Kate Hope Day creates a fascinating novel with If, Then. Characters Ginny, Mark, Samara, and Cass all have issues they grapple with, and things become topsy turvy when they begin to see their lives playing out in parallel realities. It's an interesting meditation on "what if?" that is ambitious and largely successful.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

What if you had taken a left turn instead of a right turn? What if you blinked and when you opened your eyes and your whole world had taken a shift?

If, Then is the story of a cul-de-sac in Oregon. Ginny is an over-worked chief of surgery who is married to Mark, a scientist. Samara has returned home to help during her mother's illness - and now, after her mother's sudden death, is trying to decide if she wants to stay or go back to Seattle. Cass is a new mother and former brilliant student.

They all get a glimpse into another world - Ginny is with Edith, a nurse at the hospital, Mark sees himself with terror in his eyes, dirty and scared. Samara sees her mother. Cass sees herself pregnant.

This is science fiction/thriller/fiction. It's part Sliding Doors, part something that I've never read. Alternate realities - do they exist? can they be predicted by frogs? Kate Hope Day has created a world that makes us ask If....Then....and what.....and when....and where.....and how.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Everyone says Broken Mountain is dormant, but Mark has his doubts. His study of local frogs makes him worried, then a vision of himself bedraggled and haunted leaves him terrified. His wife Ginny, a surgeon, is also having visions of another life, where she's having an affair with her coworker Edith. Samara sees her mother alive and well. Cass is just trying to survive the demands of her newborn, but her previous work in philosophy might hold the key to their condition. Just four ordinary lives beset by seismic shifts both literal and figurative.

What I Liked

This was a very fast paced read that had you flying through the lives if the four propionate characters. I have been reading a lot of big novels such as The Count of Monte Cristo, so reading such a fast paced book, that didn't feel rushed was wonderful and just what I needed.

I also enjoyed how this was a science fiction novel that wasn't too out there. It just blurred the lines between alternate realities and did so in a really interesting way. As I was reading this I was almost getting NOS4A2 vibes in this respect. It was just a little science fiction that really lit up the story. It takes a skilled writer to just take something small and build a story like this surrounding it.

The writing in this novel was done really well. It takes talent in my eyes to be able to create a story that shifts so much between characters, time, and in some cases reality as the characters know it. If I had tried to do such a thing there would be plot holes left and right. Additionally, her writing style is very enjoyable to a point I will be looking into her future books, I hope she writes more.

What I Didn't Like

Personally for me I did not get fully attached to any of the characters. This does not mean they were poorly written or anything like that. I just think because there were four main characters and the story flew by so quickly I didn't really get a chance to connect with them. The characters themselves were interesting, especially since they seemed to be "battling" and experiencing such different things in their lives.

Overall Thoughts

This is a very intriguing and interesting book. The premise of this book reminded me of a combination of books I already enjoyed, while it was all her own. The book flew by, but I can also see how that can be a disservice to this story. Overall, it was a good read in my eyes, I was entertained and I wanted to know what would happen next so I kept turning the pages.  If you want a fast paced read that is a little out of the ordinary and has you thinking about alternate realities/dimensions I suggest this book to you.

Great book, great plot, wonderful characters I really cared about. Although when I read a synopsis of this book I was a little reluctant to request it because it seem to have a slight hint of the supernatural. That being said I really did enjoy reading this book. I was happy with the way everything was tied up in the end. Loved all the characters. I would definitely recommend this book to friends and family. Thanks again for my advanced copy.

A unique and imaginative story in which the suspense builds at a good pace amidst land tremors and visions of character ‘twins’ in an alternate reality. An engrossing read.

*will post in online venues upon publication.

I was so excited to read this book!! I love the idea of alternate realities and this one sounded like it was going to be quite the ride. Unfortunately, I feel like this book just barely glossed over the concept, not really diving too deep. It was slow, underdeveloped, and a bit lackluster for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publilshing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What in the WORLD DID I JUST READ?!?!?!
And I mean that in the best possible way ever! I mean MIND BLOWN!! First of all its a multiverse story....all about parallel lives!

I'm going to be honest here..I don't even have the words to describe this book, especially because I don't want to give anything away. Let's just say that Kate Hope Day is a truly gifted writer who knows how to really suck you in!

I've heard its already slated to become a movie and it hasn't even been released YET!!!! Kate Hope Day just joined my list of favorite authors!

This novel is set in a small mountain town in Oregon, where the 4 POV characters, who all live on the same block, start having visions of an alternate vision of their life each time there is a bit of a tremble from the mountain they live near. It's a quiet book, but the writing is just lovely, and the concept of multiverses is definitely an intriguing one. Both in its domestic drama with just a hint of the fantastic/science fiction, and in the dreamlike writing, it definitely reminded me of Karen Thompson Walker's books Age of Miracles and The Dreamers, so if you are a fan of those books, you will want to check out this one, and vice versa.

The writing is excellent in this book but I had a hard time connecting with the story for some reason. Part science-fiction with alternate timelines and part domestic drama. Interesting premise but I just couldn't get invested in the characters.

Why are Ginny, Mark, Samara, and Cass seeing alternate versions of themselves? It won't be clear early on so go with it and enjoy this for what it is- a literary exploration of how one thing can change our lives. If you opted to turn left instead of right, how would your life differ? There are bigger issues here than a simple turn- Ginny wonders about her sexuality, Samara about her mother and grief, Cass about motherhood and Mark the environment (but is this a metaphor?). These four are neighbors and the oddity they are experiencing seems to be focused only on them. Why? I realize I'm posing a lot of questions but these are what floated through my mind as I read this. It's got lovely writing which carried me through when I was a bit confused about what was going on. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. An interesting read.

I received an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was thoughtful and worth a read as it made me think; it also tired to be many things at once and at times I felt a bit lost, thinking we were still in literary/women's fictional mode when we had bounced to Sci-fi/dystopian mode, and the shift between the four narrators also lead to this bounced-around feeling. I would recommend it more for the ideas and less so for the enjoyment of the actual flow. 3.5 rounded up

What if the reality we inhabit isn't the only one? What if there are parallel worlds in which we - or people very much like us - exist on another place, one just barely out of our reach but not entirely so? This is an elegant novel of the counterfactual - the if, then of the title - peopled by alternate versions of some of the inhabitants of Clearing, Oregon, a mountain community in a subduction zone vof the Cascades whose seismic activity may have nothing , or everything, to do with the bizarre hallucinations that afflict Sarah, whose recently deceased mother still exists in that alternate reality, or Cass, a PhD student whose philosophy studies have been back-burned by the demands of new motherhood but is confused by encounters with her prepartum self, still fully engrossed in her studies , or Ginny, a surgeon who in her dream life is having an affair with Edith, a nurse, and is unconcerned buty her scientist husband's fears about the mountain's stability. The novel's central question is never fully answered - if we could glimpse those parallel lives, would we choose them over the lives we live now? - but the quality of the writing, the luminous prose and well- developed characters - are reasons enough to praise this unusual work of fiction m

In her first novel, IF, THEN, Kate Hope Day presents us with a literary story about four neighbors in Clearing, Oregon, a small town near a volcano called Broken Mountain. Inexplicably, the characters begin to see glimpses of different versions of their lives. While it's implied that these multi-verses are tied to the volcano, you should not enter this book expecting definitive answers..

Ginny is an overworked surgeon who has visions of herself in a lesbian relationship with a coworker. Her husband, Mark, sees a doppelgänger version of himself after what appears to be some kind of natural disaster. Their neighbor, Samara, discovers new information about her dead mother. And Cass hallucinates that she is pregnant again--even though she can barely cope with the child she already has.

I was drawn to the book because of its premise. Haven't we all wondered what life would have been like if we had turned left instead of right? But lest this sound like a science fiction novel, be aware that the sci-fi alternate reality angle is downplayed in favor of the characters' inner lives. I can't pretend like I really understood what was happening in this book. While the writing is strong, the resolution was less explosive than I had expected it to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. It was okay but it was a bit slow at times and weird. I liked it overall, but I'm not sure I would read it again.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Four neighbors begin to feel their worlds upend when they start seeing visions of either themselves or a deceased family member. Mark is a devoted father whose visions of himself start him on a paranoid past to protect his family. He’s also convinced that the local volcano Broken Mountain isn’t as dormant as others think. His wife, Ginny, is a surgeon who hasn’t spent much time with her family. She begins to think she has a brain tumor when she begins to see visions of herself apparently having a loving relationship with her female co-worker. Samara is seeing visions of her deceased mother. Cass is a young mother, struggling with taking care of a new baby while her husband is away. She’d like to return to her scholarly work but she’s having visions of herself having another baby.

I’ve become quite interested in alternate realities and the law of attraction so I felt this book was a must read for me, but I definitely have been left with the feeling that something was missing. I had difficulty becoming emotionally involved with these characters and found Cass and Ginny to be annoying. Samara was my favorite character and I loved the scene where she goes to the thrift store where her father had taken all of her deceased mother’s things, gathering them up with the intent to buy them back. She’s really the only character I felt any connection with. The visions of the alternate realities was one thing but when the realities began to overlap, that sometimes became confusing.

This felt like a screenplay for an upcoming TV show and it may well work better in that capacity. While it kept my interest throughout, I didn’t feel it was anything special and can only give this one 3 stars.

I loved the premise of this. And in the publisher descriptions, it was described as appealing to the fan of Little Fires Everywhere and The Immortalists, both books that I loved. Plus, that cover. I love the colors and the imagery. I was very excited to read this one.

Now, to preface my review, I haven’t always recently read the book’s description when I open up my Kindle to read. But I also kind of love that because it helps me avoid spoilers and truly be able to appreciate the story as it unfolds, knowing something about it appealed to me when I requested it.

So, first what I liked. I liked the tone of the book, I loved the setting and how that influenced the overall story. I really liked most of the characters and the story was intriguing. What didn’t I like? I seriously was confused a lot about what was going on.

I’ve read stories where the author is able to switch back and forth through time and even dimensions, but unless I’m missing something, it seemed very random in this story. Plus the visions and alternate reality escalate as the story goes on and I was so lost by the end.

Still, a lot of what threw me may have been changed before a final edit or may be more obvious when you are reading a final, proofed copy of the book. Overall, the concept was thought provoking, I just wished the book was organized differently.

Thank you to Random House Publishers and Netgalley for an e-galley of the book in exchange for my honest review. This one is out March 12, 2019.

While the idea of a multiverse is usually tacked in the realms of science fiction and fantasy, Kate Hope Day gives up a different perspective on the matter within the suburban life of family. Although each life is wrapped in a special sort of quaintness that can only ever be associated with a literary novel like this one, each character offers a different sort of perspective of the everyday life and the problems that come with that. As you delve deeper into their stories and lives, time blurs as seamlessly as their opposing lives, and it isn't until the end that you realize the cleverness in the crafting of their storylines. This was a wonderfully soft read that gave me a different side to the idea of the multiverse, but this novel also offered a look into the weight of decisions that affect the everyday life and the fates that follow.

Really interesting book and premise held my attention and interest until the final section where it seemed to lose focus and go off the rails, merging story and time lines. 3.5 stars.

I’m sure all of us have wondered what if. All those little -- and big -- choices that we’ve made throughout our lives. What they would have led to, where we’d be today had we chosen a different path. If, Then explores what would happen if we got a glimpse of these once possible other lives. The plot is mostly slow-moving and even when big things happen, the focus is almost entirely on the characters’ internal lives. Kate Hope Day is a remarkably good writer, and I was surprised to find this was her debut novel. She writes flawed, believable characters whose lives you will truly care about. It’s hard to delve too much into without reaching “spoiler” territory, but I’ll try.

Ginny was probably my favorite character (although I’m probably biased because she’s queer). She starts out as the stereotypical woman-who-can’t-have-it-all, a surgeon who doesn’t have time for her family, but as her thoughts and experiences are exposed to us she becomes her own person outside of the trope she lives. I do wish that her husband, Mark, had felt a bit more sympathetic to me, but I think that’s also due to some personal bias. It was interesting to see how Ginny’s perception of their relationship seemed to change the nature of the relationship itself, although Mark had something to do with that as well.

Samara is deep into mourning the loss of her mother, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship explored in a different way than Ginny and Mark’s. Most would assume that the death of a person ends your relationship with them, but it was clear that Samara’s bond with her mother was able to strengthen even after the death of the latter. I liked how this was displayed, through Samara imagining the things her mother would say and how those things shifted after Samara’s impression of her had changed.

Last but not least, I just adored Cass and seeing how her relationship with herself changed. Cass is a new mother and former doctorate student who put her studies on hold in order to care for her child. After giving birth, she lost all motivation to write and sees no way of returning to her former life in academia. As someone with depression and chronic fatigue, I can relate to having the need to do something while also lacking the ability to do it. Watching Cass grapple with this internal struggle felt simultaneously saddening and inspiring. With not just Cass, but the entire cast of characters, Day shows that change, even when necessary, is not easy.

What I really loved was the ending. There is a slowly rising wave of emotions building throughout the novel that come to a thrilling climax near the end. The aftermath of this wave is examined in a thoughtful and realistic light, and Day makes no promises of easy happy endings. She recognizes that although things are hopeful for these characters and their futures, difficulties still lie ahead. I’m no longer satisfied by carefree endings and enjoy the more nuanced world Day was able to provide. The journey of these characters is not at an end, and that is made clear to the reader. I put down the book with a surge of emotion, and hope that Day’s next novel will give me a similar experience.