Great premise, but The Start of Us never clicked with me and was a DNF. I would read another book by Hannah Emery,though, as I think that (hope that!) she's a novelist with the potential to write a very moving book.

Sweet, emotional, heartfelt... The Start of Us is about what-ifs and taking risks.

Erica has a gift , she can travel through space and time to revisit her past and a world where she is living a different version of her life.

But...the grass is not always greener as they say. When Erica meets and falls for Daniel she is faced with a choice, will she continue to live her life in the present with all its experiences, or fully become her parallel self?

This is a beautifully written and unexpected story, with a great twist, likeable central characters in Erica and Daniel, and a lovely romantic but very real element to it.

A pleasant surprise, great and uplifting read carrying a message about appreciating your life and taking risks. I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the ARC.

This is The Time Traveller's Wife meets Sliding Doors. Erica has been disappearing since she was twelve, watching glimpses of the past and seeing herself as she might have been in an alternative life, if only things had been different. If her parents had stayed together, if she hadn't moved to Blackpool, if she had stuck with her boyfriend and gone travelling. But then she wouldn't have met Daniel, bought a house, suffered the most terrible thing to ever happen to her. If only she could go back, become that other Erica, start again... but sometimes it's better not to find what you wish for. An unusual book, a bit slow in places, but with absolutely the right ending.

Kinda reminds me of the Time Traveler's Wife. This was a unique book and kept me guessing.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Start of Us is a book with a unique premise. It's boasted as a book similiar to Josie Silver, whom I adore. It's similar almost to a Hallmark movie where Erica is able to switch between real life, and the life she hasn't lived based on her experiences. I anticipating enjoying this more than I did. I did find it made me feel so many emotions. Laughter, sadness, and so much hope.

This book has a unique premise of the main character, Erica, being able to slip between the present and also to a life that she hasn't lived based on choices she didn't make. She meets Daniel and when tragedy strikes used this gift of hers. I liked this story, as it was unique and easy to get lost in.

Erica and Daniel's story captivated me from the beginning. I was swept up in their romance, especially when Daniel proposed after one of Erica's disappearances. I enjoyed the glimpses into "other" Erica's life and always cheered Erica and Daniel on. The book description mentions that a tragedy unfolds, but I was still unprepared for the tearjerker (plus the alternate one towards the end!). This book made me smile, cry and hope for a love that's good enough for this lifetime.

Such an interesting and totally engrossing story!! It did remind me of Josie Silver's The Two Lives of Lydia Bird and the movie Sliding Doors. Both are absolute favorites of mine. Loved Emery's style and her characters. Erica felt very real to me and very relateable. Daniel not so much, which would be my only complaint about the book. Would read more from Emery.

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this ARC from NetGalley.

Wow, what a beautiful read! Erica and Daniel will stay with me as characters for a long time.

We get to know Erica and Daniel as they meet and fall in love and start their life together. Daniel is able to cope with and embrace Erica's "idiosyncrasy" but then tragedy strikes. The couple are thrown into turmoil and lose their way, and their connection to each other. Erica believes she has the power to reconnect them but its not without risks.

Favourite quote, although there were many:
"All endings are horrible. If you only ever thought of the end of something, you'd never start anything, would you?"

This book has the feel of Sliding Doors and how we make so many tiny decisions every day that all add up in the end.

Out in Kindle now and the paperback is out 15th October 2020.

Thank you to NetGalley, One More Chapter, & HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

DNF @ 25%

The idea of this book is brilliant - being able to flit in and out of different paths your life could have taken, if only you had made different choices ... but it did not pan out for me. I normally don't really mind not having good explanations for fantastical elements (see: the movie About Time), but here it didn't work. The characters held appeal and I was interested in seeing what happened to them, but ultimately the plot held me back and I struggled to get to 25%.

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. The Start of Us by Hannah Emery explores the question, “If you had a chance to live another life…would you? At the time of her parent's divorce, Erica discovered she could leave the present time and observe things that happened in the past. It was more of a curse than a blessing because she never knew when it was going to happen and disappearing for hours on end played havoc with her relationships with people because who would believe her? She thought she had outgrown it until it started to happen again after her boyfriend dumped her at a party. Only this time, it’s not someone else’s past she’s watching it’s a version of her who’s parents didn’t get divorced and who she thinks is stronger and more adventurous than she is. That party is a turning point in her life because she meets Daniel at the party and they fall in love and begin a life together, but there is always that what if … and when she and Daniel lose their infant son she begins to wonder if a world without that loss wouldn’t be a better place. The book reminded me a bit of the movie Sliding Doors, I enjoyed reading it and do recommend it. Publishing Date: July 31, 2020. #TheStartOfUs #HannahEmery #HarperCollinsUK #OneMoreChapter #HarperCollinsCanada

Really enjoyed this. Lived the characters and the cover is fab too. First I've read of this author but won't be the last. Thank you to netgalley and the author and publishers for allowing me the chance to read this for my honest review

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a free E-Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!
First, I would like to warn people before reading this book that there might be a trigger warning- death of an infant.
What first drew me to this book was the summery! I thought it was going to be a typical romance, but boy was I mistaken. This book takes the reader on fantastical journey with a woman, who is able to slip through time and see different outcomes of possible futures and chance meetings. This book was a beautiful story about loss, the what-ifs of the infinite choices people make everyday, and love.
Erica is a strong woman that holds many people at a distance due to her unique secret of being able to slip into different alternate realities. While attending a party, Erica meets Daniel and decides he will be the person outside her family to learn of her secret. As they are building a life together, tragedy hits them hard. Erica and Daniel finds everyday harder and harder to bear the grief that is slowly consuming them. In order to find their better selves, Erica begins to believe their true lives belongs in the alternate versions of themselves. Erica must make a choice over which life does she really want? Can going back and changing the decisions bring them a better future?
This book has a lot going for it! The premise of the book reminds me of a mix of different movies that have a similar time travel theme. The pacing was very good. The author did a great job writing deep and well written characters that are realistic in the choices and reactions they have throughout the story. Erica, especially, showed a lot of growth with the people in her lives that ultimately helped her to make the best decision! The ending was beautiful and well deserved for the characters. Overall, I recommend this book to people who love a couple who overcome a lot of obstacles in order to be together! I can't wait to read more by this author!

Overall a cute concept but it fell a little flat for me. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, and I’m not sure explaining the magical realism aspect helped them book at all, it just brought up too many questions that went unanswered.

DNF at 41%.

I really wanted to like this book. Both the description and the cover make it feel so cute, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. over 100 pages in and I don't feel like I really know either of the main characters and I'm just bored.

Thank you NetGalley and One More Chapter for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Start Of Us
By: Hannah Emery

REVIEW ☆☆☆
I was surprised that I didn't love The Start Of Us like I thought I would. For a romcom chicklit type story, this one leaned too much towards sad for my taste. I just couldn't connect with the overall concept at all, and unfortunately, this book was not for me.

Contrary to other reviews, I actually enjoyed this book. It does deal with tragedy and loss but the "what if" aspect appealed to me. I would have liked more detail of Erica's past and Daniel felt like a secondary character through much of the book. However, I did like the thought of the time travelling/alternative reality part of the book. Erica did annoy me at times but that's OK because characters aren't necessarily meant to be liked all of the time. I would definitely like to read more by this author.

I think the cover of this book is misleading. Based on the cover (which, yes, I know), one would think this was lighthearted chick lit. What this is - is a mix of chick-lit, science fiction and just...plain old fiction.

Erica is able to see the past. Or, is she? Erica is able to almost time travel -to see choices and decisions that were made that led to her current life. Except - it's not, it's an alternative universe. A -what if? if you will.

This wasn't terrible, but I've read a few books who have worked at the angle and have done it 10x better. Still, this was an enjoyable read to plow through while at the beach.

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

3 stars
This had time traveling, complicated relationships, and the idea of What If. The time put into this book is immense, i am sure, laying out all the what-if moments. For me, this wasn't my type of story but for those who like time travel and the idea of What if, it will give them something to think about.

TW:<spoiler> Infant Death, Death of a Loved One </spoiler>This type of book is right in my must read genre - the contemporary with parallel lives or time moving non-linearly.

I was not prepared for the tragedy referenced in the synopsis and actually went back to look at it again, confused, because my assumption was wrong and I was so sure that it had <i> said </i> what I thought was going to happen. This is definitely a crying book, and one that didn’t go where I expected in the end, though I was happy with the ending.