In Wish You Were Here, Jodi Picoult has re-created that horrible time of early covid pandemic. Her narrative oozes the uncertainty, the fear, the lack of information, the confusing barrage of frightening misinformation of those months. Her characters are emotionally rich and appealing. Picoult leaves her readers questioning their choices about the importance of family, of each other, and of life. And she takes us to the shore of the ocean of unconscious and asks if we are courageous enough to test the water.

I received this book for attending an event. I haven’t read Picoult before though I know she’s popular and prolific. But it’s a pandemic book and not really where I wanted my head to be. It is a good story and somewhat cleverly told and structured, but ultimately I wish it hadn’t been a COVID story especially since I enjoyed the non-virus parts of the book more. But it’s not really fair for me to wish the book was something the author didn’t want it to be.

When I read Jodi Picoult's first book "My Sister's Keeper" I love it so much I started a book club for the mere reason that I wanted to talk to someone who had read it. I have since read every book that Picoult has authored. I have learned many things from her writing. I learned about brittle bone disease, heart transplants, and many more subjects that I would not normally come across. Wish You Were Here gave me insight on medical personnel involved in the fight of their lives with Covid, It also taught me a little about Alzheimer's and the effects of ventilators on the human body and mind. This latest book is Picouli's is her best. The story is about forgiveness, the will to live, and true love.

Be right back, I need to book my trip to Galápagos Islands.

I have always been a huge fan of Jodi Picoult. I absolutely love her style in which she narrates the story. Told from multiple points of view brings everything together while showing how things change depending your perspective.

You can always tell that Picoult does her research prior to writing. This story takes place during the pandemic . Diana has her life perfectly planned, married by 30, done having kids by 35, climb the professional ladder and move out of the city and into the suburbs. When Diana's boyfriend books a trip to Galápagos Island right before her 30th birthday, she believes her life is right on track. The night before they are suppose to leave for the trip, Finn says he has to stay behind, working in the hospital has been insane and they need every available person to help take care of the surge of COVID-19 patients. Finn insists Diana still go on the trip .

What could go wrong?

Just about everything. Diana's suitcase is missing, the wifi connection doesnt exist and the hotel Finn had booked is shut down. Not only that, but the island is now under quarantine and Diana is trapped . When Diana meets a local family, she forms a connection with the daughter. What secret is this teenager keeping?

You are going to have to pick up your copy on November 30th to find out!

Easy 5 star read. I devoured this novel in one sitting!

Ooo Jodi Picoult with another knockout novel!! Her writing style is one of my favorites and I love how each story always has the most entertaining characters. This one was a great read... I loved the suspense and I always want more after I finish her books!

Wow, this book took me on a ride. I really don't want to give any spoilers on this one, so I'm not going to give a synopsis. Read the back of the book if you want or go in blind, but it's an amazing story.

I loved the story. I was in love with the location in some of the story. I found myself googling so I could see what the character was experiencing. I fell in the love with the characters and really connected to the MC. I was grieving the losses that she had, as well as celebrating the joys. This was a wonderful story that will stay with me for a long time!

Readers that enjoy stories of love, life, and family experiences will enjoy this one!

I do want to give some content warnings. This book is about COVID. There is loss, grief, discussion of the traumatizing experiences for medical workers as well as people quarantined. There is also discussion of self-harm from cutting. ​

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

This was a very unique story centered around the pandemic, and the world wide quarantine. Diana and Finn plan to go to the Galapagos for a vacation, just as the pandemic hits. Finn is a surgeon in the hospital, and it is all hands on deck. The story takes us through a breathtaking view of the island, as well as the scare of contracting COVID, and being near death.
There is a major twist half way through the book, which changes everything. While I truly enjoyed it, I thought the middle was a little drawn out. Overall a great read.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Diana O'Toole takes a trip to the Galapagos Islands when her boyfriend, an ER surgeon becomes so busy in the care of COVID cases. At least, I think she did. She had wonderful interactions with a local tour guide, his daughter, and Abuela, who took Diana in when the hotels closed. Reading of Diana's trip was fascinating. She counseled the daughter, Belize, and enjoyed the hospitality of Abuela. One day she is in the ocean with Gabriel, the tour guide, and then she is not.
At this point, the novel has quite a twist. Diana has become near terminal with COVID, and her boyfriend Finn now takes a bigger role in the novel. If you can accept this story as laid out, you will enjoy it very much. But, how did Diana get so sick and her COVID working boyfriend did not? That's just one of the questions you might be asking yourself.
I enjoyed the novel, and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

I wish I could write as well as Jodi Picoult so I could eloquently say how much I loved this book. There is so much to this book - the feeling of chaos and uncertainty and helplessness in the face of a pandemic, the healing of hearts, the feeling of redemption, the power of forgiveness, the power of dreams. I could go on and on. And when you think you know, when you think the story is too predictable... keep reading. The surprises are huge.

Literally breathtaking. A beautifully written book about living a life versus a plan, and the choices we make along the way. Not since "My Sister's Keeper" or "The Pact" have I been so moved by a Jodi Picoult book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing, for the ARC of this beautiful novel. Wish You Were here is Jodi Picoult’s best book in years, and is reminiscent of her earlier work. Told from Diana’s point of view, we travel with her through the lush landscape of the Galapagos and battle with her through the challenges she faces back home. The topic of Covid is dealt with respectfully, and I was fascinated reading about Finn’s experience as a frontline hero. Wish You Were here has lovable characters (Rodney!), and twists and turns. As with all of Jodi Picoult’s work, it is sure to be an instant bestseller, and will keep us analyzing and discussing long after the final page is turned.

This review is posted on goodreads.

Jodi Picoult's Wish You Were Here was an okay read, in my book. There were a few inaccuracies regarding the beginning of the pandemic in the book that really bothered me and made me lose interest when I might not have otherwise. The story was intriguing, but I do wish those pieces were left out. The pandemic is too fresh to change small details, even in a fictional story, when the story is also very close to accurate.

“You can’t plan your life. Because then you have a plan. Not a life.”

WOW. I felt personally attacked several times in this novel, but in the best, ass-kicking way possible! Here is my FIRST 5-star read of the summer!

Early March 2020 in New York City. Diana has lots of plans, including an engagement to her surgeon boyfriend, Finn, before her 30th birthday in a few weeks. Visiting the Galapagos with Finn is part of her short-term plan. But then the pandemic hits, and NYC hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. Finn encourages Diana to spend the lockdown (back when we thought it was 2 weeks) in the Galapagos. She agrees. But her trip ends up being anything but expected, and she’s faced with a number of questions… like, what if the life she planned isn’t the life she actually wants?

Pandemic fiction, y’all. This isn’t going to be for everyone. Rest assured, since it is Jodi Picoult, a lot of very careful research went into this book. However, if you are not ready to read about the past two years, maybe keep this in mind for later.

But if you are in a space to read it… it is SOOO worth it. The character development is masterful, and the descriptions of the Galapagos make me want to plan a trip ASAP. There are some hard-hitting lessons too. This book is everything I didn’t know I needed to read.

I was so engrossed in every detail that the Big Thing that happens toward the middle caught me TOTALLY off guard. In hindsight, I should have seen it coming a mile away… but this story wasn’t about the twist.

WOW. Such a powerful story written during the first year of COVID about COVID. The story is about a couple who have a vacation planned and then COVID starts. The boyfriend works in a hospital and tells his girlfriend to go on the vacation by herself. She does and despite the island being on lockdown, has a wonderful time. The storyline changes a little over halfway through the story and turns everything on its head. This story is so relatable and real. COVID is scary and Jodi’s masterful writing does not hide this fact but focuses on the people, not the illness. I highly highly recommend this book. It is an amazing read.

How do you write a book set in the pandemic while living through it? Jodi Picoult has achieved such a feat with Wish You Were Here. An emotional and engaging story that will resonate with so many that have suffered from fear to loss. As a survivor of the major surge of January 2021, who was hospitalized for over two weeks, at times this storyline was too much for me. In fact, I skipped a couple of pages. Ms. Picoult focused her attentions mostly on those intubated and thankfully that wasn't my case. But she nailed it with so much of what happened during the hospital stays for those of us that were isolated for any length of time. She not only captures the fear and despair, she offers hope for the future
All of this is wrapped up in a storyline of a young couple, Diana who works in the art world, and Finn her soon-to-be fiancée and surgical resident in NYC. When the pandemic hits NYC, the Galapagos vacation that has been planned for years is cancelled for Finn who is desperately needed in the hospitals. Diana goes ahead to the tropical paradise solo where she is so isolated from the horrors of the beginnings of the pandemic. Per normal for Ms. Picoult, there are two concurrent storylines happening. One takes place on the island where Diana meets and interacts with a local family and becomes detached from what is happening back home. The other is the trauma that Finn is going through as medical personnel. There are twists and turns throughout and some characters to love and maybe a bit of mysticism thrown in. And, speaking of mysticism, is it clearly a coincidence that this bit of book that so clearly speaks to me is published on my birthday, November 30? I highly recommend Wish You Were Here partially inspired by a tourist who was stranded in the Galapagos during the beginning of the original lockdown.
I want to thank Random House and NetGalley for an early ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was good, and just like all of Jodi’s books very personal, heartfelt and realistic. I really enjoy getting to know her characters and connecting to them. The Covid-19 pandemic is something that has touched us all in some way and I think she portrayed it realistically

This was such a good book! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book and I loved all the twists and turns. My first time to read a book by this author but I cannot wait to read more!

First of all, let me be totally honest and say that there were parts of this book that were hard for me to read, especially the descriptions of the suffering of the Covid patients and how hard the doctors and nurses had to work to save only what seemed to be a small number. But this is a story that had to be told and needs to be read. For me, it put the pandemic into perspective, the perspective of what I had lost in the last year but also a perspective of being more thankful than ever for what I have. Diana O’Toole is an art major, living the dream and working at Sotheby’s. She is in love with a surgical resident named Finn and the two have planned a dream trip to the Galapagos. Then Covid hits NYC hard and Finn tells Diana that the vacation is a no-go. What happens next is unbelievably textured and painted with word pictures that are vivid and outstandingly memorable. I can’t say a lot more about the plot without giving away what happens, but trust me when I say that you need to read this book. Life is more than what you earn or who you know; life is choices that we make every day, and I hope more people than imaginable will pick up this book and read it, just for the hope and enlightenment if offers. The author and I do not have shared values nor beliefs, but in reading this book, I concluded that we share a love for wanting what is best for humanity and I am grateful to her for the opportunity to read such a soul-searching, heart-wrenching and written-with-love-and-laughter book. I read it for enjoyment and completed it with a new depth of understanding of myself and the effects of the pandemic on a world that is still discovering what has happened to all of us. So much research went into this novel as to make it almost read like non-fiction at times, but it is definitely fiction, told with urgency and empathy and all of the emotions that we have all felt as we waited for the world to return to a “normal” that may never be again. Once this book is published, run, don’t walk to the nearest bookstore to grab your copy. Find a friend to read and discuss it with because you will want to discuss it…again and again!
Disclosure of Material Connection
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Jodi Picoult writes another brilliant, timely, and insightful novel. Wish You Were Here describes the year of Covid with a unique twist that only Picoult can do.

Diana O’Toole has a perfect life—a job as an associate specialist at New York’s Sotheby’s meeting famous people, a boyfriend who is a surgical resident who plans to propose, and a romantic trip to the Galapagos Islands. But Covid strikes, and she is stuck going alone on vacation while her boyfriend Finn must deal with the rapidly spreading Covid virus. Diana arrives only to find her luggage is lost, the hotel closed, and no Wi-Fi. Her life changes as she adapts to the slow-moving island now under quarantine without her partner. But Diana’s resilient nature pulls her through, having to make serious choices affecting her life forever.

Even though I’m a huge fan of Picoult, I dreaded reading a book focused on the Covid crisis. But Picoult’s research and unique perspective stunned me, and I finished the novel in a few days. I think it’s her best novel to date. Picoult’s characters are fraught with angst, determination, and grit, compelling the reader to root for them. I thoroughly enjoyed Wish You Were Here and thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review it. #Wish You Were Here #NetGalley #Women’s Fiction

I was a bit hesitant to read a book about COVID-19, especially since a lot of news and media is covering the variant, but here we are.

Picoult continues to write characters that feel familiar, and that you start to care for, or at least can empathize with. The beginning of the novel starts with so much hope and authentically describes what "normal" life pre-pandemic entailed: vacation plans, career and relationships goals, freedom. As the novel progresses, feelings of reflexive dread increased, as you as the reader "knew" what was going to happen.

The alternating perspective of Finn felt triggering at times, as he recounted his experiences with such raw emotion. His perspective added to the feeling of claustrophobia, but in a very unique way.