The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine - Laura Pearson - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Laura Pearson
GENRE: Fantasy-Romance
PUBLICATION DATE: September 20, 2024
RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: One of the most unusual storylines I've ever read in contemporary fiction! An interesting combo of realism and magical realism. Wasn't a big fan of the characters' actions, but the rest of the book made this a memorable read. 

Plot Preview: 
Samuel, Thomas, Eliza and Lucy, the four “Almosts”, are in the Beforelife, awaiting the time their mother Becca Valentine will give birth to them and bring them into the human world. They came into existence the day Becca was born, and are constantly by Becca’s side, bound to her until their conception. But Becca is unaware of them and doesn’t know that there are four possible children in her future. 
Now, two men have shown up in Becca’s life as potential suitors. The problem is, one of them is going to father Samuel and Eliza, and the other will father Thomas and Lucy. But the order of their birth dates and their age gaps indicate that their path won't be smooth, especially considering that Becca is just seventeen. All four want to be born. But would that be possible without endangering Becca’s happiness? 
The story comes to us in the first-person perspective of Eliza, Becca’s third potential child. 

I grabbed this for three reasons: the whimsical title, the stunning cover and the author. ‘The Last List of Mabel Beaumont’ and ‘The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up’ were both such heartwarming reads. But this novel surpasses those two in imagination as well as execution. 

Bookish Yays:
😍 The first sentence. Will join the elite list of one of the best opening sentences ever!

😍 The curious prologue, immediately establishing the unusual setting the four “Almosts” inhabit without simply copy-pasting a scene from the main plot.  Exactly how prologues should function! 

😍 The concept and the execution of the Almosts idea. So intricate and yet so precise that I began wondering how many “Almosts” I might have had! (The only unanswered query I had was if the Almost were *born* as old as Becca, thereby growing up as Becca does and being the same current age, or were they more like ageless souls waiting mortal lifespans.)

😍 The distinct personality traits of the four Almosts, and the realistic depiction of their *sibling* connection. They had the best character development in this book.

😍 The thought-provoking questions the plot raises about why people behave the way they do, and the difference between what's right and what's fair. 

😍 The highlight on mothering versus fathering, and the myriad parenting-related decisions and confusions. 

😍 Becca’s dad – what an awesome character! Loved his portrayal.

😍 The role reversal in the depiction of Becca’s parents, with her father being the primary caregiver and the mother being emotionally distant. This genre rarely experiments with family structures, so seeing this inverted parenting representation was wonderful. 

😍 The Beatles trivia. I'm not even a huge Beatles fan but I still loved the titbits.

😍 The ending –perfection!

😍 The author's note – wow! (I couldn’t fathom how she didn’t believe in a beforelife and an afterlife after convincing me of the idea! 😉)


Bookish Mixed Bags:
🤔 Becca. While she was a responsible character – often mature for her age and a great (potential) mother, she was still just a teen. Her random decision flip-flops frustrated me, though her age and her family circumstances explained her uncertainty to some extent. I don’t mind unlikeable protagonists but Becca was more inexplicable than unlikeable. I just didn’t get what was going on in her head, and often felt like shaking her. 

🤔 Eliza’s narration feels almost omniscient at times, not in terms of knowing the future, but in terms of knowing more about things like parenting, human behaviour and education or professional dilemmas, though she has no personal experience of any of these things. At times, her maturity level seems more than that of Becca. While her narration serves well to add an external perspective to Becca’s decisions, it also feels odd coming from an unborn child who is so worldly-wise.

🤔 This is more of a personal issue, so other readers might not find this weird. But I found it super-awkward to see future potential children watching their prospective parents having sex. Granted, they were virtually connected to their mother, so they couldn’t really walk away, but ewww: close your eyes, kiddos! (The love-making scenes were closed-door - Phew!)

🤔 After some twisty revelations, you can begin making your own guesses about what might happen, so the ending isn’t tough to figure out. But this doesn't reduce the intrigue of the plot. Plus, this genre is more about the journey than about the destination, and the journey is captivating. 


Bookish Nays:
😕 One of the potential dads is a jerk, and his connection with Becca felt haphazard at best. Their relationship never felt grounded. I wish his character had been written in a more balanced way, thereby allowing us some uncertainty about whom to root for. Making him such a scumbag spoiled the excitement of guessing the ultimate winner of the dad wars. 

😕 As we get the story only from Eliza’s viewpoint, we never know some essential details such as the above character’s age or his professional background. We also never know why his mother, a nurse, wasn’t more active in her son’s life. Her character would have added a much-needed sensible (womanly) voice to the narrative. 


All in all, I was not a fan of some decisions the main characters made, but this didn’t stop me from being hooked on to the book. I love the way the author made the whole thing feel realistic even when it was clearly fantastical. The amazing creativity of the Beforelife concept makes this a compelling read.

Much recommended to readers of contemporary fantasy fiction. If you don’t enjoy fantasy, no issues; the writing focusses more on the characters than on the supernatural.

4 stars. (I would have gone higher had I been able to relate better to Becca. But Eliza won my heart and deserves this rating.) 

My thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books, for a complimentary copy of 'The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine' via NetGalley, and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

The digital version of this book is currently available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

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Blurb:

You’ve heard of the Afterlife. Welcome to the Beforelife.

There are four of us: Samuel, Lucy, Thomas, and me – Eliza.

We came into being the day Becca Valentine was born. We’ve been by her side ever since. What she doesn’t know yet, is that one day she might become our mother.

Then two men come into her life. Both seeking her heart. And then we realise: everything rests on Becca’s love story. Because one of the men is Lucy and Thomas’s father. And the other is mine and Samuel’s. And there’s simply no way we can all be born.

We all want her to make the right choice. We all want to be born. To hold her hand one day. To feel her stroke our hair. To call her our mother.

Then we discover there is something we can do. We can change Fate. But we only have a single chance each. How would you make sure you were born? And what if doing that isn’t what’s best for the person you already love the most in the world – your mother?

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Author Laura Pearson:

Laura Pearson is the author of the #1 bestseller 'The Last List of Mabel Beaumont'. She founded The Bookload on Facebook and has had several pieces published in the Guardian and the Telegraph.

Connect with her on:



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This has been a stop on the #TheBeforelifeOfElizaValentine blog tour conducted by Rachel's Random Resources. (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!


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