This isnl such a unique idea for a book-imagine having sex causes you to time travel
However I found Maddy a difficult main character to warm to and the sacrifice she made is a little unbelievable
Another good book from Laura P

This book was another fabulous read by Laura Pearson and I was hooked right from the very beginning. Maddy who is the leading character has a very quirky and unusual gift ; when she meets a guy and they become intimate she can for a very short time see herself ten years into her future. Now this only lasts for a couple of seconds it’s enough for Maddy to know if she is with the right person . This was for me a thought provoking and emotional read packed with wonderful characters.

I became an instant fan girl of Laura Pearson when I read The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine last year. Her imagination is just so unique when it comes to the stories she wants to tell in her books!

Take this book, The Many Futures of Maddy Hart. Whenever Maddy Hart is in the middle of getting intimate with someone, she is thrown out of the moment and fast forwards to what her life will be exactly 10 years time if she stays with this person. Let's just say, the futures with some of these people do not look great. As a result, Maddy tends to stay away from men as a general rule.

Maddy is trying to make ends meet as an advertising copywriter whilst waiting for her big acting break. One day she is hired for a job where she is a Christmas elf, and there she meets a fellow wannabe actor, Oliver.

When fate throws Maddy and Oliver together again, Maddy does try to resist him but he's just so lovely. And when the times come, she sees a future that seems pretty darn perfect. He meets her parents, and her brother and soon they bond. However, each time she goes to the future she learns more, and it soon becomes clear that her perfect life is a little more complicated than she first assumed. And to get to that perfect future means that she might have to break her own heart, and Oliver's, along the way.

This is a unique story, and the book is filled with great family and friendships. Maddy loves her parents, and she does everything that she can to support them, especially her younger brother, and they in turn are supportive of her even though they don't always understand the decisions she makes. Maddy's best friend Priya is the only one who knows about the visions that Maddy has, and I can understand why she would be curious about what Maddy sees in the future as it relates to her. Another great character was Mrs Aziz who was their neighbour at the beginning of the book, and who becomes a confidante to Maddy.

If I think back to my ex, could I have known what my life would be like 10 years after I met him. Well, yes, I think it probably wasn't a huge surprise that things ended as they did, with me being a single parent. But there are positives though. I have been with my husband for just over 8 years, and if I think back to when we first started seeing each other I was pretty confident early on that we were going to be happy together, and we are. Of course, the difference is that we have to live through those years to get to that point, and trust in fate, and each other.

The central question of the book is really is it better to know what the future holds or is it better to just live it as it happens.

I have seen this book referenced in several reviews as magical realism and at first that label threw me. I therefore went and looked at the definition, which Brittanica.com says is a "narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction." and I can see how that would be applied to this book, and Eliza Valentine too!

This is my third book from Laura Pearson. My favourite is still the first book I read, The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine, but this was also a really good read, telling Maddy's story in a very unusual and unique way! I own most of Laura Pearson's backlist now, and I can't wait to read more of her books, and see what unique tale she comes up with next!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.

Rating 4/5

Maddy has a unique "gift" - when she sleeps with someone, she transports 10 years into the future and sees what her life would be like with that person. After it happens the first time, at age 16, she tells her best friend Priya.

Now, an adult Maddy has been very careful with who she sleeps with. The visions of her future are, so far, not positive. But that changes when Oliver enters her life.

Life with Oliver seems to show a life she could love. But in order to get there, she'll need to make a huge sacrifice.

If you had the ability to see the future, would you? And if so, would you do anything you could to prevent one future to make another one come true?

This is the first book I've read by Laura Pearson and suffice to say, I was blown away! This was a four star read meaning I really enjoyed the characters and felt the plot moved along steadily, keeping me engaged from beginning to end. I can't wait to read the large catalogue of books written by Laura Pearson!

Thank you NetGalley, Laura Pearson, and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for honest feedback. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Given that I read a lot of dark and, frankly, disturbing thrillers ever now and then I am in need of a plate cleanse. One of my favourite authors to turn to is Laura Pearson.

The Many Futures of Maddy Hart did not let me down.

I know to some people this book might sound a little too much like science fiction, but it's far from that. It's essentially a dual timeline, but it looks forward instead of backwards and Laura has written it with utter clarity.

Unlike most of the books I read, I loved all of the characters, especially Mrs Azziz. She only has a small part, but I do think we all need someone like her in our lives.

If I had one criticism, it's that I felt the ending was a little abrupt. And I really wanted to find out if life really was like Maddy saw it.

Enjoyed reading. Intriguing concept. Laura spins a good story.. creates a lot of questions for the reader.

A classic boy meets girl love story but with a magical realism twist. As we’ve come to expect from a Laura Pearson read, this is a beautifully written story and an emotional and engaging one.
The back and forth to the future adds such a different unique view on Maddy’s life and choices. The glimpses of her future life not really enough but in the same breath too much almost so as to provide knowledge she wouldn’t have yet.
This poses such questions of morality to the reader such as what would you do with the knowledge of your potential future self ?
I loved the supporting cast to Maddy - her family and Priya were so wonderfully supportive and Mrs Aziz, just brilliant and wise - the non judging ear for Maddy to rely on when the confusion was building.

📚Book Review📚

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I want to thank Netgalley for approving me for an ARC of this book. I have read and loved all of Laura Pearson's books so I was excited to start this one. Special shout out to @wendyreadsbooks for reading this with me.

This is a classic girl meets boy love story but Laura Pearson puts a magical spin on this classic trope. Maddy Hart has the ability to see how her future relationships will evolve, ten years in the future.

This raised quite a discussion between myself and Wendy. Could Maddy honestly say seeing her future hadn't shaped the choices she made in the present? Would she have the ability to change the future with the new knowledge?

Overall I loved the time travel aspect and the relationship between all the different characters. Laura's writing is so easy to read and absorb, another wonderful story for the collection.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

#books #bookreview #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bibliophile #bookworm #booklover #bookaddict #reading

This book has an interesting twist on the classic time travel trope, Maddy can see 10 years into the future every time she has sex with someone. This…ability makes her question everything about her life, what she is willing to do to secure that future and what she wants from a partner. This was a sweet romance with short, snappy chapters and loveable characters. I was engrossed from the first second I started reading. The ending knocked half a star off for me as I am not a fan of open endings. Overall I absolutely adored this book and want to read more from this author.

4.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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.

What a book! I love Laura Pearson's penmanship but this was beautiful. I can't imagine what it must be like for Maddy when everytime she has sexual intimacy with someone she gets transported 10 years into the future and gets a quick glimpse of what her close friends and family are up to. Due to this she limits her intimate actions with people until (my new book boyfriend) Oliver comes on the scene and changes everything. Oh a Oliver, you are a dream! I also love Maddy's best friend Priya, who sticks by her side through thick and thin (epitome of ride or die) but isn't afraid to be frank and honest with Maddy when the time is right.
There was so much to this book, that's run so much deeper than the superficial story line. It had my heart squeezing and breaking and healing, the tears were falling without trying and I also had some laughs in between. The way Pearson writes is iconic and there is so much atmosphere and emotion on the pages that appears effortless. I love the short chapters which makes it feel like I'm reading it quicker. The characters (as with all her books) deal with very real life issues (except the time travel element) which really draws you in and makes you so invested. I actually loved the ending and that it is up to readers interpretation.

A truly marvellous piece of fiction.

After loving The Last List of Mabel Beaumont, I was so excited to receive this ARC and I wasn't disappointed! While a very different story, Laura Pearson's ability to create such lovable characters remains strong...

Great book and fun to read! Kept me completely engaged was a good way to start the month of February! Definitely would recommend to anyone!

When Maddy becomes intimate with her boyfriend, she is able to see what life would be like in ten years with him.
Unable to deal with the information, she ends her rare future relationships after becoming intimate once with her
male partner. All that changes when she meets Oliver. Glimpses into not only their future lives but also that of
her family and best friend are revealed.
Love the characters.
#TheManyFuturesofMaddyHart #BoldwoodBooks #NetGalley

The Many Futures of Maddy Hart by Laura Pearson

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

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…

My Opinion

Laura Pearson has once again written a book with a strange concept – this makes for a very interesting read. Maddy is able to see 10 years into her future enabling her to make sure that ultimately, she ends up with the correct partner. I have read a few books by Laura Pearson and each have been vastly different but equally entertaining. With delights like this Laura is definitely going onto my must-read list.

Rating 4/5

This is such an interesting concept for a book. If you could get some small glimpses into the future and see what your life would be like, what sacrifices would you be prepared to make in the here and now to hopefully secure the best version of that future for yourself, but without any guarantees that it will work? And how would those glimpses of the future impact inadvertently the choices you make today because of how you think your life is going to turn out?

The more you read through this book and the more you think about these questions, the deeper into both the practical and the moral mazes you find yourself exploring? Do you tell friends and family what you see in their futures? How do you reconcile hurting people in the present in the hope that you will get a better future? How do you know what effects these minor adjustments might have? This isn’t the first story to explore these issues, many people have toyed with the concept, but it is a really thoughtful and entertaining one.

Being a divorced mother-of-two who found her soulmate later in life, these are ideas I have thought about myself from a different angle. Do I wish I had met the love of my life when I was younger, before I got into a failed marriage so I could have avoided heartbreak and pain and had more time and a family with him? But then I wouldn’t have the two beautiful children I have now. And would I have even fallen in love with him when we were both younger and different people with different experiences? There is no way to answer these questions, so it was fascinating to see how Laura grapples with the dilemmas that come with getting glimpses of the future.

I love the way Laura’s mind works. Her books are kooky and warm and easy to read but also thoughtful and thought-provoking. Their covers might look like easy-reading women’s fiction, and they could be classified in that way because they are easy to read, but they also give your brain and your moral compass a good workout at the same time. This makes for one hell of a rewarding reading experience and is worth every penny of the money you will spend on it. Her characters are appealing and relatable, even if they are having some unusual experiences and I always end up caring what happens to them. That is a skill.

Laura Pearson continues to be one of my favourite authors currently writing in this space and I always look forward to seeing what she is working on next.

Maddy finds that whenever she sleeps with a man she suddenly has a vision of herself ten years in the future. More often than not she is so horrified at what she sees that she doesn't see that man again until she meets Oliver, when things become much more complicated.
I found the premise of this story very interesting, I'm not sure how I'd react if the same ability / curse - it's not clear which it is. It certainly makes life very difficult for Maddy, fortunately Oliver comes across as a very nice guy. I'm also not sure that I could live the life that they both do as actors, with the uncertainty of when the next job will come along.
I won't go into how the story ends, however I do hope that there will be another book or at least an epilogue.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Maddy has a special gift. She can see into her future, but only when she sleeps with a guy., and as yet nothing she’s seen has been that positive. That is until she meets Oliver.

She likes everything about him and what she sees in her future is exactly where she wants to be in about ten years from now. But she also knows that what she’s seeing means that some hard choices will need to be made now.

I loved the characters and the storyline.

I really enjoy Pearsons writing. It’s poetic and easy and just so lovely.

When Maddy Hart has sex with someone, she sees herself ten years from then. And usually, that makes her never want to sleep with them again. Until she meets Oliver. Ten years from now they are happy and have a child and she likes the little future, so much she will do what she can to make sure it happens.

Acute story with likeable characters. A too good to be true man, that doesn’t feel so out of reach.

This was my first by this author, it’s slightly different from my usual read. I went into it with an open mind and by the end I literally swiped back a page as I couldn’t believe it was the end. I stared at my kindle screen in disbelief, I couldn’t not know what happened to Maddy and Oliver. I guess that was the desired effect.

Like Maddy, I had got used to seeing glimpses of her future, and now I will never know if she gets her predicted future or if she’s changed it by taking steps to ensure things happen how she thinks they need to.

I really can’t describe how much this book just left me sitting thinking about the what ifs. The whole concept was unique to me about glimpses of her future 10 years ahead, how much Maddy was affected by things she saw, both good and bad, it was like she was living two lives, but one in only short bursts.

Absolutely amazing and I will certainly be checking out other books by this author.