Author: Ingrid Jonach
Publication Date: September 3rd 2013
Source : Received a digital ARC via Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry and Netgalley. (In exchange for an honest review. Thank you!)
Source : Received a digital ARC via Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry and Netgalley. (In exchange for an honest review. Thank you!)
When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it's like fireworks - for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.
But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind - memories of the two of them, together and in love.
When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger - and much more terrifying and beautiful - than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.
Review
Before I even go into detail... and well, to be a inclusive tease...
WHY.DID.YOU.DO.THAT.TO.ME?
Secondly, look at the pretty cover!
Thirdly, I couldn't stop listening to Amy Hit the
Atmosphere- Counting Crows and Begin Again- Measure, while reading.Fourthly (?) Such an appropriate title.
I have a soft spot for reincarnation stories, mainly when I'm in a sappy mood, you know and it's the only time I can almost approve of insta-love, though there wasn't any of that in this, more hot-cold kind of love, for a reason. Not knowing much about When the World was Flat (And we were in love) when I started reading, I didn't even know it was one.
Technically, it isn't, but we'll get to that later.
A few months ago Lillie Hart started having nightmares,
real, scary, death nightmares. She watches herself get killed countless of
times, the first one even caused a nosebleed. When she catches the eyes of Tom Windsor-Smith,
the new guy at Green Grove Central High School, though not entirely new to the
town, over lunch in the cafeteria something
changed in Lillie before she even knew it had, a war she unseeingly won. The
fact that she knew Tom had a scar under his chin, but didn't know how, and how
familiar he looked but didn't know why. How she felt so affected by his
appearance and why Tom was seemingly unaffected and a bit of a jerk. A jerk
whose locker is next to hers.
As the story unfolds, after dying in her dreams countless of times, Lillie
starts dreaming of another life, which at first she thinks is just her fantasy
of Tom and her, but seems too real and then a near death track aversion, secret past life tragedies, multiple
eras of avenging, it's time to finally let go and embrace this life they have.
Lillie finds out the truth- one I guessed, but was surprised at the how. Then we have the Circle, who can
kill the un-killable if secrets are told.
Now, the reason why When the World was Flat is different to
every other reincarnation story out there? Because it's not one. Here's the
interesting part, it a while but it's worth it, honestly. Ever heard of Albert Einstein's
string theory? No? Me neither. It's fascinating, and a little all mumble jumble
for all I know because admittedly, I have no fricking idea what it was. Hey- I
passed my GCSE with a solid C, thank you very much.
I loved Lillie as a character, she was honest, okay, a
little overly giggly giggly girly girly,
and a little disrespectful to her mother at times, but she was a believable
character in the situation she was in. Her reactions were real, she felt
jealously, and anger and hurt- even if some of it was from the person who
supposedly loved her, and in the end you could feel her pain.
Tom, well, I didn't like him as much, the whole save-the-girl-all-the-time
grates on me after a while, and he was kind of an enigma even after we find out
the truth, it still felt like he was holding back and I couldn't connect to his
character.
The friends Sylv & Jo; Hmmm, I'm a little undecided with
them, I mean I liked them, but I guess Sylv, there was more going on there than
the all self girl we were shown, though we did see the protectiveness she has
of her friends, though the mean streak she also has at a drop of the hat. I
felt Sylv tried to hard while Jo didn't try enough, which I get, she had a lot
on her plate, and as Jo starts to change, you realise the secret is closer to
home than Lillie ever thought it was.
I really, really, loved this book, and though I'm nit-picky
over a lot of things I read, and I was nit-picky over some things in When the World was Flat, I
just told myself to shut up and read.
The only thing I found truly annoying was the three word
repetition made me feel like I had OCD above my alphabetising everything.
Rating; 4/5
