I loved this one! Such a unique ploy and setting!

Thank you, Mary Helen Stefaniak, Blackstone Publsihing and Netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own.

The World of Pondside is set in a nursing home. Two residents are found dead outside the facility and the mystery of how they came to die is waiting to be solved. In order to solve the mystery, employees and residents must find clues in a video game. I enjoyed this novel very much. I especially liked how patients with dementia were portrayed in a realistic manner.
I was given an ARC of The World of Pondside by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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The perfect thing to listen to while running errands! I enjoyed this toughly and all of the characters and their witty personalities. Had me laughing and feeling for them on different levels throughout.

The World of Pondside gives readers a view of life in a nursing home that has never been seen before. In this engaging book, Stefaniak offers unique elements with the thrill of a murder mystery, comedy, and a virtual reality. Readers will enter both the physical and online world of Pondside via the Pondside Manor nursing home and The World of Pondside virtual reality computer game. Created by resident Robert Kallman, The World of Pondside, allows the senior residents to relive their past life and even the chance to create a new life for themselves. But Pondside Manor erupts in chaos when Robert is found dead in the pond, incidentally leaving residents locked out of the game. Desperate to renter The World of Pondside, residents are determine to uncover the mystery of Robert's fate. Authentically vivid, heartwarming, and tender, this is such a wholesome read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to enjoy this title early in exchange for my honest review!

I was instantly drawn to this premise; a video game that allows elderly folks to get to live life vicariously through it? That is an incredible story to tell. When I began reading it however, it was such a slow build that I had a hard time staying invested or connecting to any characters. Some people like a slow burn though and the story itself is a great concept, so don't rule it out.

This book was not for me, but you might like it. I ended up not finishing this book because there was a lot of talk on Robert’s health issues and ALS. I know I’m sensitive to it because I have a chronic condition of my own… so it felt too close to home I think…that being said, I did like the narrator and I liked the virtual reality game premise.

I think I would’ve finished the book if it was a fast paced mystery. I think people who don’t mind a slow burn, and like learning the background of every character will find this story enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the audiobook.

If you're looking for something different, look no further than The World of Pondside. "Quirky" doesn't begin to describe this book, as can be expected when it takes place almost entirely in a nursing facility. But be forewarned: I have no idea why it's billed as a "thriller", as there is very little sense of urgency until the second half, and even then the only real threat is that a handful of characters might not be able to play in their virtual world again. If anything it reads more like a cozy, with the possible murder of Robert, a war veteran with ALS, lingering until the very end.

This book is told from the POV of Foster (a "kitchen boy"), Dakota (a CNA torn between becoming a doctor or a teacher), and Laverne (an 80 year-old stroke victim who visits her dead husband inside the game). Each character has unusual ways of viewing events that unfold, and yet there are still things that happen off-screen while we're within one character's perspective so that critical information isn't revealed until much later. Foster is annoyingly dense, despite being brilliant enough to help program the game, while Laverne is hilariously determined and has quite a few surprises up her sleeve. I'm not sure why Dakota is a POV character, other than to throw the reader off-track during his scenes, as he has his own little storyline but doesn't contribute much to the main plot. Other well-developed characters include one-legged Duane Lotspeich, and Mary McIntyre, who is constantly searching for her lost baby. Unfortunately, other characters are only referred to by their conditions, such as "Dan the Trembling Man". While this can happen in medicine, there is no point in the book where it becomes clear that the staff realizes how demoralizing it is to reduce someone to their condition.

This is a very long book, clocking in at 13 hours for the audiobook. For such a long book, one might expect a solid climax and denouement. But instead it sort of fizzles out. The ending comes abruptly, and then there is an extra scene with Foster hinting at what might come next, along with a scene with Mary in an attempt to answer the main question about Robert's death without actually answering it. But Laverne and Dakota's stories just sort of end. If you're looking for resolution, neatly tied up loose ends, and possibly a bit of romance, you won't find any of that here. The idea of elderly people immersed in a virtual reality game is intriguing, but the actual design of the game is hard to follow, and at times the descriptions are slow to the point of plodding. The audiobook is wonderfully narrated, though all the female characters sound simply like a man impersonating an old woman.

Thank you to Blackstone, Netgalley, and the author for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think this one was for me. I really liked the description, but I couldn't really get into it and ended up deciding to DNF it pretty early on. Thank you for the opportunity to review it.

I really enjoyed this quirky story and the design of the game. It was interesting to see what they could do in the VR world. The characters are well-written and I appreciated the humor and the interactions between the residents as they try to figure out what happened to the game's creator. The uniqueness of this novel was exactly what I needed to get me out of reading slump. The audiobook narrator, George Newbern, did a fantastic job with all of the different characters.

I was so excited by the synopsis of THE WORLD OF PONDSIDE, a story about the interactive game that was created by a man suffering from ALS. However, it ended up falling short for me in the end. I listened to an ALC audiobook and thought the narrator was great, really taking on the character of Robert and bringing his story to life.

*many thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Blackstone Audio/Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

(Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback)

The World of Pondside refers to an interactive game that a brilliant man suffering from ALS created in order for his fellow residents at a nursing home to be able to engage in their dream worlds. For one of the staff, that was being a fashion mogul in her own studio, for an elderly widow that was spending time with her deceased husband, for another being an esteemed dancer. And then the creator is found dead in the pond outside. Drowned.

Sadly, this was another book for me that started out with promise and then just veered off the road later on.

This murder mystery mixed with charming elderly patients (and some zany ones!) was really engaging for awhile, I loved learning about each person's firmer life and their World of Pondside worlds. Then suddenly a full second storyline emerged (which links to the plot at hand but came out of left field) introducing characters and stories that I'm somewhat perplexed as to......why they're there.

Overall, 3-stars for the engaging first half!

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I used to be a CNA. I did it for years. I cared for people just like the ones in the book and I thought this would be a great read. However, it was just dull.

What I liked about it was the characters. They were real and believable. Robert's struggle with ALS was quite authentic. The various residents and their struggles, like Mary's dementia were relatable as a former healthcare worker.

I think this book could have been better without the murder mystery element. It could have been a feel-good romp about residents in a nursing home and a video game that they love. I probably would have enjoyed that more. The murder mystery was muddled and confusing. I was just bored throughout the whole thing. I just felt this had so much potential and didn't deliver.

The audio was good. The narrator's voice for Robert was great. He embodied the slurred speech of someone with ALS. The narrator is really what kept me hanging on. There will be an audience for this book. There will definitely be people who enjoy it. I just thought it was flat.

Weird and quite wonderful. This is one of the oddest books I've read in a while, in a good way. This was an audiobook from Netgalley and I chose it because I was in need of quirk. Quirk is definitely what I got.
Set in a nursing home, with all the different kinds of residents you get in one of those establishments. Perfectly competent older people, younger people who have physical challenges which mean they can't manage at home and need nursing care, the many and varied staff and management, and those who are suffering dementia and all manner of other ailments. These people are hooked on a video game which takes them back to the days when they were fit and living fulsome lives. They relive old memories, go to favourite restaurants and re-meet their dearly departed. All virtually.

But then the games creator and mastermind is found dead in the facility pond. Did he commit suicide, had life with his ALS become too much to bear, or was there something more sinister at play? It is up to a huge team of people to figure out what happened. Everyone from the guy who works in the kitchen, an elderly lady with heaps of vigour, shady characters and mysterious people. This is extremely convoluted and there are a many paths travelled and situations to resolve. Many. I occasionally got a little bit lost. I didn't mind, I trusted that it would all become clear and it did.

If you are keen for quirk, want something unlike anything else, then this is the book for you. I listened to the audio version while I was in isolation and it was jolly good company.
Thanks so much to NegGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this gem.

The delightfully flawed characters in Mary Helen Stefaniak's story will charm you from the beginning. As the pages turn you will realize the video game in The World of Pondside is just a front created by Robert, a brilliant ALS patient who lives in house, The purpose of the game is to do far more than just entertain his housemates. Now he is dead, and solving the mystery of how that happened is just the beginning of the thrills. The game has gone dark, Robert's military buddy everyone thought was dead has showed up, and a lot of patients in the US disenfranchised from the drugs they hope will save them have lost their hero. Does anyone know how to solve the secrets of the game? And, who will negotiate the secret trip to China now that Robert's elderly mother is in the hospital? Much is at stake, and it is all on the shoulders of this unlikely group of hacker-sleuth international spies fighting dementia and/or self-dought to the end. I will admit I had to reread and rethink a few layers of this mystery before I could settle my thoughts about the characters fates - and that is exactly what made this a mystery unlike any other I had read - and I loved it! Narrated by George Newbern with just the right voice to make this quirky and humorous tale come alive.
Thank you Net galley and Blackstone Publishing Audio books for providing this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

This book started with an unusual and intriguing premise - a virtual reality game that helps older residents in a home hold onto hope - by reliving their best lives in a composite world fashioned from their own photos, memories, audio tapes and videos.

Add a couple of deaths, one of which appears to be a murder mystery, and the plot seemed off to a great start.

Only I just couldn’t get engaged. The writing style felt ponderous, dense, and so intricate that it was hard to stay interested. A couple of the characters (Foster and Laverne) were interesting, but not enough to spark loyalty in this reader.

I tried the audio version, thinking it might be a better fit, and interspersed my reading with my listening. In some ways it helped, but I am not a fan of male readers doing female voices, and ended up not finishing the audio either. I also found the story too complex to follow on the audio only experience.

Overall, the book had great potential but I feel it needed tighter editing.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio and e-ARC of this read. All thoughts presented are my own.

Thanks to NetGallery for the early listen to the audio book of The World of Pondside in exchange for an honest reivew.

The World of Pondside, by Mary Helen Stefaniak is set in a group home and revolves around the mysterious death of Robert Kallman, a group home resident who has designed an intricate video game for the Pondside community and also has ALS.
I really wanted to like this book. A group home is ripe territory for creating quirky characters, yet this tale seems to center the not-so-likeable staff who care for, or don't care for, the residents of the group home. I was excited to explore a story that centers a character in a mobility device and one with a neurodegenerative disease, yet we end the story with as much insight into this character as we have at the beginning of the story.
There are so many holes when it comes to the video game that Robert Kallman designed with the help of kitchen staff, Foster Kresowik. First of all, if Foster has so much talent in programming, why is he working in a group home? We learn very little about the game in the first half of the story and then we are thrust inside of its confusing web towards the end. I lost the thread at a certain point and never fully picked it back up.

This was a story about an elderly adult's care home and people in it. There is a virtual reality game to experience things that their bodies will no longer allow them to do, and the creator ends up dead.

I was expecting this to be much faster paced and more of a thriller, and it's really following the lives of these people. It was pretty slow and hard to push through. It felt like there was a lot of unnecessary details. I think I would have enjoyed this more with a reduction in the page count/audio length.

This one had an interesting premise not wholly original but I am a fan of VR games in novels. The execution was just mediocre. None of the twists were surprising and the finale was not that exciting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me an audiobook arc of this title.

This book is not a thriller/suspense story at all. It is a very slow build, which had me putting the book down multiple times as I like fast paced thrills to keep me engaged! The setting of the story was interesting, but I felt like the continuous descriptions of the scenery and building became redundant was used as useless filler. The audio book was almost 13 hours long, it could've been way less than that. I'm not sure I would recommend to others who truly want to read a suspense novel or something thrilling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC for my honest review.

Writing: 3/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5
A rather bizarre story about an “old geezers” home, an online game designed to allow players to experience things their (old geezer) bodies no longer allow, and Robert (the game’s designer) — a (youngish) man near the end of his battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

While initially appearing as a murder mystery (Robert’s body — in wheelchair — is discovered in the pond at the very beginning), it’s really more of a novel following the lives of a set of pretty interesting characters ranging from the “kitchen boy” to the facility’s frustrated director, the nurses and CNAs, and of course, the many inhabitants — all in different states of physical or mental decline.

I listened to this on audio — the reader was very good. It was a little bit slow with more filler than I like, although once I realized it wasn’t actually a murder mystery, the filler magically turned into character development and I was happier. Quite a bit of the story revolved around the “kitchen boy” — who had helped Robert implement the game. A high school dropout who was a bit of a loner, I found him likable but kind of slow for my taste. Still, he did develop nicely giving a kind of hopeful view about those who don’t have an easy time making their way in our society.

Overall an interesting listen (I would probably have preferred to read as I could have made my way through it much faster, and it wouldn’t have felt so slow paced).