Too lovey-dovey for me, but kept me reading and wanting to find out more

Seventeen year old Ren has died yet her spirit lives on in her memorial bench by the Thames. This was so different, original and good. A very enjoyable YA read.

I like unusual and, in this case that's what I got. Very unusual indeed. A 17-year-old girl, a life destroyed in an instant, her soul trapped In a bench as she's trying to work out what happened. She's trying to be reunited with her boyfriend but nobody will listen. An amazing premise with extraordinary execution and a fulfilling ending - what more could you ask for, what more indeed.

My Life As A Bench

I loved Jaq's last novel, I Came To Find A Girl and so was expecting big things from My Life As A Bench...I wasn't disappointed, it's amazing!

Lauren, or 'Ren' as she likes to be known, has died at seventeen, and yet her consciousness lives on in her memorial bench by the River Thames. She longs for her boyfriend to visit her bench until she learns why he hasn't, and must learn to 'break through' and explain how she met her death. I really liked the relationship between Ren and Lionel, the 'bench' next door.

This is a stunning book and I absolutely loved it. The title makes it sound insane but it's insanely unique and beautiful, questioning what actually happens to us when we die. Ren's narration jumps between present day and her teenage life when she was alive. I think this is a brilliant idea for a book and it really captures your imagination. I loved this book so much I feel like I'm stumbling over what to write and that I'm not doing the book justice!

I cannot recommend this book enough, I'd say it's a Young Adult read but all ages will enjoy it. With many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, 5* ++++.

The premise of this novel has such great originality, that I was so disappointed with the execution. Ren is a 17 year old girl who has died and found herself inhabiting her own memorial bench. What follows is an exploration of the few months prior to her death along with some ruminations about what life is. Unfortunately for me, I just couldn't connect with any of the characters. In fact, I found most of them unpleasant, but not in a fascinating, can't look away kind of fashion, more in a boringly self-obsessed way. I appreciate that we are, for the most part, dealing with teenagers, who do tend to be a little focused on their own lives, but there was nothing to empathise with on an emotional level, because they all seemed rather undefined as characters. I also found the plot incredibly predictable and felt that the author missed opportunities to deal with issues such as class divides or racial tension with any success. it is a shame, because the novel had real promise but for me, it just didn't pay off.

Interesting concept that didn't really work out as well as could have been hoped.

I enjoyed this book, but I think I enjoyed the idea of this book more. The description really grabbed be - ghost's ties to their memorial bench? What a fab idea. However the reality was a little disappointing. I found the beginning of the book a little repetitive and that there were a lot of areas that the author could have explored with this concept but didn't. What happened to Lionel? Did the truth of Ren's death ever come out? How did her ghost become attached to the bench? The end of the book felt very rushed as well. So over all an enjoyable, speedy read but I feel a little let down by the initial promise of the book.

Jaq Hazell’s My Life as a Bench is a clever little book about a seventeen year old girl named Ren who died before we even open the cover. We met her on the day her memorial bench is placed for friends and family to visit and for strangers to rest as they jog along the river. To her eternal irritation, her father had her full name Lauren inscribed rather than the name she went by, Ren.

Luckily she is not alone, the next bench along the path is occupied by Lionel whose been there for twenty-two years, making him either seventy-six or ninety-eight years old, depending on if you keep counting after death.

Through the course of the story we come to learn how Ren came to benched, if you’ll pardon the pun. We also discover that the boy she loved is wrongly accused of killing her, so she is desperately trying to connect with people to tell them he is innocent, but most people are not receptive to her and those who can hear her are frightened or unsuitable.

I give Hazell credit for coming up with an original concept and running with it. I admire her for following through with the thought experiment, the dogs peeing on the bench, the frightened children, the destruction of vandalism, the lonely nights of benchdom….this is genius.

So it disappoints me that they plot is so mundane and that the person responsible for her death is such a tired trope. If Hazell had applied half as much imagination to the romance and death arc as she did exploring life as a bench, this could have been a great book. Instead, it is a fun concept paired with an irritating, stereotypical trope. It’s doubly irritating that Hazell waffles on the motive, alternatively implying the Lunatic (as Ren called her killer) was in love with Ren and with someone who loved Ren. It doesn’t really matter, both tropes are tired.

My Life as a Bench will be released May 2nd. I was provided an e-galley by the publisher through NetGalley.

When I have the hard copy of a book, of course I judge it by its cover. I’m pretty darn petty that way. But…when it’s the kindle version, I go by what I’ve heard. And Jaq Hazell’s My Life As a Bench is one that I’ve been hearing about a lot lately. So, when Netgalley let me have a copy for a review, I bumped that book to,the top of my list.

It quickly became obvious that I don’t download many books because, when it didn’t seem to be working correctly, I accidently ended up downloading it an additional seven times. Whoops! But…out of those eight downloads, I picked one and quickly read it. And came away considerably impressed.

First, in case you haven’t heard of this one, here’s a quick description for you:

Ren Miller has died aged seventeen and yet her consciousness lives on, inhabiting her memorial bench by the River Thames in London.

Ren longs to be reunited with her boyfriend Gabe, but soon discovers why he has failed to visit. Devastated, she must learn to break through and talk to the living so she can reveal the truth about her tragic end.

Unique, haunting and compelling, this is a story about love, friendship, a passion for music and what, if anything, remains after we’ve gone

I’m a sucker for modern British writing. And, of course I’m a huge music fan. So there are a couple of things that just jump out to like right away. As has been the case with a number of the books I’ve received – and read – lately, this one I guess fits in the ‘Young Adult’ category, but good writing is good writing.

My mother died when I was a a kid and there’s a bench that was put up in her honor near the lake in my old home town. It was even in a picture used on the cover of one of the local phone books (remember those?) years later. So I can relate to that form of remembering someone. Though the idea of someone’s consciousness residing there is a bit worrisome (a.k.a. creepy). But it still ends up being a fairly light read without the darkness that could be there with a main character that has already died.

But the story is written so well, the pacing so smooth and timed out perfectly that it sucks you along and takes you away throughout. The ending is fairly predictable and gets dragged out a bit over the final chapters, but I won’t take too much away from it for that. It was entertaining, well constructed and completely worth the read. So no complaints. I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5 and, though I may never read this novel again, I’m curious enough to check out the author’s other work to see what they’re like.

But for now, I probably need to get away from Young Adult reading to something else for a bit. Maybe like watching some hockey…

This book was so good! I think I would have read it in one sitting if it wasn't an eBook. Ren was such an interesting character, though maybe the fact that she was stuck as a bench had something to do with her. Still it was interesting to hear how she had run away from Devon to find her father and how she coped with living in London.

But the most important part was the bench. It's just such an interesting take on the afterlife, bringing the idea of ghosts and memorials together to have a person inhabit the object with their plaque on, leaving them to observe the world and relive their memories until they find release from the limbo they're stuck in.

The book would have been dull however, but for the mystery surrounding who had killed Ren and how exactly she had died. I liked the way Hazell teased the reader, throwing out several different hints about how she might die. The way he threw out the idea of gangs and knives and guns which could easily be foreshadowing or just a red herring.

This is definitely a book that I would recommend. It's just such an interesting premise and it was so well executed.

I thought this was a quirky book and I truly enjoyed it. It's a combination of a love story and a mystery as a plot.
Do you ever wonder whether you do "Rest In Peace" after you leave this earth?
An interesting concept from a 17 year old girl, Ren, whose life ends abruptly. Each and every day, she relives the events leading up to her death, her feelings as a teenager. Through her friend, Lionel, she begins to understand that if those that remain on earth, would take a moment and listen, we will hear the message from those who have passed on.
I thought this was a wonderful read!

Thank you very much for allowing me to read this title; I am trying to read as widely as possible ahead of the Carnegie/Greenaway nominations and awards for 2018 and your help is much appreciated.
As a Carnegie/Greenaway judge, I'm not allowed to comment about my opinions on specific titles so I can't offer an individual review on any title as I stated on my profile.

I was around a quarter of the way through this book when I realised that it was YA fiction but I decided to stick with it anyway even though it's been a while since I was a young adult! The storyline is good and it was initially the title that caught my eye. It's a different take on death and where we end up afterwards. I actually enjoyed it a lot. It's a kind of love/crime/teenage angst kind of book which I would definitely recommend to the sort of audience that the author is trying to reach out to. 4 stars from a 49 year old who still thinks he's a teen 😂

This was a beautifully written book. I cannot wait to share this with my students. This was one of those stories that took you in and the rest of the world was only background noise.

Interesting premise, but the title could have used some work, as this one didn't really grab me at all till I read the description. Once I did, I was really curious to see how the author was going to make this version of the afterlife work. Surprisingly, it does work rather well. I really enjoyed the titular character's interactions with Lionel, but felt like her relationship with her love interest was not really plausible since he basically blows her off the majority of the novel. Also, the London slang was a bit hard to get used to.

Why dump me here? It’s where the old people sit.

Seventeen year old Ren Miller is dead, stuck haunting a park bench memorial by the River Thames, London. Nothing haunts her more than her longing to see Gabe, her boyfriend while she was alive. Surprisingly while it may annoy some readers, thinking of teenagers and the obsessive all consuming love, I think some have forgotten what it early love is like. Ren and Gabe forever, right? What could be worse than being stuck riverside with so much life left to live? Being 17, and barely having lived any life at all. Ren meets a fellow spirit Lionel that has been riverside for much longer. It is through him that she is able to slowly dissect the life she no longer has.

People come and go, but not Gabe. All she wants is Gabe to visit her bench. She dismisses most of her loved ones, wanting no one but him. Self-centered, her longings clouded by hungry love. But when she catches in conversation between her mother and younger brother Jay that Gabriel is certainly the reason she is dead, she is obsessed with proving he isn’t. How do you prove anything when you’re dead and no one can hear you? Or can they? Can she haunt someone, isn’t she haunting this bench, in a sense? Could she be wrong about her beloved? Did he kill her? She doesn’t want to believe it. She can’t believe it. All she wants is to connect with one of the living, to get to the truth, to keep her beloved from being blamed. But is she blinded by love or was someone else involved?

That she only met her father recently having fled her home after a different relationship soured, it’s tragic how little time she had with him too. We journey back and forth through her life, seeing the end of her dreams for becoming a singer with her death. Life is short and it’s brutal letting go, more so at Seventeen. That Lionel is older is a lovely idea, because much like speaking different languages, time in itself is similar. Inventions, pop culture, slang… is like a foreign country. It was a clever to remember that Lionel wouldn’t know slang nor all the devices we use. Ren came off like most young people do to their elders. Most people are self-centered, it’s our only real experience, and certainly so much more when we’re in our formative years. I was waiting for something to hit me in the gut at the end but it didn’t happen. Then again, maybe the intention of the author wasn’t meant to be shocking and dark. I’d expect more anger from a seventeen year old who just lost her life, is anything more horrifying to imagine, well aside from being dead and stuck riverside?

It’s a good story, there were times I felt we didn’t need to hear her go on about Gabe but if I am honest I have to remember when someone is in love, and especially young people before bitterness and experience poisons their soul, it’s all they can annoy the rest of us with. This is one a much younger crowd may enjoy.

Publication Date: May 2, 2o17

Nowness Books

While I enjoyed the concept of this book, it left a lot to be desired, I think it could be expanded upon and explored even further. I enjoyed Ren and Alicia's characters and their growth throughout.

This book was so heart-warming and heart-breaking at the same time. Jaq Hazell was able to capture the feelings and intensity of your first love as a teenager so well that it took you right back to that time. You can't help but feel sorry for the protagonist, Ren, as she desperately tries to contact the people who pass her by or sit on her and you are constantly willing her to 'break through'. The flashbacks to her life when she was alive was so well written to avoid any confusion. I can't wait to read the next Jaq Hazell book! This will definitely be recommended for our library bookshelves and hopefully the students will enjoy it just as much as I did!

A special thank you to NetGalley and Nowness Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect given the premise for this book. Lauren "Ren" Miller has died at the age of seventeen, yet her consciousness lives on by inhabiting a bench that was purchased by her father in her memory. The bench faces the River Thames in London and is situated beside Lionel, a father-figure of sorts, who encourages Ren to break through and talk to the living in order to reveal the truth about her harrowing end.

Hazell definitely takes a different vantage point for a narrator, but is a risk that doesn't quite pay off in my opinion. Although unique in concept, it is the story itself that feels constrained by the bench, the choppy flashbacks, and by the main character herself. Her relationship with Gabriel sounds incredibly needy and I honestly feel that this is a disservice to young girls when the protagonist's happiness seems to hinge on a boy.

My Life as a Bench is one of those books that I was drawn to because of the description and also the setting. It sounded unique, but odd. Familiar, but not familiar. I've seen plenty of movies where there are ghosts trying to figure out what happened to them, ghosts that go through stages of denial that they have really passed, and ghosts just trying to make their voices heard one more time before they move on. But most of those ghosts can move around.

In My Life as a Bench, Ren (Lauren Miller) is a spirit that is now tied to a memorial bench which her father setup in her honor. The bench being setup is our first experience, and Ren doesn't like it. I also wasn't a fan of it, especially with the whining on her behalf, but the story got better from there. Ren is waiting for her boyfriend, Gabe, to come and visit her. She just wants to see him again. She watches endlessly for the buses to come to the park. Her father visits. Strangers read her memorial plaque. She talks to the man in the bench next to hers. And all the while, she just really wants to see Gabe again. Ren died tragically at age 17, and now she can't believe this is her life (err... afterlife, rather.)

What I liked about this book is that her voice sounded true. I didn't necessarily like that her young adult voice and lingo had to be explained to Lionel, her bench buddy / neighbor. I did like Lionel, of course, as the voice of an older male and thus acting as a source of wisdom and age in contract to Ren's reckless teenage self. But her words sounded authentic, and you could really hear her saying them. I couldn't always find a connection to her, but her words were well-written.

Another thing I liked was that you weren't always stuck in the bench. She sifts through memories and parts of her history are revealed (slowly) over the course of the book. To me this was important because as lovely as it sounds to be at a bench on the Thames, a ghost that isn't traveling about a lot makes for a challenging plot.

Overall I was so-so on the story, but it was good if not predictable. I'd give it 2.5 out of 5 for the writing and the general premise. What could make it better? For me, I don't think it's the tale itself but rather the format. It seems like it would be a perfect fit for a black box theatrical production, which would help to heighten the emotional peaks and valleys, as well as tension of the relationships.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley and Nowness Books for this copy in exchange for an honest review.