It is tough not to review this book under the lens of this coming from the author of The Measure, but I just had more difficulty connecting to this book. The sentiment, I could relate to. I could imagine being so heartbroken that I would want to sleep through some of the pain of a terrible loss. However, it never truly felt feasible to me. I did enjoy the ancillary stories woven in, though. It was the three main protagonists I had trouble connecting with. Thank you to Erlick, NetGalley, and William Morrow for the ARC.

This is the first book I read by this author. I thought it was fantastic. Some parts felt slow but it all tied in together. I love the themes of love and grief. I think this would have been a 5 start read if I have gone through grief myself. The story was intricate and tied soo perfectly together and the end. I was wondering how all of these characters would connect but when they did it blew my mind! I will post a review on my TikTok soon and update the links

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick 🛌🛌🛌.5

I would like to thank NetGalley, William Morrow, and HarperAudio for providing me with an advance e-galley and an advance audio-galley of this book. As always, these galley copies are provided in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on June 17, 2025.

This is my second Nikki Erlick book, and I’m noticing a pattern. The premise and the first half of her books are excellent. Then they seem to fizzle out. Or they do for me. I really thought I was going to love this book, but it wasn’t meant to be. The audio is terrific, though. Marin Ireland is my absolute favorite narrator.

“Courage was not just running toward a crisis but also recognizing when you'd seen one crisis too many.”
— Nikki Erlick, The Poppy Fields

Ever since I finished reading The Measure, I have patiently been awaiting Nikki Erlick's follow-up novel! The Poppy Fields contains the same sharp writing, layered characters and surprising reveals as the Measure, but didn't quite live up the my expectations. The Poppy Fields is a place in California where people who are experiencing grief after a loss can go to “sleep away” their heartache. Ava, Ray and Sasha start off as three strangers who are brought together after being stranded in an airport and make a road trip across the county to seek different things at The Poppy Fields. Sasha has lost her fiancé, Ray his brother, and Ava is going there looking for her sister. All are hiding secrets from each other and as those secrets come to light, will they be able to make it to California together? This is a wonderfully done speculative fiction novel that really explores grief and how different people cope and process. There were just a few small things that kept it from being 5 stars, but overall a really enjoyable read!

I was so excited to read The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick after loving her debut— The Measure!

In a similar vein, The Poppy Fields follows a group of four strangers united by a crisis, as they road trip to California to find The Poppy Fields— a facility where you sleep to overcome grief.

The premise immediately hooked me. Erlick has such an ability to take controversial topics and make them topics for discussion. The characters were imperfect, endearing, and relatable. I absolutely loved every second! My only complaint is I wish this book could have been longer

I highly recommend picking up The Poppy Fields in June when it releases. It would make a fabulous book club and leave a lot for discussion! I will be thinking about this book for a long time. I can’t wait to read what Erlick writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of this book!

This was my first five star read of the year. I highly recommend the audio book. This is about a place called The Poppy Fields, which is an experimental treatment center for those who are experiencing a loss. This book touches greatly about how everyone handles grief differently. It follows a few characters who are all heading to The Poppy Fields for different reasons. This has a great found family trope and it's great to learn how they are all connected.

This is my first book by Nikki Erlick, and I am so happy this cover stood out to me.

If you could sleep through the grieving process, would you?

The Poppy Fields is about three strangers that, for different reasons, are on their way to The Poppy Field. The Poppy Fields is an institution that provides medically induced comas to allow people to heal from loss or trauma while they sleep.

I really enjoyed the characters, the ideas and the relationships in this book. Some of the chapter cuts felt a little choppy, and there were some lulls that really had my mind straying from the story.

All and all I really enjoyed the book and would read from this author again.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

What if you could wipe away immense grief and sorrow by just sleeping for a few weeks? What if it cost you the love you felt for the person or thing that you’re grieving? Would you do it?

Dr. Ellis Jones has discovered a cure for grief - she calls it The Poppy Field. The only problem is “the side effect.” Secretive, reclusive and distant from everyone, even the people she should be closest to, Ellis is singularly focused on making her new treatment a success and finding a solution for the side effect.

Meanwhile, four unlikely strangers band together to embark on a road trip to the Fields. Each person has their own reason for heading there, and each one has something to hide. This isn’t just an ordinary road trip. Ray, Sasha, Amy and Sky might just find that the answers they’re looking for are found in the journey, not the destination.

Much like Erlick’s first novel, “The Poppy Fields” makes the reader ponder on a difficult subject - grief. It makes you consider how you might handle a choice like the one the characters in the novel are given. It seems like the easy route - just sleep away your pain, but it might cost you the love you felt. Is it worth it?

I’ve been very fortunate in my life thus far. I have yet to experience the type of grief from losing a loved one that the majority of the characters in this novel must face. There was one minor character that I did identify with, a doctor who decides to sleep because he is grieving the loss of his capability to continue being a surgeon. I had a similar loss and through that character I was able to ask myself if I would undergo this treatment to escape that pain, to fast track recovery. Before reading this book, I had never even thought to ask.

Sprinkled throughout the novel are little nods to elements from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I enjoyed finding. They’re minor and the plot doesn’t shape itself around them, but they were fun to discover.

Overall, I really loved how thought-provoking this novel was. It’s not a happy story, but it is an important one, I think. It’s crucial that we ask ourselves the difficult questions so that we can grow as emotional beings. Erlick’s writing is thoughtful and handles a very difficult and potentially polarizing subject easily and with grace. The mixed media of the third person narrative with the occasional patient intake interview and media articles works nicely to tell a more complete story.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who has gone through grief, is currently experiencing a loss or a reader who is looking for a novel that has the potential to make them grow as a person. It’s a fantastic novel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Morrow/Harper Collins for providing me an advance copy of The Poppy Fields and giving me the chance to review it.

readers can always count on nikki erlick’s books to make them pause and contemplate what they might do in a certain situation or at a pivotal crossroads. her second novel, the poppy fields, was no different.
ava, sasha, and ray meet in an airport and first bond over a canceled flight. they learn shortly after that they’re also bonded by the poppy fields and each has a story for why they’re trying to get there.
throughout the story, we learn more about the backgrounds of these three and several other secondary characters, as well. they’re perfectly woven together in such a way that you want to keep moving through the book and keep the characters alive in your mind.
to me, the ending of this book wraps up a little too quickly. i thought the transition that occurs with ellis near the end came out of left field and didn’t sit right with the previous 92% of the story.
all in all, a great read which will get readers thinking and talking. a wonderful book club selection!
would you visit the poppy fields?!

thank you to william morrow for providing this book for review consideration via netgalley. all opinions are my own.

4.5 stars rounded up! This book was completely unexpected, totally different from the Measure, but such a beautiful story. I loved the found family aspect of it and the way that it handled grief in such a REAL way without making me bawl my eyes out (having gone through a hard loss 14 months ago). As a reader who NEEDS a good ending for a good journey book, this one was satisfying in my opinion. The writing is just LOVELY, I find Erlick’s way of weaving in plot twists to just be 🤌🤌🤌 and this book was no different! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. I do think that this book’s summary promised a bit more magical realism than it contained and that’s the only reason for losing half a star, I definitely think it falls more into literary fiction than magical realism (it required very little suspension of disbelief when it came to the poppy field itself).

I liked the variety of characters and their different perspectives. The premise of the The Poppy Fields fascinated me and I liked how it all came together with the characters Ray, Sasha and Ava as they make their way to the Poppy Fields. Each one has a unique back story that includes grief and loss but also healing and love in the book. Nikki Erlick has become a must read author for me! Thank you, William Morrow for the opportunity read this thought provoking and enjoyable book that will be out in June 2025

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: contemporary science fiction
Plot: a small group of stranded strangers travel together to a sleep treatment center
Emotion: minimal💧at the end
Spice: 🚫

Summary: a natural diaster leaves 4 strangers stranded in Kansas. With flights booked out for days and rental cars in short supply, they tackle the drive to California together, soon realizing they were all headed to the same place: the Poppy Fields. The Poppy Fields is a sleep treatment facility accepting patients suffering from devastating losses.

Opinion: this book just wasn’t for me. Most of the book is the main characters driving from Kansas to California, and flashbacks about their lives. I was hoping for a more dystopian science fiction aspect, not some lackluster road trip. Although they were on a road trip together, there was very minimal dialogue, (which was a huge bummer for me). Most of the character development is achieved through long paragraphs of background stories via third person POV, which sometimes it took a couple of sentences to realize who’s POV was being discussed because it bounced back and forth so much within a single chapter.

Often interjected throughout the chapters were random applicant interviews from previous patients, news articles, or social media posts. These were very short and for the most part didn’t add anything to the story, just provided additional examples of loss and how they were struggling. With all these extras, I never really felt a strong connection to any of the main characters. I would have liked their present characters to have been developed more while cutting out stories of so many random, patients that were only mentioned once.

Takeaway: I gave this a 2.5⭐️ because it wasn’t a bad book, it was a solid read but I just didn’t like the story (or stories) it told and it didn’t meet my expectations.

Rating and review posted on Goodreads. Rating and review will be posted to Amazon and social media on publication day.

In this novel the Poppy Fields you’ll read about how different individuals deal with grief. I enjoyed that the author did a beautiful job on writing about a sensitive topic and demonstrating how we all deal with it differently. In this story you’ll read about Ava, Sasha, Ray and Sky and the different reason they are each heading to the Poppy Fields. Each individual is dealing with a different type of grief. In their journey you’ll encounter scenes that are thought provoking and emotional. Would you make the choice of sleeping at the Poppy Fields to rid yourself of the feeling of grief and/or to numb the feelings of sadness?

It was a pleasure receiving an ARC ebook copy of this book! Thank you to William Morrow Books!

Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by Erlick. Somehow, I’ve never read The Measure. The premise is interesting. It’s about a company that allows people who have lost someone important to them to sleep through the grieving process.

This is such an emotional read. It’s heart-wrenching at times. It was hard to get invested at first, and I almost DNFd it. The characters had a great backstory, but some of the depth was lost on me. Also, it was hard at times to keep the multiple characters straight. I’m glad I continued through the end because it was a beautiful book.

This was written with multiple characters' POVs but in third person. The writing is weird. It’s written in third person and sometimes the characters interact but the narration switches point of view, like it’s telling a different story within the same scene. It was bizarre and kind of jarring.
I did enjoy this book overall, once I got into it more. The short chapters helped keep me motivated to continue reading. I flew through this in about 2 days. I highly recommend this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The full cast narration made it even more accessible. I liked how we had multiple POVs as we followed these characters on their way to the Poppy Fields. As each character’s reason for traveling to the Poppy Fields was revealed, we were able to examine all of the implications of this chilling new grief technology. I thought about The Measure for years after reading the book and I’ll be thinking about the concepts behind The Poppy Fields for quite some time as well!

The Poppy Fields is emotional, healing, and quietly magical—a story about grief, hope, and the human desire to move forward. I adored the characters, the dreamy desert setting, and the soft touch of speculative fiction.

And the deluxe edition? Stunning.
Sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers—total collector’s item.
5 stars. Beautiful inside and out.

The second I saw Nikki Erlick's name, I requested this book. The Measure was one of my favorite reads in 2023.

Having lost my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, grandfather, great aunt, and cousin, all in the last 4 years, this book hit home for me. My MIL had a horrible medical condition that started in May 2019 and ended in her passing in March 2021 during the COVID pandemic, which caused a different kind of grief. I feel like I'm still coping. If the Poppy Fields were a thing in real life, I know it would be the right choice for me. There was a passage that talked about how when you lose someone, your world stops, but it keeps turning for everyone else and they forget that your world stopped. It's very accurate and so hard to explain that feeling unless you've gone through it.

While this book was quite as good as The Measure for me, it was still a great read and I highly recommend it.

If there was a cure for grief, and all you had to do was sleep for 8 weeks, would you do it? What if there was a possibility of a somewhat harmful side-effect? The Poppy Fields is an experimental facility in the Californian desert that offers to help people dealing with grief and loss, with people from all over trying to get accepted for the treatment. Four strangers head off on a road trip to find the facility and along the way find more about their own secrets and losses.

The Measure is one of my all time favorites, so I had such high hopes for this one. My expectations were not met, unfortunately. I loved the Poppy Fields aspect of this story. It was such an interesting way to tackle the topic of grief and how people all react so differently to it. It also showed how healing is not linear and some need ore help than others. I struggled with keeping all of the characters straight. I wanted more development and depth. I just didn't feel for them like I had expected to. I know while it ended up being more of a miss for me, it will be a hit for so many readers. I'll be recommending it to readers that love a slow, character driven story that has lots of contemplation.

✨ Mini Book Review ✨

🌺 The Poppy Fields - Nikki Erlick 🌺
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Swipe for synopsis ➡️

After reading The Measure by Nikki Erlick I was so thrilled for the opportunity to read the e-arc of The Poppy Fields!

The premise of this book was super interesting and unlike anything I’ve ever read! The writing was beautiful and really touched on how people deal with grief and the steps they’ll take to overcome it. I enjoyed following the four strangers as they took a road trip out west, even though it also kind of felt like it was moving at a slower pace. I didn’t get super hooked on this one until about 60% in, and then I just felt like the ending felt rushed or was missing something, I’m not quite sure exactly. I still think it’s a good well written book just didn’t quite meet the mark for me!

I do think this author has a super interesting point of view when it comes to writing and writes it beautifully! I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for something very different from the norm.

The Poppy Field releases on 6/17 so be sure to add to your TBR! Thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the e-arc!