5 Stars | Thought-Provoking & Heartfelt

If you loved The Measure, don’t miss The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick. It’s a beautifully told speculative novel about four unlikely and diverse strangers (plus a dog!) who embark on a road trip to a place where grief might be eased through a monitored “sleep.” Would you do it—even with the possibility of side effects?

Told through multiple POVs with a stellar full-cast audio and equally impactful print experience, this book is rich with reflection, emotional depth, and human connection. I felt like I knew these characters by the end. Absolutely unforgettable.

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

William Morrow
Pub Date: 6-17-25

Thank you @netgalley, @williammorrowbooks, and @nikkierlick for the opportunity to read this eARC.

"This sleep will not make things right, on that they can all agree. It will not give sense to the senseless; it will not fill the yawning hole. But maybe, just maybe, it will help. Because they have each been told, over and over, that the only way out of a hardship is through. But nobody ever told them that they had to stay awake."

Three strangers stranded at an airport decide to travel west together. Each is heading to The Poppy Fields. Each for a different reason.

Along the way, they are joined by Sky, a teenage hitchhiker. As they journey together, Ava, Sasha, Ray, and Sky share their stories, forming deep connections.

Nikki Erlick does it again! The Measure had me asking . . . Would I want to know? The Poppy Fields has me asking . . . Would I make this same choice in the face of unimaginable loss?

"She saw the potential in this treatment she had somehow stumbled onto. She felt that people would not only be willing to sleep through a challenging time in their lives, but that they might even want to. That this sleep, as bizarre as it sounded, might actually offer two benefits: the joy of being healed upon waking, and the relief of fast-forwarding through the pain while asleep, oblivious and unfeeling. Anesthesia for life’s fathomless heartbreaks."

"Poppies are a ruderal species, which means that they grow from the rubble. If something so spectacular can still blossom in even the most disturbed earth, then doesn’t that mean there’s hope for even the most battered hearts to heal?"

I really loved 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 and I’m so sad that I didn’t love this one.

Like The Measure, there is what can be considered a controversial topic that a group of people are grappling with. The idea is that when someone is suffering from devastating grief, they can go to The Poppy Fields, a treatment center where people can sleep away the pain.

However, despite the provocative topic, the book is a bit boring. Grief is a deep and complicated subject where there is so much potential for an emotional connection - but I felt nothing for any of the characters. The topic had the possibility to be interesting but it didn't happen.

The second this was announced it became of my most anticipated books of the year. I adored the Measure and all the thoughts and feelings it brought. I went into this one blind and was immediately hooked by the premise. The writing style is fascinating as the pov isn't always clear cut, which took a second to adjust to but didn't bother me. As the story went on, I started to lose steam with the point of the story and its direction. I really enjoyed pieces of it, especially the stories of the patients that went to the poppy fields, but overall the story just fell so flat to me. I think I needed the story to pick one Avenue and pursue it rather than bouncing back and forth (it's hard to give detail here without spoilers). Great premise, but overall I was underwhelmed. I enjoy Erlick's writing and unique stories so I'm excited to read her work in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for early access.

The Poppy Fields explores a way to cope with grief, a very sensitive subject. Everyone deals with grief differently. If given the option would you go to sleep for a month with the hope when you wake your grief will no longer be all consuming?

I love how we get to see the different perspectives of four different people as they make their way to the poppy filed. They are all on their way for different reasons and have very different opinions on the clinical trial. It is great to see how they are each dealing with grief and how their views change on their journey.

Nikki Erlick is officially 2 for 2! It’s impossible to mention Erlick without bringing up the brilliance of The Measure and I am delighted to discover that The Poppy Fields holds the same amount of substance and dare I say, an even better addition to her works. Erlick is a master of coming up with unique, well rounded, and substantial stories while executing the idea with precision.

We follow multiple characters who all have some sort of relation to a new treatment at The Poppy Fields and we get the pleasure of fleshing out their individual responses, behaviours, and points of view. But don’t worry, this isn’t philosophizing the moral ambiguity of a treatment as radical as The Poppy Fields, but it does hit on the reasons as to why people would want to risk something so monumental. We see the calamities of human failure and our society as a whole and how it could push one already teetering on the edge.

I was so pleasantly surprised by so many aspects of this book from the little Wizard of Oz nods to the interweaving of multifaceted characters of all ages and genders. So many characters were linked in ways I had never expected and the poignant nature of Erlick’s honed talent and skill really pushed a brilliant idea to a genius piece of work. It’s safe to say that I was interested in Erlick before, but I also think she outdid herself from The Measure and I am now truly enamored.

Four strangers (and a small dog named PJ) come together in the Kansas City airport during a tornado which renders all the flights canceled. And so begins their shared road trip in a rental car nicknamed “ the canary”. As they travel together they discover that for 3 of them, their destination is not simply California, but a specific place in California: The Poppy Fields. The Poppy Fields is an experimental treatment clinic that allows the grieving to sleep for one or two months and when awakened, their grief has become manageable. Sadly a small minority may suffer an unhappy side effect (lack of emotional feeling)…. “Love and loss, joy and pain are two sides of the same coin. How could we ever banish one without endangering the other? Love changes us, dents us, lifts us, guides us. If we sleep, if we suffer the side effect, if we are no longer shaped by the people we love…who are we?”

I found this novel to be a relatable, thoughtful, and moving treatise on death, grief and memory. Who among us hasn’t wished for sleep to numb our pain as we hope for dreams where our dead visit? I enjoyed The Poppy Fields much more than Erlick’s first novel “The Measure.”

The description describes this as a sci-fi novel but it’s reads like it’s supposed to be literary fiction and more of a character development story. It fails at both. It’s a road trip for 250 pages where zero character development is done. The writing is juvenile and is so blatently the author “telling” you how to feel rather than providing any meaningful description to show you anything or actually make you feel anything. It reads like a freshman writing class assignment that was written the night before.

There is almost no description of the actual Poppy Fields or how they operate, which is where the real story would have been. Such a missed opportunity of a creative premise.

Thank you net galley and publisher for this ARC. This book was an interesting approach to grief and I enjoyed reading how the different characters dealt with their grief.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 3

“Are there not, perhaps, some burdens that are just too big to bear?”

Welcome to the Poppy Fields, where there’s hope for even the most battered hearts to heal.Here, in a remote stretch of the California desert, lies an experimental and controversial treatment center that allows those suffering from the heartache of loss to sleep through their pain...and keep on sleeping. After patients awaken from this prolonged state of slumber, they will finally be healed. But only if they’re willing to accept the potential shadowy side effects.

When I read the premise of Nikki Erlich’s sophomore novel, I was immediately intrigued. The Poppy Fields are such a unique concept for a story! I own The Measure, but have never read it, so I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as Nikki’s writing style. I thought the structure of the story was good, the character development was good, and I enjoyed the subtle Wizard of Oz references. But overall, this book was lacking for me. I just felt a little bored throughout and was hoping for a redemption at the end, maybe something exciting or a crazy twist.

Even though The Poppy Fields wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, I did feel that the it was put together well and the events in the story flowed nicely from start to finish. I liked that this book made me contemplate the complexities and fragility of life!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I dont even think I have the words to express how beautiful this story is. If you've ever experienced a loss, than you know how individual and lonely that road can be. Now imagine a world where you can just take a 1-2 month nap and wake up without that soul crushing pain of grief every day.

That is the world of the Poppy Fields. A scientist has found a way to expedite the healing process of Grief and all you have to do is sleep. This may sound like dystopian and horror fuel - but it isnt. It is a beautiful story about the way grief effects all of us, and how the world is so uncomfortable with it that we would literally rather shut down our bodies for 1-2 months than deal with the pain and discomfort.

What i love most about this story is there is no RIGHT answer for if the Fields is a good solution or not. This isnt exploring the morality of the facility, or the potential horrors of what sleeping for 1-2 months could mean for you (the science is largely glossed over in a way that fits the narrative i think). This is a story about all the different ways you can lose someone, all the different ways you can grieve, and the importance of finding a community who understand you and support you. Finding the people who carry on the memories of your loved with you and finding a way to move forward despite the pain.

this book is filled with beautiful quotes and i cannot wait for the published version so i can explore this story again and annotate the hell out of this book.

I recommend this to everyone, but especially those who have dealt with the pain and trauma of grief and want to see an exploration of that journey.

This book just like the author's previous book makes you feel so much and really think about what you would do in similar situations. This book was about grief and about possibly taking it away. The characters go to the Poppy Fields to be put to sleep so they will not have bad feelings toward their grief but some patients will have feel nothing after for their loved one. No one knows what will happen until after... This is about four people and a dog healing. It is a nice story on grief and love.

I LOVED The Measure so much and The Poppy Fields was just as wonderful and profound as well. The author really knows how to write to get your brain and emotions moving. The way she connects the characters together is one of my favorite things. The writing is beautiful and everything flows together so well but it also gets you thinking. I loved the grief storyline and how it focused on how everyone grieves differently and for different things. If you could sleep for a month or two and no longer feel has heart stricken...would you? What if 1 in 4 people who sleep get a side effect where they no longer feel any emotion towards the person they were grieving....would you still do it? The Poppy Fields were such an interesting scientific concept and I enjoyed getting to know more about that process and the whys behind it. I can not wait to read what she writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was hooked from the beginning. My husband is a firefighter, so I really connected with Ray and wanted to see where his story was going to lead. His story is sad, as we learn about his brother Johnny. But I liked how he was able to open up to Ava & Sasha along their trip. How they all kind of leaned on each other.
Erlick has a way of drawing you into her characters and building you up to find those connections.
There is so much resilience and beauty in these characters. We can relate to their hurt and sadness and it keeps you wanting to find out what will happen.
A novel about sleep and grief and friendships and family.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

What I love most about Nikki Erlick’s novels is just how much they open your mind to different ideas about life and the universe, and the self-reflection this leads to. In her previous novel, the question to ponder was whether you would want to know just how much time you have left before you die. As each of the characters grappled with this themselves, I found my snap decision to be different from where I ended up by the conclusion of the novel.

In The Poppy Fields, we have a different issue presented to us - what if you could lapse into a deep sleep that would stop the grieving process at the end of which you would have healed from the loss that elicited those emotions, such as death, the loss of a relationship, etc. But what if there existed a possibility of a side effect that may instead wipe your memory of your feelings towards that person completely? Would you make the choice to “sleep”?

While this obviously leads to a thoughtful, emotional reading experience, and most definitely a fantastic book club discussion, it also creates an environment for the characters to be the true focus. Each and every one is fully fleshed-out, multi-faceted, and engaging characters who feel as though they could exist off of the page. It took me a bit of time to feel connected to them, but once I was, I was all in. In fact, as I reached the 70% mark, I found myself tearing up as things became even more emotional. The theme of grief is so beautifully and realistically portrayed, and I think many who have experienced their own grief will find a lot of solace in this book.

The true standout when it comes to Erlick’s writing, however, is how she is able to drop twist by twist throughout the story, weaving them in and rebalancing things, only to throw them on their axis again with yet another twist. It is an incredible skill and one that keeps the reader glued to the page, wanting to know what next, what next.

🎧 Marin Ireland, and a whole host of others, narrate this audiobook. Need I say more? Definitely read via audio if you are a fan of the format.

Read if you like:
▪️thought provoking stories
▪️character driven
▪️emotional reads
▪️multiple POVs
▪️mystery element
▪️book club type books

A huge thank you to William Morrow and Harper Audio for the advanced copies.

This is a story that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. It's a reminder that while grief is universal, there is no guidebook or timeline for the journey. Each person's path through it is unique, as they navigate the challenge of living with loss, even as the world continues to move forward around them.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Such an interesting premise for a book - what if you could “sleep” for 4-8 weeks under medical supervision to help you through a horrible period of grief or trauma so that you wake up preserving the memory but with a weakened emotional force?

Grief hits everyone - some harder than others and some need help. Ellis has formed a company that helps people thru their grief by putting them to sleep while their brain works thru the emotional stuff.

Absolutely loved the concept of this book. But it did get a bit long and repeated itself a bit too much.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nikki Erick (loved her first book The Measure) and HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was truly excited to get an advance copy of this book, the highly anticipated sophomore novel by Nikki Erlick. I adored "The Measure" and even though it's been so long since I read it, I can still remember most of the characters (and there were many) and can even remember many of their names. Unfortunately, I found "The Poppy Fields" to be less engaging. The premise was interesting - a place called the Poppy Fields takes patients (for free) to sleep for 1-2 months to treat their grief. But with only a few key characters, I thought we would get deeper stories from each, but unlike in "The Measure", I didn't find myself rooting for any of the characters and in fact thought their portrayals were superficial.

I'm grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance read of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'll certainly still be interested in future books from this author.

BOOK REVIEW: “The Poppy Fields” by Nikki Erlick

What if there was a cure for grief? A way for you to erase the heartache you feel from losing someone? Would you do it? What if there were consequences from doing it?

Perhaps by fate, four strangers find themselves traveling together to the Poppy Fields for very different reasons. Ava, a book illustrator; Ray, a fireman; Sasha, an occupational therapist; and Sky, a young free spirit. Throughout their journey, they encounter a few mishaps, but ultimately begin to trust one another despite just meeting. Their stories eventually pour out, and the unlikely friends somehow find themselves as something more. Will they find what they’re looking for at the Poppy Fields?

This book was definitely one to make you think. Patients at the Poppy Fields are put in a medically induced sleep, and when they awake they think of their grief differently. It’s no longer an all-consuming thought. Of course this method also raises a lot of philosophical and ethical questions. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should, right? And if someone else decides to remove their grief, does that give everyone else the right to judge them for it? I think The Poppy Fields is a great book for discussion. It’s one I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

I rate it as 4 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest unbiased opinion.

I loved The Poppy Fields! The Measure was such a good book, I was so excited to read her newest novel. The Poppy Fields looks at grief in a different light. It was a very interesting take and I enjoyed the book!