Found the premise interesting, but it got tedious after a while to read how Rose's husband is even more of a jerk to her in each version of her life. The pressure to make her have a baby, the manipulation, the fallout of their marriage even when they do have a child... It got to be too much and also too much the same thing over and over again, with no end in sight. This is what killed the enjoyment for me, because nothing changed/nothing was different, so why all these lives to end up saying and giving the reader the same thing just rehashed another way?

Hmmm, this one wasn't for me. I couldn't get into the book because of the writing and my lack of sympathy for the main character. I do think it would make a could choice for a book group though.

I adored the the premise of this novel but was disappointed by the lacking plot.

The characters are well written.

Maybe not the book for me, I have never been one to enjoy several different versions of a timeline. I find it quite boring to have to re-read a situation several times with a different outcome.

Really lovely book that makes you think about how much is going on in the subconscious. All the paths to take or not!

"This is the noise of being alone, of being left by one's husband, of being left to one's work. This is the sound of not being a mother, of refusing motherhood, the antinoise of my life to come. It is a long time before I am used to it".

TW: abortion, death,

Rose, a woman who doesn't want a child, faces 9 different scenarios with her husband. In every single story, the author presents a different reality for her, exploring varying outcomes that may come if she chooses to maintain a childless life, or to cave to societal pressure.

Not a single story is presented as 'the answer', nor 'correct', and by the end, the reader is just hoping for the best. Rose, life 4, was painful to read but memorable, whilst a couple of other lives which were ongoing at the same time were difficult to follow and not entwine with each other.

At a time where the right to abstain from parenthood is in the spotlight and on the tip of everyones tongues, it was a real delight to deep dive in the varying realities 'trying' or 'abstaining' can lead to - many of which, unplanned, and some, unpleasant.

The book is food for thought and a great read for anyone considering the prospect of deciding where they stand on the topic.

Really timely and topical novel about women’s reproductive rights, motherhood, and feminism. Rose Napolitano has a choice to make. She is a successful sociology professor who has never wanted children. Her husband wants children badly and is willing to leave her if she doesn't commit to trying for one. The book is a series of 9 parallel realities depending on the choices she makes: one where she leaves her husband, another where they have a child together and it makes her reevaluate her previous stance, another where she resents her husband for putting her in the position and ending up becoming the primary caregiver for this child she never wanted.

I really enjoyed reading this novel and the different approaches to Rose’s story. However, I did find that I got the storylines mixed up at times. When I get my physical copy, I will definitely be colour-coordinating the different Roses, so I know who’s story I'm following at any given point. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the cast of characters, who were all really different and provided interesting insight at various points to complement the journey Rose is going on.

I think I know what I would do in this scenario and which Rose I was rooting for throughout this read. Which one is your favourite?

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is an outstanding book. It is for any woman who has felt judged over her choices surrounding children or the lack thereof, it challenges the assumption that motherhood is and should be synonymous with being a woman.

Rose has always known she doesn't want to have children. At every turn she has been challenged and doubted by people who think they know better. Her husband Luke has known from the start how she feels and felt the same way too...until now. Luke decides he wants to have a baby and Rose has to decide whether to have a baby and save her marriage or to stick to her firmly held beliefs. We get to see both options play out in The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano.

"Why doesn't he see that he is the one who betrayed me? That by changing his mind about children he's shown me that I am not enough on my own?"

I actually can't begin to describe how much this book resonated with me, and made me think of countless conversations with friends over people commenting on our choices to have children or not.

"Whenever I tell people I don't want children, that Luke and I don't plan to have any, people always give me this look. Then they'll say something condescending, like how I'll only discover my true purpose after I become a parent. As though we women are by definition, just mothers-in-waiting. As though growing up into womanhood is simultaneous with growing up into motherhood, a kind of latent genetic condition that only shows up once a person reaches a certain age. Women eventually realise it's been there all along, it just hadn't presented itself yet.

it makes me so mad.

People never say things like that to Luke."

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is one is a perfect read.

"And I wish so badly that the world was different,' I go on before she can say anything else...'that people could think it was just as normal for a woman not to have kids as to have them. It is so overwhelming sometimes, how much pressure I feel to be someone I'm not. I mean, I know I could do it if I had to; I could give Luke a baby. But I'm so certain it's not what I want. I wish I didn't feel like those were the choice in front of me - to do this thing I don't want to do in order to keep my husband, or just...let my marriage come to an end."

This was a really interesting and thought provoking read that was well written with well developed characters and a gripping storyline. I really enjoyed it.

A brutally punishing collection of choices- saying yes, no, maybe or never to motherhood and where each decision leads in Rose's life.
This book was absolutely such a heartbreaking read from the way Rose would smother her own inner voice just to make her marriage work for her husband to have a child. For the choice of motherhood.
I adored the structure of each chapter which seemed like short stories for each Rose (reminiscent of the midnight library by Matt Haig). Despite the confusion over which Rose was which, I did enjoy the story. At several moments I found that aspects were conveyed to us, the reader, through the context but also through the speech meaning it was very repetitive. However, overall I found this read heartwrenching and a reality check on sticking to your guns and having the confidence to say no.

I loved it. Like, a lot.

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is innovative, important and yet such a super easy read novel that you can fly through in no time at all.

As someone due to become a mother any day now, I had put this one off for a long time, but I am really glad that I read it and would definitely recommend it.

You might need a bit of a map to track where you are with Rose's lives (I'm thinking that meme of Charlie Day (Pepe Silvia, if you know you know) but it isn't wholly important when you're in the midst, you understand.

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and Donna Freitas for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

A really good, easy read. I love stories with different endings and how they interweave. This is particularly good. Read in 2 sittings and now I’m sad it’s over?

you know those nights when you lie in bed and wonder - what if I'd taken a different path instead? caught a different bus, spoke to a different person, started a different job? this is the book for you. This book goes through nine different versions of Rose's life- mainly focussing on the thorny lifechanging issue of motherhood and parenting in various forms.
Its been done in other ways before but I enjoyed this take on life as a modern woman and how choices can lead to so many different outcomes

A thought provoking read… there are a lot of different stories , but we’re enjoyable. Took me a while to get through.

I really enjoyed the different points of view and was hooked from the start.
I did find the ending a little predictable but this didn't alter my enjoyment of it.
A solid 4 from me

This is one for a bookclub read because there are so many discussion points to explore.
I felt like I went through all the emotions whist reading it.
I liked the premise of exploring different life decisions and where the lead and why, what would have been different or will be made on these choices.
Some parts felt slightly dramatic and a bit whiny from the characters but not sure if that adds to the person. Lots of different story lines so at times it was hard to keep up thats why a group read would be good.
Overall a decent read.

Rose does not want a baby, has never wanted a baby and told everyone this. Her husband, Luke also said he didn't want one either. Until he did. Then it became her problem. This books explores nine versions of what Rose did next. From having a baby, having an affair, losing her mother and having a divorce, we jump around through time and various numbers of Rose and her lives. This does make it a bit confusing, so you never really keep track of which Rose is which. Otherwise, the subject is examined quite thoroughly and with thought

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this arc!

This book was written so well and I managed to read it effortlessly. The story itself was immaculate and I didn’t want to out the book down

This book was incredible.

I can’t even begin to explain how much I enjoyed reading this amazing book. I absolutely adored the exploration of Rose’s life and each possible outcome as a result of one decision / moment.

This book really resonated with me. Being of child bearing age, I have been asked the same question Rose was plagued by from her in laws, countless times. It’s an incredibly emotive topic and everyone feels like they have a right to weigh in. Donna captured this perfectly. The stress and resilience and pressure was palpable throughout. I loved that she had a child in her life in some form, whether her own or otherwise, by the end, but in each life it was explored carefully. It was clear that it was never that she didn’t have the capacity to love a child, just her firm decision that she didn’t want a child herself. I admired her ability to make out herself first in some of her lives. I also thought this story was powerful from the female perspective. I am not sure what the story would have looked like if this was from a male perspective of not wanting children, as they don’t fat face the same scrutiny and expectation.

I adored the sliding doors feel to this book and have already started recommending this to friends. This was an easy 5 stars and I will be reviewing on my Instagram soon, once I have a photo ready to share.

I was looking forward to reading this very differently formatted book as one of my favourite films is Sliding Doors and I was intrigued to find out how the 9 lives would overlap or diverge. To be honest, I found a lot of the lives merged into one and I couldn’t get a fix on which number I was reading about. Having said that it didn’t detract too much from the book. The most disappointing thing was that I didn’t really like Rose and I really didn’t like Luke or his family. Therefore it is hard to be objective about the book but I do appreciate that it was well written.