This was a fun read, as I grew up in this era. The characters were quirky as well as the storyline and I liked that.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Very different read from what I normally read. I Adam glad I was given the arc of this book. Very good read. Will read more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest opinion. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

took me a while to get interested, mainly because the characters and the plot were so incredibly odd. The characters all grew on me, though, and I found myself really invested in finding out what happened to them all (not least of all in finding out what happened to that horse, seriously

This was a really quirky story, but an engaging one overall. It took me a while to get invested, mainly because the characters and the plot was so incredibly odd. The characters all grew on me, though, and I found myself really invested in finding out what happened to them all (not least of all in finding out what happened to that horse, seriously). And although I'm still not sure what I think of the premise ("Billy" is, I guess, a ghost/guardian angel hybrid trapped inside his own brain-damaged body), I do have to give major props to Manning for putting such an original spin on the afterlife, supernatural beings, and karma. Overall, it was a good read and I'm very glad to have gotten the chance to read it. Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

Description
1978:
Fourteen-year-old Billy Baker is the first into the pond that early summer day. Ten minutes later, his lifeless body is pulled from the chilly water, his lips like two slivers of blue ice. Billy Baker dies...but only for a little while. Thirty-nine days later, he emerges from a coma.
But he is not alone.
1994:
Billy (AKA William) is turning thirty. He forgets some letters in the alphabet. He can't set a table properly. He still believes it's the disco era. And he can't remember that day at the pond.
But the young boy William used to have never left his side.
A brain-damaged hero. An unrequited love. A lottery windfall. A jealous brother. A memory is hidden just below the surface…
Sharp contrasts of sunshiny music and life's dark periphery are delicately mingled in this extraordinary tale, putting a new twist on the age-old question: Is it possible to find the way home again when one's memory is nothing more than a blank slate?

For fans of Forrest Gump and The Five People, You Meet in Heaven.

Knock on Wood was a wonderful book. Billy had my heart from the beginning. The book made me feel so much for William. People were full of love or full of deceit. I was rooting for the man who had become more as he saw life. I very seldom read a book that stays with me after a few days. I am sure I will think of Billy/Willaim often.
I will sing Leslie Tall Manning to everyone and the Knock on Wood.

Thank you, NetGalley for the advance copy to review.

Knock on Wood is quite a different story. It's easy to read and entertaining.
I could understand most characters, why they did what they did. Some act out of jealousy, some act out of kindness. The only character I could not fully understand is William's mother. I mean, I get she devotes her life to looking after her son, but when he moves out, she just accepts it and gives him his space? Really? That's the only character I could not get.
The story itself is good, it has funny bits, and I especially liked the ending.
Thanks NetGalley and teh publisher for my ARC.