The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman #BlogTour @rowancoleman @EburyPublishing #ImpossibleThings

If you could change the past, would you?

Thirty years ago, something terrible happened to Luna’s mother. Something she’s only prepared to reveal after her death. 

Now Luna and her sister have a chance to go back to their mother’s birthplace and settle her affairs. But in Brooklyn they find more questions than answers, until something impossible – magical – happens to Luna, and she meets her mother as a young woman back in the summer of 1977. 

At first Luna’s thinks she’s going crazy, but if she can truly travel back in time, she can change things. But in doing anything – everything – to save her mother’s life, will she have to sacrifice her own?

I'm really delighted to host the Blog Tour for The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman, published by Ebury Publishing in hardback on 29 June 2017.  I'm a huge fan of Rowan Coleman's writing and have read and reviewed some of her previous novels here on Random Things:  Dearest Rose (also published as The Runaway Bride) (October 2012); The Memory Book (January 2014) and We Are All Made of Stars (April 2015).

When I'd turned the final page of The Summer of Impossible Things I felt as though my heart had been ripped out, screwed up and thrust back into my chest. This story consumed me, the characters became my companions, the setting is wonderful, the writing is exquisite, I felt as though I was living the story, alongside Luna and Pea, and of course, with Michael.

So, I'll admit that when I discovered that Rowan Coleman's latest book was a time-travel story, I felt a tiny bit scared. I wasn't sure that this was going to be my 'thing', I wasn't sure if this was actually going to be Rowan Coleman's 'thing'. What a waste of time those worries were; she's absolutely nailed it. She's written a story that is beautifully structured; a story that the reader can really believe it, a story that is satisfying and startling and quite perfect.

Luna's mother has died and she and her younger sister Pea are in New York, dealing with the sale of a property that their mother Riss and her sister Stephanie owned for many years. This building is the place in which Riss and Stephanie grew up, where they began to love and be loved. It also holds many memories and keeps dark secrets. Luna has already learnt one of the darkest of her mother's secrets and feels that her life has changed forever. However what she has learnt also makes sense of the feelings that she has secretly harboured for most of her life.

The Summer of Impossible Things is a simple story of love and betrayal, and long-held fears, yet it is also a complex and multi-layered tale that incorporates such diverse subjects, ranging from physics to film sets; Saturday Night Fever to mental illness, but most of all, it is about love.

This review is not a re-telling of the story. Why would I do that when Rowan Coleman has already written such an emotional and compassionate novel? No, my words are a gentle encourage to readers, to go out and buy this book, and read it and savour it.

The Summer of Impossible Things is magical and captivating. The characters are superbly drawn and the 1970s New York setting is beguiling and entrancing. The essence of love seeps from the pages, it truly is a wonderful story.


My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and invited me to take part in this blog tour.

Rowan Coleman lives with her husband, and five children in a very full house in Hertfordshire. She juggles writing novels with raising her family which includes a very lively set of toddler twins whose main hobby is going in the opposite directions. When she gets the chance, Rowan enjoys sleeping, sitting and loves watching films; she is also attempting to learn how to bake.Rowan would like to live every day as if she were starring in a musical, although her daughter no longer allows her to sing...

For more information, visit her website www.rowancoleman.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @rowancoleman