This is a great premise for a story and an appealing character. I really enjoyed the descriptions of how Hope had devised coping mechanisms to deal with this malady. She took full advantage of being able to redo first impressions. That's almost a super power.
Beyond how Hope coped day to day, the story fell flat. The slim plot was overwhelmed by the overly frequent descriptive passages. Author Claire North writes great descriptions from which I could picture myself in a situation/setting, but too many times I couldn't find a link between the story line and accompanying description. Wasted words.
A literary device used sparingly in a novel can be very effective, however, when used repeatedly it tends to lose it's impact. The first few times that Ms. North included definition of story terms, it was interesting and helpful. After employing this technique a dozen or two dozen times, I stopped reading them and skipped down the page to the continue the story. Same happened with the lists or were they free form poetry. They made no sense to me and added nothing to my comprehension nor enjoyment of the story.
Even though I didn't enjoy the writing style of this book, I keep pondering Hope's life. She is a fascinating character who I'd like to meet again in a short story.
Also by Claire North:
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - I really enjoyed this book
Claire North is a pen name for author Catherine Webb. She also writes as Kate Griffin.
Thanks to Hachette Books for my ebook review copy and for use of the cover image.
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