Great Read

The Rift in Our Reality: A Sweet Young Adult Romance was a great read by Amy Proebstel. Haley is battling Battens Disease, which doesn't permit drainage of toxins from her brain. It is not only rare, it's incurable, and always fatal. The disease took her eyesight no matter how hard everyone tried to find a cure. She isn't allowing it to take her happiness. She is ticking off the boxes of her dream bucket list. She has her seeing eye dog and believes romance is too far fetched for her. I really loved reading this book and can't wait to read more by the author.

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A beautiful and emotional young adult romance!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It had a great storyline, including the added benefit of learning about the rare diagnosis of Batten disease. It was inspirational to see how the young girl continued to try to live her life to the fullest and so sweet how she found such a kind and supportive young man to be by her side. Heather Masters did an excellent job narrating the story as well. Her male and female voices were all very believable and pleasant. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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1 person found this helpful

Beautiful and emotional story

I cannot say enough good things about this book! The story is a beautifully written, emotional young adult romance. The main character, Hailey, shows so much courage and is an inspiration to the lives of the people around her -- and to me, the listener. The relationships between Hailey,her family, friends and are deep and supportive.

Heather Masters did a great job narrating each character and brought this emotional, sad story to life. I would definitely listen to other books that she has narrated.

I loved that the book was honoring the real Hailey who is battling Batten disease.

I was given this audio book at my request and am voluntarily leaving this review.

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Wonderful! sweet! sad! hopeful!

Oh what a lovely, sweet, wonderful, sad story.

Even though the ending was sad, it was also full of hope.
being a totally blind person myself, i thought the way Hayley was portrayed as a legally blind person was great. She didn’t let anything stand in her way.
I love the way, she wanted to enjoy every moment and “live”.
I loved the bike riding scene. Actually there were lots more, but this review would get rather long if I wrote down all the scenes that moved me.
Charlie was brilliant and reminded me of my guide dog in many ways.

The narration was great. The Narrator’s voice perfectly suited Hayley and even matt. There was the right kind of emotion for whatever was being described.

I wasn’t aware of Batten disease before. This book certainly made me more aware.

Just for the author’s future reference, most smart phones will speak these days and are totally accessible and able to be used by a blind person independently.
Even though this story was meant for young adults, I totally enjoyed it and was drawn in to Hayley’s world from the first few pages.
I would highly recommend this book, but would suggest you have some tissues handy.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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A sad but sweet coming of age love story...

The Rift in Our Reality by Amy Proebstel is a great coming of age teen/YA novel very reminiscent of John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars," though I 'felt' the latter more, if that makes sense. Haley's story is about her battle with Batten Disease, which basically doesn't let her brain get rid of any waste and leads to her blindness and eventual death. I knew nothing about this disease and dang, is it a nasty one. It often takes kids before they've had a chance to really become adults and live life. Well, Haley is determined to live her best life while she can. Her positive attitude is amazing and she's just an admirable young lady. She's got a wonderful family and a great best friend, but her life changes one summer when she meets Matt. Matt quickly becomes Haley's "person," and we get to experience their love, heartache, joys, etc. This is a very sweet, though sad, coming of age story that will lead you through a whole array of emotions.

Heather Masters did a fabulous job narrating this story. Her narrating voice was perfect for Haley and she did a great job navigating the other character voices as well. Her use of distinctive voices for the various characters made it really easy to follow along to conversations. Heather Masters WAS Haley! I'd definitely recommend her as a narrator and will happily listen to more performances by her. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.

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beautiful emotional young romance

A beautifully well written young romance heart wrench romance story. This truly incredibly touching and inspirational story had me glued to every page from the beginning. The characters are interesting, and have great chemistry. I really enjoyed the relationships that were portrayed with the family and friends. I voluntarily listened to this beautiful story that had amazing narration was expressive and perfectly portrayed.

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The Rift in Our Reality

An emotional story that tugged at my heartstrings. Haley is such a strong young woman... so inspirational. While there is certainly sadness, overall the story left me with a warm feeling.

I really liked Amy Proebstel’s story and Heather Masters’ narration.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

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A Sweet YA Romance

Going into this I know that it isn't written for me since I'm not a young adult anymore.  That being said, I still wanted to listen to it for a couple of reasons.  One of them was that it talked about a rare disease I'd never heard of and I wanted to learn more about it.

The disease featured in the book is Batten.  I won't go into the details of Batten but upon doing some quick research I found a great resource at NINDS (part of NIH) that you can see here. The disease is what the main character is dealing with throughout the entire book.

I didn't realize that I don't read/listen to a lot of books from this perspective (written in first-person).  Haley is basically narrating her perfect summer throughout The Rift In Our Reality. The point of view is a 17-year-old but it felt more like it could have been 14 or so. I say this because there were just some childish points of view that Haley had on things that didn't sit right with me from a 17-year-old.

The book itself was good. It was definitely in the vein of The Fault in Our Stars (and another movie I just watched recently, Five Feet Apart). It tells of the romance that blossoms between someone and someone who is sick and very well may be dying.

Unfortunately, maybe because I'm older and I remember relationships like this one - but I didn't really like the main male character, Matt.  He reminded me a bit of some of the girls I dated in high school (so that's a plus from Proebstel there) but those people are featured strongly in positive memories from that era.  He felt borderline controlling and definitely rubbed me the wrong way from time-to-time.  Not enough to completely turn me off from the book but I was a bit surprised.  I think that Proebstel was trying to write a story that was sweet but not overly so. It was much more believable than I expected going into it.

Overall, a YA budding romance book that I did enjoy.  A quick read that I flew through. And a rare disease I'd never heard of made this an interesting and enjoyable story.

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Beautiful Story & Listen🎧 Heartfelt& Moving!

Consider me wowed! This is one amazing story and to know it was written in honor of the real Haley who is battling Batten’s Disease makes the story even more amazing. The other great thing about it is that it is bringing awareness to Batten’s Disease, in a subtle and beautiful way. Amy Proebstel does Haley justice in this story, she is the sweetest girl with a heart of gold. Her outlook in life is not tampered by her disease, rather she lives her life to the fullest. She is surrounded by a loving family and some awesome friends. Her life long friend Jackson has been her rock giving her assistance when needed and doing it without making Haley feel like she even needed it. Then comes Matt, a newcomer to the neighborhood, he and Haley first meet in the hospital, his little brother has Batten’s too. Matt and Haley clicked and a wonderful relationship developed between them. I loved the story behind Charlie and the coincidence. This is one moving story, I loved everything about it. The drama, the friendships, the family bonds, the twists, the romance and all the heart the author put in this story. Amy Proebstel, thank you for the beautiful story. Thank you for bringing awareness to this incurable disease, I hope there is a cure for Batten’s Disease in the near future.

I listened to the Audible edition, Heather Masters is a wonderful narrator and voice performer. She brings these characters to life, gives each their own voice and personality. She did an awesome job projecting the emotions of the characters in her performance. Her portrayal of Haley was perfect, she reeked positiveness and you could hear her strength and determination. She fabulously portrayed the other characters as well. She did a great job with the male characters too, loved her take on Jackson, Matt and Hunter. She is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for the great listen🎧

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