I read this for a blog tour.

This is a rather sweet story that could have become something creepy but redeemed itself.

Ryan keeps seeing a beautiful woman on the Tube, then he starts following her (see what I mean about creepy), luckily he's convinced to speak to her and meets Sylvie, a young woman riding London's rails trying to fix something in herself.

They fall in love and begin to build something, other stories cross their paths, like the lines of the Underground, and it reminds us that we're all connected in tiny ways.

A smile might make someone's day and change their life, and being in the right place at the right moment can save them.

Weirdly I know the area of North London the characters travel into town from well, I used to catch the Piccadilly every day to uni so it was strange to imagine these stories playing out in the stations and carriages I've been in myself. While this is fiction, there are real stories going on around us every day.

Grief is the theme at the core of this book. Each of the characters is suffering from grief in such a way that is incredibly realistic and almost painful to read. There are no 'steps' to get through here. Grief is not a trajectory or a journey with a final destination but follows the same meandering path that Sylvie takes on her endless Tube trips.
The book manages to avoid becoming bleak though because there is also love in all its myriad forms, and a desire to live a good life. This is what gives the book such heart. I loved spending time with Ryan, Sylvie, Grace, Grandad, Hana and Naomi and was quite sad to read the last page.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

This was an intriguing novel, not my normal pick so it was really nice to get out of my comfort zone. The premise is Ryan is a man in his early thirties, having taken a backseat from love since Uni when the love of his life suddenly died in a car crash, still, he finds himself drawn to a mysterious woman on the tube.

What ensues is a story of love and discovery, not just for Ryan and his mystery girl but for those around him; his roommate, best friend, mother, sister, all of them trying to find their places and dealing with different sorts of love.

It was a good read, but, I did feel it was disjointed, it felt as if it didn't fit together at times and jumped too abruptly. I did like the message it had at the heart of it all though.

Thank you so much to HQDigital and NetGalley for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the blog tour.

This story relies strongly on its characters to capture the reader's heart and keep them reading. The plot is detailed and reflective in keeping with literary fiction, but it also relies on serendipity and how one person's actions can affect others.

The setting on the underground gives the story an iconic quality. It is also relatable for the millions that have ridden the underground. People watching is inevitable when travelling in such proximity. This story stems from people watching and whether they do have mysteries to solve.

Ryan's fixation with Sylvie, her compulsion to ride the underground, and his quest to help her is the momentum of this story. The characters are emotional and honest and easy to empathise. Their lives are ordinary but fascinating as is their fatalistic overlaps.

Read this book with no expectations and see what you think.

I received a copy of this book from HQ via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

From the moment I saw this book and read the synopsis I knew this was one I wanted to read. Having spent my university years constantly travelling to and from my home and to campus (why I chose to live at home I will never quite understand) I often got a lot of people watching in. I loved to imagine where they were going and became incredibly intrigued by the lives of the people who I crossed paths with daily.

This book was so much more than I expected. I really enjoyed learning more about our main characters and watching as they work through the struggles they face in life. I felt like I definitely connected with Sylvie a lot more and emphasized with her situation. She’s stuck travelling the tubes and she doesn’t know how to stop. It becomes a habit that she cannot break.

Ryan is a very understanding character who has a lot going on in his life. Whilst balancing his new found interest in Sylvie he is helping his mother and sister look after their grandfather. He’s also very easy going and really just wants to help Sylvie overcome her problems, going out of his way to help aid her.

With grief, family and friendship at its core this book is so much more than about the romance between Ryan and Sylvie. I loved how all the lives introduced overlap at some point and how much of an impact they make by one action.

Eleven Lines to Somewhere is an emotional and beautifully written story which has you thinking about all the connections you’ve made in life, even if it was a brief one on a train. This is my first Alyson Rudd book and it will not be my last!

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved The First Time Lauren Pailing Died, and so I was really excited to read this book. Although I did enjoy this book, I thought it was a departure from Rudd's previous novel. I really liked the protagonist, and I would have been interested to read more about his relationship with Ellen and his grief for her, and more of how that impacted his relationship with Sylvie. There were some other interesting subplots, however, not all of them added to the story overall. I would recommend this book to others, but I would caveat that it's not quite you might expect if you've read The First Time Lauren Pailing Died.

The cover and title of this book would definitely capture my attention in a bookshop and the premise had me immediately intrigued.

When Ryan notices a young woman during his commute on the London Underground, he is mesmerised and instantly attracted to her. Intrigued by his mysterious passenger, with her ‘almost red hair’, he longs to know more about her and to find the courage to speak to her. This woman, who he thinks of as Millie, is really called Sylvie and she spends all day travelling on the Underground, unable to leave. Although this fact is unknown to Ryan, he just cannot shake the feeling that he wants to help her in some way...

I’ve really enjoyed getting to learn about Ryan and Sylvie’s backgrounds and struggles and seeing them find their way in the world. They each had their own difficulties to overcome and the way in which these were explored and revealed as their journey together unfolded was really clever. I also found myself wondering how many people see someone they are intrigued about on the tube and whether they, like Ryan, believe there is a mystery they are somehow destined to solve.

Friendships, relationships, love, family and loss are all at the heart of this book and I really liked the way in which these themes intertwined and how the lives of the people in Ryan’s life overlapped. There were some really beautiful scenes throughout this book too, my favourite being a scene between Ryan and his grandfather. This to me felt really poignant and a real turning point in the way in which Ryan began to view and understand his experiences.

I also loved that this book was set in London and having been on the underground so many times myself I could really visualise and see Sylvie there, especially during one of the key station settings; King’s Cross St Pancras. I’m glad to have learnt of the reason for her feeling like the underground was somewhere she couldn’t leave. I found myself really empathising with Sylvie and couldn’t imagine experiencing what she went through.

Whilst I felt the ending of this book to be a little sudden, I have really enjoyed the journey I have been on with these characters!

I read this author’s first book and loved it so was worried this wouldn’t live up to it. I was wrong. It’s just as good. I can’t recommend both books enough and look forward to this talent writing more. A strong 5/5.

Reading this book in May 2020, the concept of meeting a woman on the tube seems quite dystopian. As the early exchanges in this novel take part as the characters weave around the tube line felt like an old world. A lot about this book was a throwback and an attempt at authentic love, no matter what desperate lengths you need to go to get the girl.

I was a big fan of Alyson Rudds debut novel, however with her second it does not quite meet the same levels. Whilst the beginning of “The First Time Laura Pailing Died” was tragic, the misery heaped upon each of these characters was forever constant. The depth of the characters is worth praising, but the enduring suffering throughout the book was a heavy weight to carry. I also believe it took a little to long to uncover the mystery, of why Millie, the girl on the tube, seemed to be forever on the move. When things were uncovered and our characters come into each others lives, there was never much excitement or the excitement I wanted to feel. There are many things worth of praise in this book but it just left me feeling a little empty, and not longing for of times gone by. I am quite happy to let the tube journeys keep going and miss their story, if it makes me feel like this book did.

I was so delighted to receive a review copy of this book, as I loved the author’s previous book. Sadly this one didn’t quite live up to it. A lovely story, but much less compelling and somewhat meandering.

Eleven Lines to Somewhere is Alyson Rudd's sophomore novel. It is enjoyably bittersweet and full of longing. Ryan becomes captivated with a woman on the London Underground who leads a mysterious existence. Is she a mystery that can be solved, and should Ryan get involved? The story is full of life's unfairnesses, and how families can become fractured because of them. It is also a story of meet-cutes and transformative experiences. There is a lot of watching in this book that is just the right side of stalking, but only just. It makes the reader wonder how many lonely people are out there, needing a connection.