Gave this a try based on the mountain of positive reviews and am now positively baffled. What an awkwardly written, repetitive and trite mess this was. Full of plot holes. Dialogue that made me cringe so hard I think I sprained something. Flat characters with relationships that never feel fully real. Time travel that follows no sensible logic. No sense of time or place. This is just bad. Really bad. ( )

Admittedly this story has a bit of a heartbreaking premise so you might be hesitant to jump in because after all who wants to knowingly spend their time on something full of sorrow? The Clay Lion though breaks the normal rules and is the start to a wonderful series thanks to the skillful writing talents of Amalie Jahn who provides one of those stories that grabs you and won’t let go.

She has created a powerfully visual story but still manages to leave enough open to allow the reader to put something of themselves into plot and characters so you feel invested in taking this journey. Although we often hate to hear the phrase “everything happens for a reason”, somehow Jahn manages to take that idea and make it beautifully inspiring.

This is just one of those books that makes you glad you chose to put a pause on the life button so you can take time to fall head long into the world Jahn creates. You’ll smile, cry, feel your heart break, and keep picking yourself up to push through to the end as she walks you through this journey and her own interpretation of the stages of grief from hope to healing with a dash of love along the way.

Even if the time travel thing feels like it’s been done before and you may be burned out on it you should still give her a chance to show you what she’s done with the age old idea of what would we do with a second chance?

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

*synopsis and pic from netgalley.com
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**WARNING: MILD SPOILERS**

This book was a slam dunk all the way until the end of the first time travel. I was so into it and was on the edge of my seat while Brooke tried to navigate her way through the past. I was rooting for her so hard and wanted all of the things her and the doctor spoke about to about Branson's disease. When it was time for her to go home, I wish it would've given a short follow up about what failed and then the epilogue. The time travel piece itself would've been cool to read about it, but it was very vague and only alluded to. I wanted to know more about the government regulated time travel and later the private time travel. It would've added a lot more to story to be a little more plot driven and focus less on the characters.

The second time travel was so hard to get through. I found myself skimming pages because it veered so far away from what the original story and focused so much on the new timeline with Charlie that I forgot why Brooke was even there. I understand that it was setting up everything for the THIRD time travel, but by that point I really didn't care. Brooke had screwed things up SO much by this point that it was hard to read. When the third time travel finally ended and we got this long drawn out feel good speech from Brooke where she finally realizes that she really did all of this for herself (surprise) since Branson was doomed regardless.

The feel goods were lost on me. If this would've ended after the first time travel, it would have been a five star book. Unfortunately, this was one of those books where the author just couldn't stop veering off and taking twists and turns to tack on to the story and page count. This is a good example where less would've been more. The ending ended up being very predictable (especially the epilogue... c'mon) and lowered my rating from three stars to two and a half. ( )

"Perhaps I could change my fate, but in the end, I realized, my destiny may have already been written."

Hay dos tipos de libros:
-Aquellos que comienzas a olvidar apenas terminas de leer.
-Y aquellos en los que no puedes dejar de pensar, aun días después de haberlos terminado.

Y aunque apenas termine de leer este libro ayer, estoy segura que este forma parte del segundo grupo. No creo que pueda olvidar esta historia nunca. En parte porque me rompió un poco el corazón, y en parte porque te hace preguntarte muchas cosas.

Es una hermosa historia de amor y familia. Y de lo que eres capaz de hacer por ellos.

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