When I first read the premise of “Hello (From Here), I was intrigued. I mean…a YA book about two teens who fall for each other at the beginning of the current COVID pandemic…I was interested! However, as I read this book, I quickly realised that it wasn’t really grabbing my attention. I didn’t seem to connect to either one of the main characters like I have with other YA romances. I will admit that I did experience a few flashbacks, since this book takes place at the beginning of the pandemic, and I could relate to it due to some of my own experiences. I remembered the fear and the shelves at the grocery stores all being cleared out…and there was the endless waiting game regarding COVID test results. These flashbacks for me were unnerving, especially since we are still in the midst of a pandemic. This was not a bad book, but I just didn’t connect with this read.

Thank you Penguin Teen for sending me this ARC e-book in exchange for my honest review!

Rating: 3/5

From New York Times Bestselling authors Chandler Baker and Wesley King comes a young adult romance set during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poignant and relevant, Hello (from here) shows how in an uncertain world, it's the unlikely connections that keep us together.

I thought it would be weird reading a love story set during COVID times, especially since COVID-19 isn’t completely eradicated yet, but I was so enraptured with this YA story and found it to be quite adorable.
This story reminded me that even though times were (and still are) different and frustrating and scary, it’s sometimes the little things or single people that make it just a bit more bearable.

I think the authors did a great job of highlighting the realities of the pandemic without being too carefree or doom-and-gloom about it. Additionally, the highlighting of different issues like mental health, privilege, and social disparities made this book more than just another young adult romcom.

This book made me laugh and cry while also making me grateful for the loved ones that helped me get through this pandemic. I think this book was such a great read and any fan of YA romances like Five Feet Apart and The Fault in Our Stars will enjoy this book, too.

*I received an ARC from Penguin Teen in exchange for my honest opinion.

Hello (From Here) was an intriguing premise, but if the lockdowns in 2020 or the COVID-19 pandemic were hard for you this book might be challenging to get through.

CW: generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, AIDS, COVID-19 (theme), death of a parent

I wanted to love this book but I just couldn't. I'll start with some of the things I liked first. I appreciated how the authors touched on what the pandemic was like for those struggling with mental illness. I also liked that it showed how different your life was depending on your socioeconomic status. I liked Max, but I didn't even feel like she liked Jonah enough to date him.

Now to my problems with this book. Jonah felt a little stalkerish to me. First, he basically falls in love after one conversation. Then he enlists the help of his sister to order groceries so that Max has to shop and deliver them? He just felt very out of touch with reality and also came across as entitled. From not knowing what data overages are to going to a party with his friends despite having an immunocompromised sister at home. This book just wasn't for me. Also was the step-mom supposed to be an anti-masker? I just felt like this was somewhat dismissive of the severity of the on-going pandemic.

I really enjoyed this book, I loved the take on how this book was written. It was original and it was creative. I have never read a book like this one and one of my favorite things about it was that the characters and the story were super relatable! I will definitely be reading this again!
4/5 stars

Recently we have begun to see new novels written during what is the COVID pandemic that is still very present in our day to day. I applaud authors like Chandler Baker and Wesley King, who give us stories that are so close to reality for some of us. They give us a voice, and let our stories be heard, and remembered. There’s love, heartbreak, loss, and it is a true testaments that we are all joined, and share this world. How important it is to take care of ourselves, and one another. I truly recommend this read, for everyone.

This book was the hopeful, heartfelt book I needed right now. Set during the pandemic and initial months of lockdown, Maxine is a personal grocery shopper and Jonah has an anxiety disorder and concern over his immunocompromised sister. On top of both being high schoolers, they are both dealing dealing with family matters albeit in very different socioeconomic arenas. This is traditional YA in the essence of following friendships and new love. However, the topics covered were not only timely but well thought out. While the perspective is from a teenager point of view, the thought provoking issues and resolutions would resonate with anyone. I especially loved the witty personalities of both Maxine and Jonah which was wonderfully translated through their banter. Their romance was welcomed and the progression of the serious issues introduced were done with the right amount of caution and digestion. I appreciated the inflection of necessary topics to discuss with lighthearted antidotes interjected throughout.
CW: COVID-19, Anxiety disorder, panic disorder, socioeconomic class differences, parental death

*Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Why did I think that, as someone with anxiety especially over COVID, reading a book specifically set during the pandemic was a good idea? I mean, I like the idea of it, but it just didn't work for me. It was like watching the news, except in book form and with some half-baked romance added in.

I can see how this book could bring comfort to some people. It was nice to read about characters dealing with the same scary situation that we all are today. This book really captured the uncertainty and confusion that was rampant during the first few months of quarantine. However, that really triggered my anxiety and brought those scary feelings back to me, which wasn't fun. I also got frustrated by some irresponsible and unsafe decisions the characters at some times.

Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters. Max was okay, but her character just felt a little bland at times. Jonah was really annoying, and he was kind of a creep, too? I was weirded out by his obsession with Max. He was always trying to find ways to see her, like ordering groceries and requesting her as his personal shopper. I did feel like his anxiety and depression were pretty well written, though. He did make some terrible decisions (one in particular made me want to scream at him) that made me really mad. Since I wasn't a huge fan of the characters, that meant I also didn't like the romance very much.

Overall, this book fell flat for me. It wasn't good for my mental health, and it just wasn't as well-written as I'd hoped for. I can see some people enjoying this, but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

Content Warnings: COVID-19, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, deaths of loved ones, family member hospitalized after contracting COVID-19, AIDs

This book felt very realistic to me. The fact that it's about the pandemic and trying to build a relationship in the middle of one felt close to home. It did give me secondhand anxiety when people were missing or were in the hospital, so maybe if you want to get your mind off of the current situation wait to read this one. Max was a pretty typical work hard to get what you need person, while Jonah was the epitome of a spoiled rich kid. I agreed with Max at a certain point when she complains that there are some things he just won't understand. I do also think Jonah is sweet and earnest enough to learn with some explanations. I kind of want to know more of Olivia's story and the romance she's got going on. For me, this was a 3.5/5.

If you like opposites attract romances, want to see someone get conned out of toilet paper, or you relate to an anxiety-ridden golden retriever boy, this is the one for you.

While this book takes place mentioning Covid which is still a very real issue for us I still enjoyed the book. It does touch on very hard subjects and should be made known of all the trigger warnings during this time.

This is the first COVID-19 pandemic story that I’ve read and I look forward to more love in quarantine stories to come (love in quarantine responsibly!). I particularly enjoyed this one, centered around two teenagers, who meet in the grocery store, fighting over (what else) - toilet paper allocation. This is not your average love story, the surprise twists and turns aren’t your average love triangle. Maxine and Jonah tackle deeper issues than getting a C on your bio test, or what to wear to the prom. They each navigate this pandemic in different ways, yet stay united as one, as they grow to get to know one another… from afar.

Hello (from here) took me by surprise in multiple ways. I was skeptical about reading a book set during the COVID-19 pandemic because we are still in the midst of it, but many parts of this book left me pleasantly surprised. Max and Jonah's relationship was written in a very relatable way. As a teen who also experienced missing out on school activities such as prom and in-person classes, I loved reading about two teens who found love despite all of the obstacles the pandemic presented. Some of the characters did feel underdeveloped, and the story could have benefited from more development. I would love to read more about Max and Jonah's relationship in a post-pandemic world!

Thank you Penguin Teen for my copy. All thoughts are my own.

I don’t really know what I was thinking, choosing to read a book about the Covid-19 pandemic, but here we are. I think this book has a lot of potential and could be validating for people, especially teens who have lost so many life experiences during the ongoing crisis. It’s raw, a little funny, frustrating, and really heartbreaking. It also takes a hard look at economic inequality and how that has played a huge role throughout the pandemic.

Synopsis:

“Maxine and Jonah bump into each other in the canned goods aisle of the grocery store just as the state of California is going into lockdown, when everything changes completely. Could there be a worse time to meet? Max's part-time job at a supermarket is about to transform into a hellish gauntlet. Jonah's preexisting anxiety is about to become an epic daily struggle. As Max, Jonah, and their friends live together but apart through hijinks, humanity, and heartbreak, Hello (From Here) cuts across urgent matters much bigger than a teenage crush. Differences of class, privilege, mental health, and sacrifice are thrown into stark relief by the profound and personal stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic. As thoughtful, probing, and informed as it is buoyant, romantic, and funny, Hello (From Here) looks at the first two months of the quarantine and adds falling hopelessly in love to the mess.” —Goodreads

What I Liked:

The Rawness—This book is a very raw and validating for a lot of the fears many people had at the beginning of the pandemic when we didn’t know what was happening or how bad it was going to get.

It’s a great reminded to get vaccinated so that we can be done with all this!

What Didn’t Work (For Me):

The Trope: Insta Love—Falling in instant love in a grocery story the night before a statewide lockdown…it just didn’t work for me. But if you can suspend your disbelief, you might get sucked in to Max and Jonah’s story.

A Pandemic Book—It’s just too soon for these types of books. I’m sure the authors wrote this early on and thought we’d be out of it by now, but it was just too close to home to read about everything we’ve gone through.

Content Warnings:

Covid-19, 2020 lockdown/shut down, pandemic anxiety, anxiety disorder, death, death due to Covid-19, loss of a parent, grief.

Character Authenticity: 3/5 Steam Rating: N/A, it’s YA Overall Rating: 3/5

What do you think? Are you ready for fictional books about the pandemic?

3.5 ⭐️

Two teens, Max and Jonah, find each other amidst the start of a pandemic—the meet-cute at the store over toilet paper. But, their short encounter evolves into a friendship and romance like no other, and they navigate through this weird new normal together. Their social situations are far from perfect, throw in social distancing in the mix, they’re looking at an extra layer of complication. What will come of this relationship?

The pandemic wasn’t a long time ago, and while I wasn’t ready to reminisce over last year’s events, the anxiety and stress packed with social deprivation, I found HELLO (FROM HERE) endearing and accurate from a teen’s perspective. Trying to date when you can’t even be close to the person you like because they’re out of your home circle? Yikes. I liked both Jonah and Max, and some of the other supporting characters. The reference to the AIDS pandemic in the 90’s was also something that connected the experiences. And, my most favorite part of the book was the authors’ note.

Max and Jonah meet, right when the world is being hit by Covid. What starts as a meet-cute in the grocery store turns into a lesson on life in a crazy world. Max lives in lower class society, while Jonah has the Lucy of upper class living. But boredom sets in and mistakes are made, and this couple has some lessons to learn. When you’re not use to quarantine, how do you hang on to a new relationship?!

This book is told in dual points of view and touches on topics of the Covid cold and loss, anxiety, depression, and illnesses. This book touched on so much that has happened to almost all of us with Covid happening. I really enjoyed the story itself!

3.5/5

I really wanted to like this book as it was just such an interesting premise, but unfortunately, I just think this book was written too soon. Everyone was affected by COVID in one way or another, and I want to say this upfront if COVID was especially hard for you, please please please be prepared for this book because, personally for me, even after reading the trigger warnings, this book was a lot to process and very triggering.

This book transports you right back into the beginning of the pandemic, March 2020, and starts with a "meet cute" in the grocery store. Max and Jonah meet in the grocery store and start up a virtual relationship. However, I was put off by how pushy and almost creepy Jonah was in pursuing Max, so I didn't love their relationship. Individually, I liked Max and Jonah as characters and thought they were written well in the different ways they both reacted to the pandemic. I particularly related to Jonah's anxiety and some of the cyclical thoughts he had sounded like they could have come right from my head.

I feel like where this book fell short was that it tried to tackle too much all at once. There were some really important and good themes and issues brought up in this book; however, it seemed like the authors didn't have the bandwidth to dive sufficiently into each one. I really wish we had gotten more about Arlo and Winter.

Additionally, apart from one character "hitting the whoa move" and some terrifying pop culture references, I would say Max, Jonah, and their friends actually felt like teenagers which is always a plus.

Overall, I am excited to read this book again in a couple of years when, hopefully, COVID is well and truly behind us.

age rating: 12+
tw: parental death, COVID-19, AIDs, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, panic attacks, vomiting

*4.5 stars
thank you penguin teen for an arc of this book in exchange for my review.
this book is honestly everything i wanted. it taught so many important lessons about making the best of life in lockdown. and at many parts i laughed out loud, because of how relatable it was with my quarantine experience. and the characters were just so lovable and easy to relate to. this book, in my opinion, should be a classic in the future, because this perfectly shows what life is like during covid-19.

tw: parental death, anxiety, covid-19, panic disorder

I loved this book! Max and Jonah are thrown into quarantine and meet by fighting over toilet paper. They slowly become friends and more, while virtually dating to stay safe. This book did really well portraying different class structures as well as the varied difficulties during a pandemic. The characters were all so well written, especially the side characters Max delivers groceries to.

TW: parental death, Covid 19, AIDS, anxiety and panic disorders
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HELLO (FROM HERE) follows two teens, Maxine and Jonah, who meet in the grocery store when one accuses the other of hoarding toilet paper as their state is going into lockdown.
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When I first read the synopsis, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about reading about the coronavirus and the mess that was 2020, but I was intrigued. I did enjoy this story, but as it got heavier I did find myself thinking “it’s too soon to be reading this.” I am interested in reading more books that include Covid 19 some day, but maybe not anytime soon. Some things felt incomplete between characters, but overall, I had fun with it. It started out fairly lighthearted, but it does get heavier. And of course it did, because it’s a story that takes place during this pandemic, but I think that I would have enjoyed it more if it stayed lighthearted. I usually like heavy topics in my books, especially regarding grief, so I’m not sure how to explain why this one just hit differently. Maybe the timing? Maybe because I still worry that we’ll have to go back into lockdown any day, without warning? I don’t know.
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3/5 stars, HELLO (FROM HERE) by Chandler Baker and Wesley King is available September 7, 2021!
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Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for sending me an eARC to review.

I adored this timely, heartwarming love story of two kids caught in the middle of a global pandemic. As someone who was impacted by the pandemic, I connected with the two main characters and can easily see this rising to the top of the charts. I found the writing and style akin to Nicola Yoon, and fans of hers will easily fall into this one. Thank you for the e-arc!

“Find the good thing that makes the bad times worth it, and they don’t seem so bad.” – Hello (From Here)
So Hello (From Here) was an interesting read (thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for review!) because this is the first book I’ve read that is set entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic and kind of based around the pandemic. This will probably become more common as time goes on (I know there’s a thriller coming out in August called 56 Days that I’m super interested in—some of you BOTM subscribers might already have that one), but I was interested to check this one just because this is the first one I’ve read with that setting and perspective. I know there was something else I read recently that mentioned it, but it was a post-pandemic setting where someone mentioned something that they had started doing back during the lockdowns. This book, on the other hand, starts right at the beginning of the lockdowns and carries on during the height of the panic—you know, the fighting each other in the supermarket for toilet paper panic.

Which is actually how our MCs meet.

Not exactly a traditional meet-cute.

I gotta be honest with y’all, I was not a hundred percent sure I was going to like Jonah, our male lead, when I first started reading this. Some rich young guy hassling a girl in a supermarket just trying to do her job and I was like, oh no, we are off to a rough start here, folks.

But he really did grow on me and while there were things I didn’t like about him, he became much more relatable as the book went on.

Quick recap: Jonah and Max meet in a supermarket right before lockdowns commence at the beginning of the pandemic as Jonah tries to haggle some toilet paper off of Max. She ends up duping him, which he’s impressed by, and they start texting, first through the grocery delivery app she works for, and then on their own. They build a pretty unlikely and adorable friendship that develops into a long-distance (even though they’re not so far from each other) type romance in the unlikely setting of a global panini. (Have I been saying the P word too much?) They also embark on a quest to virtually reunite one of Max’s elderly customers, an old Hollywood producer, with his long-lost love, a former star of Jonah’s favorite Western movies.

One of the most interesting things about this is that we get a broad sweep of several different perspectives on the pandemic, ranging from the essential workers who have to be out there and risk themselves and for whom locking down and truly staying isolated is simply not an option (“In a perfect world, even without a test, I would have locked myself up for fourteen days and thrown away the key. But y world’s so far from perfect, we aren’t even neighbors.”) to those who are so wealthy that being locked down in their spacious homes with their swimming pools and the money to try out a myriad of different hobbies during their time off makes the lockdown slightly more luxurious, despite the mental hardships it brings with it. Max is of the former camp, and Jonah of the latter, which does become a point of contention between them at some times. (“It’s just that when the whole world is supposed to ‘shelter at home’, it’s hard not to clock the differences in what that word can mean,” Max says at one point.) We also see all the different perspectives ranging from an abundance of caution about the virus to the “let’s just all get it and fight through” POV. So it really is a focus group of perspectives, if you will.

In addition to the perspectives on the pandemic, I think this book serves up some really good mental health rep. Honestly, that was probably my favorite part about it, and it was kind of unexpected, especially because, like I said, I was not sure if I was going to like Jonah at first, but it turned out that while I could relate much more to Max’s struggles as an essential worker and kind of her “social classs”, I could relate very closely to Jonah’s mental health struggles. I thought the way his anxiety was described was great, and really brought it to life on the page. There are a lot of times when you read about characters with anxiety in books and it seems unrealistic or even flat, but as someone who also suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, I thought the anxiety rep here was spot on. When he would start describing his spiraling and how it would escalate from one small thing to the next thing to the next thing to something completely astronomical, I felt that deep in my soul. (“I try to relax. The problem with anxiety is it can be tough to distinguish rational concerns from rumination.”) Even his physical symptoms were spot on. This is probably the first book I’ve read since Fangirl that represented anxiety in a way that I felt was this closely relatable to my own specific experience. It’s not that I want to know that other people suffer the way I do, but it definitely makes you feel a little less alone when you see that more and more people probably have exactly the same experience you do and are able to write about it this realistically.

Max and Jonah develop a really cute romance and we get to see how they navigate the distance and developing a relationship under usual circumstances—not without some missteps along the way, mind you. They have a lot of really fun, cute banter, which I always love in my books, especially romances. I flew this entire book in one day and there was more than one instance where I was either smiling at the page or outright laughing out loud at their barbs at each other or Max’s super sarcastic personality (probably one of my favorite quotes is “a white-hulled boat—I don’t know what kind, I don’t know own clothes with whales on them.”)
But even outside of the MCs, the side characters in this novel are fantastic. I loved Max’s friendship with her BFFs Dannie and Imani and their “no judgment zone”, Jonah’s best friend who insists on being called by his full name “Carlos F. Santi”, and Arlo the old-Hollywood movie producer and his dog, Chester rounded out a great cast. Even Kate, Jonah’s would-be evil stepmother, started to grow on me and become very humanized as Jonah moved through his own journey of recognizing the struggles of the people around him.
But Jonah’s older sister, Olivia, quickly became one of my absolute favorite characters with her wise-ass remarks and stoic outlook. I was frustrated that Jonah, who has his own mental health struggles, was unable to recognize at first that his sister was clearly struggling with depression, but I related to her, too, and loved her basically every time she was on the page with her little one-liners. (“It’s a pandemic dickwad, not the start of Twilight,” she comments on Jonah’s budding romance. Or when he tells her he thought she hated him and she replies, “I hate raucous laughter and the sound of someone eating an orange. I dislike you.”)

Be warned: while there are some really cute and really funny moments throughout this book, there are also some that are incredibly sad. There is some emotional heavy lifting at times. I cried at one point. Maybe two. It’ll get you right in the feels. You’ve been warned.

Overall, even though it seemed like it ended a little abruptly, this was a good read. I liked it. I related to the characters and I had a fun time reading it. Obviously, considering I read the entire thing in one day, it really held my attention. I think people will really like this and readers will enjoy a romance that takes place under circumstances that are both familiar and kind of unique to our times. It was cute, emotional, and funny. Checks all the boxes. Definitely check it out! It releases from Penguin Teen on September 7th! (And how pretty is that cover?)