A very interesting read to say the least. The author did an amazing job buying the world of this book and the main character was well rounded and loveable. However, something about it made me feel it needed a bit more.

I requested this story from Netgalley ages ago probably because something about the description ensnared me.

It might’ve been this because I’m a sucker for love and magic and strong-willed ladies but it was so long ago that I can’t say for sure. “But just days before the wedding, Hanna meets Daniel, an enigmatic stranger who challenges her to question her fate and to follow her own will. Then her mother tells her a secret--one that could grant Hanna the freedom she's known only in her dreams. “

Though some of those things are in this book, the way it was written simply did not work for me. The romance and the magic was underdeveloped and the plot was caught in the same conflict loop for over 300+ pages and I just do not have the patience for that right now. Or ever, to be real.

This review is all over the place but anyhow what else is new? Hanna Who Fell From the Sky is about a polyamorous sect/cult whose young women are not allowed to venture past the set boundaries because the men in charge of things are too insecure to allow them to realize there is more to life than having babies of men old enough to be their fathers/grandfathers. Oh and they also force most of the young men out when they reach a certain age, whether they want to leave or not, in order to keep competition at bay. This whole thing was gross and it bothered me. The bartering of children and young ladies was more than I bargained for and to be honest I don’t even know why I finished it and I kind of wish I hadn’t.

Hanna’s abusive father has arranged her marriage to a geezer and she is set to marry him real soon because she’s reached the proper age (I think it’s 18?). She knows what she’s supposed to do but she’s also developed some feelings for a young man who speaks of disobeying authority and owns lips that taste of honey (I mean, who can blame her?!) but this is forbidden and she learns a secret about herself that leads her to believe she is destined for much more than being a fifth wife and spitting out babies. Unfortunately, she spends the entirety of the novel wavering back and forth about doing something about this predicament and by the end I was Exhausted but I stuck it out because this is what I do. I hung in there until the very end hoping she’d rescue herself but, well, I won’t spoil things but let me tell ya, I wasn’t at all that thrilled with certain events and that’s all I’m saying.

If you don’t mind reading about pervy old abusive, revolting and conniving men for pages on end and like a little unexplained magical realism mixed in with your cult drama you will like this one more than I did - lots of people have. I initially gave it a 2 ½ star and bumped it up to a 3 but after thinking on things for a few days I’ve decided to go with my gut and give it a 2. It may be my mood and I’ll freely admit that but this book got on my last nerve and was not an enjoyable reading experience for me. I never felt truly moved or emotionally involved by these terrible things that were happening because certain aspects of the book weren’t developed enough for me to care. I spent my time with this book feeling vaguely disgusted so I guess there’s that.

Hanna is a young daughter who is slated to be the 4th wife of a gentleman in her community. With a bit of fantastical realism we see that she is not ready to live the lifestyle meant for all young girls. She has a devotion to her younger sister and a profusion of other younger brothers and sisters. Her mother is kind, but her other mothers are not as loving or friendly.
So, here's something we probably haven't thought of- how do the people in the community have enough girls for all the guys? And, the answer is- the males are "sent out into the world". Until Daniel, one of those that went into the world came back. And Hanna likes him. And Hanna sees the other world that extends to the world. It is a fun life. And she's not happy about her impending marriage.
I have always been intrigued by this multi-wife concept, but it also includes a little bit of magic, some mystery, and of course, a coming of age girl who is changing into a strong woman.

Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row Books for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Hanna, soon to be 18, has grown up in a house with at least 14 siblings, one mother, one father, and 3 sister mothers. For a while now she has known that when she is 18 she will become Edwin's 5th wife and a sister wife herself. She has felt numb to this knowledge. Pretending like it won't happen. Except then she turns 18. Hanna lives in Clearhaven, a town that is guarded carefully by the religion she and her family belong to. Polygamy is the expectation, not an exception, and unwavering obedience to Brother Paul, the Creator, to your father, and later on, the husband is never questioned. You will produce offspring to keep the town alive. The only people that ever leave Clearhaven are the young men once it becomes clear they are competition to the older men for wives. The young men are literally driven out of town and not allowed back in. Within a few days of Hanna's 18th birthday, she is formally pledged to be married to Edwin in one week's time. The same day she is pledged to Edwin and resigned to her fate, she meets Daniel - a young man who has been chosen to stay in the town. Daniel and Hanna are captivated by one another but their religion, their parents, their predetermined destinies mean that captivation cannot be explored nor pursued. But Hanna fell from the sky unscathed so maybe she can find her way out of Clearhaven as well.

Meades never names the religion and it doesn't exactly resemble any one religion but I would say it most closely resembles a sect of Mormonism (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) in which to this day (2021) they are still banishing the young men from the compounds established so the older men don't have competition and the young girls don't have a choice. Meades book is all realism with a sprinkle of the supernatural. He shines a light on the Polygamist lifestyle even as polygamists try to make the life seem like a utopia and the most divine way to be. The TLC show Sister Wives has tried to do the same and if you follow it, even just through the headlines, you know it is not a utopia nor divine. Meades subtly reveals the in-fighting, jealousy, misogyny, and mind control that exists within the walls and hearts of families engaged in polygamy. He exposes the inner thoughts of those who are imprisoned in the life. Yes, this is a fiction story and fictional characters but I'm guessing Meades isn't too far off the mark.

This was an interesting book, there were some great characters, the plot was interesting, and I was kept guessing as to what was happening a lot of the time. I enjoyed the book, but it was a bit different, and there were times towards the beginning where I wasn't sure I was liking it. And the plot was pretty infuriating.

Now for the characters...

Hanna is of course the lead character. She is strong and determined, but has so much love for her mother and her sisters that it holds her back. She exhibits rebellion at times, but goes along timidly at others. I found myself getting frustrated with her reactions at times.

I honestly did not understand Cara's {Hanna's mother} motivations, and that made it hard for me to truly connect with her. Emily {Hanna's sister} seems to be Hanna's greatest ally, but suffers from the brainwashing inherent in the community and does not think for herself.

The rest of the characters, with one exception, are pretty horrible. The men are awful, especially Jotham, Edwin, Brother Paul, and Paul the Second. And the women are either as awful as the men or incredibly timid. I realize it was the nature of the community, but I really don't understand their motivations. At least the women's anyway, the men's motivations were more understandable, for them it was all about power and control. The exception to this is the oldest of Hanna's brothers, who is kind, brave, and loyal to Hanna.

The other main character, Daniel, is loyal, caring, and hasn't been completely brainwashed like the rest of the town. He certainly has his flaws, but he was infinitely more likeable that the others! I found the relationship between them to be believable and honest. Though at times I felt Daniel was naive about the consequences of their actions.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Net Galley and the publisher {Harlequin & Park Row} in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Hanna lives in a polygamous cult, the oldest of 15 children in her family. She is just about to turn 18, and then she will be married off to be the fifth wife of a man more than twice her age. When the benefactor of the community and his family return to the community, Hanna finds herself drawn to the youngest son, Daniel. Daniel tells Hanna that she doesn't have to do what is expected of her and encourages her to follow her own free will. Hanna is torn: she wants to escape the marriage that is her fate, but she cannot imagine leaving her mom or her siblings.

I don't know how to feel about this book. Meades did a great job with building the world of this cult. I just wanted to be able to drive there and save Hanna (and the other women in the community) myself. However, most of the book could have taken place at a secluded community in today's world, but <spoiler>Hanna's way to escape the cult was supernatural, and I think I was looking for a way that a real woman could have escaped.</spoiler>

Odd but satisfying tale of a young woman raised in a cult. Hannah is brought up in a polygamous community that routinely tosses our young men so it's old men can marry young women. Hannah is turning 18 and will be married to a middle aged man. She falls in love, just a few days before with the son of one of the elders of her church. It's not great lit, but a fun summer read. Lots of intrigue and romance. The ending is pretty neat! It's not the kind of book I'd usually read, but it was entertaining!

3.5/5. Do you ever read a book just based on the blurb? I do, and this one by Laline Paull is an excellent one: "A strange and beautiful fable with shades of Deliverance, Room, and Winter’s Bone." Perhaps I went in expecting too much with hype like that? I'll never know, but what I do know if I have a thing for books about cults, and this is one I enjoyed, but didn't quite love. Hanna is about to be married off to a significantly older man who already has multiple wives. She lives in an isolated community, where her friends and family blindly follow Brother Paul, but as she learns more about herself, and more about the outside world, Hanna begins to want more for herself. It's an interesting coming of age tale, recommended for other readers who enjoy fiction about polygamous cults with a tiny dash of magical realism.

Hanna has grown up in a quaint, secluded village where men have multiple wives and trade their daughters to friends for favors. Or perhaps take a daughter for a wife. Hanna is now promised to a man her father's age and she would be his fifth wife and the expectation would be that she's to bear children. But perhaps that's better than the uncomfortable touching her father does to her. And perhaps her new husband will protect her from the police officer brothers who try to rape her.

And then Hanna meets Daniel - a boy her own age who tries to let her know that she has options, choices, and that could mean a very different life for herself and for her sister.

Since she was a little girl, Hanna has been told that she's special. Her mother often said that Hanna wasn't born the way other children were, that Hanna fell from the sky and that her parents were only her guardians. When push comes to shove (literally), Hanna comes to believe this tale, which may make her decision easier to make.

What author Christopher Meades does quite well is provide a tone for the novel that puts the reader into a specific frame of mind while reading this. He's also given us a really interesting character in Hanna. She's both an innocent young girl and a strong young woman depending on the situation she is in, and this contradiction works nicely.

What doesn't work so well for me is the mystery surrounding Hanna's fall from the sky, and the 'backward'/commune community that Hanna is raised in. I understand that there really are communities like this today, but we are never <em>really</em> brought into this world. It feels like a community from the 1800's ... and then they drive cars. There is no strangeness in an area that should feel strange <em>some</em>time.

I also felt like Emily, Hanna's sister, was a lost piece to the book. She's in integral part of the opening and the ending - to the point that this feels like Emily's story - and then she becomes quite secondary throughout the middle portion of the book until we need her again to help the ending move along.

There was also a very strange moment when Hanna's mother told her to avoid the police-brothers at all costs; that the mother recognized their evil-ness and power. Her warning is strong and is pointed and she doesn't let up until Hanna verbally acknowledges that she understands. And then...! Just a breath or two later the mother tells Hanna that it's very important that she retrieves a package that Hanna had left in the brothers' police car.

I was also extremely uncomfortable with the sexual threats that Hanna faced. Whether the incest or the rape, these moments made me almost stop reading. I recognize that making me uncomfortable was possibly the intention and, sadly, there are possibly people who would recognize these moments and look to Hanna's responses as something to emulate.

Overall, this book did not work for me, but I can understand how it might be a wonderful read for others.

Looking for a good book? <em>Hanna Who Fell From the Sky</em> by Christopher Meades is a frustrating book in which the world-building/setting doesn't work but the tone really grabs the reader.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the character of Hanna. It was interesting to see her grow as a character. I did like most of the characters and the author did a good job of giving you some really unlikeable characters too. The storyline was good. It gave you a lot to think about. I think it was a very relatable story in many ways. I didn't like the sci-fi aspect of it too much. I really thought it would have been okay without that. Overall, it was pretty. good.

This was a very interesting read with a good premise, but despite the subject matter there were several characters that required a suspension of disbelief and overall I felt like it needed a bit of work.

I was very excited about this novel, and I found the premise to be fascinating, but the execution was poor in my opinion. I found the writing to be boring, and for a story that contains a magical element, this didn't work well for me. There is also an insta-love element that I found unrealistic for this kind of story. I still give this story 2 stars, because I think that the plot held a lot of promise, and it compelled me to keep picking it up. But, unfortunately it ended up never giving me what I wanted from it. I was so excited about this story, and was disappointed that I ended up not loving it.

This was a strange book and not only because of the internal working of a cult content but because I felt as if it was incomplete. Hanna is almost 18 and gives a voice to the confined world in which she's been brought up. She is about to be married off to an elder in the fold who already has several wives and is at least 30 years her senior. The entire story covers the short period of time leading up to her arranged marriage but there is also some back story interwoven into the present.

Hanna is more aware of her surroundings and her situation than her siblings appear to be, she’s unsure about the way her future is looking and seems to be edging towards finding a way out. She’s also having a hard time reconciling herself to leaving her younger sister behind- she fears that no one will be able to care for her the way she can.

I wish this novel explored a longer time frame so that we had more of a feel for Hanna’s family dynamics- we had snippets, but I didn’t grasp the whole. I feel also that there should have been more links for Hanna within the community that she could have leant on- as it was she only appeared to be close with the one sister and occasionally her mother. She then meets Daniel who seems to give her the boost she needs to explore other options- but then she backtracks again and decides she will have to remain in Clearhaven.

I think I was frustrated because I felt this novel could have been more powerful and that the bones were there but not complete? I enjoyed it and wanted more but am now also really curious to read other books by this author.


Thank you to Harlequin for our review copy. All opinions are our own.

I wasn't too sure what to make of this book when I started reading it because even though I enjoyed reading about Hannah and her way of life there were quite some ramblings that, to me, felt pointless. I tried imagining how other characters would view her and could only think of an airhead.

I often found myself wondering who this Hanna was before we were introduced to her. Was she always this absent-minded? Is there really anything to her, besides not wanting to be married to a man more than twice her age and imagining a brave version of herself?

As the story progressed, instead of feeling more engaged I ended up disliking the character more and more, especially when she wanted to leave not because the entire concept of how things were done but because she was so speshul and therefore meant for so much more. And she wonders why other women hate her.

Sadly it was another instance of a very interesting premise being poorly executed. Even the ending was lacklustre and lacking the feeling of redemption I craved. Cannot say this one was a pleasant experience.

<i>Disclaimer: I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.</i>

For me, this book had an interesting premise as the background was set in a polygamist colony and it wasn't a true story or anything like that. That's just how the author decided to write it. I felt for Hannah throughout the whole story. What a life - NOT!! There were several times when I became pretty creeped out. Especially, the first night Hannah's father told her she was to have a bedroom alone. That worried me. Thankfully, what I saw coming did not make it onto the pages. The men in this colony were bad enough without that going on.

However, I never really got into the "special effects" brought into the story to coincide with the title. I'm still shaking my head on that part.

All in all, it was an interesting read which I mostly enjoyed.

Thanks to Harlequin and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I honestly don't remember what put me off of this novel, but that also says that it was a bit forgettable for me.

This was such a great read! Even though this was a tricky topic and I was a bit hesitant to read something like this since I was unsure how it would play out, I must say I did like how strong of a main character she is and how she goes about her experiences and her own inner quarrels during such a tumultuous time in her life. I think this story has a strong female protagonist who was dealt with tough decisions but did what she thought was best for her. Really enjoyed it!

I tried. I really did. Whenever I get a book from NetGalley I feel obligated to finish it but I've been working on reading this book for nearly a week, I'm only halfway through, and I'm finding it a chore to read. The plot line isn't all that interesting, I'm not really feeling anything for any of the characters, and I keep grabbing other things to read and finding other things to do instead of reading Hanna Who Fell From the Sky. As much as I'd like to finish it and write a more proper review I just can't put myself through it anymore.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this one so haven't written a review online as I only made it through the first quarter - the premise itself is interesting, a young woman approaching her 18th birthday having grown up in a cult surrounded by her fathers wives and other children - Hanna herself grated on me to the point where I went weeks without picking this up. Nothing meant agains the author, the story just didn't grab me personally.

This was a powerful story. The only thing I didn't like is that she had so many opportunities and didn't take them. It was infuriating! But that may be because I was so invested in her.
There are so many secrets kept in this "village". I have nothing to compare this to personally, but I imagine that it is fairly close to a real cult religion.