Member Reviews
This heartbreaking love story recounts the search of Mary O’Connor for her lover, Jim, who disappeared without a trace seven years ago. Every day she displays the sigh “come home Jim” in the Easton train station. The reporter Alice sees her and intrigued by her story, decides to search for Jim. The chapters alternate between the years Jim and Mary spent together and the present day. This emotionally-involving mystery deals with love, grief, depression, friendship, and the search for the truth.
A heartbreaking tale of Mary, searching for her love Jim, who disappeared seven years ago. She keeps vigil by holding a sign every day in the train station saying “Come Home Jim”. The book alternates between Mary and Jim’s love story and how Mary is coping with his disappearance. The mystery of why he disappears and where he is at unfolds throughout the story in a captivating way. I though I had it all figured out, but the end unfolds in a truly beautiful way. A good book on love, loss and the journey to move on afterwards.
This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
First part of story started a little slow but picked up the second half. Touching story of love lost with an added mystery.
This book was just ok to me. I had great expectations of the storyline and of it making me feel and the book just didn't live up to those expectations.
I really liked some of the characters and the storyline was good, but not great.
The end of the book was nice and didn't end the way I thought it might. It gave some closure but didn't spell everything out for you, which I liked. What I didn't like was, with a book like this I want to be moved, I want to cry, I want to feel and it didn't happen.
It was a cute, quick read but I had higher expectations that the book just couldn't live up to.
Thank you to Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest opinion.
A little slow getting started. But once I got to know the characters, it gets really intriguing. Then, I couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommend to give it a try.
Anywhere for You covers a poignant topic that's not often covered, the unanticipated disappearance of a loved one, and it covers many of the nuances of it. I gave this four stars because it does a great job of covering a messy issues, with all of the messy emotions that go along with it. That being said, I really struggled with the main three characters - maybe because they're either so far removed from the way I would handle their circumstances or because I worry I might handle it the same way. Mary meets Jim and is convinced that he is the one - and the way everything starts off in their relationship it seems perfect. But things slowly and then increasingly rapidly spiral out of control as Jim deals with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Jim disappears and Mary spends the next seven years of her life convinced that she needs to be waiting for him when he's ready to return. Alice, a reporter on the brink of losing her job, whose father left her when she was a child, crosses paths with Mary and becomes determined to find Jim. But are Alice's motivations keeping her job, helping Mary or trying to reconcile her own father's disappearance when she was a child? Mary drives me crazy. She's so determined that Jim is the answer for her and that she can help him that she doesn't realize how much destruction he's caused in her life and in her confidence. Jim is someone that has battles to face as well as mental health issues in general, but spends years ignoring the root of his problems instead. And Alice. Well, she just came off as flat out selfish throughout most of the book - especially when a coworker who obviously cares about her goes out of his way to help her and she continues to focus on things about him that irritate her. Thankfully the end of the book redeems the characters and story some, but it was hard for me to overcome my personal dislike of the characters enough to really love this story.
This seemed like such a lovely story when I saw it being offered as a selected read through the Book Club Girls Facebook group and I love the cover, but I just couldn't get into the story at all. I'm seeing from other reviewers that there is some good mental health stuff going on, but it's lost on me as I've skimmed to the end to see why on earth Mary isn't moving on with her life and is instead spending hours of her life holding up signs for some guy who left her. I'm by no means a "rah rah tear down the patriarchy" kind of woman, but I can't understand the fuss she's made over Jim and connect to her or this book at all.
Thank you to William Morrow Publishers for making this available to us. I do appreciate the look.
Anywhere for you is a very heartfelt story about the complicated role mental health plays in several chracters' lives. Mary is the main character who has very tightly scheduled her life activites to keep the truth of her partner Jim's disappearance at bay. It is well written with lots of details but almost too sad for me to stay with it to the conclusion. Mary has encounters with Ted who has his own losses to deal with but manages the mental health helpline where Mary works, also with Kit an unhappy banker, and Alice a journalist who wants to find a story to help her keep her job. They all struggle with their own demons but grow through the story and emerge at the end stronger for opening up and being honest about their losses and struggles. Depression and mental health is a heavy topic so be prepared.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Mary is in a loving relationship with Jim for 6 years. Jim has a problem with depression and alcohol. Mary flies home for her mother's birthday and when she comes back, Jim is gone. Mary calls Jim's parents who contact the police. Eventually Jim's father tells Mary that Jim isn't coming back and tells her to call the police for more information, which she never does, instead she stands outside a metro station with a sign saying Jim come home for the next 7 years. The story goes back and forth between Mary's current life and her past starting when she met Jim. It is a story of love, friendship, loss and mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed this modern love story. It definitely did not end how I expected it to, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Mary awaits the return of her life's love and this story encompasses heartbreak, young love, and the power of forgiveness. The characters were largely dimensional and the author's uses of similes woven throughout makes the reader smile. The plot itself kept me turning the pages and I devoured this story within 24 hours.
What a lovely yet heartbreaking story. Mary finds the love of her life Jim, and after six years, he vanishes. Mary holds out hope that Jim will come home. As the story unfolds, you find Mary surviving this loss, and her support people that care. There is a mystery attached - what happened to Jim. A very good read that could be very sad, but instead is hopeful.
Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.
“Anywhere for You” is a novel about abandonment, loss, depression and learning how to reach acceptance. The primary focus is on Mary O’Connor, a woman in her forties working in a dead end job at a supermarket who for the last seven years has maintained an evening vigil at the train station near her home in London holding a sign that reads “Come home Jim.” During one of these vigils, she has an uncharacteristic outburst after she is jostled at the station during an unusually crowded evening. Her outburst is captured on video, and posted to the internet where it becomes a viral sensation. Also at the station that evening is Alice, a young reporter for a local newspaper who initially befriends Mary in an attempt to garner a story for her newspaper, but later becomes sympathetic to Mary’s plight for reasons of her own. Alice joins Mary answering phone calls at a crisis call center, where she meets Kit, who tries to help Alice find Jim to bring Mary closure. Kit and Alice piggyback on the comments in response to Alice’s viral train station video to garner clues that will hopefully reveal Jim’s whereabouts.
The story alternates between the current period and 2005 through 2011, where the story of Jim and Mary slowly unfurls. The narrative keeps the reader invested in Mary’s story, wanting to know more about Jim’s mysterious disappearance and why Mary has kept a seven-year vigil at the train station. The characters are well drawn and multi-dimensional, particularly Mary and Alice. The novel’s conclusion finds the characters coming to terms with their respective issues of loss and abandonment as a result of the personal growth developed throughout the novel.
Anywhere for You by Abbie Greaves is an interesting and unique novel that speaks of love, loss, acceptance, forgiveness, second-chances, and moving on.
I have to say that what I initially thought this book would be about, and what it ended up being were definitely different. I was surprised by the creative and unique plot of a character pining for a disappearing love and the path that it took her in the years that followed. Mary’s story is so sad and my heart went out to her and the situation she was placed in when the man that she loved, Jim, just disappeared. The story then gave me several surprising turns and the respective ending.
It was definitely a sad story overall to be honest, but it was also interesting with a unique plot and narrative that kept me engaged throughout.
4/5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.
Such a lovely book with an unusual plot line. It is the story of a woman who believes that the man she loves, despite his abandonment, will return. She waits for him at the Ealing Station, carrying a sign asking if someone has seen him.
This is a story of goodness and the mutual support of people who take very seriously the need to help others. Mary appears to be lonely and abandoned, but she is rich in friendship. Those around her come together and help to bring her closure. The book ends on a hopeful note, which is certainly what we need now.
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.
A little bit romance, a little bit mystery, a lot of excellent storytelling. A recommended first purchase for all fiction collections.
Anywhere for You is unlike anything I have read before. It seems like a story of love and loss initially but then unfolds to be a sort of mystery story as well--how all of these characters ended up where they are now. The story is heartbreaking but also restores your faith in people and gives you hope for second chances. Such a well done execution balancing so many emotions, characters and storylines. I'll be thinking about this book for awhile. This would make an excellent book club pick!
Many thanks to William Morrow & Netgalley for an ARC.
This was an amazing story, when I first started it I really thought it was cut and dry on what happened. Then as the story keeps going you realize there are many undercurrents to their life together. It made my case of not judging people by first impressions. We all have a story and sometimes it just takes time to tell it to others around you. I will be highly recommending this book to many people.
What a poignant book! Completely different from your typical romance novel, yet still a love story. A great love story/mystery combo!