I start by saying that whilst I love time travel books, I've only consciously read three -- The Time Travellers Wife (5*), 11.22.63 (5*) and The Bone Clocks (4*). So it was a tough act to follow.
I hadn't consciously chosen to read this as a time travel book but as I love Rowan Coleman's writing.

It took me time to warm up to Luna and Pea. Once the book moved to New York and the action began, then it started to fall into place. I could imagine the scenes so well and absolutely loved the cast of characters -- even the ones we are not supposed to like! Great evocation of the times too...

I'm not going to say much more but this is a beautiful book that is well worth a read. How far would you go to change history?? 4.5* from me.

This is another beautifully written, emotional, thought provoking story from Rowan Coleman. It's about Luna, with her sister Pia goes to Brooklyn to sell the family home after her mother's suicide. She couldn't get over the tragedy of herself being raped over thirty years ago.

Luna whilst in Brooklyn, knows that there is something wrong with herself and because of this she can goes back and forth in time. So she sets out to save her mother from the accident so, she can have her mother back.
Whilst doing this things in the present begin to change.

This story teaches us how far will one go to put others they love dearly first, whatever the cost. What would you do to save someone you love from heartache? I loved it.

I had read a lot of good things about Rowan Coleman's books but for some reason, this is the first one I have read. All the people who said she was an amazing writer were right :)

It is a difficult book to quantify - it starts off as the story of Luna and Pia who are going to New York to see where their newly deceased mother grew up. A mother who had spent a lifetime being haunted by what had happened there, and who ended up committing suicide.

Then Luna discovers she can travel back to 1977, which is shocking, surprising and confronting. The people that she meets, both in the past and in the future, are fascinating, and each of them are part of the story about her mother and by extension, her.

I couldn't put this book down, it was so intricate, so clever and it made me laugh and cry as well. For that reason, I have given it five stars.

Highly recommended.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Thank you to THE Book Club, NetGalley and Ebury Press.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1959138876?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

A truly magical read from the wonderful Rowan Coleman.

Gosh, where to start with The Summer of Impossible Things? An amazing setting - 1970s Brooklyn. Wonderful characters - in the shape of slightly socially awkward Luna and her loving, recovering addict sister, Pea. Not forgetting their wise Brooklyn landlady, Mrs Finkle. I already know this will be one of my favourite books of the year. It's the kind of novel I'm keen to press on/discuss with friends, that I'll remember long after I've finished reading. It's about love and hurt and time travel and the lengths a family is prepared to go to to ensure the best for each other. Rowan Coleman's characters and writing are so superb that she makes it easy to believe in time travel. Something fantastical happens when reading The Summer of Impossible Things - time vanishes - whilst enjoying 'just one more chapter.' A brilliant read.

Thank you Net Galley I was so excited to get an ARC of The Summer of Impossible Dreams as I love Rowan Coleman's books. I don't check out the synopsis of the books I read (unless I am unsure of the author or genre) so I dived right in and was not disappointed.

Luna and Pia thought that they knew their Mother, Marissa, however after her death they find out that all was not as it seemed. When the girls take a trip to Brooklyn, to sell their Mother’s family home, they find information that changes their lives and so begins Luna’s quest to change the past.

I must admit to racing through the last few chapters of the book to see how it ended and then I was sad that I had finished it. Now, I want to read it over again!!!

A breathtakingly beautiful tale. This story totally enchanted me from start to reluctant finish. It really made me visualise how wonderful it would be to step back and see our parents in their prime. The essence of the era was captured beautifully. The cross between past and present was perfectly seamless. An extremely clever and poignant novel that is guaranteed to warm any heart.

I absolutely loved this book! It has that great ability to make the fantastic feel real and relevant which is the mark of a wonderful storyteller and a rare gift. This book reminded me of the way I felt reading The Time Traveller's Wife for the first time and yet manages to be original in both it's tone and in the love story at it's heart. A love story not of husband and wife but of mother and daughter. I felt entirely invested in Luna's quest to fix the past and change the future and I loved seeing how each of her changes to the past resonated in the future. The last couple of lines in the book surprised and confused me momentarily, before being replaced with a rush of joy that the story should end in that way. Moving throughout and brought to the close with an entirely perfect ending, this book deserves every success and I have no doubt that it will quickly become a contemporary classic. I cannot wait to read more from this very special author!

Thanks Netgalley and Rowan Coleman. What a fabulous book! I absolutely loved this story about Luna trying to rewrite the wrongs of the past. Saturday night fever is one of my favourite films & I loved all the references to it.
I loved the ending but it was totally different to how I thought it would end! I think this book would make a great movie!
Such a great line in the book: 'If you let yourself be found, you can't ever be lost.'

Well, firstly wow, i'm not sure how to review this book. It's a great read and I was hooked immediately. The story is a a time traveling tale of love and the righting of wrongs. It takes you on an emotional rollercoaster, but that's not all because you are on an adventure at the same time. Just imagine if you could go back in time to me and meet your parents when they were young and care free.....and then tinker with the past to correct wrongs and heal hurt. The concept is great, the settings are completely believable, it's simply well written. The storyline moves at a good pace and it had me gripped throughout. One of the best things is the lack of nonsense and filler - I got the impression that the author had carefully removed anything unnecessary. I can't tolerate books that have meaningless detail. The characters here feel real, even the ones with bit parts. This book is ripe for turning into a film so, give it a go before then - you won't be disappointed. I am off now to search for other books written by this author.

The Summer of Impossible Things is an emotional and thought-provoking read. Luna's tale is compelling from the start, and I anxiously turned each page, wondering how things would work out for her. I actually guessed the true villain of the piece from that character's first introduction, and was then surprised when that started to look less likely. Still, I was right in the end. Changing the past, and the consequences it will have for the future, is an interesting concept, and I enjoyed the way Coleman handled the narrative, and its eventual conclusion. I don't want to say more and give away too much information. Suffice to say, The Summer of Impossible Things is a delightful, and ultimately uplifting, read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.
If I had realised that this book was about time travel, I probably would not have read it, as it's not usually my type of thing. However, I'm glad I did as in this story, it's not all about the travel but much more about the dilemmas of being able to change history. We empathise with Luna, Pia and their mother, and the emotional turmoil they experience.
This book is not easy to categorize. I can only recommend you give it a try.

Amazing! This book is not something I'd usually pick up and I'm so glad I did. It literally transports you through time as it travels between the 70s and more recent times, all of which is described so vividly you can practically see and feel every little thing. It's a wonderful story, with lots of surprises along the way and one that pulled me into it almost instantly. A must read.

I couldn't help but give this 5 big fat stars. Rowan Coleman has done it again with this very different story of a family touched by grief who travel to find out what troubled theirother before her death. What they discover is far from what they expected. Can they change how their life is now, would moving from one time line to another erase who they are today? Is this even possible or is it a dream.
A fascinating read, that constantly keeps you thinking.

What if you could change just one thing in the past of someone you love?
I was so lucky to be approved by NetGalley for a preview copy of this book, I absolutely loved it - it's already my best read so far this year and it could well be my favourite book of 2017.
It does require a bit of imagination, you have to travel back in time to 1977, but it's worth the stretch and if you loved the Time Traveler's Wife then you'll love this too.

Luna and her younger sister, Pia, are devastated by the death of their mother, but she had suffered from depression for many years and struggled to hold things together for the family.
She had moved to UK to marry their father in 1977, but her childhood home had been Bay Ridge, in Brooklyn and there was a family house there that needed to be sold. Luna and Pia travel to Brooklyn to finalise the sale, hoping to find out something about their mother's life before she married their father.

What they discover is the basis of the story, but that's not all, because Luna finds that she can go back in time to those last days while Marissa was still a vibrant young woman, before something happened that shattered her life. And if Luna can go back and meet her mother in that time, is it possible that she might also be able to change things just slightly so that Marissa's life takes a slightly different path - and if she does so, what are the implications?

Beautifully written with wonderful characters and subtle twists, this was an excellent read. The only problem is that it's not out until June, but put it on your Wish List now, because this is one book you won't want to miss.

Beautifully mind-blowing and mind-blowingly beautiful. Tender, thought-provoking time travel with an ambitious what if? that Rowan answers with perfection.

Beautiful and magical from start to finish. This is a wonderful story about Luna who travels back in time to save her mother. It is about love and family and what we will do for the people we love. I was totally captivated by this book.

I was hooked from the start.

I really loved the main character, Luna, which always helps. But I also really loved the whole idea of the book, part mystery, part theoretical physics...what's not to love?! As we move in and out from 1977 to present day I never once stopped believing that Luna was where Rowan Coleman told me she was. New York absolutely came to life in my imagination - I could see it, hear it, and feel its dense, overwhelming heat.

Luna is surrounded by a wonderful cast of supporting characters too including her sister Pea, who I particularly liked. And the life-threatening dilemma that Luna faces throughout the book weighs more and more heavily upon the reader, and Luna, as the story progresses. I couldn't imagine how things would be resolved, which is brilliant as I hate guessing an ending before it happens! It became one of those books that I didn't want to put down, and would read way past my bedtime each night.

My review edges a little more towards 4.5 than 5 I think, but only because I'm very fussy, and I found when I finally got there I struggled a tiny bit with some of the ending (does time travel ever make complete sense?!) but really it's a wonderful book - such an easy-to-read, engaging, exciting & moving story.

Anyone who enjoyed The Time Travellers' Wife and is able to suspend the disbelief required for novels involving time travel will enjoy this book. It is a book which throws up a lot of questions - if you could go back in time what would you change? What would the consequences of that be? How much are we the product of our genes or the product of our upbringing? This is a book which you'll carry on thinking about long after you've come to the end.