How to even review this book.. I have such mixed feelings on it. It was good but then it wasnt. I have been putting this one off for awhile just because of what I have heard about it but I knew I had to read it for myself. I have always liked Jodi's work but this one fell short for me. Maybe it just was too much on the whole COVID situation. We all have been through it, we all are over it and maybe I just didnt want to hear anymore about it so I was kinda just wanting to get this one out of the way. Dont get me wrong the story was interesting in some parts and there was a huge twist I was not expecting so I give that a thumbs up on that part and what came after that but overall it was just okay for me. Unpopular opinion. Like I said, if you can deal with reading a lot about COVID and are okay with that then I think you will be fine but if not, then this one might not be for you. Definitely a slow burn read.

I'm a huge Jodi Picoult fan- i've read all her stuff, and what I love most is how she tells a story from both or all perspectives. Which is why this book was such a let down. It was a good read, But as a healthcare worker working through Covid I did not appreciate the portrayal of healthcare worker. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the arc

⚠️trigger warning: mention of suicide, death, drowning, and the pandemic⚠️
Diana o'Toole was on the path to success. She had amazing job in the art world that she loved with a promotion so close she could almost taste it. She was about to close a very important deal with well known client and a very prestigious piece of art, an great boyfriend that was a surgical resident, and was about to go on an amazing vacation to the Galápagos. Everything was all lining up with her life plans and she couldn't be happier. That is, until the pandemic hit. It was suddenly all hands on deck and the hospital, and Finn, her boyfriend, decided it would be best for Diana to go ahead and go on the vacation. However, the second she stepped off the plane, nothing seemed to go right. The airline lost her luggage, the island was closing down, and she couldn't even stay at the hotel she had booked, because that had been shut down as well. Fortunately she met a kind hearted local that took her in. Diana comes to the realization that she's basically trapped on the island. All flights out have been canceled. She has almost no means of communication with anyone off the island, so she can't even talk to Finn. As time moves on, she begins to feel like one of the locals and has even gotten close to the family she's been staying with. So close, the teenage girl opens up to Diana, sharing her deepest secret. While on the island, Diana is able to do a lot of thinking and starts to truly find herself. What does all of this mean? Will she be able to return to the life she left behind and still be the same Diana with the same goals in life?
A heartfelt thank you to Netgalley, Jodi Picoult, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book. Where do I start? I have been a Jodi Picoult fan for years. I've read and loved so many of her books, so imagine how psyched I was to be given such amazing opportunity to receive an arc with her newest book. Due to the nature of the book, it did take me a while longer to get through it. The pandemic has been so hard on everyone, and being in healthcare, this book just hit very close to home. The attention to detail and laying it all out was just amazing. As hard of a book as it was at times to read, I enjoyed every second of it. As always, Jodi Picoult knocked it out of the park. I rate this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I agree that talking about this book too much can spoil it, so I’m not going to do that. The funny thing is I enjoyed the first half of the book so much more than the second, which is the opposite of the reviews I’ve read so far! If the Covid pandemic has been too much for you or too traumatic, or if you’ve lost someone, I wouldn’t read this one quite yet. But it is well written, and I definitely learned something! Thank you Netgalley!

I don’t gunk Jodi Piccoult can write a bad book.

This one sets you right back into March 2020. Beginning of the pandemic we are still living through. I really enjoyed the look into island life during these first days and also the dr perspective as well.

But may was I blown away around the middle of the book!

Piccoult did a great job of having you feel all the emotions.

You know how certain authors, particular writing styles or even just certain subjects resonate within you, hit that sweet spot in your soul or bring on those unicorn moments? Well this one combined all three and this was a rainbow unicorn throwing cupcakes and shooting glitter all over my world. I love nothing more than moments of grace and serendipity and surprise. When all those come together, it is pure bliss for me and I wrap myself up in a warm hug when I turn the last page. Even when my heart hurts, it just feels right.

I don't know if it was because the pandemic is still so close to home and we are all still living with trying to find our new normal and navigate things we haven't had to deal with, but this one is going to stay with me for a long time.

What's it about? Well, there's really no way to even share a little bit without ruining the reading experience. Suffice it to say I was swept away, and I was sad, and I was hopeful. Just grab this one, lean into it, and enjoy the ride.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. This book was a fantastic read as the we approach the other side of the pandemic. It was raw with fear as the characters tried to navigate through the early days of COVID. I enjoyed the first half as it combined hospital drama with tropical romance....and then the plot twist! LOVED it. Went from predictable to up in the air and I couldn't stop reading until I learned how all the characters landed! Once again, Picoult doesn't disappoint!

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult, but this book wasn't my favorite of hers. I liked her direction, but I felt like it was slow and I didn't feel ready to be reading about covid quite yet.

Love everything that Picoult writes - and this was no exception. The timing of this read was great while personally and "trying to find the light and the positive under challenger circumstances - was just what I needed

Jodi Picoult always finds relevant topics to write about that nail honest feeling and realistic interactions between characters, and Wish You Were Here was no exception. Diana and Finn were a team that knew what they wanted and were working towards it. Everything was planned out until COVID hit, and their lives were turned upside down.

I can't even write more because I don't want to ruin the novel, but I couldn't read the pages fast enough. This was a one sitting kind of book where you couldn't have predicted what was going on. The author researched the illness and the aftermath for healthcare workers and patience. It really gave me new insight that I hadn't heard or read about.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

I loved this book. What an interesting journey it took me on. I felt like I was floating in the world Dianna was in during the height of the pandemic. Her whole life plan was completely thrown upside down in a way that probably never would have happened if not for COVID. Picoult wrote a heartfelt story centered in the very real 2020 pandemic with raw emotion that reflects what everyone was feeling.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult is one of the first major novels written about the Covid-19 pandemic during the pandemic. I found it to be full of buzzwords and important popular culture touchpoints but low on depth. The main conflict did not seem realistic or even based-in the reality of the subject matter. It just rang hollow on a topic that could have been rich.

Well, of course no surprise, Jodi Picoult is ripping my heart out, again. This is my first foray into a novel with the theme of covid running through it and so many times I could feel the characters' reactions on a visceral level.

At one point Diana’s boyfriend, Finn tells the story of an emergency surgery he does on a man that is dying of covid and I am sitting in the car pick up line for my kids school just bawling my eyes out, because he points out that the nurse is the real hero as she comforts the dying man.

Imagine being in the Galapagos Islands as the world shuts down due to Covid.
Imagine being a surgeon and your specialty shifts to treating Covid patients and scrub in/scrub out protocols day in and day out with a tsunami wave of cases headed towards you.

Picoult choses a beautiful way to tell the story- a young couple, Diana and Finn, on the “right trajectory” for their life plan, ready to go on vacation just as covid hits New York. Of course he has to stay behind because all hands are on deck at the hospital, and he sends her anyway so they don’t lose their vacation money and because she deserves it.

I also love the art history/Sotheby’s flashback storyline, woven with a Yoko Ono-esque modern storyline. It was just done SO DANG WELL!

As only Picoult does, she does intensive research- research that makes this novel eerily realistic. Read the author’s note at the end. You can viscerally feel the characters’ emotions as your own.

I loved the short, choppy chapters that came at intense moments in the storyline- it’s almost as if you are gasping for breath as the characters might be. Grasping for solidity in the landscape of a pandemic.

Kudos to Picoult, and this novel. Read it if you can. Don’t if you can’t. I won’t push this on you, but I will be here to talk about it, because it brings those very real Station Eleven vibes and I am still talking about that novel and recommending it to everyone that will listen to a good book recommendation.

Obviously covid has been hard for many people, this is a content warning for that reason. If you think you can handle the storyline, then by all means read it. This one will stay with me for a long time, but I was ready to read it. Be gentle on yourself if you aren’t, and that is okay.

I also listened on audiobook and the narrator, Marin Ireland is a phenomenal narrator. Highly recommend it for that reason as well!

I went into Jodi Picoult's Whish You Were Here without a lot of knowledge about the book. I just knew that I enjoy her books and read them all as they come out. I realized early on that this was a book about Covid and how our lives changed in 2020 as the virus ravaged out country and the world. As I realized that, I took a moment, wondering, is this too soon? I mean we are still dealing with the effects and the virus is still making its rounds in our country. But because I had the book from NetGalley, I felt that I needed to read it and continue on. And I am so glad I did! Yes, it is set in the time that Covid started going through the world, but there is a story that was so good and I wanted to read.

Diana know exactly how she wants her life with her boyfriend, Finn, to go. They are both moving up in their careers and he will propose on their amazing trip to the Galapagos Islands and then they will live happily ever after. Then Covid hits and as a surgical resident in a New York hospital, Finn cannot leave to go on the trip. But it is already paid for so Diana decided to go on the trip on her own. Once there, the island shuts down and she is stuck on an isolated island with no hotel to stay at and no internet to connect to.

As I was reading, I was able to take a little look back at how Covid affected our everyday lives. It reminded me of how much we have been through in such a short time. In the end, I decided this was exactly the right time for a book that centered around Covid and living with it.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5 stars

This is the first book that I, personally, have read that takes place during COVID. I was hesitant going into it, just because I knew that was one of the major topics of the book, but I decided to go for it. Other than knowing it focused on the pandemic, I really did not know ANYTHING else about the plot... I didn't even read the synopsis. I went in totally blind. And I 1000% recommend everyone else do the same!

I will be honest- the first hundred pages or so I was thinking "this is decent, but I am kind of bored...." UNTIL the end of part one. I have NEVER read a twist like this one in a LITERARY FICTION novel. I am telling you... something happens in this book that literally made me audibly gasp when reading- I simply could NOT believe it. That alone made this book amazing. But I also really enjoyed the realness and rawness of the topics in this book. It made me emotional, grateful, and honestly, still in shock that this has been taking place in our beautiful world.

Something else I MAJORLY appreciated was the excerpts that mentioned our MC working with a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). I am an SLP myself, and our scope of practice is so much wider than people realize. Very often, people assume that all we do is teach children their speech sounds, but speech (Articulation) is only ONE of the nine areas of our scope. And we work with all ages- infant to geriatric. Swallowing/feeding, which is discussed in this book (second picture of my post) is another one of the nine areas in our scope. THANK YOU, Jodi Picoult for raising more awareness about our field!

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

ALSO- so excited it was already picked up by Netflix!!!

Thank you so much NetGalley for this digital copy/early access!

Jodi Picoult always writes such great stories that really make you think. Wish You Were Here definitely made me think! And the twist? Didn't see that one coming!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an E-Arc of Wish You We’re Here.

I am always amazed at the amount of research Picoult puts in for her books. Similarly to the subjects in The Book of Two Ways, it's very obvious that Picoult spent hours researching the art discussed, the history of the pieces, as well as the Galapagos.

Wish You Were Here follows Diana, who ends up alone on what was supposed to be a picture-perfect vacation with her boyfriend on the Galapagos Islands. When COVID hits New York City right before they're set to leave for their vacation, Diana's boyfriend Finn reveals he must stay in New York to work in the hospital to fight COVID, but that Diana should go ahead and still go on the vacation. Literally within minutes of the boat hitting the shore of the island, Diana learns that the island is shutting down due to the virus, and she is now stranded and unable to return home.

Picoult does a fantastic job painting a picture of the Galapagos, and she delivers that "small village" feel that Diana is immersed in when trapped due to the lock down. I found myself grinning and laughing at some of the encounters Diana had with the wild animals on the island, and found myself yearning to be there as well. In the same way she paints the Galapagos so well, she also paints the horrors of New York and the battle that front line workers were facing during 2020 and the sudden spike of COVID.

Obviously the book revolves around COVID, so I think it's important that people are careful about when they pick up this book, and that they are in the right headspace, because if not, that could absolutely ruin your experience with this book. There were points throughout that I caught myself tearing up because of how accurately the horrors of COVID were portrayed.

I will say that there is a specific twist in this that is my absolute least favorite twist that a book can have, and even with that, I still liked the book.

#triggerwarningcovidpandemic
#wishyouwerehere
#wishyouwereherenovel
#jodipicoult
#NetGalley published 11/30/2021
#randomhousepublishing
#ballantinebooks
#ARC
#pandemic
#covidstories
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
O. M. G! When I requested this book from #NetGalley, I had no idea that it was about the Covid-19 pandemic we were currently in the middle of dealing with! "But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure" is in the description. Then later it says something about quarantine locks down the island. I guess I was not paying attention. Smh. If I realized, I possibly would not have chosen this to be my first JP book. #Bookstagram, make sure you take note of this part of the description.

I am not sure if this book hits me so unbelievably bc I lost my dad to covid or bc my own husband is in health care or if it just hits me bc JP is just that good. Either way... Holy cow! So well done! I just can't even say any more than I have bc I don't want to give the big twists away. Talk about a curve ball! Smh.

I highly recommend this for anyone that thinks they can currently deal with the real stories of covid. The stories Finn tells Diana are so close to stories that I have heard from my husband. And from the news itself. I think in a few years this book will become a big hit. It might be slow in rising through the ranks bc people just might not want to deal with it yet.

#bookrecommendation #bookreview #booknerdigan #bookish #booknerdbookreviews #bookaddict #gottareadthisbook #books #readalot #ilovereading #inkdrinker #librarymouse #bookaddict #bookaholic #booklover #booknerd #readingaddiction #readingforpleasure

This is the first book I received about the pandemic and the second one that I read. I admit I was nervous to relive all of the trauma we're still surviving through. However, Jodi Picoult worked her usual magic and wrote a captivating book that asks a lot of the questions we've all asked ourselves. Am I happy with the status quo? What brings me true joy? What does love feel like? It was a comforting read that reminds us all- we're not alone in this.

This book has to be one of the hardest books to review. As I sat down to share my thoughts it occurred to me that it's nearly impossible to talk about this book without revealing a pretty major twist, which would really hurt a reader's enjoyment of the book. So, I'm limited in the details, but not the emotions that accompany the read.

To be honest, I wasn't sure that I was ready for a Covid heavy read. My anxiety has been such an issue through the pandemic and reading is how I escape from the pandemic, not immerse myself in it further. And then, my whole family got Covid, and we all have a relatively mild case and are on the upswing. It seemed like the perfect time. This book would be a huge trigger for anyone who has lost someone to Covid or someone who, themselves, is struggling with Covid. It's heavy with medical trauma, so if that is a deal-breaker for you, you should avoid this one.

But what the book is really about is not Covid, it's about living life for your true self and not trying to live up to some false and idealized view of what you think your life should be. It's about forgiveness and acceptance and honesty. It's about living with grace for yourself and grace for others. It was touching and I emotional, and showcased a variety of relationships and how we impact those in our lives. All of that being said, I felt like the same depth of emotion could have been told in a shorter story. There are definitely times I felt like I was reading things that weren't essential to that message, or things that were being retold. Whether that was by design or circumstance, it lessened the impact for me as a reader.

Overall, I enjoyed this book because of what I took from it, but I had to be an active partner in the emotional journey and sometimes it felt like too much work. I'm not entirely sure that made as much sense as it does in my head, but because I don't want to spoil anything that's about as clear as I can make it.