Denver, 1962
Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life.
She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence.

Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963
Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life.
They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends.
It's everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted - but it only exists when she sleeps. Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world.

But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn's life becomes.

Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn?

Another wishlist book popped through my door! Thank you Sparkish for all the wonderful gifts & making my birthday so special x

It's a bit hard to review this book without giving away spoilers but here goes...

Kitty feels like she is living two lives. As Kitty she co-owns a bookshop with her best friend, living alone apart from her cat...but in her dreams she's Kathryn, married to Lars & with children. These dreams are so real to Kitty & she welcomes this diversion from her real life.

While there's an element of "what if this path had been taken?..." this is not a story of alternate realities (despite it's "Sliding Doors" set in a bookshop tag) Neither Kitty or Kathryn's were particularly engaging characters though I preferred Kitty's rather solitary life, as Katharyn was a character I didn't warm to. While Katharyn's life might seem more fulfilling, from a 1960s view at least, where women were still expected to bring up a family & not work (though this is also an era that claims that if a mother doesn't bring up her children, they'll be wrong in the head) family life sometimes brings situations that Kitty/Katharyn finds hard to negotiate. There are a couple of surprises/twists/shocks but as I didn't really connect with the characters they didn't move me as perhaps they should have.

Overall it's a decent enough read about a woman wondering what her life would have been like with or without a family but one which left me a little dissatisfied.

Reserved now for another round of my "Debut Novels" bookbox

Added to my "DEBUT NOVEL" Bookbox which will be travelling again before long

Taken from the debut novels book box.