Review: When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) by: Ingrid Jonach

When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) by: Ingrid Jonach (Sept. 2013)
312 pages
Genre: YA/Sci-Fi
Source: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | Amazon
**This review may contain some small spoilers.

Goodreads Summary: Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

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.

An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder of true love itself.

My Review

When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) was an okay book, but it could have been amazing.

Jonach took on the challenge of writing about parallel dimensions and scientific theories and sadly didn’t quit make it out on the other side unscathed. I would have enjoyed this book more if it focused more on the science side of things and less on the semi insta-love crap. I know I should have gathered from the title that this would be more of a romance than a sci-fi book, but I wouldn’t even call it a great romance book and there sure wasn’t enough sci-fi in it to satisfy me. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book but I was just hoping for more.

The beginning of the novel reminded me a little bit of Twilight and way too much of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, which I really didn’t like. Although it started off kind of slow it really started to pick up and slowly I began to appreciate the story more and more, until I got to the ending of course. The ending didn’t seem right and didn’t really fit. I can say that there is a great secret reveal in the book that was handled excellently. The last half of the book was better than the first half by far, but I’m really getting tired of books that take so long to captivate me.

The characters were okay, nothing too outstanding but at least they did seem realistic. Lillie was kind of rude and her friends were stereotypes but they were okay. Tom is frustrating and not really all that unique of a character, he is just typical and reminds me a lot of Edward (Twilight) and Daniel (Fallen). Lillie did grow on me and so did the other characters, but they still were not legendary. There was also a a good amount of slut shaming which was aggravating and not needed.

Overall, When the World Was Flat (and we were in love)  wasn't the best well written novel and could have been a lot better, but I did still like it. I do love how it is a stand-alone because we just don’t get a lot of those in young adult books, too bad it wasn’t fantastic.

This is one that I recommend you borrow from a friend, get from the library, or buy cheap on your reader, it isn’t one I would go out and buy at full price because it just wasn’t that good. Also, I just want you to know that because I enjoyed the reveal and other small things so much in this novel I may have given it a slightly higher rating than maybe I should have, it was just hard to decide on a rating.

**I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.