"The Twins on Thursday" is reserved for the Twins' joint reviews. It is a special feature of our blog that discusses books that we either both like, dislike, or have mixed feelings about. This is also the day where we post reviews for books (and ARCs/Galleys) that have been sent to us by authors/galley sites/publishing houses. And because we don't believe much in uniformity, we'll be trying to mix things up a bit by adding random stuff in relation to our review (well, mostly for books we purchased anyway).
Title: When The World Was Flat (and we were in love)
Author: Ingrid Jonach
Format Acquired: ARC
Title: When The World Was Flat (and we were in love)
Author: Ingrid Jonach
Format Acquired: ARC
Publication Date: 3 September 2013 in the US and Canada, and 5 September 2013 in the UK,
as well as worldwide as ebook and audio
Publishing House: Strange Chemistry
ISBN: 9781908844576
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher
Summary:
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 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 reoccuring 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.
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher
Summary:
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 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 reoccuring 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.
When Lillie sees Tom, she somehow knows that there's more to him, gorgeousness aside, that she just can't put a finger to. Because when you dream of having a baby with the new transferee, you know that's kind of messed up. But maybe it isn't, because while Tom will reel Lillie in only to push her away later, there is something more than he's letting on. In fact, Tom's secret will definitely change Lillie's perspective on the importance of each choice and decision she's ever made.
Lillie's not a very interesting character and her progression from decent, slightly artistic good girl into this love struck, hormonal and slightly whiny teenager was discomfiting. We didn't get a feel for Tom until the last few pages of the book, because he was just so weird what with all the brooding that he does. We thought that there were too many characters, so the actual story progressed really slow. There's all the drama with Sylv, Lillie's best friend, and a mini side story with another best friend, Jo, and they do kind of detract the reader from Lillie's story.
The romance is actually both insta-love and not insta-love, and regrettably, we couldn't really elaborate more on that fact without giving much of the story away. While initially hard to swallow at first that these two protagonists were making moony eyes at each other almost all throughout the book, as it turns out, there is a logical explanation for the kind of crazy Tom-obsessed dreams Lillie is having.
The explanations regarding the parallel universes were a bit confusing at times, but it did make the book redeem itself. Yes, there are parallel universes, which made us giddy when that part came out. We love how Jonach has made some pretty interesting answers regarding deja vu, and other seemingly "paranormal" phenomena. But at the same time, the last few chapters were an info dump, a confusing one at that. And while a lot of questions were answered, a lot more were left unresolved.
While this would really be more fitting for hopeless romantics who are diehard believers in the transcendence of love, we would actually recommend this one more for parallel universe enthusiasts.
Rating:
Guest Post: Top 5 Book Boyfriends
1. Tom Windsor-Smith from When the World was Flat (and we were in love) by me!
I think it would have been difficult to write a romance novel about a character I was not in love with myself.
Tom is good looking (tick!), ridiculously wealthy (tick!), and a snappy dresser (tick!). Moving past the superficial stuff, we find a boy who is hiding heartbreak behind a cool exterior. He is completely motivated by love – and I find that extremely attractive!
2. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Mr. Darcy) from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. 
Mr. Darcy was actually the inspiration for Tom, so, of course, I absolutely adore him. He is such a pig at the beginning of the book, but I love his journey from snobbery to smitten to soulmate with Elizabeth Bennet.
His failed marriage proposal is heartbreaking, but necessary as he still has a lot to learn about himself before he can marry Elizabeth. I am not sure if I could have held out though if I were Lizzie. I would have said yes before he had even finished telling me how ‘ardently’ he admired and loved me.
3. Jesse Tuck from Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit.
I try not to think too much about Jesse being 104 years old and the object of his affection, Winnie Foster, being only 10.
I adore Jesse for his youthful exuberance and head over heels affection for Winnie. Like his life, his love for her is everlasting and he asks her to also drink from the fountain when he is forced to leave Treegap. But (SPOILER ALERT!), when he returns many years later, he finds her grave and evidence that she lived a long and fulfilling life, leaving him alone in his eternity. Sob! I would have drunk from that fountain in a heartbeat for Jesse!
4. Louis de Pointe du Lac from Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice.
There is something endearing about the perpetually haunted Louis that I love in Interview with a Vampire. He is constantly thwarted in his attempts to retain his humanity by the selfish Lestat, who I just wish would die already!
Oh – and Brad Pitt in the movie adaptation… Need I say more?
5. Theodore Laurence (Laurie) from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Laurie is an extremely lonely character in Little Women. He embeds himself in the March family through his friendship with Jo and proposes to two of the March girls, finally marrying Amy.
It did disappoint me when he lost his way somewhat before marrying Amy, but he was just so heartbroken by Jo. Darnit Jo! I will still never forgive you for not marrying him!
It breaks my heart when he says to her:
There’ll come a time when you will care for somebody, and you’ll love him tremendously, and live and die for him. I know you will. It’s your way, and I shall have to stand by and see it.
I also adore Christian Bale as Laurie, opposite Winona Ryder as Jo.
Enter below for your chance to win one of two awesome prize packages as part of the Around the World in 80 Days Blog Tour for When the World was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach.
There will be two winners worldwide. Each prize package includes:
· a signed copy of When the World was Flat (and we were in love)
· a pair of silver plated key-shaped earrings in a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) gift box
· a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) bookmark.
The competition will run until 21 October 2013 and the winners will be announced on this page and via www.ingridjonach.com
I love the cover of this book. I need to read it to see what I think of the casting, sounds great!
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