I enjoyed this book until all the doctor who stuff started! There was no indication in the description of the book that it had a touch of sci fi and for me the story was unbelievable. I persevered with the book but found the tale got more and more confusing with too many revelations at the end. It just isn’t the kind of genre I like.

A really odd but enjoyable story, my only real problem was that there wasn't any hint of unusual in the synopsis or on the jacket. This is not your typical story, almost immediately you can feel that something almost fantastical is afoot - it was frustrating that it took over a third of the book to be revealed.
Clever and interesting, I'm interested to see what other people think about this.

A brilliant book, charting the lows and highs of Alex- from being stuck in a rut to being on top of the world, and how everyone else treats you in both situations. Despite everything seeming brilliant, those around her are worried for her, and then lots of weird things happen. A brilliant edge of you seat book that I hated having to put down.

Actually 3.5 stars rounded up.
Right... Where to start... This book was mooching along quite swimmingly, albeit a bit slowly, but then OMG what just happened! The blurb hints at a WTF moment and it isn't kidding as the book did get a wee bit weird.
Alex Moore has really fallen on her feet. Where she was ticking along mostly on the level, hum drum job, no ambition, now she has just launched her own tech company and, to put it mildly, is doing rather well for herself. That is professionally. Her personal life has taken a bit of a nose dive since her transformation and several of her relationships are literally hanging by a thread. She is working hard but without playing hard to balance it all out and after a few strange things happen to her, she takes up an invitation to visit one of the Orkney Isles. They claim they need her for some research and she is only too happy to oblige, mainly to get away from things. And here's where it all gets a bit weird and enters the realms of fantasy and sci-fi and.. um.. maybe a bit of bonkers too. But hey, everyone needs a bit of bonkers in their life at times.
But, if you can suspend disbelief for a little while and maybe read through some of the more bizarre things that have been happening then the rest of the story is worth persevering with. I do have quite a few reservations with quite a few things that either happened or were explained but as I try and make all my reviews spoiler free, I daren't go into any detail.
Characterisation, which is one of the things I look at in a book, was also a bit hard to get to grips with. The Orkney Isle people were obviously a bit strange - but within that they were congruent. Alex herself, along with parents and partner were all well described and easy to get on with. Alex especially impressed me as she took all that was thrown on her pretty much on the chin.
Taking the woo and wah out of things for a moment and the plot was very well created and on the whole, well executed. The reasons for Alex's inclusion, the cat and mouse game, and the secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour all came together nicely.
The success of this book will inevitably depend on it's marketing and the audience that attracts. From the few reviews I have already seen for the book, it is definitely going to be a marmite one. One that will maybe lose readers along the way, But, it is worth sticking with if you can and you like to challenge yourself with reading a little outside your comfort zone.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Tried really hard to get into this book but despite the description (which made it sound very promising) this book wasn't for me.

-The Charmed Life of Alex Moore- Molly Flatt- 3.5* Contemporary fiction/Romance/Sci-Fi. Netgalley 3rd May #CharmedLifeOfAlexMoore
This wasn’t the book that I was expecting. From the blurb I thought it would be a contemporary tale, however much of it is science fiction which is not really my thing. That said it was an interesting read but the disappointment I think may have altered my view of things .I am saying this as my star rating may not do this justice and want to be fair to other readers. That said it was an engaging story and I took to Alex, the main character quite easily, albeit whilst thinking she is a little full of herself. This changes as the book progresses- I won’t spoil anything. Alex has changed. She used to be a “normal” (whatever that means)- office worker happily engaged to Harry. Then one day her boss offered her a promotion and since then things have been on the up and up. She co founded a technology company and is now “famous” within this world. However Harry sees in her a change for the worse. she receives an invitation for a weekend course which she feels will give her the break that she needs. On arrival things are not quite as she expected. An interesting read but as I said in the beginning , more for science fiction fans rather than contemporary readers.
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Unfortunately this was a below average read for me, it wasn't easy to finish, I really tried to push but couldn't get pass halfway through. I struggled to get attached to the story, I wish it was a bit shorter or more interesting. The blurb sounded much more promising and cover is really charming but this wasn't my cup of tea...

The word 'unique' is overused but can definitely apply to this book. Fresh, different and entertaining. I thought it stretched credibility in parts, even within its own universe, but it was good to read something so unusual

This is a startlingly original and emotive debut from Molly Flatt that is beautifully written and highly imaginative, although it does require a huge suspension of disbelief. 31 year old Dorothy Alex Moore's life used to be humdrum, frustrating and heading absolutely on the road to nowhere. Having dropped Dorothy, she is now Alex, and everything is now different as she is now living the fairytale life. She launched a tech start up business which out of the blue is an unbelievable success. She is popular, admired and much sought after, everything should be perfect, but there are a few niggles. Her family and personal circle of friends struggle and can't quite keep up with all the changes in her circumstances, and her fiance is visibly stepping away from her.

Things become downright weird as Alex encounters the oddest of journalists, is stalked, mugged and there is even a claim that she is a murderer. As Alex's life begins to slip out of her control, she finds herself accepting an invitation to visit the Orkney Islands. At which point Alex steps into a truly fantastical bizarre old world, as she leaves behind any semblance of the world as she knows it. Alex is to find all her narcissistic assumptions that she is solely responsible for her stratospheric success are a million miles away from the truth. This is a magical story where anything is possible, and which focuses on the issues of our memories, technology and the narratives that build and define our identities.

This is a wonderful novel, but it is far from perfect, it is a challenging read that demands patience, this might put off many readers who might not be willing to persevere. There are times where the narrative feels distinctly uneven as the storyline has a tendency to meander and the ending is rather overladen with its numerous reveals. However, I loved the narrative and the way it showcases so much promise in the writing of Molly Flatt. If you are looking for something different from the usual run of mill books, then I highly recommend The Charmed Life of Alex Moore. I have no doubts that Molly Flatt is a talented writer and I look forward to what she comes up with next. A brilliant read. Many thanks to Pan MacMillan for an ARC.

This is a weird and wonderful story. Alex Moore has become really successful in the last 6 months. She literally dreamed up a concept that has become really successful. Then she gets mugged and is accused of murder. Everything changes. This is a magical story that I would definitely recommend.

I enjoyed the first few chapters of this book, but I lost the thread part-way through. Without giving anything away any spoilers, I found there was too much of a disconnect between where the book began and where it ended, and I tended to be confused more than intrigued by the events. I am grateful for the chance to read a review copy, but I’m afraid this book wasn’t for me.

This is an extraordinary debut and not everyone is going to like it. My advice is to bear with it and go with the flow. It’s originality and beautiful prose makes it worth staying with.
It starts as modern take set in an internet start-up. The Founder CEO Alex Moore, has become stratospherically successful in the short space of six months and her dot com business is flying high. Out of the blue, she is invited to a mysterious microstate on one of the Orkney islands. Alex, in her self-obsessed bubble, assumes it is because she is such a success story, but she’s wrong.
Somehow, her success was the symptom of a seismic change in a very mysterious organisation far bigger than hers. If you’ve come this far, this is where it gets a bit Doctor Who. In fact, I feel Doctor Who is a good comparison because it combines reality with more mysterious forces that we don’t always understand or know about.
What follows is a long and beautifully described story that is so much bigger than Alex Moore’s start up. I must give a shout out to the prose- it is superb. There are phrases I read four times because they were so beautiful. The descriptions are vivid and believable without being laboured or overlong and the narrative shimmers with a vast spectrum of emotion and a nuance of parody at its core (especially when it comes to the jargon used by the start-up team in the beginning – the author is definitely parodying them.)
One slight niggle I have is that the dénouement was very long and complicated and there were almost too many revelations in it, like having a series of tennis balls thrown at you until you don’t even know why they’re being thrown anymore. The last 10% of my kindle version was revelation after revelation and the pile-on lost impact. I felt some of these twists could have been measured out earlier, rather than given all at once. It was overwhelming trying to remember who was who and what their motivation was and what they’d done earlier in the book and who their allies were. It was hard to read.
However, this is a remarkably original debut- there really isn’t anything else like it out there and I hope to read more from Molly Flatt in future. It’s a debut, and it sort of shows in places, but the prose and the imagination offers a great deal of promise. Just leave your inhibitions at the door and read it with an open mind.
One last note- if you are emetophobic, you might like to skip this one- there is a lot of nausea and puking!
With thanks to NetGalley for an early read of this exciting debut.

The charmed life of Alex Moore

I’m afraid I really struggled with this book, the idea was fantastic, but I don’t feel it was delivered as well as it should.
Alex Moore is leading a normal life, just started a new business venture and life seems sweet. Then a mugging occurs and suddenly strange things start happening and her life spirals out of control.
I just couldn’t get on with the characters, the story didn’t flow well for me and I struggled to keep my interest.
Thank you for the opportunity to read, but sadly not for me.

The Charmed Life of Alex Moore by Molly Flatt.
I really wanted to like this book but I found it hard to relate to the story and was unable to make sense of it. Sorry this book was not for me.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my e-copy in exchange for and honest review.

I really wanted to like this book, I liked Alex and her story to begin with BUT the very unexpected jump to the alternative nature of the story almost taking it into science fiction territory. I'm sorry this just wasn't for me at all, I just couldn't follow it at all. The writing style is perfect for me, however it needs more explanation about it's genre to warn readers it does make such a huge leap.

Unfortunately really struggled to get into this book. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read it though.

Alex Moore has transformed her life in six months, since the brilliant idea for her new tech start-up (don’t ask me to explain or even understand it) came to her out of the blue one night. Now Dorothy Alexandra Moore (she dropped the Dorothy, understandably) is a rising star, with her face in magazines and a whole new outlook on life. So what if there are things she can’t quite remember about the old Alex, with her boring job and limited horizons?

Some strange things are happening, though - an attempted attack, a fake journalist - and when Alex is invited to participate in a research project on the remote Orcadian island of Iskeull, it seems the perfect opportunity to get out of London and spend a few days recharging. What she finds there, though, is truly mind-bending. Dorothy definitely isn’t in Kansas any more...

This is a very difficult book to describe - despite a wry early reference to “yet another high-concept psychological thriller”, it isn’t that, or not only that anyway... though it is definitely high-concept, undoubtedly psychological, and often thrilling. I think it’s unfair to say more than that, though. You’ll have to find out for yourself.

An enthralling, imaginative read about memory, technology and the stories that shape our lives, and an ending filled with possibility. Simply marvellous.

A similar review will also be posted on my blog and on Amazon. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Great book. Brilliant storyline and excellent main characters. I would not hesitate to recommend this book.