This was really not my type of book. It may be great for book discussions, but really not my type of read.

I don't think this one is for me, not a critique just not my taste. I definitely think this has promise for some readers so I don't want to unduly share this opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and Villa Magna Publishing for accepting my request to audibly read and review When Her Hand Moves.

Author: Omar Imady
Published: 06/08/22
Narrators: Dan Akers', Chandrika Chevli, and Goldie Perry
Genre: Literary Fiction, Multicultural Interest, Religion & Spirituality

The cover for When Her Hand Moves is eye-catching. The image itself spoke of several possibilities, but didn't give me an actual genre. I went on to read the synopsis.

The stories, there are three, were written for a different reader. Some of the writing is beautifully poetic and I could easily visualize the stories. Some parts of the stories, I could have done without. My take on sensual is clearly not the same as the author's.

The synopsis does state the book is thought-provoking and controversial, like sensual the author and I differ on these definitions.

I'm going with two stars, and suggest you decide for yourself. This possibly is an art form I will never appreciate. The cover is as much of a puzzle as the book.

I have enjoyed listening to this extract - I hope to find the book or audio so that I can read it in full or listen to it in full.

There is potentially so much information in here that no one is going to take it all in on the first listen or read. Right from the start the listener, reader is taken into a different world. The world of mysticism and also the world of continual change. Essentially, I had not previously given much thought to what it actually meant to be a refugee (and my work has taken me into contact with a few). As a refugee nothing is certain any more. You have lost your solid footing, your roots and you are continually looking over your shoulder. For this reason this novel lulls you into a completely alien world and forces you to see the world through another eyes.

Thank you for allowing me to listen.

The three stories in the book when her hand moves is supposed to be fastened after Bible stories, but I would be totally faking it if I said not only that I knew the stories they were reimagine from bats all the similarities. Because I did not! In the first book Sue is a nurse and then this book her neighbor goes missing a Samarian woman and her husband is accused of the foul play the caused her to go missing. This book was mystical and strange, but great at the same time even the salt and pepper shakers look at Sue accusingly. In the second book a womanizer gets tasked with uncovering the embezzlement that’s going on at the college he works for. Although he escaped danger in his own country he knows the more he uncovers the closer he will get to telling his own truth and the third story is about an oxford scholar follows the thread from one country to another to uncover a religious conspiracy that will not only affect the world but effect him as well. The stories were really good. I admit the first one almost lost me with the NAM in it objects into emotions, but when they finally got to the plot I got it and liked it the second story was also disorienting but just like the first once it got into the plot I was hooked and the third I’m not submit kind of lost me but if you like whimsical tales told with magical realism you would like this book. I thought all three narrators were awesome and enjoyed the tone and delivery. Don’t think because these are fashioned after Bible stories that they have no spice to them because they do in the first story her breath talk to her and then the second the man is a womanizer and all that entails. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and the author and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.

Enjoyed the audiobook very much. Previously read an ARC of this book and enjoyed it so much that I jumped for the chance to listen to the audiobook. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

When Her Hand Moves is a highly poetic novel. At points, I felt as if I had wandered into a version of Alice's Wonderland, due to all the books elbowing each other for a human's attention, various furniture or toasters glowing in pleasuring or whispering, and women's breasts acting independently of the individuals to whom they were attached. For me, the continual sidetracking into metaphor was enough to stop the story., and I am a plot-driven reader. I did find the missing woman's story interesting, but I finally threw the towel in when the metaphors involving lovemaking seems interminable. On audiobooks, the "fine art of skipping pages" as Somerset Maugham once phrased it is very difficult. I did try but I kept landing in a metaphor. Couldn't tell where I was!