The Charmed Life of Alex Moore was very nearly a DNF. Alex is the epitome of Shoreditch hipster, with a start-up that doesn’t seem to actually do anything (it’s a glorified forum and blog) and she genuinely believes all the hype she comes up with. I agree with her fiancé that she is indeed in danger of disappearing up her own backside.

That dangerous little crack between the Alex she used to be and the Alex she was now? The secret hollow at the heart of her wonderful transformation? Had this total stranger somehow spotted the void?

I was struggling to decide if this was satire or if we are meant to like this world, however Alex being like this turns out to be relevant to the whole story. Her friends and family believe she’s not the same person she used to be. New Alex thinks old Alex was a loser, and she even has bouts of vertigo whenever she thinks about her old life.

Then things get weird, I like weird. When Alex is invited to partake in some research on a remote Orkney island, she thinks it’s the perfect opportunity to find herself and prove to Harry that she can take a break from the business. Instead she finds a strange group of people intent of finding the truth about the day she woke up with a new outlook on life and started Eudomon.

The International Library Covenant of 1122 states that every story is of equal and inestimable value. It is our job to protect them.

I won’t reveal what secret is hiding in the Orkney Islands but it was worth slogging through the beginning and I enjoyed the rest of the book. It explores the idea of destiny and whether or not can change your path in life. Certain events shape our very being, for better for worse. What would life be like if we weren’t weighed down by the past? Sometimes we just need a nudge in the right direction…

You mean… you’re saying that I have to save the world with a self-help exercise?

I scanned over a few other reviews and it does appear to be a bit of a Marmite book. Some people liked it up until the weird part, which just shows how different we all are as readers. For me, it was crucial that it starts off with the exploding mystery man as I kept reading long enough to find out what the connection was.

The Charmed Life of Alex Moore is published by Pan Macmillan and will be available in hardback and ebook editions from 3rd May 2018. Thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free of charge for review purposes only. Receipt of a book does not guarantee a review or endorsement. My reviews are my honest opinion and are not biased for the purpose of personal gain.