The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton by Eleanor Ray is a moving book about how Amy dealt with her grief. When her boy friend Tim and best friend Chantel both disappear at the same time, Amy believes she has been betrayed by both of them. To deal with her grief, she starts collecting things. Empty wine bottles because they remind her of her first date with Tim. Lighters and ashtrays, mugs, bird statues, vases,clocks, pottery, mirrors, newspapers, cookbooks…Her house is barely habitable. She is a hoarder.
Now 11 years on, a new family moves in next door and Amy is taken by the irresistible Charles and his little brother and Richard the dad. When the kids topple a pile of pots in her back garden, Amy finds a ring she and Tim had admired together along with a letter left too long in the elements to read and a photograph. Sharing the picture with Charles, he notices an earth excavator in the corner that has been modified. Richard is able to find out where this modified piece of equipment was used and the key to finding out where the picture was taken.
Chantel re-enters her life and Amy learns the truth. She wasn’t betrayed. Finding closure, Amy can now start to clear out her house to make room to allow the family next door into her life.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The beginning reminded me a bit of "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." I especially loved Charles, and his sweet wisdom. It is clear the author is a parent! (As am I.) I did find some of the plotline to be predictable, and some of the explanation towards the end for the hoarding and its significance was wrapped up a little too neatly. But overall, a lovely, hopeful book.

Amy Ashton is a dull and rather awful person. Ten years ago, her lover and her best friend disappeared at the same time, and she became a hoarder. Now a family has moved in across the street from her, and in a super- obvious and rather misogynist trope, Amy has a meet-cute with the dad and his boys. When the kids make a mess in Amy's yard, she uncovers clues to the disappearance and begins to investigate. She learns that her lover was killed by the best friend's lover, a cop, and that the best friend went into hiding. Able to put tis trauma behind her--and rather quickly and easily--Amy cleans up her house and kisses the dad.

I loathed this. It was trite and predictable, although the best friend's behavior didn't make a whole lot of sense. the lover and Amy seem to have had a very immature relationship, and I didn't understand their supposed rapport. Overall, the writing is clunky and the characters stereotypes, and the use of mental illness as a plot device seemed unsympathetic and uninformed.

This book sounded like a fun read so I was excited when NetGalley and Gallery Books approved my request for a copy.
Since I’m not a fan of clutter but occasionally watch Hoarders, the first couple of chapters were a bit slow. I couldn't understand why Amy had so much stuff! Midway through I found myself wanting to see what happened to so dramatically change her life.
The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton is a book about events in our life that change us, friendship and had a mystery as well. If it feels slow at the start it's because Eleanor Ray is building a foundation for a remarkable story.

This having been a year of no travel, the option of literary trips have been welcome. The Missing Treasures Of Amy Ashton was a pleasant trip to Britain with it’s similar yet unique (many cups of tea instead of coffee) customs. The heart of the story is one of the problem of a hoarding life with a mystery running in the background. I found the book an entertaining read. It weaves back and forth over an eleven year period. The only problem that I had was getting my head around the main characters age. She is very young 11 years ago but in the present goes from seeming like an old lady after many years have passed and being a thirty something asked on a date.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but was intrigued by the summary, so I was really excited when NetGalley and Gallery Books approved my request for a copy.

Since I’m not a fan of clutter, a book revolving around hoarding was definitely tough to read at parts, but the underlying story around why and how the hoarding began was so poignant.

I found myself slowly reading the book at first, but once I was about 30% in, I was flying through it and couldn’t read fast enough.

We never truly know what anyone is going through, and how their feelings impact their actions. We also have to remember to ask for help when we need it and offer help, even when people might be too afraid to ask.

This book was a bit slow at first and I thought it was just going to be about a woman who was a hoarder. It turned out to be so much more. The further I got into the book, the harder it was to put it down. This is a fascinating book about family and friendship with a mystery to solve. This is the first book by this author I have read but I will watch for more by her. Thanks to author Eleanor Ray, publisher Gallery Books, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for a honest review.

I was primed to love this book. The description had billed it as a book for fans of Evvie Drake starts Over-- a book I absolutely loved-- and called it tender and funny. Instead of tender and funny, though, I found it to be disjointed and flat. I never really came to like Amy, even though I did come to understand her quirks a bit better. I would have loved a story that centered on her growing friendship with the man and children who live next door; that was a sweet and promising storyline. But there were too many story threads in this book and they got tangled up for me. Liam and Amy's workplace, the mystery around Tim and Chantel's disappearances, whether there were mice in Amy's house..., these distracted me from what I was really interested in, which was, "How is Amy going to learn to let go of her need to hold on to everything and approach life with open hands?"

Still, with these reservations, I enjoyed reading the book. I did want to know how it would end up and I stayed up late to finish it. Eleanor Ray's a gifted writer, and I look forward to her next work.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To my disappointment, The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton was a little slow until the middle, and not quite as coherent as I'd have liked (although maybe that was the point). The second half was worth waiting for.

I'm glad I persevered with this book. When I was at about 27%, I wasn't sure I wanted to finish it. But, I hate leaving books unfinished out of respect for the author and the hard work involved in bringing a book project to fruition.

The beginning of the book focuses a lot on Amy's hidden life behind the firmly closed door of her home. Once someone who collected pretty things, she has slipped past that into collecting everything. She can't let go of anything - not even what appears to those around her as trash - because she can't grab onto the one thing she sorely wants and needs to move on in her life: closure.

The writing in this book is fine, but I felt the exposition dragged on a bit for my liking. It seemed to take forever for us to find out about her backstory and why she is so damaged. Once that story starts unfolding, my interest in this book really took off, especially as her relationship with her new neighbors develops.

I requested this book because of the description: "For fans of The Keeper of Lost Things and Evvie Drake Starts Over comes a funny and tender debut about a reclusive artist whose collection has gotten out of control—but whose unexpected friendship with a pair of new neighbors might be just what she needs to start over." Since I loved both of those books, I was hoping to feel the same way about this one.

In the end, I loved this book. I think there is a bit of Amy in most of us, and letting go is a difficult thing to do, whether it is a a treasured material item or a loved one. The lesson to be learned in The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton is that in letting go, we make room for something new and wonderful to enter our lives.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an early e-book edition of this book.

February 26, 2021

A semi recluse and definite hoarder lives her life wondering why her boyfriend and her best friend up and disappeared at the same time. It is an eleven year mystery that haunts her and causes her life to change entirely. As she makes small discoveries concerning the disappearance, she becomes surer that they can be found. The ending will surprise you.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you think hard enough, everything can have sentimental value. The newspaper my husband bought me as we did the morning crossword together. The lighter we used lighting the candles on the night he proposed. When sentiment is added to material possessions, it can be hard to part with them. Amy Ashton loves material things. She has baggage, both literally and figuratively. Avoiding her past is how she lives in her present, careful not getting too close to people, but instead, cluttering her life with possessions. She makes two unexpected friends who help her realize that confronting her past is necessary if she wants to make room for her present.

If you’ve read Evvie Drake Starts Over, then you’ll enjoy The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton by Eleanor Ray. The character development of Amy is brilliant. While reading, I feel all of her anxiety, fear, annoyance, and every other emotion that sent her reeling. The characters set in her past are fully developed. However, I thought the character development of Amy's present characters needed work. I felt the characters critical in shifting her perspective were understated. I wanted more of that story line and more from those characters.

Anxieties and mental illness from trauma are relevant and at the forefront of the story (similar to Together We Will Go) Ray handled these subjects with care, but with a truth that didn’t mask the severity and internal struggle it causes a person.

Overall, I like the book, but I am underwhelmed by the supporting characters, especially ones that are pivotal to the story line. The “twists” are predictable, which is disappointing, and the ending felt rushed. This book has potential. People will truly love and rave about this book, but for me, I was left wanting more.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It might be that my timing is suspect as I read this while surrounded by piles of my own possessions while in the middle of two house projects. Amy, our heroine, has suffered a trauma which leads her to surround herself with things that she can’t release. The back-and-forth of the eras seems to be a little bit of a push, but isn’t too distracting. The way that a hoarder looks at their things was illuminating although I’m not sure it can get resolved so quickly. Cute story.

I'm grateful to have received an advance copy of this book, but sadly I could not finish after 25% of the way through. Amy's hoarding becomes evident right away and through flashbacks the reader starts to see why. But I found her character unsympathetic and the story not compelling enough to want to finish.

The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton by Eleanor Ray is a surprisingly delightful, contemporary fiction. From the beginning you find that Eleanor Ray writes with love for the main character which makes you develop a fondness for her as well. Amy’s story unfolds with an interwoven mystery that is not revealed until the end, which compels you to keep reading.
Amy is a kind, quirky and somewhat reclusive character who draws you in from the beginning. She is a talented artist at heart, but due to her financial circumstances she reluctantly works as an Administrative Assistant. Amy has endured much heartache and loss due to the mysterious disappearance of her BFF and boyfriend. Instead of dealing with the emotional tragedy, she resists any human contact and replaces relationships with things, not just a few, but enough to fill a house, her house! As the author takes you through Amy’s home, you discover that Amy lives with piles and piles of boxes filled with many of her treasures. Through an artist’s eye, she finds beauty in items such as broken pots, vases, cigarette lighters, mugs, and her beloved, ceramic birds. On top of this, she is constantly pestered by the neighborhood code enforcement and a nosy neighbor. Her situation begins to change when new neighbors move in next door with two inquisitive little boys, their kind dad, and not-so-nice live-in girlfriend. The boys’ curiosity and caring of Amy makes her obsession harder and harder to hide as their relationship grows. Unveiling herself to them, she finally comes to accept and acknowledge the person she is now, while uncovering what really happened in her past.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who either has or would like to gain compassion and understanding of how an individual can amass possessions to the point of developing into an illness. Or to anyone who just enjoys a good story. Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I'll be honest - while reading this book, I decluttered my house. And it was cathartic and so fitting with the book's theme. Taking on an issue like hoarding with a focus on the grief behind it rather than painting a caricature of Amy was so refreshing. I loved having the alternating timelines and getting to see what the past was like for Tim, Amy, and Chantel. While parts of it were a little predictable, it was still overall an enjoyable book.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Amy's backstory, which is the underlying story of her current day hoarding compulsion, is to me, as a reader, much less interesting than her actual hoarding and her lovely relationship with her new neighbor's charming young sons. I'm not sure we needed an underlying trauma in order to explore her story.

Although I got a bit lost at times, the premise is a good one. I was surprised by the murder as there was really no indication that foul play was at hand. The loss of the baby was a bit stereotypical and didn’t add anything to the plot. Amy suffered a great deal more than one would think warranted by her history. I don’t think Tim would have asked Chantal how to propose to Amy. Just too disjointed and I felt no sympathy for Amy. I’m giving 3 stars for the concept of the book.

Many of us keep collections of objects- historical, memorable, beautiful, unique- perhaps displayed, or more often boxed and stored. We think we will sort or give them to a charitable organization.
After a devastating event in her early adulthood, budding young artist Amy Ashton has lived for well over a decade believing in the betrayal and abandonment of her closest companions, her best friend Chantel and Tim who she hopes to marry. She has never stopped searching- following clues, asking questions of herself and others.
Amy is a hoarder whose house is practically unnavigable- filled with towers of boxes of broken clocks, colorful empty bottles, cracked bird statues, old newspapers and a front hallway with years of unopened mail. Her garden is full of cracked pots she has painstakingly repaired to her eye for beauty and color, stacked high. The narrative weaves back and forth from the present to events of the past. Some neighbors become adversaries, others appear as helpers and tentative relationships creep into her cracks.
The first part of the book, focuses on her obsessions- her treasures, her memories, her longings for closure. Amy becomes very real and this reader was immersed in the descriptions of her inner thoughts and behaviors. As the action of the second part closes in on what really happened, it lacked impetus and I was less absorbed.
Overall, it was such a different take on how we can turn objects into substitutes for reality and relationships, and how we can look ahead again with community, it was worth reading.

3.5 stars.

I'm a virtual hoarder. I have no real emotional attachment to most of my material possessions, but I like to cling on to my the photos, texts, and emails, and anything else I can save on my phone. I almost never have space to save new things on my phone, and I pay Google every month so I have their 100GB plan. Because I'm a virtual hoarder. I like the nostalgia of what was, and sometimes, of what could have been. What I'm trying to say here, is that in my own way, I get a little of where Amy is coming from.

We form attachments with a particular memory, or a particular moment in time, a particular point in space, and we try our best to not let go. Whether with tangible objects that fill up our homes, or intangible photos that fill up our phones, or even just memories, is up to us. Amy Ashton had everything (or some version of it, at least) one minute, and the next minute, nothing at all. Now, at least she has her bottles and birds, potted plants and lighters, cookbooks and slow cookers. And, she has the memories associated with them.

Navigating life, however, is more difficult than navigating a house full of cartons, and this is something Amy realises she has to do, as some semblance of a relationship begins developing with her new neighbours. <i>Amy Ashton</i> is the story of the titular character's past and present relationships, and it's got a lot of heart, some laughter, and some tears.

I read <i>Amy Ashton</i> because I was told it was in the vein of <i>Eleanor Oliphant</i> and <i>Evvie Drake</i>, two books I absolutely adored. I liked <i>Amy Ashton</i> just as much till about the last 10% of it. The ending, to me, felt both rushed and unnecessary, a little bit like the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle that just doesn't fit right.

Eleanor Ray is an excellent writer and for the most part, a deft storyteller. I mostly finished it in a single sitting, which I like in a book. I appreciated that the book was not longer than it should have been; in fact, I would not have been mad if I'd had another 50 pages to read. I'm also a fan of any kind of non-linear storytelling, when it is done well, and in this case, it really works. On the other hand, I was mostly underwhelmed by the supporting characters that are a part of Amy's present, as opposed to those from her past. Maybe this was intentional, seeing as Amy was mostly living in her past, maybe it just happened to read that way.

I will write a more elaborate review with more, better details, closer to publication. Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC!