A story within a story. A book within a book. Characters that you hate to love and love to hate. All seems so simple yet the perfect amount of complexity to solve any reading slump you’ve been in. While this book is slow-paced, the build up to the end has you forgetting the slow-paced nature as the climax has you tumbling, gracefully, to the end. The strong female protagonists have you feel with empathy for both of their causes, even though distinctly different expect for one key player. The secrets hidden within these pages had me grasping for answers. The depth created for each character is remarkable and brilliant. While I may not have been a fan of every character, some of their flaws were worth forgiving.

A Likely Story by Leigh McMullan Abramson
Available on March 14th 2023

Although I couldn't love all of A Likely Story, there were parts that I enjoyed. My empathy reached out to Claire and how she loved and tried to protect Isabelle. I found the timeline a bit difficult to follow. There was a feeling that it was jumping around.

As the story progressed, I became less invested in Ward and Isabelle. It was difficult for me to like them. Since I have read some really favorable reviews of the book, I won't be critical of it on Instagram and Twitter. I respect the author's time and effort. Various subjects interest us, and this one wasn't for me, but others will enjoy it. It definitely has a strong audience.

Thank you NetGalley, and Atria Books, for sharing this book with me. Your kindness is appreciated.

#ALikelyStory

A Likely Story is a smart story about the a successful, self-important novelist and his wife and daughter. Leigh McMullan Abramson has created a tight plot with several strong female characters--and offers a novel within the novel that will keep readers turning pages. This is Abramson's first novel. Highly recommended.

Isabelle Manning is a mid-30's aspiring author struggling to get her career off the ground. She has big steps to fill, being the only child of celebrated author Ward Manning. Her mother Claire has recently died, leaving Isabelle with clues to fill in about her family. Interesting enough premise, but the book was somewhat hard to get through because of the extremely slow pacing and the absolutely unlikeable main characters of Isabelle and Ward.

Isabelle is an only child to her mother Claire, and her famous author father, Ward Manning. Isabelle has only wanted one thing, to be a successful writer like her father. However, she has experienced much difficulty with getting her novels published. Recently, her mother has died, and Isabelle struggles with her mother’s absence. She begins to discover secrets within her small family unit. Things are not as they have always appeared and perhaps, Ward isn’t the success that Isabelle always believed. Isabelle has put her life on hold to try to become a successful author, but has it been all for naught? Has she refused to participate fully in life following a dream or has something or someone impacted her ability to be published. While Isabelle has always revered her father, is her reverence misplaced? This story was told from multiple points of view which allowed for character development. Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is a story within a story, or rather a book within a book. It centers around Isabelle Manning, an aspiring author who is living under the shadow of her famous author father. After her mother dies, she is left to pick up the pieces of her own life while discovering secrets from her past and her parents that have been buried deep.

This is a slow burn for sure! The premise is intriguing, and I kept reading to uncover the truths that lay beyond the surface. The book within the book was the most interesting part of the story. Characters you love to hate? This book has them in spades! The characters in this story are not likeable, not a single one, but they are so unlikeable I found myself still rooting for them to come to some kind of decent conclusion.

The writing is strong, and the author is able to convey a depth of emotion that kept me interested. The unlikeable characters must be by design and really showcases the author’s skill in developing characters in this way. There was at least one twist in the book that had my jaw dropping.

Overall, I did enjoy this book as it is a great story. I came to accept the characters for what they are which helped keep me reading. I will definitely be on the lookout for follow up books from this author.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A Likely Story releases Mar 14, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of A Likely Story.

This was a case of false advertising because I requested this based on the intriguing premise, but was nothing like what I had imagined.

Let's start with unlikable characters; a self centered egotistical writer with a prissy name of Ward. Is Ward short for Ed-Ward or "ward" of the state?

Isabelle, the only child of Ward and her deceased mother, Claire, has serious Freudian Daddy issues.

Ok, everyone has issues, but Isabelle and Ward need to get to a therapist, STAT!

There's nothing intriguing or suspenseful about the narrative, just gobs of paragraphs about the white, privileged, elitist circles Ward run around in.

Even Brian is a caricature; naturally, he's gorgeous and for some reason, the author wants to drill home the point that he's got a corn-fed, Midwest look about him.

There's nothing shocking about the revelation, Claire turns out to be just as talented, if not more so, than her dickhead husband, and saves her only manuscript for her only daughter to...what...finally get the fame and fortune Isabelle doesn't deserve?

Talk about bad parenting on both Claire and Ward's parts.

The entire narrative was a dull, slow slog to get through.

The writing was good, but I didn't care about the characters, much less what happens to each of them, and the snippets of the manuscript only made reading this more difficult.

Books about books, or rather novelists, are the best. Toss in family secrets, unlikable characters you want to put up with, and a slow reveal and I’m all in. This novel follows a husband with dreams of becoming a literary star, a wife who nurtures his talent, and a daughter living in his shadow whose dream is to follow in daddy’s footsteps. When she struggles to write and it looks like a book is never going to come to fruition, something lands in her lap but is it a risk worth taking.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love books and I love books about writers. Lately more so since they’ve acquired a strongly relatable side. This debut novel fits both of those categories and for those and many others reasons it is easy to love.
This is a tale of a family whose lives revolve around writing, albeit for each of them it’s a completely different story. Some of those stories are less likely than others.
And so we have a patriarch – Ward, a preeminent writer, allegedly the voice of his generation, albeit his fame has possibly more to do with cultivation than talent. We have his almost unbelievably tolerant wife, Claire, who has nourished his talent and ego in simply stupendous ways over their long marriage. And we have their only child, a thirty-five-year-old Isabelle, who desperately wants to be a writer good enough to impress her father – at the expense of all other things in her life.
Overall, this stew of a family is somewhat toxic. There’s love there, but the balance is off, especially, once Claire passes away, leaving Ward to obsess over his dwindling career and Isabelle to obsess over her non-starting one. Throw in a catalyst and watch it all unravel.
So…is it kinda sorta reminiscent of Meg Wolitzer’s Wife? Yeah. Is the ending of it wrapped up too neatly with a bow that slightly perfumes-stinks of women’s fiction? Slightly. Does Claire come across as too much of a martyr? Yes, kind of. But the rest is just so freaking good, it obliterates the detractors.
The writing is so strong, so finely emotionally attuned, so propulsive. And the characters…Abramson has a real knack for writing unlovable people lovingly. In all their numerous faults and foibles, they still engage you, still make you care. And her meditations of success, fame, and talent in this book are absolutely terrific. All of which makes for a first rate literary novel and a first rate reading experience. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

With characters that you just can't love (and are more likely to truly dislike), A Likely Story does continue to pull the reader back in with hints that maybe... maybe... just maybe it will get better. Claire are Brian are the only redeeming parts of the book, and there were definitely inappropriate scenes and racist undertones that could have been entirely cut out (better yet, never written in the first place).

#ALikelyStory #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

I really struggled to get into this book, as I found the characters to be unlikeable. I found the synopsis to not be completely accurate in how I read the book, and while I know this is related to my opinion of the characters, I felt a bit let down as the synopsis was intriguing.

Overall, I'd rate this one 2.5 stars. I think the author and the writing was good, but the story was just not for me.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria books for the eARC of this novel.

I am incredibly disappointed in this book. Stereotyping, racial tones and political tones throughout. It could have been interesting if not for all the really RANDOM and OFFENSIVE lines. There are so many!

Let’s start off with the inappropriate stereotyping of heterosexual vs. homosexual lawyers. According to the author, each is CLEARLY identified by the manner in which they dress….SERIOUSLY?! A sexual preference is visually identified by the outfit you wear?? Unbelievable.

Then there’s the line insinuating that people who voted for Trump are unsophisticated (kinda bottom of the barrel as she describes). I have friends who voted for both Biden and Trump, and I wouldn’t call into question their level of sophistication or intellect as a collective of individuals, based on their voting choice. Just wow.

Let’s not forget her insertion of white privilege. Again, according to the author, clearly only people of color would work the lowest of low jobs and in addition, apparently, white people have no courage to do them. WHAT?! I am bi-racial and this is offensive on BOTH ends. More sprinkled through to the end of the book…Claw. My. Eyes. Out.

Storyline? Wellllll…the 74 year old father character starts it off by watching a teacher/student p*rn video while taking “care of himself”, just after a family member’s death. Such a random thing and made me go, “Huh? Why? Literally why?” Beyond that, we go on a multi year, multi perspective journey, toggling between the timelines. This premise was done decently and the “book within a book” was also interesting, though, I got lost a couple times trying to remember what I last read about the “book” (it is broken up into small sections all through the novel). This left me forgetting what I last red because the actual, much larger part of the storyline intersects the small portions of the “book within a book”.

All in all, IMHO, this book is NOT worth the time I spent reading it.

Fascinating. This captivating novel explores the human experience through the lenses of grief and obsession and love. A fabulous first novel for Leigh McMullan Abramson.

Were it not such a slow start, I could have given this book a 5-star review. But Abramson takes her time in the first 40% of the book to establish characters and background, and very little actually happens. I almost declared it a dnf because it was moving so slowly. But then the story takes off, and it doesn’t slow down for even a moment. The way the plot builds after the first 40% kept me hungry for more.

There is a certain art to the fashioning of truly flawed characters that readers want to love. And Abramson has outdone herself in this story. We have four brilliantly real characters with such tangible flaws (some more than others), and yet we cannot hate them.

Despite not knowing if they would choose redemption over the well-worn paths of their vices, I found myself rooting for all of them to succeed. I think it speaks to that part of us that always finds comfort in knowing that we are not alone in our flaws, and that we are all capable of changing for the better.

That being said, I don’t think this novel is for casual readers. This book feels like it belongs to those who seek to understand the human condition and who devour literature on their path to understanding. It’s beautiful. It’s intellectual. And it packs a punch for those who are willing to receive it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity with this title. A dramatic title that seems sure to be both a bestseller and polarizing in opinions. I have hope for this in a world that lets Gone Girl flourish- at least with so many questionable characters, A Likely Story brings it in for a strong close.

This was my first book to read by this author but won't be my last! The story and its characters will stick with you long after you finish the story. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with an eARC via Netgalley.

This story had a lot of characteristics of things that I like - characters who love books, a dual timeline, and family secrets. I loved the insight into how hard it is for authors to write, sell, and publish a book (something a lot of readers don't often think about). I loved the timeline that had Claire in it, and I enjoyed how strong and iconic of a character she was. Claire exemplified grace, strength, and class throughout most of the story, and I really felt for her.

However, this book also had some characteristics that I don't love - unlikable characters and slow pacing. I cannot believe this book was only 350 pages, because it took be me 3 weeks to get through it (incredibly long for me). I could not stand Isabelle or Ward, two miserable people. Isabelle had the emotional independence of a 12 year old and whined like a 4 year old. Ward was so caught up with himself that he missed his daughters whole childhood.

While there were periods of this book that I really enjoyed, there were other areas I found myself skimming. I would absolutely read more by this author to give her another try, but this one was not quite a knock out of the park for me.

There are two kinds of unlikable characters - those who you love to hate and those you just plain hate. And as much as I don't want to admit it, I would say the two MCs (Isabelle and her dad) fall under the latter category.

But the thing is, the reader understands perfectly why they are so unlikable. As you read about their lives, you can't help but realise why they are the way that they are. And slowly that unlikability turns into acceptance by the reader. It's just what makes the characters them. So are they enjoyable people to read about? No way. But does it makes sense for them as characters to be unenjoyable? Yes, absolutely.

Which is why I can't really rate this anything lower. Because this entire family is messed up. It's fascinating how they handle notoriety, how they strive for recognition, and how their publicity affects their actions and relationships. I also find the whole concept of plagiarism to be really exciting when it comes to stories about authors, so I loved the plot. I just wish the characters had been a little easier to swallow.

But overall, this is a fantastic debut by LA and I am very much looking forward to what she comes up with next!

3.5⭐️ The fact that two of the characters were so unlikeable for me (Isabelle and her father Ward) made it difficult to enjoy this story. Although I loved the last 5th of the book, how these unlikeable characters turned out and the ending. I also was invested in Claire (mom/wife) and Brian. I also liked the book within a book. So this one was a mixed bag for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 20%. I think I may be the outlier on this one from the other reviews I've seen so far. The story is about a woman whose mother has recently passed away and her father is an acclaimed author. There are a series of revelations that causes family secrets to come to light, etc. etc.

The author uses a story within a story concept and also has changing perspectives throughout the story. I had a hard time connecting with either of the main characters which left me not very engaged in the story, so instead of slogging through it I decided it was better to cut my losses and move on to the next book.