Today is publication day for The Many Futures of Maddy Hart by Laura Pearson and I am thrilled to be one of the blogs opening the tour today. My thanks to Rachel Gilbey of Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on to the tour and to the publisher for my digital copy of the book, which I have reviewed honestly and impartially.
Suddenly Maddy is right there… in her very own future. And it’s all wrong, yet again.
It happens to her every time. When the kisses lead to the bedroom, just when she thinks she might have found the one… Just for a split second, Maddy disappears, and she finds that she’s living her own life. But ten years into the future.
She’s only there for a little while. But each time, it’s long enough to know that she doesn’t want to be any of those future versions of Maddy. Because every man she falls for seems to lead her to a future that is just… wrong.
Until she meets Oliver. And the vision of their future is happy. Beautiful even. A little girl runs around, her braids flying behind her, giggling about how she wants sausages for dinner. She has eyes just like Oliver’s.
There’s just one catch. If Maddy wants the family she’s seeing in her future with Oliver, she realizes she has to break his heart now…
Would you destroy your present if there’s a chance that it could give you the perfect future?
This is such an interesting concept for a book. If you could get some small glimpses into the future and see what your life would be like, what sacrifices would you be prepared to make in the here and now to hopefully secure the best version of that future for yourself, but without any guarantees that it will work? And how would those glimpses of the future impact inadvertently the choices you make today because of how you think your life is going to turn out?
The more you read through this book and the more you think about these questions, the deeper into both the practical and the moral mazes you find yourself exploring? Do you tell friends and family what you see in their futures? How do you reconcile hurting people in the present in the hope that you will get a better future? How do you know what effects these minor adjustments might have? This isn’t the first story to explore these issues, many people have toyed with the concept, but it is a really thoughtful and entertaining one.
Being a divorced mother-of-two who found her soulmate later in life, these are ideas I have thought about myself from a different angle. Do I wish I had met the love of my life when I was younger, before I got into a failed marriage so I could have avoided heartbreak and pain and had more time and a family with him? But then I wouldn’t have the two beautiful children I have now. And would I have even fallen in love with him when we were both younger and different people with different experiences? There is no way to answer these questions, so it was fascinating to see how Laura grapples with the dilemmas that come with getting glimpses of the future.
I love the way Laura’s mind works. Her books are kooky and warm and easy to read but also thoughtful and thought-provoking. Their covers might look like easy-reading women’s fiction, and they could be classified in that way because they are easy to read, but they also give your brain and your moral compass a good workout at the same time. This makes for one hell of a rewarding reading experience and is worth every penny of the money you will spend on it. Her characters are appealing and relatable, even if they are having some unusual experiences and I always end up caring what happens to them. That is a skill.
Laura Pearson continues to be one of my favourite authors currently writing in this space and I always look forward to seeing what she is working on next.
The Many Futures of Maddy Hart is out today in all formats and you can buy a copy here.
Make sure you visit some of the other fabulous blogs taking part in the tour:
About the Author
Laura Pearson is the author of issues-based women’s fiction. She founded The Bookload on Facebook and has had several pieces published in the Guardian and the Telegraph.
Connect with Laura:
Website: https://www.laurapearsonauthor.com
Twitter: @LauraPAuthor
Instagram: @laurapauthor
