It’s an absolute pleasure today to be joining the blog tour and sharing my review of The Many Futures of Maddy Hart, the latest book from Laura Pearson: published on 4th February by Boldwood Books, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. Many thanks, as always, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
Laura is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. I really loved Missing Pieces when I read it way back in 2018 (you’ll find my review here – the book was republished by Boldwood on 27th February last year), and The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up only reminded me how very much I enjoyed her writing (you’ll find my review of that one here – and I really must make time to catch up with The Last List of Mabel Beaumont…). But I thought The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine was even better – such an original premise, an emotional journey that made me think about the whole nature of families and motherhood, the consequences of following different paths through life, and the sacrifices we’re sometimes forced to make. Heartbreaking at times, it was a book entirely filled with love – and one I’ll never forget (you can read my full review again here). So, let’s take a closer look at her latest – it’s a book I was particularly looking forward to…
Suddenly Maddy is right there… in her very own future. And it’s all wrong, yet again.
It happens to her every time. When the kisses lead to the bedroom, just when she thinks she might have found the one… Just for a split second, Maddy disappears, and she finds that she’s living her own life. But ten years into the future.
She’s only there for a little while. But each time, it’s long enough to know that she doesn’t want to be any of those future versions of Maddy. Because every man she falls for seems to lead her to a future that is just… wrong.
Until she meets Oliver. And the vision of their future is happy. Beautiful even. A little girl runs around, her braids flying behind her, giggling about how she wants sausages for dinner. She has eyes just like Oliver’s.
There’s just one catch. If Maddy wants the family she’s seeing in her future with Oliver, she realizes she has to break his heart now…
Would you destroy your present if there’s a chance that it could give you the perfect future?
Perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Matt Haig, and The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. The most unmissable ‘what if?’ love story of the year!
When intimate moments find Maddy briefly transported ten years into her future, it’s perhaps not surprising that she’s chosen to live without a relationship with a significant other. But that’s until she meets Oliver – they’re both pursuing an acting career, having met briefly as a pair of Santa’s elves (better opportunities are proving rather scarce). But when she needs to find a new flat share, their paths cross again – and it soon becomes clear that things aren’t going to be quite the same as sharing with her best friend Priya.
The romance builds and the inevitable happens – and when Maddy’s visions recur, she finds they’re very much still together in her future, and that she really has found the love of her life. It seems she’s no longer pursuing her acting career – and that’s a disappointment, especially when she’s just found a modicum of success. But then she sees a child in her future – a surprise, when Oliver has made it clear he doesn’t want a family – but it also appears that their relationship is far from straightforward. Her visits to the future are short, but long enough for her to grow closer to the little girl and to know that it’s the future she really wants – but she also knows that for it to come to pass, she will need to make some difficult choices in her present.
That all might read as desperately complicated and confusing – but the author is a particularly safe pair of hands, and makes it all totally believable. And not only that, but she also makes the story so emotionally engaging, with lead characters I really cared about – Maddy and Oliver’s romance is very special, a love you can feel, and the steps she needs to take to secure their future really hurt. And, of course, as well as seeing her own future she also sees glimpses of the lives of those closest to her – her struggling family, and also friend Priya who’s the only one who knows about her unusual ability. So when Priya asks about developments in her own future, Maddy is faced with a particular moral dilemma – she might be making choices in her own life, but would it be right to influence others’ paths?
I loved every moment of this book – it has the perfect emotional touch, moving smoothly between past and present as Maddy grapples with the choices she feels compelled to make to achieve that vision of the future. The relationships were particularly strong – that romance that was always meant to be, the family’s evolving situation, the strength of her friendship with Priya. And if the book’s whole concept might seem a touch unusual, Maddy’s situation was one I entirely believed in. In many ways, it’s an easy read – the author’s writing is such a pleasure to read – but in other ways it can be challenging, as you inevitably question what you might do faced with Maddy’s choices. And I have to add that I also loved the ending – life’s issues are rarely tied up in a neat bow, neither is Maddy’s story, and that felt entirely right.
An exceptional read, with a really unusual concept, and quite beautifully written – I really couldn’t recommend it more highly.
About the author
Laura Pearson is the author of six previous novels. The Last List of Mabel Beaumont was a Kindle number one bestseller in the UK and a top ten bestseller in the US. Laura lives in Leicestershire, England, with her husband, their two children, and a cat who likes to lie on her keyboard while she tries to write.
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