Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. I was new to reviewing when I received this title and still trying to figure out the process.

What an odd short novel. 2 stars from me for this one, unfortunately. There were some aspects that I liked, but it was just a bit too discombobulated and out there. Yes, I know it's science fiction and fantasy, but the flow and plot was lacking too much for my tastes. Espinosa crafts a novel about a future where people pay money to give up sleeping. It allows a whole lot more time in your day to do as you please. But is it all for the better? I was intrigued, but then the novel drifted into the territory of a "stranger"/alien and there's also the fact the the main character has an ability to look at you and know your secrets. There's just too much going on in 200 pages.

I received a copy of this book for the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.This is a strange little work of science fiction that reads like a dream - literally, it reads like a strange dream. That is rather fitting as the book opens with the main character contemplating taking an injection designed to take away your need for sleep. His mother has died and the idea of dreaming in a world without his mother is too much. Then a couple of things stop him from pushing the plunger on his dream life. He sees a girl in the plaza outside his window and his boss calls him to work because a suspected alien life form has been discovered. These two events will change his perceptions about life and death forever. Reading this book is quite a lot like watching a foreign film. The ideas and plot are going to be different from a traditional American novel. It has the magical realism that is almost entirely absent in American literature, and it takes a more open minded American reader to suspend their disbelief long enough to enjoy it. It also might make you feel dumb when you don't "get it" or when you are afraid you didn't "get it." I certainly felt there were parts of the story that eluded me, but overall, I enjoyed it for its strange, dream-like situations and prose. However, I was disturbed by what I inferred about the mother/son relationship in this story, but I wasn't really sure if I was inferring too much. I do think that some readers will be annoyed by this story and feel like it was a waste of time. If you can't enjoy a strange foreign film, or even an American remake of one like Vanilla Sky, I think you should just skip this. If, however, you can loosen up your ideas of what a story should be or do and let the words take you to somewhere new and unexpected, you might enjoy this. While this book was listed as YA on NetGalley, I don't think this is a YA read. The experimental feel of the style paired with the leisurely pace don't really lend themselves to the average YA reader's expectations. There is also a lot of thought and philosophy about sex which I didn't really feel was appropriate for Just any teen reader. It isn't graphic, but it is just a casual attitude towards sex that I think some parents would object to. It would certainly prompt a lot of discussion as a book club selection, though, and I think it is an interesting and thought provoking read.

Well, I've finally re read this book, I started it when it was first offered by netgalley, but I just couldn't understand it, my head could not take in what the author was trying to get across to the reader. I can see this happening in a few readers who are expecting a romantic suspense or mystery,
I hate not finishing a book and this year I have made a point to re read all my DNF books. I Feel my Head is in a much better place than the last 3 Years. Life is on its way back to normal (fingers crossed).
But those 3 years of struggles helped me to understand this book better this time around.
Being a Spanish book probably means that the word's would make more sense in it's intended Catalan I do love listening to it but alas I was never able to grasp learning languages.
As I said it's not the most logical storyline.
But my heart grasped what in essence this book is trying to get across to the reader.
If you do away with preconceived notions of how humans should act and behave towards each other and just go with the story as it unfolds you go on an adventure of love, loss, desire and passion. Once the stranger is introduced, I was finding the story easier to follow, and enjoyed it much more.
The book is full of words to make you think and ponder over. I would have chosen the same path as the stranger did, having already found my soulmate and would follow him to the next plane of existence.
I was puzzled to why he didn't want to know who his father was though, and also this isn't in any way a romantic book, as you will see as you read the conclusion.

It's a very different type of genre, in fact I can't class it...But I did enjoy it.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish this book, and cannot provide substantial feedback. What I read was fun!

Strange, interesting and unreadable. The book that reads as a report from a dream.

Don´t read this when you long for a plot! This one is a metaphor, a philosophical story about love, death, memories and a power over life. And sadness. And feelings.
There are interesting bits of a food for thought. But I don´t know what exactly is the author for - and I don´t care that much, I am sorry to say - sorry because I always somehow relate to the authors of the sad books.

Can you imagine a future where everyone has given up sleeping?
From the creator of the television series Red Band Society and author of the international bestseller The Yellow World comes this uniquely special novel.
What if I could reveal your secrets with just a glance? And what if I could feel with your heart just by looking at you? And what if --in a single moment-- I could know that we were made for each other? Marcos has just lost his mother, a famous dancer who taught him everything, and he decides that his world can never be the same without her. Just as he is about to make a radical change, a phone call turns his world upside down.

Albert Espinosa has a peculiar talent for generating immediate congeniality around him, for shifting people's moods toward the positive and for reconciling them with themselves and the world, when needed.

This was a slow read, I found it difficult to get into it, and I struggled with genre, it seemed to be not one thing or another, which was a bit confusing. However it was well written and I found it both witty and captivating. I think you have to endure and stick with it and its only then you find the hidden gems of this authors work.

This was a strange, yet interesting shorter story. I was definitely surprised by the ending, and I think that most will be, too. I was a little put off by how fantastical things seemed, but that's the kind of story it is.

This book was definitely a miss for me, even though I am extremely fascinated by flowery words. Unfortunately, this prose failed to reel me in. There was just something messy about this book that I couldn't keep up with.

DNF @ 25%