A review by nattyc96
The Start of Us by Hannah Emery

2.0

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the ARC of “The Start of Us” by Hannah Emery.

“The Start of Us” follows Erica as she deals with a tragic loss. Erica has always known she was different. As a child, she discovers that she is able to time travel to a parallel life in which everything is different. When this loss occurs she wonders if she can fix things in her other life to have all the same relationships without the loss. This begs the question: if you got the chance to live another life, would you?

The premise of this book is very interesting. Being able to switch between different storylines of your own life sounds like an easy fix. But of course a different life means different decisions and ultimately a different you. This idea could go a lot of different ways, but this one was pretty predictable. 

This book didn't grip me the way I had hoped. It was slow moving and the climax seemed pretty anti-climactic. I didn't have enough time with the pre-loss world to fall in love with it, so the loss fell flat for me. The stakes just didn't feel high enough.

I did enjoy Erica as a character though. She is sweet and cautious, if a bit predictable. I wanted to root for her and see her do great things, I just don't feel like she had enough time to develop or grow.

Sadly, I could only give this book 2 stars. There were just too many gaps and holes for me to fill in as a reader. It's pretty easy and go with the flow, so perhaps some people might love it, but it wasn't my style.