Hovering between 3.5 to 4 stars. It is a book that had my interest, but the characters were just the worst people. That was by design. The family unit at the center of the story was deeply flawed. When you are in the mood for rich, famous characters acting badly, dysfunctional family, a publishing world glimpse, and a book within a book, this is the perfect read.

Themes around family drama, grief and notoriety run strong. The characters are flawed and at times unrelatable, but influenced by each other’s actions.

The story is told from four perspectives and jumps around - some chapters from the past and some in the current day. In addition there is a story within a story shared as well. The reader is not sure who wrote the story at first so there is a little mystery thrown in as well.

Overall the pacing of the book was hard for me to follow. If you are a fan of literary/publishing industry or story with a story books than this book is for you.

A Likely Story is complex, real and dramatic. Let me tell you now, I am here for it. The main characters are not likable in the best way. Isabelle, Brian, Ward and Claire all had very human flaws. No person in the world is perfect, leading us all to make questionable decisions just like these characters. With all of their lives tethered to books, success and each other, this book did not disappoint.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. It was hard to put it down and I had to know how everyone ended up.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my ARC.

Isabelle Manning is 35 years old when her mother dies. The daughter of a famous author, she’s spent her entire life dreaming of following in her dad’s footsteps. For years she’s struggled to make that dream a reality, held back by rejections and writers block. But after her mother’s death, a secret is revealed that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her family. As she realizes the truth behind her father’s success, she grapples with her own choices and makes a decision that leaves her full of guilt and regret.

This book was messy in the best way: family secrets, scandal, toxic relationships, narcissism, elitism, the list goes on. The characters in this book are extremely flawed and mostly unlikeable, and yet I still found myself rooting for (most of) them. Fortunately, there is a good redemption arc and the ending left me feeling hopeful. You’ll enjoy this if you like a book-within-a-book, life imitates art tropes, and lots of drama. There were several POVs and timelines that added interest, but tended to halt the momentum at times.

The premise of "A Likely Story" is intriguing: how much are each of the characters willing to sacrifice in the never-ending hunt for fame, whether their own or a beloved family member's? The answer is apparently almost everything. The reader quickly realizes that Ward Manning's writing success has been the driving focus of his family's efforts, but the emotional and psychological costs to his wife, Claire, and daughter, Isabelle, keep accumulating. There is not much to like about Ward and Isabelle or the decisions they make with regard to loved ones and friends, and I think we are not meant to like them. This did make it difficult to believe in their character's positive decisions in the second half of the book. I did like the author's multi-timeline chapters which reveal Ward, Claire, and Isabelle's backstories.

A twisty, fun thrill
at once moving, suspenseful.
Overall, fun read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I write haiku reviews on Instagram but am happy to provide more info, if desired!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

When you are the only child, and biggest fan, of an iconic American novelist, you live a certain lifestyle. And you think you always will. But now, Isabelle Manning is 35, and still chasing the life her father has, without success. Her mother, the anchor who kept the family afloat, has died and Isabelle and her father Ward can't seem to find a relationship that fits them. Ward has never been a fatherly father and this doesn't change, even though he vaguely senses something is wrong with Isabelle.

Her mother has left her a cryptic message about something private that she wants retrieved from their beach house at Sag Harbor, but Isabelle keeps putting off the trip. Her father has moved there, more or less permanently, and she is not anxious to see him.

But when she finally goes to Sag Harbor, she finds more than she expected. Hidden deep in a drawer are a lot of mementoes - and something she doesn't expect. She finally has some insight into her parent's lives before she was born, and just how much her mother sacrificed to even have her and to sustain their lives and their family.

I wish I had liked Isabelle more. It would have made the book better, but she is just one of those entitled people who have no basis for their entitlement. She is famous. Not for herself, but because she is her father's daughter. And her father is not all everyone thinks he is, but Isabelle has no idea who she is.

A Likely Story by Leigh McMullan Abramson is a good debut novel. It’s the story of the Manning family.

Ward Manning is a famous writer, Claire is his recently deceased wife, and Isabelle is their daughter who is struggling after the death of her mother.

If this had just been about The Manning family, this would have been a good book. But Ms. Abramson has added a “book within a book” trope that added another dimension to this story that I really liked.

While I’m liked the story, I didn’t love the organization of the chapters in the book. The chapters alternate between New York, 2017 and Sag Harbor, 2017, where we see how Isabelle in New York, and Ward in Sag Harbor function after Claire. Interspersed are chapters from 1975-1993 that detail the Manning family’s story. What I didn’t like about this organization is that in most of the 2017-2018 chapters, they are told from one characters point of view, but randomly, a chapter is told from 2 or more characters pov’s. I did not care for that at all.

And, there is a lot of talk about Isabelle’s thinness that was unsettling and inappropriate (one of the characters congratulates Isabelle for being ready to go to an eating disorder clinic, then later tells her it’s worth it to look as great as she does in a dress).

If you like stories of families, books that show people moving on from grief, books about books, books about writers, pick this one up, just know that it’s a debut and the writer has room to grow and develop in her future.

Thank you to #netgalley and @atriabooks for the advanced e-copy of #alikelystory .

This book just sucked me right in! The book focuses on a wealthy family with patriarch Ward, a famous and well respected author. His wife Claire is clearly the one who keeps the family afloat and is self assured and bright. Their daughter Isabelle is a struggling writer aka nepo baby. We flash back to Ward and Claire’s meeting, Isabelle’s childhood and other key events in the lives of our protagonists. And then there’s a book within a book. That adds a twist and suspense to the entire novel. I just gobbled this book up. I loved the writing, the complicated relationships, the very flawed and unlikeable characters. Especially Claire resonated and I just loved how she steered everything and everyone. I’ve seen some mixed reviews for this one so I’ll say I think those that will enjoy this are folks who like more literary novels that are more character driven and those that are ok with unlikable characters. For me it was so well executed and while it wasn’t perfect I think that just added to the overall vibe for me. 4+ stars and one I think will stick with me for a while.

The premise of this book really fascinated me. And I loved the “book within a book” concept.

But while unlikable characters can often add a rich element to a story, the two main characters (Isabelle Manning and her father Ward Manning) were SO unlikable that it really detracted from my enjoyment. Their privileged attitudes and entitled decisions were unpleasant at best, and made for one-dimensional characters. I found the ending interesting, but a bit unbelievable. I did enjoy the writing style, and the story of Claire, Isabelle’s mother.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

I enjoyed this debut novel by Leigh Abramson who wrote a character driven story about a book within a book. There were definitely some unlikeable characters mixed with family drama and family secrets. This story even brought tears to my eyes.

As an only child, Isabelle Manning’s dream is to be an aspiring writer just like her father, renowned and award winning author Ward Manning. Unfortunately Isabelle, who is about to turn thirty-five, is yet to publish her first novel. One day Isabelle discovers a shocking tangle of family secrets that upends everything she thought about her parents, her gilded childhood and her own stalled writing career. At what cost, will Isabelle go to protect the legacy of her family?

Read this if you enjoy:
Books about books
Family drama
Family secrets
Second chances

I received an electronic advanced reader (eARC) copy from @thoughtsfromapage Patreon Community. Thank you to Cindy Burnett, publisher Atria Books and Netgalley. I appreciate the opportunity to preview this book.

I don’t know that this is a book that will appeal to everyone, but I really liked it. A slower burn in the beginning and full of mostly unlikeable characters, I couldn’t help but be drawn in to their world of literary competition and politics. I’m also a sucker for complicated family dynamics and a novel with flashbacks and this one did both so well. I loved the chapters from Claire’s POV in the past; how she met Ward and how their relationship started and changed. Claire was the only character you could truly root for. Isabelle and Ward were definitely harder to like, but I found them both so interesting. Ward was written in such a way that at times you do feel sorry for him, but then you get a little more insight into his thoughts and actions and that sympathy goes away pretty quickly. It was the same for me with Isabelle too, except she wasn’t quite as conniving. I didn’t mind Brian’s POV, but it just felt a little unnecessary at times. I thought the plot was very intriguing and kept my interest, even when it was a bit slower in the beginning. And the ending/epilogue made perfect sense. Overall, I was very happy with this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF’d this book when it made a reference to knowing someone was homosexual by the clothes they wear. This is 2023. Absolutely not.
Other than that, the book was slow moving and I was lost half the time I was reading.

A LIKELY STORY is juicy, entertaining, well-written and strangely heartfelt. There’s a lot of emotion in these pages and the book includes a few of my favorite ingredients in a novel: multi-generational family sagas, books within books, multiple points of view, different timelines, and characters who evolve over the course of the story.

Isabelle is the daughter of an iconic American author, Ward Manning. She is grieving the death of her beloved mother, Claire, and now in her mid-30s, Isabelle is disappointed with her lot in life. She has always wanted to be an author, too, but that’s going badly, and Ward can’t get it together enough to express his love for Isabelle or even his support.

I enjoyed that the characters in A LIKELY STORY aren’t perfect - they do some pretty horrible things, actually. Both Isabelle and Ward are difficult to like, but at the same time, I understood them and their (cringeworthy) motivations almost as if they were real people.

Like the best of family sagas, there are dark secrets being kept. As Leigh Abrams unravels them, bit by bit, A LIKELY STORY becomes more and more delicious. You’re on the edge of your seat in suspense, wondering how it’s going to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of A LIKELY STORY and the opportunity to give my honest feedback.

With her beloved mother’s death, an unsold debut manuscript, and an egotistical bestselling-novelist father, Isabelle Ward has no shortage of excuses for her writer’s block. After a particularly painful setback, Isabelle returns to her family’s vacation home to retrieve keepsakes left to her from her mother and begins to unearth some family secrets. Will the revelations free Isabelle to voice her truths or shackle her to a cascade of deceits?

While I appreciated the themes of finding your voice and female empowerment, I didn’t always find the characters’ behaviors convincing. It is easy to read and offers plenty of fodder for discussion.

I had a copy courtesy of Net galley and oh my gosh, I really enjoyed this book. It is interesting to read about the writing process, but the relationship dynamics between parent and child and the enduring friendship of someone your heart cannot say no to really got me! I also love the clever story within a story plot, which almost feels like a bonus read. I see that some people ate hung up on the crass behavior of Ward Manning, but I think that although distasteful, it is completely indicative of the.ego driven character. Overall, a great read especially considering it is a debut novel. I was impressed enough that I look forward to reading more from Leigh Abramson.

I really do love a books about book, especially when they take place in NYC. However, this character-driven story fell a bit flat for me. The hardest thing while reading this was that I could not connect with the characters at all. They were all pretty unlikable, and I kept trying to be more invested in their individual stories. Despite this, I found the story be a quick binge, and I was eager to see how it all played out… especially the evolving romance between the main character and her best friend.

I listened to the audiobook and loved how there were five narrators for each perspective. This helped differentiate between POVs, especially when it changed within a chapter. However, I will say that I SWEAR Brian was being pronounced as Ryan from one male narrator and it really threw me off.

Read if you like:
-Books about books
-Family dramas
-Alternating POVs

Thank you Simon Audio and Atria books for the ALC/ ARC!
-NYC setting
-The Sweet Spot

Isabell just wants to be a famous writer like her father, Ward Manning. So far, her attempts have failed and when her mother dies, she leaves her a manuscript and Isabell learns that Claire was a guiding force in Ward's career and a brilliant writer in her own right. Isabell passes her mothers' manuscript off as her own as she learns more about her parents' relationship and her narcissistic father's obsession with his own fame. Will Isabell end up more like her spotlight hungry father or her supportive dead mother?

This book is a mash up of Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Plot and The Latecomer. I actually had to look twice to make sure this wasn't a new book by Korelitz. I really enjoyed this debut novel and the gray ethical area it lived in. I found the characters well drawn (even if I truly hated Ward) and wasn't too confused by the jumping around in time nor the book within the book. I hope this novel gets the attention it deserves, even if it doesn't feel completely new. But if you like Korelitz's books, this one is definitely for you.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

I don’t think I’ve ever disliked more characters in a book than I did in A Likely Story - but despite my character disdain (other than Claire!) I still enjoyed this book. I loved the plot and the element of a story within a story, and felt a bit of relief towards the end that Ward and Isabelle were both taking baby steps to redeem themselves. I enjoyed the author’s writing style, and look forward to reading more from Leigh McMullan Abramson!

I am particularly fond of books about writers and writing, so take my opinions with a few grains of salt. Isabelle Manning is a struggling writer, whose father Ward is a literary lion. After her society hostess mother Claire passes away, Isabelle and her father must learn how to be a family without her. After Isabelle finally publishes a novel she discovers the truth behind her lack of success.