I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

The .. storyline of The Control Problem is fairly unique. I can't say i've read many books like this.

The writing style is what .. threw me off with that. I sometimes do enjoy the "diary entry" type of writing, but this one just felt ... off. It felt like we were missing pieces of the story quite often.

I wish i had better things to say bout this one, but it was just pretty boring for me. ;l

The cover on this book, my oh my. What a work of art.

The diary format wasn't my favorite thing, and yet I can see why the author took this route. The writing is inconsistent and at times it feels as if there are pieces missing? I had to return to some parts to make sure I had not accidentally glossed over entire paragraphs because of how weirdly written it was.

I wish this book was half as good as the cover art.

I enjoyed the imaginative plot, and solid writing. I stayed mostly engaged, and I look forward to Woodsey's next book. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free review copy for review!!

This book was so unusual. I almost DNF'd it, at first, as it was so drawn out and... dull? I realized later that it was intentional. Vera is mild mannered, with a boring job, and friends who aren't all that great. All she wants a to have a child of her own, but when she gets some terrible news at the doctor's office, it turns out there's more to her than even she knows...

I really enjoyed this near future, where the world is getting better in some ways, but not others. The inclusion of frequent news clippings to show that this world was like is a creative touch.

But the problem is, the book is so... preachy. It spends more time telling us about the problems of the world than actually getting to the plot. And there isn't all that much plot, until the end. It's fine to have a character-driven novel, but I wish the character did less telling and more doing. Her obsession with babies is understandable but repetitive.

This was a book that I really enjoyed, really, it made me think about really serious things… Vera is someone that we connect because she only has a desire, she wants to be a mother… that is until she learns a very harsh truth… and that brought me to a very sad reality of our days… but I cant really comment in what I really mean because that could possibly give spoilers and I want everyone to have a chance to read this book and learn things through the eyes of someone that is learning about herself at the same time that we the reader learn about her… there are things that become clearer to us first, because of the off comments (those being outside Vera diary).

I did like Vera, she was to me someone that I felt sad for, I felt her pain, sometimes the diary feels like same old same old, but then we start to realise that is more to Vera than meets the eye. I really recommend this book to everyone.

The only thing that I didn’t really enjoy was the ending… I didn’t really understand why, or even who, will we have a sequel?

Thank you NetGalley and Norah Woodsey for the ARC and AAC and this is my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and Norah Woodsey for allowing me to read this book. This review is my own opinion.

I really struggled with this one...
I loved the premise and the blurb was intriguing. The diary format took a bit to get used to but it was definitely the best way for the story to be told.

I found the book to be inconsistent and a bit clunky. There was little direction from Vera after the initial twist of not being able to have a child. From there, I was never sure what the character's goal was. It kept switching between her desire to be a mother to finding out what happened to her with all the editing to everyday mundane things but there was always little focus.

There were also moments where things changed with little explanation. The first was when Vera realised she wasn't totally human and her reaction felt glossed over. I even went back to see if I missed anything. There was also the dinner party. Prior to this, Vera knows she's been edited by Jennifer's company and doesn't want Jennifer to know she knows... But then she's at the dinner party being asked questions and it seems to be out in the open. Not sure if I just missed something 🤷🏼‍♀️

There were also a lot of unneeded references to news articles and near future technology and society issues. Some were definitely relevant to the story but some were not and dragged on.

While I can appreciate the premise of the book, I felt that the execution was lacking. I would like to have seen some editing and a stronger direction.

Again, thank you for letting me read the ARC of this book!