First Line Friday - Tilt by Emma Pattee

🗣️ First Line Friday 🗣️

“So here we are, thirty-seven weeks pregnant, at IKEA.”

{Thank you @simon.audio @librofm + @simonandschuster @marysueruccibooks for the #gifted copies. It’s narrated by Ariel Blake who does a great job with the emotions of the main character and storyline.}

Say hello, to my latest read—Tilt by Emma Pattee. At just over 225 pages this one packs a punch.

Tilt is a debut novel (it’s my absolute favorite finding new books/authors to read, love and share), but reads like it’s a veteran publication. The writing is both haunting and beautiful. The author uses an earthquake as a metaphor to life. A life that can be difficult and maybe not the way we projected it to be. She uses Annie being pregnant to explore anxieties of her new precious life growing within and the world around her. This book is told mostly in a day, but does have flashbacks to how Annie got to where she is today.

You can’t help but think of your own life, your fears, and reactions to the world around you. Be sure to read the authors note too!

One thing to note is this book has been tagged in some places as a ‘thriller/suspense/mystery’, but I would disagree. It’s much more of a literary fiction with the pacing and fears that can happen in a thriller.

✨ Book Summary: ✨

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.

Out March 25th! It gave me similar feelings to Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy I read last summer and loved.