Until today, I would have told anyone that SMALL GREAT THINGS was the best book by Jodi Picoult. Today I finished reading WISH YOU WERE HERE and now this is my favorite Picoult book. What an amazing read. I literally could not put this down and read it in one sitting. The "twist" in the middle was amazing (no spoilers) and I loved how the novel began on March 13, 2020. I also vividly remember that day. I will absolutely be recommending this book to everyone. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for publishing Jodi Picoult's "surprise" novel. 10 stars!!

I received a free advanced ebook of <i>Wish You Were Here</i> from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Picoult's latest is certainly unexpected. Diana has an exciting and PLANNED life - she works for Sotheby's in NYC with a clear upward path; she's almost engaged to Finn, a medical resident who shares her goals; and she had an absent mother who traveled the world as a photographer but now has early onset Alzheimer's. Finn and Diana's expected trip to the Galapagos is now uncertain as the world shuts down and Covid counts take over the evening news.

At first when I realized that Covid was a dominant thread through this novel I almost set it aside. My world may be opening but the threat continues. In the hands of a lesser writer the pandemic could be used too fleetingly or too oppressively. Here Picoult stresses the overwhelming uncertainty but with a foundation of the human need to connect to others. That humanity is the core of this novel.

Diana visits the Galapagos but without the amenities, including her suitcase. Here Diana is suddenly adrift as covid quarantine shuts everything down and she has no place to stay, no cell phone signal, and no ability to speak Spanish. Meanwhile Finn is overwhelmed working in a NYC hospital as shortages and patient death count increase while treatments and hope are severely limited. So much for a PLANNED life.

#WishYouWereHere #NetGalley

Was lucky enough to be given an ARC of this book ! Love when I get to read my favorite author's early ! This is probably one of the best books by her in a few years, in my opinion ! Timely as it discusses the pandemic, but it touches on so many other issues and emotions ! It's a real tug on the heart strings ! It is really hard to say what the book is about without giving too much away so I am not going to do that ! This is the kind of book you need to read without really knowing what it is about so you get the full effect and weight of the story ! Enjoyed this very much !

Worthy of dropping everything I was doing when I received notification that Jodi Picoult has a new ARC title on Net Galley!. This is a beautifully written story about Diana, a Sotheby’s employee, who has a dream vacation coming up with her boyfriend, Finn when COVID hits NYC..
Did I feel like reading a book about Covid?Heck no. Was it amazing? YES!! Typical for Jodi Picoult, Wish you Were Here is an absolute winner! All the feels that come along with this one will have you flipping through the pages at lightning speed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for this ARC. I have been a long time fan of Jodi Picoult and have never missed a book, so imagine my excitement at being given an advance copy of her latest novel, Wish You Were Here. I literally dropped everything I was doing to read this, and found I couldn't put it down...yes, takeout for dinner, no time to cook. I love the depth of research she does when focusing on a particular subject and she does this in a timely manner to write about the COVID 19 Pandemic. Providing the doctor's perspective on how difficult and traumatizing it is to treat patients undergoing treatment is by itself worthy. She then combines that with the equally descriptive storyline of someone who has undergone intubation and induced coma and the difficult road to recovery. As usual, Picoult finds a way to thread the important information that is the focus of the book, in this case, the pandemic, along with her ability to tell a story that is deeply touching. Highly recommend reading this new Picoult novel.

If this book is any indication, Jodi Picoult made excellent use of her 2020 COVID lockdown! The book isn't like anything the author has written before. There appears to be no really controversial subject, and no multiple points of view or rotating chapter voices. In fact, the story begins in a normal fashion - Diana O'Toole and her doctor beau are planning a getaway to the Galapagos Islands, where she believes he will propose. Just as they are ready to depart, COVID hits New York City and he cannot go. He convinces Diana to go without him, as the trip is nonrefundable. She reluctantly agrees, and travels to the place where Darwin's theory of natural selection began. So begins this fascinating, surprising, unique, and somewhat mystical story. The writing is strong and the characters vivid and believable. I highly recommend this unusual book. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for providing an ARC.

Loved it. Each half of the book was beautifully and thoughtfully done, and the twist in the middle was unexpected. I didn’t want it to end. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Company for sending me an early copy.

Jodi Picoult has done it again! This story is so well written, characters so well developed and will keep you turning page after page until the end. Mirroring the last year, the details about the pandemic and quarantine are very well written and will still be relevant many years from now. Highly recommend!

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this wonderful title. It’s fresh poignant and so important to remember this time. Jodi Picoult’s fiction is a wonderful vessel for this - loved it.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review - You can never fail picking up a Jodi Picoult book to read - they are always great!
This was so about today and what the world has been going through with COVID
Diane, and an art auction person and Flint her boyfriend plan a trip to go to the islands. Then Flint's job as a surgical resident says he cannot take the time off - he is needed at work - he tells her to go as they already have the tickets.
She goes alone, her luggage is lost, wi-fi is bad - the island shuts down and she has to adapt to a totally different vacation. She meets a man and his daughter and as the relationship begins to progress she wonders about her relationship with Flint.
With a world shut down, life has changed and so has Diane. Will her relationship with Flint be the same when she returns? Will life ever go back to normal? Grab this book to find the answers!

As an art associate specialist prepares for a vacation she has saved for nears, Covid 19 begins in the United States. Her boyfriend, a doctor, won’t be able to make the trip. He urges her to use her ticket so that she will be away from the virus and safe. Diana arrives at the island only to find that it is closing for two weeks. She must decide to stay or return home. She decides to stay not realizing that everything on the island will be closed. She has no place to stay and no food until a kindly lady takes her in and has her stay in the unused apartment below hers.

Diana establishes a routine and befriends several of the people living on the island. One of her new friends is a young girl that shows her some of the hidden beauty on the island. She discovers that she has developed feelings for one of her new friends. Does this attraction signify a change in her feelings for her boyfriend?

Jodi Picoult has created an emotionally raw look at the effects of COVID-19 on our lives. Diana’s boyfriend, Finn, works 36 hour shifts in the Covid ward. He is sad, scared, tired and frustrated. Diana gets Covid and recuperates. Picoult takes the reader by the hand and leads us through Diana’s recuperation. The daily frustration and fear is evident. We have all been through this mess and with a gentle hand, Jodi Picoult shows us that we can emerge from the darkness and carry on.

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Fascinating book about a woman who gets COVID and is unconscious for ten days. During that time she experiences a whole other life where she lives and meets people (and coincidentally is stranded because of the pandemic.) - when she wakes up she can’t believe it wasn’t real. In true JP fashion, she has interviewed and researched doctors and covid survivors and long haulers and a large percentage report having incredibly vivid dreams and parallel lives.

Powerful. As usual Jodi Picoult will have you hooked with this novel. Dianna and Finn have planned a trip to the Galápagos Islands and it’s finally time to go. But then COVID hits and Finn suggests she go by herself since he can’t leave. Through this novel experience the beginning of the pandemic from Finn and Diana’s viewpoint and see how they cope, how it affects them and the choices they make and be reminded of where you were and how you felt at the very beginning.

Thank you NetGalley, Jodi Picoult and Ballantine Books for this edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

This book, crafted in what has to be record time, was simply amazing. I was totally expecting an entirely different novel that I had chatted with Picoult about over perhaps the past three years. Having been assured that book was coming in 2022, I was hopeful that this was it. As I read, my disappointment that I would still have to wait longer was replaced with my awe for the amazing author Picoult is, and that as we lived history, she crafted a deep and touching novel that was so timely, born of the history we are still living to this day. No corners were cut, and yet here is a novel that will stand up to the tests of time as if it was years from start to finish. Nothing is held back, and this is an experience that touches every living person on our blue planet.

As a fan of Jodi Picoult , I was easily drawn to this book. In her notes, she states that she wrote this book at lightening speed. We are still in the pandemic, and the book tells of struggles during the pandemic.
They characters are well developed, and it is an easy, fast read.
The author continues to dapple in the "unseen" world as she has in her last few books. She makes you question
what is reality, and can there be multiple realities ?
Highly recommended read

I think most people would agree that if we've learned anything from COVID, it's that art and pop culture got us through. Books, movies, TV and music helped us process what was going on and was also a great distraction. (And shout out to the Tiger King reference in this book because I think 99% of the country did end up watching it.)

Usually we require distance and time to be able to fully process traumatic events, but this book served a very valuable purpose. It showcased the heroics of frontline workers and made what they went through very, VERY obvious. It's something that we know on an intellectual level but this made me feel it on a visceral one. Finn's emails to Diana literally took my breath away. But the book also showed the necessity of grief and stopping to really think about what's been lost.

Perhaps most valuable of all? The end was set a couple of years into the future. Obviously I know that it's going to end (and that, thanks to vaccines, it's already in the process of ending) but seeing the world starting to move on and then being much closer to normal than we are now felt like the best possible thing to read.

But here's the other thing. This review may make you think that this book is Dealing With COVID: An Exercise in Trauma and it's really not that. One of the best things about Jodi Picoult's books are that the characters are passionate about things. (Sidebar: it's not that I don't care about things like art or multiverses or evolution or elephants or any of the other things I've learned about in her books. It's that they're things I don't really think about and so reading people talk about the things that they love makes me very interested and engaged in those topics. Hearing Diana discuss art with various people in this book was just fascinating and added real depth to it for me.)

This book feels like magic and also a little bit like a continuation of The Book of Two Ways. Both seem like they were meant for this specific time (The Book of Two Ways with its discussion of death and grief felt like a metaphor for COVID and pandemic life and this was a more upfront discussion) and both have been a vey real part of getting me through this particular time. They're both acknowledgments that, although things can be very bleak, there is always hope.

There's a part toward the end where Diana is speaking with someone whose art she may auction off (a very fun semi-veiled reference) and the woman says that art is a conversation, that the artist begins the dialogue but that the viewer continues it with what they're bringing as their perspective and that the perspective will always change because the viewer is changing.

This feels like the absolute best conversation. Highly recommended.

Wow. This is book is nothing like Jodi has written before and I loved it. It is based in March 2020, right when Covid hits NYC. To read about what just happened a year ago, was quite chilling honestly. To hear the perspective of a doctor in the epicenter of this virus to how many people reacted differently to this virus...it was fantastic. A decent amount of the book is based in the Galapagos Islands- a now dream destination for me to visit. You will laugh, cry and truly enjoy this novel.

O-M-G! This is one intense, emotional novel!
I loved it and will be re-reading again to remember how it made me feel! It is that good!!
Diana and Finn plan a trip to the Galapagos, where Finn will propose and they can begin their life and goals together.
However, Finn is suddenly unable to go on this trip.
He is a hospital resident in NYC, and it has become "All hands on deck" due to an incoming virus that is threatening the world!
Finn tells Diana to go on vacation without him. She will be safer away from the city.
She leaves and even away from the tragedy in the USA,; the loneliness, isolation, lack of supplies, lack of internet and feelings of guilt for Diana begin to take over as they do for everyone world wide.
The journey continues for Diana.
How long must she remain on the island? Will she be able to leave? How will Finn be alone without Diana?

This is one book that is not an easy read, yet definitely will be one that will be shared and read for years to come!
I give it ten stars!!

The pandemic from the aspect of a survivor is a fascinating twist. It is impossible to write anything about the story itself without creating a spoiler. However, Diana and her boyfriend Finn are very well-crafted characters who, like the rest of us, are thrust into the great unknown of Covid 19. Their perfectly planned lives are completely up-ended in ways they could never imagine. Picoult writes about an incredibly difficult time in our human history and manages to inject very little politics into what has become a political nightmare. While we do not yet know much about the truth of the pandemic at this time, this novel focuses on the truths of two people on the front lines of the illness. Their realities were shared by millions of people around the world who cared not about politics, but about the safety and care of their loved ones. And in that sense this story is one that will ring true no matter what we discover in hindsight.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this title.

Diana O'Toole has her life planned out, but when Covid hits, everything is thrown off course. As the world begins to change before her very eyes, her boyfriend insists that she takes their planned trip to the Galapagos Islands and get out of NYC.

Diana's time on the islands changes her, helping her to slow down and realize that the perfectly planned life she saw for herself may not be what she actually wants.

I quickly read this novel. It was enveloping and readable. As with all of Jodi's novels, there were tough subjects, quirks, and twists. It wasn't as in-depth as some of her books, but I actually enjoyed that it was a lighter read, despite the heavy subjects involved.