Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

What if you could help people remember things in their past to help them in their current lives? Bring back joy in their lives. Help them remember people they love when those memories no longer exist. What could possibly go wrong? The Shimmering State explores this from both sides - the good and the bad. Nothing this good can be all good.

Thank you #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book although it dragged at times. The cover of this book is beautiful. The premise with the medication that is abused is interesting. Recommend.

Did not finish. Kept finding myself utterly lost and confused. I just couldn’t seem to get a grasp on what was going on.

Sophie has just been cast as a lead in the upcoming performance of La Sylphide with the Los Angeles Ballet. She still waitresses during her off-hours at the Chateau Marmont, witnessing the recreational use of Mem pills among the Hollywood elite—people consuming memories not their own. One controlling, powerful regular’s obsession with Sophie spurs a series of events that threatens to unravel the life she has so carefully built.

In her debut novel, Meredith Westgate takes her readers into a hazy, almost dream-like exploration of memory, human connection, and addiction.

A new medication, Memoroxin, or “Mem”, is clinically used to treat dementia by recording and replaying memories for those who have since lost them. But in the hands of the younger crowds in Los Angeles, it is the newest premier party drug, allowing those who ingest it to experience vivid snapshots of moments in the lives of others; whether they be incredible, sentimental, or completely terrifying.

Following dual timelines for the two main characters, Sophie and Lucien, Westgate weaves the webs of past and present to give the reader insight into their plunge into using Mem, and present day at a rehab center, where memories are manipulated to bring them back to health.

This story is truly unique, and one that you need to take your time with to get the full scope and understanding. I feel like I could read it again and pick up pieces I missed the first time.

Some of the “dazed and confused” atmosphere of this read was hard for me to power through, but I feel that some of that was based on my mood at the time of reading. The content itself was very interesting, and well imagined.

Overall 3.5 ⭐️’s.

Doesn’t the body remember, even after the mind has been wiped clean?

A really interesting concept and a gorgeous cover design. It felt like a fresh adult take on the dystopian universe. I loved Lucien and Sophie as characters and the concept of medicine gone bad. Research is always fun to read about.

All in all, I lost interest throughout the story and it was hard to push myself to read it.

I just could not get into this book. I got to 10% and couldn't bring myself to pick it back up. I may try again later.

The shimmering state referring to both the effects of the drug and the magical appeal of Cali masking a more shallow reality of the city of stars. These characters all seemed to be in search of something, using artificial means to get it. That same idea, I think, also applies to the lure of LA. I lost the story in the middle, but it picked back up again at the end. The writing was beautiful especially with the imagery during the characters' dream states. It's a slow-paced read but the message is genuine so I give it 4 shimmering stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had trouble with this one. The characters weren’t likable, the plot was too far fetched and the pace was too slow. I can’t say I’d recommend it but I thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This book had an interesting premise. Like some other readers I struggled with some of the POV's of the main characters and the topics/activities focused on. It limited the use for my audiences, but I look forward to more from this author.

This book had a GREAT concept! I was wow-ed by the idea of storing memories and being able to refresh your own OR taking someone else's and seeing them from someone else's point of view. I really want science to catch up and have the opportunity to be able to watch my own memories again and was also intrigued by the idea of seeing a memory from someone else's perspective. (without the addiction aspect of course!) I also loved the cover!

I'm typically a pretty fast reader and get through books easily but unfortunately this book didn't really grab me and it took me a long time to get through this one. I almost did not finish around the half way mark, but I never like to give up on a book. I liked the main characters well enough, and I don't mind a story that goes back and forth in time. There was just something about this story that felt slow and a little confusing.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from Netgalley.

The shimmering state is a thoughtful and interesting look at addiction, love a family, romantic love, and memory. How it shapes us and can harm us and better yet deceive us. It has a philosophical flair if you go there where you can find the depth to it and would be a fun one to discuss because of that. The writing within this book is just as beautiful as the cover itself. The story within this beautiful cover it gorgeous itself, it is a genre mash up dystopian, a touch of sic to and a dash of fantastic possibly a tiny bit. It feels completely realistic throughout and those are one of my favorite types of stories to read.

This book and its premise sounded so fascinating, but its delivery just fell a bit flat for me. There's a new drug called Memoroxin that extracts memories from patients suffering from Alzheimers, PTSD, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders and redelivers them in pill form. But, as so many meds are, they become the next hot new drug on the streets with people longing to experience other people's good memories as an escape from their own lives.
The story revolves around two patients at the Center, a facility created to cure people of the side affects of illegal use of "Mem". Basically they wrote the patient's brain clean and only replace their own memories. Lucien and Sophie recognize each other while they're undergoing treatment, but it's only by alternating chapters of their past, and the chapters during treatment while their memories slowly return that we find out why.
I sympathized with Lucien's reasoning on why he took his grandmother's pills, and honestly the parts covering her memories were the best in the book, but it was very slow placed. The middle of the book finally caught my attention enough to finish the story, but ultimately it was just an ok read for me and left me disappointed and confused.

Good story!

Description
Named a Book You Need to Read in 2021 by Harper’s Bazaar

A “moving, astounding, and totally unsettling” (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author) literary debut following two patients in recovery after an experimental memory drug warps their lives.

Lucien moves to Los Angeles to be with his grandmother as she undergoes an experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s using the new drug, Memoroxin. An emerging photographer, he’s also running from the sudden death of his mother, a well-known artist whose legacy haunts him.

Sophie has just landed the lead in the upcoming performance of La Sylphide with the Los Angeles Ballet Company. She still waitresses at the Chateau Marmont during her off hours, witnessing the recreational use of Memoroxin—or Mem—among the Hollywood elite.

When Lucien and Sophie meet at The Center, founded by an ambitious yet conflicted doctor to treat patients who’ve abused Mem, they have no memory of how they got there—or why they feel so inexplicably drawn to each other. Is it attraction, or something they cannot remember from “before”?

It seems I am in the minority so maybe I was not the target audience but I could not get into this book. I was so interested in the premise but the pacing was very slow and I never connected with the characters. The prose was good but something in the execution just fell flat for me. I found myself wanting to read less because I didn't want to read this specific book so I had to DNF. I don't like to drag down ratings of books I don't finish so I'm still giving this one the benefit of the doubt that it gets better and I'll give it 3 stars.

Thank you Netgalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I didn't finish this book, honestly. It has an exciting and interesting premise, but the execution was lacking. It felt like a book that was trying too hard to be deep and introspective but without the character and story development to back it up. The pacing was too slow, and the characters were just... bland. I felt no connection to them. It's not that it's necessarily a bad book, but I don't think I was the intended audience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review...I chose this one because I really liked the shimming cover and I liked the title to it...I THINK I might have read the synopsis and I THINK it might have sounded better than I really thought it was. If I am being honest, I had a really hard time sticking with this one...the storyline itself was kind of hard to follow...add that to multiple points of view AND timelines and it was just really hard for me to stay interested.

I think this book would be considered "spec-fic" or speculative fiction. Even given its dystopian twists, however, I found it oddly realistic. I thought this book was a thoughtful and interesting look at addiction, love of family, romantic love, and memory; how it shapes us and can harm or deceive us.

What if your memories could be rearranged or deleted? Scary thought. This Sci-fi story takes a look at that and makes it seem possible.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.