4.5/5 Stars

So incredibly unique! This book was heart-wrenching, thrilling, and sophisticated. I truly enjoyed every minute of this book. For my full review, visit my blog here: http://brittanysbookrambles.blogspot.com/2013/07/when-world-was-flat-and-we-were... ( )

Sigh.

I did a lot of sighing during this book.

Sighing for the unrequited love and for the things I saw coming and didn’t really want to happen.

This book got into my head. It burrowed itself deep into my subconscious to where I was dreaming about alternative dimensions. Other realities where I would make an opposite decision in my life and completely change the course of my lifetime. There was even a time at work where one of my coworkers said she should have done one thing instead of the other thing she actually did, and all I was thinking was “well, you definitely did in another dimension.” So yeah, I was affected.

Ultimately, When the World was Flat (And We Were in Love) is unique. The concept of reincarnation has been done before, but this book switches it up and adds a spark of time traveling! (AWESOME!)

Lillie was a great character, although I was once again, sighing, at her utter naiveness. And for a while she did a Bella Swan thing and shut out the rest of the world for lack of a boyfriend.

I loved her friends. I liked her mom even though she was a bit off kilter. I like Jackson.

I loved Tom. Loved. Tom.

And um, Mrs. Jonach is an Australian author, so of course the writing is appealing and delightful. ( )

I don't use star ratings, so please read my review!

(Description nicked from B&N.com.)

“When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.

But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.

When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.”

This is definitely one of the more unusual love stories that I’ve ever read. The difference comes not in the connection between the two main characters—that is something that you can find in tons of teen paranormal romance—but in the explanation for the connection. It takes a twist that I really didn’t expect. And that’s good, because I’ve read enough that not much surprises me anymore.

Unfortunately, the way the twist plays out didn’t quite work for me. The logic behind it felt a bit contrived, or possibly forced. It’s like the author had this interesting idea and had to really stretch things to make it work out the way she wanted. It’s hard to explain how I feel about this part of the story without blowing the secret for everyone else reading it. Suffice it to say, I think that Jonach conveniently glossed over some things to make her idea fit her tale, and it doesn’t do the book any favors.

In general, I felt that the pacing was off. The story started out interesting, with Lillie experiencing nightmares of dying and odd moments of déjà vu. But that’s about all that happens for a good chunk of the book, and while initially it’s a good plot hook, it doesn’t go anywhere quickly enough to be the support for the majority of the novel.

I did like the characters, and I thought that Jonach did a great job with Lillie and her reactions to her increasingly weird situation. I’m not entirely sure that I bought the connection between Lillie and Tom, not because of the twist, but because Tom’s standoffishness put a serious damper on their getting closer. I was more entertained watching Lillie’s reactions to him at this point than by their love story.

The other thing I liked was the language. The author’s prose is lovely to read and I found myself sucked into the novel just on the strength of her writing style. In fact, that’s what kept me going through a lot of the book when the plot wasn’t progressing all that much. I enjoyed the way Jonach described things and how she had Lillie expressing herself. I’d love to see what she’d do with a love story that doesn’t have this hot-and-cold dynamic.

While I wasn’t enamored with the plot, When the World Was Flat (And We Were In Love) had some qualities that made me want to keep reading. And admittedly, the plot twist may work better for some readers, so this would still be a novel that I’d recommend to teens looking for something beyond the same old tired romances that clog the shelves.

This review originally appeared on Owlcat Mountain on September 17, 2013.
http://www.owlcatmountain.com/when-the-world-was-flat/

*I was provided with an advanced electronic copy of this book from the author and Angry Chemistry in return of an honest review. No monetary compensation was provided in this exchange.*

Review originally posted on Moonlight Gleam's Bookshelf as part of Around The World in 80 Days Blog Tour

Final Rating 3.5/5

Not much happens in Green Grove, Nebraska. Ask 16 year old Lillie, who has spent her whole life in the small town with her eccentric mother and two friends who are basically from opposite ends of the spectrum. So when word gets around that there is a new face in town, it brings curiosity and wonder to Lillie and her peers. Tom Windsor-Smith arrives at Lillie’s high school and changes everything. His mysterious demeanor and timid actions are followed by gossip left and right. The girls are all head over heels in love (including Lillie), and the boys look at him as nothing but competition. Despite the attention, Tom seems to have no particular interest in Green Grove and it’s citizens. But for some reason, he is drawn to Lillie (though he would rather ram his BMW into a lightpole than admit it).

Tom’s arrival changes not only their schoolmates, but something deep within Lillie herself. She becomes victim to nightmares almost every night, and it doesn’t help that her closest friends seem farther away than ever. She imagines a life with Tom in incredible details that she wonders of their relationship. Tom’s presence in her life increases over the months, and she finds her feelings growing past the physical want to something deeper. When a night out with a friend and peer pressure turns into an unnecessary risk on her life, Tom’s hot-and-cold actions begin to reveal themselves. As Tom shares with Lillie the his true nature and that of their relationship, it alters her worldview and very being. Tom’s secret is not only his own, it is much bigger and involves many more people… and it threatens to separate the two for good.

I will definitely admit that I am a hopeless romantic. I love a good love story, and Jonach definitely did not let me down in that aspect of WTWWF. I really liked Lillie’s character from the start. She is not a damsel-in-distress, she is a teenage girl who puts herself first and looks at all of her options before making a decision and sometimes doesn’t notice the state of her other friendships. She gets confused and scared of new things. She is a typical teenage girl and I thought she was very likable and relatable. Tom, oh Tom. There were a lot of times where I found myself annoyed at Tom’s hot-and-cold attitude towards Lillie. But in the end, I ended up really enjoying his character. He is well bred and loyal to a fault and is willing to sacrifice everything for the one he loves. Their romance grew on me as the story went on. I really enjoyed the minor characters as well, I thought that each character added to Lillie’s story and improved it, as well as help the reader understand Lillie’s own character.

I liked the science/physics aspect of WTWWF. Jonach has put a unique and interesting spin on science fiction, and while it was complex, it was well-explained and it made sense. Her approach to Einstein’s theory made me appreciate Tom and Lillie’s relationship so much more, because it truly shows the significance of love. For when one falls in love, they are changed forever. They will never be the same. They will always put their beloved above themselves. And as Lillie and Tom’s story unfolds, us readers see that. We see how far two individuals in love are willing to go to protect one another.

The title is so fitting. After the big reveal and all of the plot twists, Lillie is changed. Her new knowledge has changed her and she will never go back to being the girl that she was all those months ago. Just like all those years ago when those scientists and geographers determined that the Earth was not flat, but instead round. It changed everything. And once you finish the book, you recognize how perfectly titled it was. Because it’s the same for both Lillie and Tom. Once upon a time, they made decisions that, somehow, brought them together. And they could never be the same people that they were before that.

With When the World Was Flat, Ingrid Jonach creates a story of love, destiny, and – most importantly – choice. In Lillie and Tom’s world, one choice means everything. In the truest sense, one choice defines who you are. And I really liked that. For readers of YA and scifi, I think that When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) will definitely turn out to be a worthy and enjoyable read. ( )

Lillie is your average small-town-Alaskan high-schooler. Crackpot hippie mother not-withstanding, Lillie’s life is pretty normal until she starts dreaming of her own death every night.

Then new guy Tom strolls into school; he’s handsome, rich & British, a swoon-worthy combination if there ever was one.

But he is also strangely familiar, Lillie instinctively knows things about him she couldn’t possibly know. Do they really have some kind of weird connection, or is a simple teenage crush making her read way too much into Tom’s every word or gesture?

The beautiful cover and intriguing title should give you an idea of the lyrical, atmospheric flavour of the book. It doesn’t lack in sass either, with Lillie’s opinions and descriptions rendering the small town and its inhabitants in vivid detail. I was particularly impressed with the expert portrayal of teenagers, which hit just the right notes of frailty, bravado and cruelty in turn. The parade of couchsurfers moving in and out of Lillie’s living room never failed to provide comic relief.

The revelation of a supernatural aspect to the plot came fairly late, allowing the high-school drama to take front and centre stage for the first half of the book. That’s a relatively large portion of the story which is solely dedicated to Lillie’s everyday life, as well as that of her family, friends, frenemies, and even the town.

This early focus allowed the reader to immerse in Green Grove sufficiently to understand exactly how devastating an impact the later reveals could have.

One initially very sympathetic character turns suddenly sinister shortly after the central crux of the story is finally revealed, and the reader feels this twist all the more cruelly for this attention paid the character in question early on.

The lack of a supernatural plot-twist before the mid-point also provided its own little pinch of suspense. There is a certain amount of meta at play; when you pick up a book from a genre publisher, you expect some kind of science-fiction or fantasy element.

Yes, the weird dreams could just be dreams, except the reader knows they’re not. I spent the first half of the book wondering, at the turn of every page, is this next one the page I’ll find out?

By the time Lille finally gets told what is going on, the seasoned genre reader will have probably guessed the most likely answer (I did), but Jonach builds on the beloved sci-fi concept and creates a beautiful, multi-layered hidden fantasy world. There is almost a bit of cognitive dissonance between the high-school drama and high-concept sci-fi portions of the story, but if you enjoy both genres, like I do, you will love both halves equally.

I read this book on holiday and I must say it was close to the perfect summer read for my taste – a fun, witty story, with enough emotional resonance to make me root for a happy ending, none of the unnecessary sap I always dread from romances, and a decent grounding in sci-fi without any arduous info-dump. It feels great sometimes to step back and read a story not about the end of the world, but the tearing apart of someone’s little world, which is just as dramatic when it’s done well. ( )