One Of The Hardest Hitting 'Glimpse' Tales I've Ever Come Across. This is one of those 'glimpse' tales - ala The Family Man (the 2000s era movie with Nic Cage and Tea Leoni) or It's A Wonderful Life, and yet in its specific mechanics, it hit me harder than any I've come across before it. There are really only two books I've come across before - that I believe I've written reviews for over the years - that even come close, but revealing which two gets way too close to spoiler territory. So read this book then look back through my reviews (available on Hardcover.app, BookHype.com, PageBound.co, TheStoryGraph, Goodreads, or my blog at BookAnon.com) and see if you can make the connection yourself. :D (Ok, so *no one* is going to do that. But it could be a fun challenge for someone who is particularly bored, maybe? :D) Also, don't forget to leave your own review of this book after you read it. *Then* go look through mine. :D But seriously, this is an utterly hilarious book that happens to have a lot of heart - both of which are hallmarks of this type of tale, and both of which are done particularly well by Harbison. The selection of exact characterization here helps - a regular girl from Florida who has two different dreams which ultimately become two different realities one day such that she gets to live through both and see what both are really like. Yes, there is a fair amount of Hollywood name dropping and commentary, but again, I've seen that in many other books with similar characters, and it works well to establish this exact characterization early, particularly since the real 'meat' of the book is actually the *other* life. What made this hit so hard personally was an event I don't speak much of publicly, but which has direct bearing on this book - but again, I have to be very vague here in order to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say that my reality - assuming the one I'm typing this review in *is* reality - wound up very different from the one in the book, yet it is also all *too* easy for me to see how my reality could have been a version of this tale, all the way to me becoming a version of our lead character. (Though to be clear, *no one* is casting me as an actor. The one time I acted at all was in a HS play - Midsummer Night's Dream - and even playing a character who was *supposed* to be a bad actor... damn, I was *really* bad at even that!) If you've never encountered a 'glimpse' tale, this is genuinely one of the better ones I've come across, particularly in the last few years, so it is a great place to start. Long time fans of the type of tale, like me, will likely enjoy this particular tale quite a bit too. Very much recommended.

*cue “And I’ll still see it until I die, you’re the loss of my life”* This book finished me. 😭 My heart is even hurting at the moment. I went into this book not expecting much, never imaging to have such a visceral reaction to it, but it’s now in my top favorites ever, right alongside The Midnight Library. This story has a certain lightness throughout that it easily overshadows the heaviness of what Meg is going through, which was surprisingly a good thing. Honestly, I related so heavily to her because Meg would throw jokes in the middle of a cry-fest, and I do the exact same. So when the lightness began to fade—like the yellow of a sunset fades into orange and in the blink of an eye, the sun is gone—the true intensity of the story fell heavily on me. The topic of grief and loss are present, but just as the narrator is pushing those emotions aside, I neglected them as well. And gosh, I wasn’t ready—they hit me like a freight train. Amidst all of what’s going on, there’s also the sense of finding oneself, and I won’t say more to prevent spoilers, but it really is beautiful to see outcome for Meg and how she found her place in the world. Yes, my review is all over the place. I just finished sobbing and wiping my eyes while typing this. If there’s anything you need to take away from this review is to go read it! I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion or the book or the content of my review.