This book was truly WILD!

Bonnie recently won the lottery, and is now laden with more money than she could have ever imagined having. within the first few pages, Bonnie establishes exactly what she's going to do with the money - she plans to move to a remote location and recreate the set of the TV Three's Company, where she'll live out her life as a character in their world.

This book reminded me a lot of The New Me and My Year of Rest and Relaxation. It's grim, quiet, and dark, and Bonnie's life continues to descend into madness as we learn of the trauma she's experienced in the past. While it took a while for me to be pulled into the story, I found this book truly poignant and powerful in its depiction of coping after horrific trauma. Bonnie's character was fascinating, and I found her reactions to and relationships with others so shocking and twisted that I fell headfirst into them as well.

If you're looking for something utterly unique, this is a fantastic book to pick up.

Ashley Hutson’s debut novel is an experience. Bonnie has won the lottery and embarks on a journey to recreate the set of Three’s Company and live inside it. She wants nothing but to be left alone. Bonnie’s journey is peculiar and relatable. It is a novel about trauma and coping. I was completely absorbed.

The narration was perfect.

Pub day: 6-14-2022

4.5 rounded up!

This story had so much more depth to it than I had expected. I was definitely skeptical at the beginning. The obsessions with Three’s Company was beyond even my comprehension and that says a lot coming from a person who knows a few tv shows word for word.

The narration was really well done and helped fully form this idiosyncratic story. Honestly, this was unlike any story I’ve ever read and for that I applaud Ashley Huston, I really appreciate the unique look at mental health and an interesting premise to use while discussing the topic.

It was a truly immersive experience and I hope others will find this wonderfully atypical story as interesting as I did.

Thank you Netgalley and OrangeSky Audio for the alc in exchange for an honest review.

(I will post to insta and goodreads closer to pub day)

Wild, dark, curious, and unlike anything I'd read before. I'm not even sure how to classify it's genre, but was really enjoyable and narration was good.

ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

This novel has such an intriguing and ambitious premise and the writing lives up to it. It is a haunting story of trauma, isolation, and obsession.

Bonnie Lincoln wins the lottery, one of the largest jackpots in history. She is tired of her life, of people, and now has the means to do something about it. She escapes to a mountain resort 100 miles from home and builds a replica of the Three's Company apartment, since the show is seemingly the only thing that brings her comfort and even joy.

The audiobook narration struck the right balance of emotion and detachment and had a slightly mournful quality - it really worked well and helped Bonnie's thoughts and actions come to life. Bonnie is our unreliable guide, and readers/listeners are left to wonder what is real and what is not. I recommend this to readers/listeners in the mood for character-driven literary fiction with elements of a psychological thriller and explorations of mental health.

Thank you to OrangeSky Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

I requested this title on seeing for fans of Otessa Moshfegh, as well as the main characters obsession with 3s company. This book went more into left field than I was expecting… and it worked so well. After going through tragic events the main character Bonnie wins the lottery and decides to fully immerse herself into the show 3s company. Like to the point she uses her winning and finds a hidden location in the mountains to build the set and wants to be 💯 left alone. With all plans in place things come up through her journey of immersion that are out of hands. This book is about escapism and how far we will go for it. I’m excited to see what’s more to come from Hutson

This was one of the strangest books I've ever read/listened to. When I read the description it sounded fun especially since I grew up watching "Three's Company" but it got weird after a few chapters and the whole book was just really weird. The main character, Bonnie, was not very likable at all and therefore the book was two thumbs down for me.

Thank you Netgalley and OrangeSky Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was amazing. It was weird and unique and I've never read anything like it. At times it felt painfully awkward to read, but I believe that was the author's intention. I really related to Bonnie. I related to her trauma and I related to her unusual way of coping with this trauma.

Bonnie has had a very traumatic life. After she wins the lottery out of the blue, she decides to retreat into her mind and the fictitious world of the 80s sitcom Three's Company. She has the entire apartment built in a desolate area and decides to live as the characters. All the while, really trying to cope with a tragedy that she hasn't dealt with. As time ticks by, she lives as Jack, Chrissy, Janet, Mr. Roper and Cindy. With each change of character, we see Bonnie slipping further and further from reality.

This book was a great testament to how trauma can change you and how mental illness can isolate. I cried many times while listening to this book. I felt this story in my core. Although it was unusual and at times frustrating, the book felt real. I loved it. I am left wondering how much of it was real and how much was in Bonnie's mind.

This book easily gets 4.5 stars from me. Great writing, great audio and great story. I finished it in one sitting.

What a spectacular concept!
Bonnie lives a simple life. She always looked longingly at her friend Krystal's home as the perfect family and even pretended that she grew up there. She paints a safe harbour in the home when she reminisces of the soft glow of their loving family Christmases. Her voice is clear, interesting and sharp.

It isn't until you move to chapter 11 that you learn about Bonnie's trauma. Still, even then, she brushes it off what transpired as something that just happened, something she describes, explains and moves on from. The thing is, Bonnie has not moved on.

Ashley Hutton takes this ingenious premise and creates a fantastic situation illustrating how far a mind can travel. Bereft, alone, and depressed, Bonnie obsessed over Three's Company - a silly sitcom that she equares with happiness and safety. When she wins the lottery she decides to recreate the show for herself to live happily, unencumbered and alone. Join Bonnie as she lives her life as the characters from the show and does her best to avoid real life with her newfound winnings. It's a tribute to trauma handled in a new and loving way that I recommend to all who love literary novels.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance audio of One’s Company. This is my honest review.

I enjoyed this unique, quirky and layered novel. The narrator was perfect for the story.

In this case misery does not love company.

After growing up with less than stellar parents, Bonnie is orphaned as a young adult. Her best friends parents unofficially take her in and make her a part of their family.

When an unthinkable traumatic event occurs Bonnie withdraws from anyone who could understand what she’s feeling. She tries to disappear into the world of Three’s Company where everything is cheery and safe and not her reality.

When she wins the lottery she is able to make this reality happen. Once she has reconstructed the show’s world she retreats within it for years until it’s intruded upon.

After destroying her world because it’s sullied by the intruders what will happen to Bonnie?

Bonnie is a truly unsympathetic character. It’s hard to feel empathy let alone sorry for her in the wake of her tragedy. I guess this at least brings to light that trauma does not always come out in a way that is understandable or as something you can empathize with. Sometimes it comes out in ugly hard to understand ways. .

This was super clever and definitely interesting, although there were a few weak plot points.


Review copy provided by publisher.

Wow. I am unsure where to begin, or how to process my feelings after listening to an ARC of One's Company. I requested this novel because the description from the publisher about a woman with a huge lottery win re-creating her favorite show Three's Company and living inside its world sounded interesting. It was definitely different, and as a child of the '70s who also sought escape through television, I was intrigued.

Main character Bonnie survives an incredibly traumatic experience full of violence, rape and death of friends and co-workers. Survival includes, for her, a denial, and with the win of the highest lottery prize ever, she embraces that denial by hiring workers, finding land and building the set of Three's Company. She has little contact with the workers who are precluded from disclosing any information about her secret world through NDAs and Bonnie retreats from modern times and BECOMES the characters. She spends months to a year acting the part of Chrissy, Janet, Jack, etc. dressing and living as they would. There are very few people in her realm, and they are only allowed minimal contact but provide necessities she cannot obtain without assistance.

I don't want to give away more details, but as enjoyable as listening to the build and re-creation of a fantasy world known to many of us (and, yes, I used to watch and did go look online at pics of the sets and artwork mentioned by author Ashley Hutson), much of the book is a gut wrenching, heart breaking view of trauma, mental illness, isolation, bad choices and regret.

Once I began this book, I could not put it down. But, I am saddened by all of it and one quote (from the ARC, not guaranteed to be in the final version) hit home for me: "All the lost time. All those lost people."

I wholeheartedly recommend this book with the warning that it is different. Very different. It is a sad read, very sad. It will make you think, and hurt, and sometimes that's exactly what we need in a book.

Trigger warning: rape, violence, tragic death.

Thank you to Netgalley and OrangeSky Audio for allowing me to listen in advance of it's June 14th release.

This novel was so unique and absolutely stunning! We follow the main character, who is deeply traumatized, as she takes comfort in her favorite TV show; once she wins the lottery, she decides to fully immerse herself in the show, Three's Company, by recreating the set and living a life of solitude inside it. The book provides a wonderful look inward of her mental health contrasted with her stream of consciousness narration. This is the most unique premise I've ever read from a book, and the reading experience was so immersive and encompassing. This novel was meticulously thought out--I have no idea how one person could come up with such a unique idea and then do it such justice by covering the bases I wouldn't even think of throughout the novel.

I am rating this 4.5 instead of 5 star because I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending; I felt the novel slightly lose its momentum as the novel went on. The beginning half of this novel is especially stunning, from intricately woven reveals to unique character set up, and the ending just didn't quite live up to the beginning.

I listened to this on audiobook and loved the narration, though I did think the narrator was a bit slower than the average audiobook. This was annoying for me because the Netgalley app only goes up to 2x speed before the audio becomes corrupted and un-listenable, so this book took longer than it should've for me to get though; I don't think this will be an issue for the average reader since other apps allow for better audio quality and a larger range of listening speeds.

3 stars

This is one of the most unusual books I've encountered in a while, and for me, its greatest offering is as a study of trauma response versus as a work of literary fiction.

Bonnie, the m.c., experiences some truly horrific circumstances that cause her to share the sentiment expressed in the title. Readers simply cannot blame her as there seem to be no safe places for this poor soul. What's wild is that Bonnie wins the lottery, which to the untrained eye seems like an obviously lucky turn in an otherwise deeply unlucky woman's life. However, if you love an _E True Hollywood Story_ like I do, you know that winning the lottery doesn't always work out great for everyone...

It's true that Bonnie has some of the usual experiences that lottery winners do, but she distinguishes herself with how she spends her money: on trying to make _Three's Company_ her entire life. She exists in the space of the show and even embodies the characters at times, wondering about how her changes (some necessary guesses included) impact the authenticity of her experience. This premise is riveting in theory, but it's also an unexpectedly tough read. Bonnie is NOT OKAY, and her life in this manufactured situation is in some ways just as tough as the experiences that lead her here.

I'm interested in reading more from this author based on the bizarro (I say this with love) premise of this novel. Though I didn't dig the grittiness of the novel or what felt like some disconnects in general, I did enjoy spending time with this character (in all of her many cosplays) and this narrator. This is a solid audiobook that undoubtedly comes with some surprises.

TW: rape and physical violence