The Intrepid Reader and Baker: Blog Tour: The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson

I have a question about what constitutes a review. Would it be sufficient for me to just say I LOVED THIS BOOK? I mean really loved it, as in recommending it to multiple people even before the book was released. Loved it!

Okay, so apparently there needs to be more.

The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine has a very unusual premise. Eliza and her siblings Samuel, Lucy and Thomas are Almosts. They are the children that their mother, Becca Valentine, might have if all the stars align. They came into existence on the day that Becca was born and have been with her her whole life. They know what their dates of conception might be, but they don't know who their father is until they see him for the first time. If they aren't conceived, then they disappear from existence and if they are conceived they won't remember their potential siblings. Obviously as their date of existence approaches there is a growing degree of angst because they don't know what their fate will be and they have very little control. And things are complicated because the there are two different dads in the picture!

Through Eliza's eyes we get to know Becca. Becca is a young girl whose parents split up and she makes a poor choice, finding herself pregnant whilst still at school. She tries to make it the best of the situation and to be a good mum, but in addition to being estranged from her mum, her friends are all moving on with their lives whilst Becca was learning to be a mum. Thank goodness for her dad, who believes in Becca and who will support her no matter what!

I was completely involved in this book. There were several times where I had to put it aside because I knew that something dramatic was about to happen. However, I was then compelled to pick it up again because I needed to know what happened next.

The whole concept was completely different to anything I have read before and it was so well done!

I was less than a quarter of the way through the book and I had already bought another 3 of Laura Pearson's book. I can guarantee that this book will be on my best of list for this year!

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 5/5

About the book

The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine

You’ve heard of the Afterlife. Welcome to the Beforelife.

There are four of us: Samuel, Lucy, Thomas, and me – Eliza.

We came into being the day Becca Valentine was born. We’ve been by her side ever since. What she doesn’t know yet, is that one day she might become our mother.

Then two men come into her life. Both seeking her heart. And then we realise: everything rests on Becca’s love story. Because one of the men is Lucy and Thomas’s father. And the other is mine and Samuel’s. And there’s simply no way we can all be born.

We all want her to make the right choice. We all want to be born. To hold her hand one day. To feel her stroke our hair. To call her our mother.

Then we discover there is something we can do. We can change Fate. But we only have a single chance each. How would you make sure you were born? And what if doing that isn’t what’s best for the person you already love the most in the world – your mother?