Anywhere for You touches on many things that are often overlooked. Mental health, "broken" families, abandonment, depression, and the lasting effects an event can have on a person.

Mary stands every day at the station holding vigil and a sign that reads "Come Home, Jim." She stands stoically, knees practically locked for hours on end just holding this pleading sign. Many people simply overlook her, pass her by while they quickly move on to their next destination. Some people pity her and try to slip her some cash to get by. But Mary doesn't need their money, she certainly doesn't need their pity. All she needs is for Jim to come home. When he comes home, her life can begin again instead of staying halted at this standstill.

Alice sees Mary in the station. Actually, she's drawn to Mary after a burst of frustrated emotion has Mary swearing at the people around her. Alice feels compelled to ask after this fierce woman. As Alice draws closer she realizes Mary looks like she could pass out at any moment, she looks spent, exhausted. Alice insists on taking her to get a drink and a seat and hopefully hear her story.

This book builds from page one. Every new chapter brings with it a new layer and a new level of anticipation. There is a stark look at the lies we tell everyone around us and the ones we tell ourselves. Often we retreat, we try to hide our hardships from anyone around us, whether our closest friends or our most detached acquaintances. But this isn't doing anyone ANY favors.

Depression and mental wellness is at the heart of this story. Another key component is self-awareness, or lack thereof. Alice and Mary both grow by leaps and bounds by the end of this story. There were times where I was annoyed with Alice. Many notes were made in my copy denoting her selfish thoughts and judgements. But by the end of the story, you'll find she's realizing the ways she projects her own misgivings, flaws, and fears onto those around her.

I really appreciated the realities of mental health depicted in Greaves' story. She chooses to have an anonymous hotline play a large part in the story and I love that this works toward normalizing this avenue for help. She shows how depression can affect not only the depressed but also the people in relationships with them. She demonstrates how asking for help can be the hardest thing. It can also be the most helpful and can facilitate working toward mental wellness. The harsh reality though is you have to want the help. One cannot force someone they love into taking care of themselves or getting the help they may desperately need.

I started reading this book thinking it was about Mary and her inability to get over her lost love, Jim, who suffered from mental illness, but it was much more than that. Mary waits every night for seven years, mostly unnoticed, with a sign that reads, "Come Home Jim," until a young journalist notices the sign and decides that Mary's story might help her save her own job. It wasn't like any book I have every read before, and was a unique perspective into love, loss, perseverance, and mental health.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow and Custom House for the Advance reader copy.

This was a sad story of love, loss, perseverance, and moving-on. It’s about how one person cannot live for another, about how everyone must face the fact that not every decision can be changed. About how parental pressure and a sibling’s death cannot only change a life, but can also alter a mind. It’s about how devotion can bring happiness or attempt to atone for saying or doing something untoward. It’s how love is fragile despite seeming strong. How it can buoy you up only to shatter and drop you into the darkest depths. Even when we feel alone, it’s likely there are others there for us, looking out for us, ready to help. They support you even when you feel frail and broken and help you see that you still have an incredible reserve of strength.

Mary is an incredibly strong woman, even if she doesn’t believe she is. She’s kind and caring, and when she faces the greatest loss of her life, she faces it by doubling down on her devotion and reaching out to help others. She makes friends with Alice, a journalist, who takes a risk to help another in whom she sees a similarity, and kind, good-guy Kit, a caring young man. Alice and Kit work together to help discover what happened to Mary’s partner, James Whitnell, seven years after he disappeared.

I enjoyed this book. It covers a dual time period and alcoholism (likely drug use, too). Despite its gloom and despair, it brings forth love, friendship, and faith, loyalty, courage, and determination.

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This book is about many things, but among them is mental health—chronic depression, substance abuse, abandonment, never being good enough, and grief.
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I enjoyed the book and was pleased with the happy ending, even if I had some trouble believing it. While I like Mary well enough, her seven years of penance was a bit much for me. Then, again, I see people on street corners holding signs all the time for various reason, so I guess it is believable. James was believable. He did what he felt he had to do for reasons he believed in.

A good book, if dark and gloomy. I thought there were too many things that relied on coincidence, but I still enjoyed it and though it worth the time I invested in reading it.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

This is a hard one to review. It was an odd book about a woman who waits at the train station with a sign every day for 7 years waiting for her fiance to come back. It was bizarre and sad and I had a hard time connecting with the main characters. I was curious as to what happened to the fiance but, when we finally found out, the answer was more frustrating than relieving. Overall, the book wasn't bad but can't say I'd recommend it to others.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Mary O'Connor has kept a vigil outside of the Ealing Broadway station in London for her missing boyfriend, Jim. She waits patiently at the station every night holding a sign pleading for him to return home, until one night she captures the attention of a local junior reporter, Alice Keaton. Their meeting serves as a catalyst towards a journey that explores the effects of grief and mental illness, and tackles head on the question of, "Is love enough?"

While I thought the depictions of mental illness were thoughtful and accurate, I ultimately did not feel connected to or fond of the characters. A few times, their actions felt so unnatural that I physically cringed, and I found myself putting down the book more often than I was drawn to pick it up. There were a few redeeming moments sprinkled in. and I enjoyed the secondary characters and their plot more than the main storyline.

This book focuses on Mary, a young woman that has been keeping a seven year vigil at the train station for her long lost beau, Jim. For seven years, she has gone to the station, holding a sign saying “Come home Jim” every night. And for seven years, Mary has not heard a whisper of Jim’s whereabouts.

Enter Alice, a young, tenacious journalist, whose job is on the line. She sees Mary, and strikes up a friendship, of sorts, with her. Alice also has one last chance to save her job, with a dynamite article. Alice takes it upon herself to find Jim, give Mary closure, and save her job.

This book had ALL the feels!! Happy, sad, hopeful, frustrated, exasperated.... I felt it all while reading this. And that was definitely a good thing. I loved Mary’s (and Alice’s!) story, and although it wasn’t the happy ending I was expecting or wanting, I did get one.

I’d definitely recommend this book. A bit of romance, a bit of mystery, and a lot of lost loves, this book fit the bill for a lighter romance/mystery!

“There are no guarantees that any relationship will last. The fact that people will still go for it anyway, aware of that risk, is perhaps the most beautiful part of it all.” I approached this book with the expectation of a sad tale of romantic or perhaps tragic loss. Instead, I found this story to be such an addictively readable character study, complex and compelling in its delivery. I fell so hard into the intricate relationships, the tentative life stories of each of these people. I really can’t say enough about the way this book affected me. It reminded me that we all bring so much trust and expectation to our lives’ relationships, hoping that we can cure and be cured of our partners’ defects. I will certainly be reading Greaves’ other work. 5 stars for this one!

"Anywhere for You" by Abbie Greaves was an interesting book to read. The characters were likeable and the plot kept me want to keep reading. I'm glad for the hopeful ending to the story as some of the characters were hard on themselves.

“Love wasn’t about the moments when you were dancing on the ceiling. It was about picking each other up from the floor.”

Every day since the love of her life, Jim, seemingly disappeared, Mary stands in the Ealing Broadway station waiting for him to return. Alice, a local journalist in search of her big break is intrigued and wants to help Mary investigate and find Jim.

This was such a beautiful and touching story, told through interweaving timelines - Mary and Jim as they meet and fall in love, and then Mary and Alice hoping to find him so many years later. I really felt for Mary, how desperate she was to hold everything together, and I enjoyed the secondary cast of characters around her. While this is a slower story, the mystery element helps it move along well. Really moving, about love in many shapes and what we do for the ones we love.

cw: depression, suicidal ideation

Anywhere for You is a book that stays with you long after you finish! I truly enjoyed reading Mary's story, though it was often heartbreaking. But sometimes you have to push through the heartbreak to get to a really well written novel. Trying to figure out the mystery of where Mary's lost love has gone, and whether she will ever find him again, is just part of the puzzle to put together.
We meet Mary's friends and learn about the ways they support her & try to help her through the struggles and uncertainties. I really connected with the characters and cared about them, and found Greaves' writing style to be fast-paced.

I began reading this book and truly had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find a love story that had its highs and lows. I found all the main characters likable and was happy that the ending was very realistic. I zipped through the book because I couldn’t wait to find out how it ended.

Nontraditional romance about a couple and what happens when he disappears- ghosting her.. Her journey to find him is poignant. Can you really save or fix your partner? How long do you keep hope alive? Topic of male feelings and depression aren't often covered in books and this one does a good job of bringing this to light.

Well-written book that explore abandonment issues that occur when a loved ones just disappears from one's life. I loved how the three storylines were woven together seamlessly. The characters were believable and well developed.

Mary sits and wairs at thr train station for seven years holding up a sign looking for a lost love. A journalist sniffs out a story and the story falls into a place. A triumphal story about loss,, grief,, and finding oneself.

I enjoyed this book. It was completely different from what I thought it would be and I still enjoyed it. I felt sad for Mary. She wanted to be the reason Jim was happy and kept her emotions, her sense of self turned off to help him. She had no friends, only Jim. Of course her feelings come out and then Jim leaves. She allows that guilt to take 7 years of her life, refusing to give up on Jim. How many of us get sucked into thinking we can save a person from themselves? How long before we lose who we are in the process? I'm so glad that in the end Mary finally decided to move on with her life.

Anywhere for You is about a woman named Mary who for seven years has held a nightly vigil at the Ealing Broadway station carrying a sign that reads, "Come Home Jim." One evening a young journalist notices Mary's sign and is determined to learn Mary's story to write a story to save her job.

I found this a compelling read: you've got a love story, heartbreak, a missing-person mystery, and friendships. I also appreciated the dive into speaking about men's mental health issues from different experiences.

The story moves back and forth between the present and the past. In addition, the narrative is told looking at the perspectives of Mary and Alice, the journalist. Like when you put down a book and then come back to it, there was a lag of a page or two when I started a new chapter until I remembered what was going on at that time, with that character. Nothing bothersome though.

I enjoyed the author's writing, and I look forward to reading more by her. In fact, I believe that a previous book by her, The Silent Treatment, is on sale today!

Thank you to the publisher, William Morrow, and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I really liked this book. I liked that it was different than other books and I couldn’t figure out how it was going to end. The characters were all a little quirky but sweet. I’d definitely recommend this to a friend!

The book seems very well written, but I couldn't connect with the main character who has waited with a sign at the train station for seven years for her long lost love to return. It seemed very sad. Did not finish.

I loved that this book which I thought would be about a middle aged woman who held on to the past, ended up being about so much more. The idea that women bear the brunt of the mental and emotional load in a relationship rings just as true in America as it did for the women in the book in UK. I genuinely enjoyed this unique perspective and thought the stories of the past and Mary’s present were woven together in an intriguing way.

This was a touching book by Abbie Greaves about love, loss and friendship. It was sad at times - I just felt so bad for Mary and wanted her to move on with her life - but uplifting in the end. It was well written and I look forward to reading more by Abbie Greaves. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.