How I found it: NetGalley

What's It All About? One day the world wakes up to find that overnight the Earth has slowed it's rotation, adding 56 minutes to the day while most people slept. Now, people spend each morning listening to the report telling them how much time was added overnight. Minutes quickly turn to hours, and before long, daylight and darkness are completely out of sync with the clocks. However, the governments of the world decide after a few weeks that they will follow what is termed clock time as a way of keeping order in society. Most people quickly follow the government's lead, and life continues on as usual in terms of pretending a day is still 24 hours. However, a small segment of the population has decided to live on "real time", changing their sleep and wake patterns to follow that of the sun. The slowing also leads to a minuscule increase in gravity. While it isn't felt, it causes many people to develop gravity sickness. Told from the point of view of Julia, a California girl in middle school, who has to deal with changing friendships, a family that is strained at the best of times, and beginning to notice boys (or at least one boy, Seth Moreno, in particular).

My thoughts: I enjoyed this book, both for the characters, and for the science involved in imagining an Earth where gravity is stronger, the magnetic field is disappearing, and the sun is quickly becoming deadly. And through this crisis, humanity lives on. Friendships develop and fall apart at what seems like a quicker pace than usual. Birds are dying, whales are beaching themselves, and all agriculture soon finds itself contained in greenhouses with artificial life. Julia's romance with Seth starts with a stutter, as most middle school romances tend to. But it is Julia's home life that I found most interesting. SPOILERS (highlight to read):

Julia's mother has a bad case of gravity sickness, often fainting from lack of sleep and finding herself paranoid about small details. Her father is having an affair with one of the real timers. However, when her mom gets <em>really</em> sick, her father abandons his affair and his thoughts of running away in order to be there for his wife. For a time, at least.

My main complaint about the book is the ending. I think that ending the book with the line "I never heard from Seth Moreno again," would have been perfect. The reader already knows that life is uncertain at this point, and I didn't feel that the book needed the final chapter to tell us that. I wasn't as interested in what happened to Julia and her parents at that point, and would have preferred to imagine it for myself. However, I did like that the final paragraph talked about what Julia and Seth wrote in the wet cement. I think this could have been incorporated earlier, and the epilogue feeling chapter left out.

Genre: Science Fiction
Themes: Natural disaster, coming-of-age

Recommended For: There are SO many teens that I would pass this book onto, whether they were looking for science fiction, romance, or end-of-the-world type books.

[Review will post on 10/23/22]

This is a lovely book that was a fun, although not entirely memorable read. I appreciated its tenderness. Three and a half stars.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker is more about 12 year old Julia and what she sees and feels as the Earth's rotation starts slowing down and nature a human behavior starts to change. The book is beautifully written without focusing on the horror of what is happening.

Thanks to NewGalley and publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

Wonderfully written and a very good read. Highly recommend