything because you'll lose your job"), the type of job, the way they spoke ("motion pictures"), the way she even applied for the job, the arranged marriage etc But I loved the vintage theme until we gathered that there were modern aspects too (even mobile phones) and it put me off a little bit because it should have been specified at the beginning that they were living in a modern day vintage world or whatever it is the writer was trying to do! I feel like she intended it to be set back in the older days but found it too hard to evolve the story without modern aspects so it was lazily just decided that she just wouldn't specify a date. I think if it had been left to being the early to mid 1900s then the magical theme would have fit better.
As much as I can flaw the book, I still read it beginning to end because I did want to keep reading to find out more and "witness" more. magic. I give it two stars because the idea is beautiful and she did manage to set off Alice in Wonderland imagery in my mind whilst I read (especially the giant ginger cats face in the wall) and I really did love the magic idea but I wish it had been executed better. That being said I have now watched her youtube channel and she has gained a new follower!
Unfortunately, it wasn't what I had expected it to be. I grew to really care for a character that hadn't really been given MUCH attention and who I had hoped was given a happy ending - Jim. I was disappointed at how selfish the story was regarding Jim and the children just because we were supposed to be cheering on Evie and Vincent (I liked Vincent, especially the elderly version, but no body was as selfless as Jim). I have a son and a husband I love and it doesn't sit right with me that her 'own personal heaven' was when she was 27 years old with her true love, surely as a mother she had been happier than her 27 year old self? Also what is going to happen to Jim when he gets to heaven? How is he even going to GET to Heaven when he has spent a life with a broken heart. Does that mean he is going to get stuck in the waiting zone? I was very invested to find out if he of all people would have a happy ending because he deserved that (I feel strongly about this character clearly) at the least. But I think this is one of the reasons that it strikes out to an audience younger than what the book was originally intended for - it was all very cheesy and full of selfish and strange decisions but I think those things are romanticised these days (I mean, look at Twilight).
Another issue I had was that I actually found the magic theme pretty unusual but enjoyable to read... if only it hadn't started randomly in the middle of the book without a hint that anything like that was going to happen (I had to double, no, triple take what I'd just read when Evie took out her own heart). The fact it was so random and half way through a book annoyed me, I felt like she should have kept this theme going from the beginning to the end. OH AND WHY THE HELL WAS NOBODY BATTING AN EYELID AT THIS STUFF? They were just sort of like "Yeah she planted her heart in the garden and lived the rest of her life without one lol you know what Evie was like, want some fruit?" I just didn't understand if the whole magical thing was meant to be a surprise to everyone else or not because Vincent started it with the 'blackbird' and that was treated pretty normally, they spoke about her heart like it was normal but Evie's 47 year old daughter didn't quite believe it all so they couldn't have been living in some magical world could they? I just wasn't keen on that.
The three secrets - was that it? Yeah we kind of gathered these things all happened to her in the first half of the book but life long secrets from her children? I mean the fact she couldn't even praise her own daughter for her passion and talent for art made me cringe. "I'd have to tell her everything"... no you wouldn't. Just praise her OR tell her that your mother didn't approve of your art so you had to stop... you didn't need to lie to hide your past life at all. THAT also really annoyed me.
Heaven concept - so is she living in that flat with Vincent for eternity without her husband and her children? How romantic. Also, how come she could pass through to heaven despite still resenting her parents? Surely she couldn't have reached Heaven until she had learnt to forgive them?
The fact that this had far too many plot holes, I managed to bond with the wrong guy and I have never heard of this youtuber in my life so I didn't really notice that her character resembled herself (I've seen this mentioned a lot in other reviews) I am afraid to say that it just didn't sit right with me and from a mothers point of view - it felt childish and rushed.
I know that apparently the writer confirmed that there was no time zone in this book (I know, I know, another time zone comment but hear me out) but the beginning was very 50s themed. The type of sweets, the dress and shoes, the vinyl records, the job, the sexual assault in the workplace dilemma (which also annoyed me because it's not really sending a great message out to younger women - "if you're assaulted in the workplace then don't say anything because you'll lose your job"), the type of job, the way they spoke ("motion pictures"), the way she even applied for the job, the arranged marriage etc But I loved the vintage theme until we gathered that there were modern aspects too (even mobile phones) and it put me off a little bit because it should have been specified at the beginning that they were living in a modern day vintage world or whatever it is the writer was trying to do! I feel like she intended it to be set back in the older days but found it too hard to evolve the story without modern aspects so it was lazily just decided that she just wouldn't specify a date. I think if it had been left to being the early to mid 1900s then the magical theme would have fit better.
As much as I can flaw the book, I still read it beginning to end because I did want to keep reading to find out more and "witness" more. magic. I give it two stars because the idea is beautiful and she did manage to set off Alice in Wonderland imagery in my mind whilst I read (especially the giant ginger cats face in the wall) and I really did love the magic idea but I wish it had been executed better. That being said I have now watched her youtube channel and she has gained a new follower!
July 15, 2016
Ok, so. I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it, either.
There were many, many things in On The Other Side that made me roll my eyes, or sigh quite dramatically, or swear quite viciously. For me, I think the biggest annoyance was having no definitive timeline - when, exactly, is Evie her 27-year-old self? Because if we're saying that 82-year-old Evie died in 2016 then there are many, many things about her younger self's timeline that just wouldn't happen or be obtainable (and I checked those things with my grandad, who was a teenager in the presumed era). Although it wasn't a major plot point, those inconsistencies still managed to pull me out of the story and left me frustrated. Another frustration was the writing style: I put the book down feeling like I was far too old to have read it, despite only being two years younger than the 27-year-old Evie. The writing style was very YA, which lets the actual plot down a bit. I had assumed in the run up to publication that it was going to be "women's fiction" (ughh I hate that term) aimed at women of Carrie's age and older, but it often felt like the book was written for Carrie's teenaged 'Hopefuls'. Maybe my fault for assuming otherwise? Who knows.
There were a few sections of the book that relied heavily upon exposition, with pages of explanations that weren't necessary and hindered the actual 'action' of the plot. Other sections were overly saccharine and that doesn't work for me in this story. And the whole seasonal/weather-related name thing reaaaaallly grated on me after maybe five chapters. There were also times when I felt like I was reading a first draft of a Cecelia Ahern fan fiction...
But that isn't to say that On The Other Side is an awful book. The LGBT representation, for one thing, was done well, with one character in particular having a beautifully well told and heartbreaking story. The character of Evie Snow was also (mostly) likeable, and I did feel for 27-year-old Evie in her bid for freedom. Sure, she felt like a fictionalised Carrie at times but that's an occurrence with most first-time authors. The foundations are there with Carrie's writing but it's either been rushed or overly polished in the editorial process. I think that with a lot of work and less worrying about the teenage Hopefuls and whether or not they'll buy it, Carrie's second book could be a) markedly improved and b) the fiction novel she deserves to have. I'll be happily watching for whatever she comes up with next.. I'm just hoping I'm not too ancient to enjoy book two.
There were many, many things in On The Other Side that made me roll my eyes, or sigh quite dramatically, or swear quite viciously. For me, I think the biggest annoyance was having no definitive timeline - when, exactly, is Evie her 27-year-old self? Because if we're saying that 82-year-old Evie died in 2016 then there are many, many things about her younger self's timeline that just wouldn't happen or be obtainable (and I checked those things with my grandad, who was a teenager in the presumed era). Although it wasn't a major plot point, those inconsistencies still managed to pull me out of the story and left me frustrated. Another frustration was the writing style: I put the book down feeling like I was far too old to have read it, despite only being two years younger than the 27-year-old Evie. The writing style was very YA, which lets the actual plot down a bit. I had assumed in the run up to publication that it was going to be "women's fiction" (ughh I hate that term) aimed at women of Carrie's age and older, but it often felt like the book was written for Carrie's teenaged 'Hopefuls'. Maybe my fault for assuming otherwise? Who knows.
There were a few sections of the book that relied heavily upon exposition, with pages of explanations that weren't necessary and hindered the actual 'action' of the plot. Other sections were overly saccharine and that doesn't work for me in this story. And the whole seasonal/weather-related name thing reaaaaallly grated on me after maybe five chapters. There were also times when I felt like I was reading a first draft of a Cecelia Ahern fan fiction...
But that isn't to say that On The Other Side is an awful book. The LGBT representation, for one thing, was done well, with one character in particular having a beautifully well told and heartbreaking story. The character of Evie Snow was also (mostly) likeable, and I did feel for 27-year-old Evie in her bid for freedom. Sure, she felt like a fictionalised Carrie at times but that's an occurrence with most first-time authors. The foundations are there with Carrie's writing but it's either been rushed or overly polished in the editorial process. I think that with a lot of work and less worrying about the teenage Hopefuls and whether or not they'll buy it, Carrie's second book could be a) markedly improved and b) the fiction novel she deserves to have. I'll be happily watching for whatever she comes up with next.. I'm just hoping I'm not too ancient to enjoy book two.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2020
I really wanted to rate this higher, but as I got further into the less I liked it.
Overall, I think the story is really... standard for these 'types' of books, i.e. books that don't have any real substance to them and kind of exist because you want to read SOMETHING but not have to think about it, or put any effort into reading something. The writing really shows this as well, if I have to read 'she popped it into her mouth' one more time, honestly I WILL scream. It's a classic love story they JUST HAVE TO BE TOGETHER!!!!!! and they can't because one family is rich and the other is just poor. It's so dramatic as well, they weren't even together very long yet she constantly describes what she is giving up and how AWFUL her life is. I feel really sorry 'Jim' in this book, as it sounds like Evie would be a terrible person to live with, constantly lamenting about how she's 'settled', how much she doesn't love her husband AT ALL and that she HATES HER LIFE!!!
The 'magic' in this book as well, what the hell is that about. Doesn't mention magic at all, then all of a sudden she's burying her heart in the garden and turning paper into glass... sure Jan. It just didn't need any of that, and it just made it really cringe and ugh. It's also soooo random that it's meant to be set sometime in the 1900's but then she can't settle on when, and then her main love interest is a random emo who wears skinny jeans. It just felt like the story was all over the place, and it reads like a super cringey fanfiction.
I wouldn't have wasted my time with this book if I didn't have an obsession with finishing books I've started and I wasn't already 15 books behind on my goodreads challenge, rip this year honestly.
Overall, I think the story is really... standard for these 'types' of books, i.e. books that don't have any real substance to them and kind of exist because you want to read SOMETHING but not have to think about it, or put any effort into reading something. The writing really shows this as well, if I have to read 'she popped it into her mouth' one more time, honestly I WILL scream. It's a classic love story they JUST HAVE TO BE TOGETHER!!!!!! and they can't because one family is rich and the other is just poor. It's so dramatic as well, they weren't even together very long yet she constantly describes what she is giving up and how AWFUL her life is. I feel really sorry 'Jim' in this book, as it sounds like Evie would be a terrible person to live with, constantly lamenting about how she's 'settled', how much she doesn't love her husband AT ALL and that she HATES HER LIFE!!!
The 'magic' in this book as well, what the hell is that about. Doesn't mention magic at all, then all of a sudden she's burying her heart in the garden and turning paper into glass... sure Jan. It just didn't need any of that, and it just made it really cringe and ugh. It's also soooo random that it's meant to be set sometime in the 1900's but then she can't settle on when, and then her main love interest is a random emo who wears skinny jeans. It just felt like the story was all over the place, and it reads like a super cringey fanfiction.
I wouldn't have wasted my time with this book if I didn't have an obsession with finishing books I've started and I wasn't already 15 books behind on my goodreads challenge, rip this year honestly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2016
I've been anticipating this book for such a long time, even before it actually being announced. I've been watching Carrie's videos for a long time and when I heard her mention in her "Queen of Procrastination" video that her goal is to write a book, I was already looking forward to holding that book in my hands. Carrie is so full of talent and creativity and I was really excited when she announced her first fiction novel. I was almost scared my expectations were too high but they were exceeded.
This book blew me away. It's one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Made it right into my top books of 2016, my favourite of all time and my heart. I was captivated from the first page on.
I went into the book not knowing too much about the story but I already senses that it would be right up my alley. While it is a contemporary book and focuses a lot on relationships between people, it is VERY heavy on the magical realism, so if you don't enjoy that I think you should stay away. But magical realism is one of my favourite things and really added to the magic this book contains.
Also.. it's sad. It's super fucking sad. I mean it's also really happy and just in general emotional but if you're a weeper (like me), expect tears. I had to wipe actual big fucking tears away while finishing the book, I wasn't able to read the last page because my eyes wear so full of tears. And then I just hugged the book really, really close to my chest.
I am still a little in awe and honestly don't know what else to tell you. This book will definitely stay with me for a really long time and I cannot wait for more of Carrie's work in fiction!
This book blew me away. It's one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Made it right into my top books of 2016, my favourite of all time and my heart. I was captivated from the first page on.
I went into the book not knowing too much about the story but I already senses that it would be right up my alley. While it is a contemporary book and focuses a lot on relationships between people, it is VERY heavy on the magical realism, so if you don't enjoy that I think you should stay away. But magical realism is one of my favourite things and really added to the magic this book contains.
Also.. it's sad. It's super fucking sad. I mean it's also really happy and just in general emotional but if you're a weeper (like me), expect tears. I had to wipe actual big fucking tears away while finishing the book, I wasn't able to read the last page because my eyes wear so full of tears. And then I just hugged the book really, really close to my chest.
I am still a little in awe and honestly don't know what else to tell you. This book will definitely stay with me for a really long time and I cannot wait for more of Carrie's work in fiction!
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