Earthshine

The Multiverse Diaries

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Pub Date 01 Dec 2021 | Archive Date 17 Mar 2022

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Description

A magical yoga class inspires troubled college student Em Verde to visit India in search of a teacher. She hopes he can help make sense of her weird dreams, but instead he awakens a powerful ability within her.

Em can access alternate realities. She visits a world where she's living her best life: she’s dating her college crush while her geeky gay best friend is a famous athlete. But as the barriers between alternate realities begin to break down, malevolent creatures from a demon realm are unleashed.

Now a secret government agency is hunting them and Em finds herself caught in the middle of a battle she doesn't fully understand. She has to master her abilities quickly before her friends get lost in the multiverse forever.

A magical yoga class inspires troubled college student Em Verde to visit India in search of a teacher. She hopes he can help make sense of her weird dreams, but instead he awakens a powerful ability...


Advance Praise

"Excellent pacing, great plot structure, knowledgeable exploration of character arcs, and beautiful descriptive prose. Bonus points for taking me on a wonderful holiday through the pages of the book.""

Sondi Warner, author of Lead Me Astray

"Excellent pacing, great plot structure, knowledgeable exploration of character arcs, and beautiful descriptive prose. Bonus points for taking me on a wonderful holiday through the pages of the...


Available Editions

ISBN 9781739855307
PRICE $2.99 (USD)

Available on NetGalley

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Average rating from 12 members


Featured Reviews

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The stunning cover and hooking blurb were enough to draw me to this story! With the promise of alternate realities where gay geeks are jocks and love stories pan out differently (where your crush actually likes you back—the dream) I simply couldn’t resist.

Cancer surviver Emily Verde blames herself for everything that’s wrong in her life. She feels terrible that she lets herself be held back by looming thoughts of her cancer recurring and feels even worse that her crush ends up with her roommate. What’s worse, she keeps having weird dreams ever since she took a yoga class where the instructor donned only a loincloth, and fears a tumor might be growing in her head.

But she’s reassured when Steph, her roommate, tells her she also saw a tree grow out from under her feet. They take it as a sign to travel to India during winter break to find the mysterious Indian instructor—who disappeared after that one class—and find some answers.

It felt unrealistic that three college students (and one very enthusiastic boyfriend) would drop everything and head for India with no other plans than to find a yoga school. But considering Em’s gay best friend Drew was rich and Em had money saved up, finances didn’t seem to be an issue.

Speaking of him, I loved that Drew wasn’t the stereotypical gay best friend, existing only to scream ‘yasss’ and make Em look good. Instead, Drew had depth—he had his own hopes, dreams, insecurities and motivations. I loved that he poked fun at the thought of being Em’s sidekick in the first few pages.

In India, they meet Swedish tech developer Erik, who had come for the same reason they had. Graham’s depiction of the charged atmosphere, lifestyles, and culture shocks Em and her friends had to adjust to not only created the perfect imagery but also made the story feel immersive and fleshed-out. His writing is engaging and a joy to read. (And I was super grateful to see chai and not ‘chai tea’!)

The story unravels when Em finds exactly what she’s looking for, and discovers that her dreams are actually visions of her lives in other dimensions. But with great power comes great responsibility—and government agencies with ulterior motives!

Addressing characterisation, Em and Drew were the only ones who stood out to me. Steph felt flat and underdeveloped, same as Erik, who had so much potential and only ended up as a catalyst—especially since some chapters were told from his point of view. Finn was, well... perfect, and seemed like a cardboard cutout boyfriend. Nonetheless, I expect the next book will give dimension to the rest of cast.

Although the story started out slow for me, I ended up binge-reading it to get to the end! There were times I questioned why certain things were happening, and where it was all leading to... magic realism isn’t really my cup of tea. But the ending clarified and answered all the questions I had, and left me eager to read the sequel!

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i really enjoyed this, and i think i'm probably the perfect demographic for this, being gen z. it's definitely a novel of the time, feeling very current, in not just references but also writing style. speaking of which, the writing style spoke to me because it's not just easy-to-read (without being too tell-y rather than show-y, which i think lots of easy-to-read writing tends to fall into), but also because it's how someone would realistically think and speak (or at least, how i would).

the dream journal entries were interesting, as well as the other POVs that we occasionally got, and i like how there's much more potential to explore the mystical powers that they have. the characters and their relationship dynamics were also pretty realistic and appealing and i liked that!

while i felt that some parts could have been dealt with better, like sometimes it felt like it was moving too fast, or some things weren't really handled well (like around 3/4 of the way in when something happens that's kinda out-there for a person who's has nothing to do with all the powers and mysticism going on, they seem to accept whatever's going on a bit too quickly i got whiplash), overall it was a pretty solid read with so so much potential for the book(s) to come :) would definitely love to see things explored and expanded on.

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Earthshine is telling a story about Em and her friends who decide to go visit Rampur after Em and Steph constantly having a similar weird dreams after a yoga class. When I read the blurb and it mentioned yoga, I was instantly falling in love with it. I mean, yoga isn’t a quite popular topic to be found in fiction/fantasy books.

It was somewhat confusing and slow at first, like I don’t know where’s the story going because there are two other people povs as well, and it changed suddenly. But, then the story start to go interesting after they’re arrived in India. I love that every time they practice yoga, I could feel the relaxing vibes and experience a wonderful imagination while Em is on her multiverse. The dream diary that written by Em as her way to keep her weird dream’s stories is also fascinating to read.

The writing style is engaging and the story is easy to follow. The characters are lovable, and I love that some of them has great development. There are some mystery unresolved and questions unanswered in the end, but this is just book one of a series, so maybe it’ll be answered in the next book(s).

The thing that annoyed me a few times is that in some conversations that involve more than two people, it was unclear on who is speaking now in some lines. Besides that, I had no significant issue. I enjoy reading this and I love the idea of yoga and multiverse world, and I’m really eager to read the sequel!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the opportunity to read this eARC. All opinions are on my own.

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We love seeing more diverse new adult fantasy books! I love how "Earthshine" isn't the stereotypical magic story - instead, there's a strong female protagonist dealing with realistic trauma and working to overcome it. This book honestly reminded me of the premise of the first "Doctor Strange" movie, but instead replace it with a younger protagonist and seedy government organization interfering in her escapades. Also, instead of Strange going to seek training from the Sorcerer Supreme, it's Em Verde going to seek answers from a renowned yoga master. There aren't enough fantasy series out there that take advantage of Indian/Tibetan mythology, and I'm so grateful that this one does, and does well.

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This book! Where to start! I have never been so enthralled by a book in my life! I kid you not I finished it in a day, that’s how hooked I was and then I grabbed the second one. 100% recommend, twists and turns that no one would expect and I do love how it doesn’t feel so heavy. Sometimes books of this nature can feel very heavy and depressing, but it felt light whilst still managing to shock me at every turn.

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That beautiful cover drew me in and I’m so glad it did, because I adored this somuch, words cannot express how in love I am with this story , it’s a heavy read at times, but at the same time I devoured it in one go , but the twists and turns as well as the authors writing style , the magic and use of yoga, it’s just fantastic I’ll definitely be reading the next

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