The book was quite enjoyable, if not memorable. It's a rather novel concept and the characters were likeable enough.

I got an ARC of this book though netgalley for an honest review. This story intrigue me at with the description but it fell short for me. The first third of the book fell slow and drag on a bit for my taste. The middle third was up and down with pacing of the book. the final third of the books was okay but doesn't explain some of the things that happen at the start of the book and it is kind of a open ended book. Would i read more from this author? Maybe it was have to sound like something i would like to read.

If you liked 'Before I Fall' by Lauren Oliver, then you may enjoy this book. The difference is the clever spin on the popular 'Groundhog Day' trope. Louise Doors attends a gig on Friday night and remembers collapsing in the street. When she wakes, six days have passed and her life has completely altered. As she lives those days backwards, she gets to know her mysterious savior Dylan and grapples with drama in both her friendships and home life. I picked up this book mainly because of the intriguing premise, but not expecting much as well, thinking it wouldn't really blow me away because I'd already seen this done before. However, this was a very pleasant surprise. The concept of the story was fun, timelines weren’t confusing, character development was good, pace of the story was good. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank the Netgalley website and Snow Horse Press for allowing me to read this book.

I was immediately attracted by the beautiful cover of this book where we see Louise still dressed on her bed.

The only thing Louise Doors remembers is that she collapsed on the way home from a concert and that a man saved her life. Except that six days later she woke up at home and not in the hospital and that life has turned out well since then. Her best friends don't like her anymore, she hangs out with a girl she doesn't know and a boy gives her a letter. And Dylan is the man who saved her life.

Louise is going to find out what happened while she was away because it's happening again, but this time in reverse. Each day that passes she learns a little more about her family and friends and she gets closer and closer to the famous Dylan. She hopes to find a normal life again soon and especially did not hope to fall in love, she will finally be able to trust herself.

A book read in one go so much I was hooked on the story so gripping, addictive, captivating, full of intrigue and suspense with characters always so endearing.

Finally getting through my backlog of Netgalley e-arcs (and trying to up my %).
This book was really enjoyable and different. Loved the mystery aspect of it and going backwards through a story and not just in flashbacks but actually going backwards, was really crazy but superbly cool as well. Usually, books like this take a different turn but this was a good change, Though, I do feel 6 days is very very rushed especially to fall in love but I guess when you know, you know?
The protagonist, Louise, was a bit annoying and a pushover at times but loved her character development towards the end.
All in all, a really enjoyable well-written read.

Louise Doors is going backwards - literally. When she wakes up 6 days after an eventful night, just about everything in her life is different, and it's up to her to piece together why. As she lives each previous day in reverse order, she gains clues into what really happened to her - and maybe even a chance to make things right.

This YA book reminded me a lot of Before I Fall due to the non-linear timeline. Although the beginning didn't grab me, I found myself hooked once Louise started to piece together more of the puzzle. Her interactions with Dylan were really fun to watch, and I enjoyed their friendship and flirting. This is definitely a coming of age story - Louise learns a ton about herself, her friends, and her family - and her growth made the story compelling to me. The ending was very satisfying too. My only complaint is that the writing felt a bit frenetic at the beginning - maybe this was supposed to mirror Louise's confusion, but it made it a little hard for me to get into the story at first.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Louise Doors attends a concert with her friends on Friday night, but something happened that Friday. The last thing she remembers is that she was going home from the concert, and then she woke up and it was already Thursday morning. She doesn't remember anything she has done that week. The only thing that she knows is that her life is upside down, and that everything she knew has changed.

One of the best books I've read lately.
The writing was so easy to breeze through and the story captures your interest from the get go. The suspense form start to finish and the need of knowing what comes next makes it really difficult to put down.
I love the characters and their development throughout the book. I found the dynamic between Louis and Chrissy very interesting and the closure between them is a very good way to explore and touch on the fact that sometimes people just grow apart and is okay. Definitely in love with Dylan and the process of knowing who he is, twice; and forever hating the Lukes of the world. A books that truly deserves the time you spent on it. Tens across the board.

This is a quirky YA read. Both enjoyable and easy to read, I would (and will) recommend this book To the teenagers that I work with. Thanks tot the publisher and netgalley for an egalley.

I volunteered to read this book, through netgalley in exchange, for an honest review. I enjoyed book. The pacing of this story is good. The characters are described well and the book is well written. I really enjoyed Louise and Dylan's characters. This book is in bookstores now for 2.99 (USD). You guys should go get this book. There is a trigger warning for rape.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

When Louise wakes up and discovers she's shifted time, what's she supposed to do?

This book had an interesting concept, and for the most part I liked it. However, I also felt the ending was forced and dragged forever. During the time warps, or counting down, it was easy to stay involved in the narrative and see how she evolved, but once back in the present time, the book just started to feel overdone and dragged out

Quite an interesting read that allows a young teenage girl to travel back in time, a day at a time, to correct some wrongs amongst her relationships with family and friends. A great read for those that still wonder and for those that believe in second chances.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book! I loved this book soooo much!! The premise intrigued me, and the writing pulled me in, and the characters kept me going until I had finished the book in one sitting! Louise Doors and her bizarre, time tripping, backwards life are an adventure for anyone to enjoy! At first you try to figure out what exactly is happening, but by the end the reader just sits back and enjoys the ride much as Louise does. If you can read this book and not be pulling for Louise and Dylan in the end, you are a much stronger person than I. This book is great for anyone looking for a slightly more than normal contemporary romance to read.

This book took some concentration. Going backwards without knowing what is going on is a little confusing. The effort it took to read was well worth it. Story was steady paced and interesting. Louise was likable. Every aspect of her life - home, friends, school, and love interests - were affected by the time flip flop. It was fun to see how her decisions worked backwards.

It is an initiatory journey that is being played out before our eyes and I adored it. To be honest, I was so engrossed in the story that once I opened the book, I didn't let go ofit until I finished it. It's been a long time since I had devoured a novel in a few hours.

I loved to see with what logic the events precede one another. I completely subscribed to Claire Merle's logic

Regarding the characters, their evolution was very interesting to read but the heroine's one is really a treat. Usually withdrawn, she gains in badass attitude and does not hesitate to act according to her convictions. I totally root for her!

In conclusion, this novel has been a great adventure. It's simple, once the story is over, I reread it, backwards, to savor the unfolding of events. It was awesome!

This is a book that will confound and delight in equal measures.
Our main character, Louise, goes to a gig with her friends on a Friday night. Things don’t quite go to plan, and she recalls walking home and falling. She has a memory of a boy coming to check on her, but when she wakes up she’s six days in the future and things are not what they were.
Leaving aside the whole ‘she’s jumped six days and nobody sees anything weird’, this gets odder as we realise Louise is now travelling backwards a day at a time. She knows things before they happen, and she’s taking steps to right wrongs that nobody is prepared for her to know.
Louise was a strong character, that you can’t help but root for as she tries to make sense of the strange events she’s living through. Her relationship with Dylan was entertaining to read about, and I liked the message this gave about her friendships.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for my thoughts.

Really loved this time-slip book. 🙂. A young teen girl learning how to deal with bullies and being supported by the ‘guy’ in her life. Highly recommend.

“How did you savor each moment, appreciate the small things, and embrace the hardships, unless you were in the process of trying to accomplish something? A journey by definition meant traveling from one place to another. A journey needed a destination.”

‘My Backward Life’ is the story of Louise Doors, a high school student preparing for GCSEs who finds herself in a time loop. She attends a concert with her best friends, gets drunk. When she wakes from her slumber six days have passed and nothing is the same. Her friends humiliate her, her parents have marital issues. The only person on her side is this pyromaniac Dylan who gives her a letter that she wrote to herself. And when she woke up the day after, the days seemed to progress back to the day of the party. Louise needs to figure out what happened and fix it with the help of Dylan. She also believes she will probably die. Can she fix the chaos in her life without losing Dylan? Or worse, herself?

This book must have been difficult to write. My instinct tells me that Claire Merle worked extremely hard on this book. Louise Doors aka Galaxy Doors is a good protagonist. She is smart, sensible, and kind. Louise sees good in everybody. Louise and Dylan had good chemistry.

“I felt like a thread in the middle of it all. A thread with a color all of its own, weaving in and out, skimming their worlds, wrapping tiny cross stitches around Dylan and me.”

I didn’t know any of the characters well enough to connect with them although all the situations were extremely relatable. It gave me severe ‘Speak’ vibes in the beginning. ‘My Backward Life’ will relate to people struggling with mental health issues. Louise Doors' disregard for authority, peer pressure, family issues will appeal to the target audience.

“Listen, sweetie, forget what everyone says about your teens, being the best years of your life. It’s rubbish. Being 16 is like being inside a bubble and you’re suffocating and trying to slit the sides, but all the adults have made you believe that if you break the bubble, the vacuum outside will swallow you up.”

There were many literary techniques used in diverse ways, many vivid characters with flaws. It gave me severe ‘Speak’ vibes in the beginning. The writing was sophisticated and there are so many things worthy of praise. ‘My Backward Life’ had unique diction that matched the unconventional plot. The character growth of Louise was inspiring. There are so many thought-provoking incidents that take place in the book. ‘My Backward Life’ contains an unhealthy dose of symbolism. I have more to say about this in the spoiler section.


‘My backward life’ had weird pacing. It got slow in between and the ending felt rushed. Although it made me curious, this book is meant to be read slowly. There was so much detail. The author tried to convey too much information than the plot could handle. The book felt disorganized, it wasn’t well-balanced. I appreciated what Claire Merle wrote but it didn’t transition smoothly. The paragraphs were pieces of a puzzle stacked on top of each other rather than connected. Despite all the sentiments this book consisted of, there was a detached tone. The climax was satisfying but not justified because when people redo their past they will face unexpected consequences in the future and a bittersweet climax would’ve worked better for this book.

Spoiler Section:

Okay, spoilers are necessary because I’d like to clarify a scientific fact mentioned in the book.

“Did you know an agitated electron can jump orbit? Just disappears and reappears somewhere, spinning around the nucleus?”

The symbolism worked but that was a scientifically inaccurate statement because it is based on the Bohr’s orbital theory which has been proved wrong by many other scientists as it didn’t explain the dual nature of the electron and wasn’t following Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.

End of spoilers.

I recommend this book to YA readers who are in the mood for something unconventional. Trigger: Mention of Rape, abuse, and eating disorders.
ARC provided by BooksGoSocial and NetGalley. Thank you.

My Backward Life focuses on piecing together the past six days of Louise's life, as she's been asleep since she went to a gig and collapsed in the street. Even more bizarre is that her whole life has turned upside down during that time, and that her life is moving backwards instead of forwards.

I really liked the premise of My Backward Life; the timeline sequencing was fun, different, and kept the reader guessing. The idea reminded me initially of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, but the book is actually quite a different structure and take than the whole "reliving the same day again and again" timeline that I've seen in a lot of books and movies as of late. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes young adult fiction with sequencing elements.

After a night out with friends, Louise Doors wakes up to discover its six days later. She has absolutely no recollection of those six days but does come to find out that her parents are getting divorced, her friends all seem to hate her and a random guy is somehow now involved in her life. As she tries to find out exactly what has happened, Louise realises she’s reliving each of those missing days in reserve order and working her way back to the last day she can remember.

I was intrigued when I first read the blurb, it reminded me a little of Before I Fall (which I enjoyed) so I decided to give it a go.
I was slightly confused with the timeline at first but it didn’t take long to realise what was happening. I read the whole book in one sitting, although it was somewhat predictable at times, I was eager to see how it turned out.

I found the ending to be a little rushed but overall I think My Backward Life is a well written book with an intriguing plot and a great mix of characters, some of which were definitely flawed but very realistic.

3.5 stars

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher who provided a free ARC in exchange for an honest review*