I went into Terrace Story expecting a sort-of magical, whimsical, light novel, and that isn't what this was. But, I absolutely loved this book. I have not read Temporary by Hilary Leichter yet, but it's definitely on my list now. This was set up in four parts, so you get different perspectives, settings, and experiences but everything is connected. I think this is one of those books that it's best to go in blind. I really enjoyed Leighter's writing style, and I loved how my feelings about the characters changed throughout the book as I read the different perspectives. I definitely recommend this one!

I requested this book because I zoomed a book event where this book was touted as a great read. For me, not so much.

The nonlinear settings--4 interconnected stories.

"Annie, Edward, and their young daughter, Rose, live in a cramped apartment. One night ,...they find a beautiful terrace hidden in their closet. It wasn’t there before, and it seems to only appear when their friend Stephanie visits." And so it begins. Stephanie's "powers' are quite interesting and make for unusual happenings.

Love, loss, life, death [much], funerals [and bagels], sadness, loneliness, parenting [or lack thereof], magic realism.

Two phrases:
"some views shows less than half of what needs seeing"
"gymnastically folded potato chips"

I liked the first story, not as much the second, or third and definitely not the fourth. Spoiler: it's dystopian--a genre I DO NOT LIKE.

Pros: a fairly easy, breezy read--more so at the beginning. Ok writing. And short [thankfully].
Cons: I did not care for any of the characters, My interested waned fairly early. The ending.

On the whole, not my jam, but many others raved

2.5, but rounding up to 3 because I'm in a mood.

Looking at the other reviews, it seems like I might be the only one who didn’t particularly enjoy this, sadly. It’s not bad I don’t think, I just think it’s not for me—I much prefer Emily St. John Mandel for speculative fiction.
Thank you to netgalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Packaged as a novel, these four interconnected stories explore love and loss....life.
A young family in a tiny apartment find a gorgeous terrace inside their close when their new friend Stephanie visits. Without thinking of the costs of this treasure, they invite Stephanie over again and again. Thus begins the strange world of Terrace Story, where there a cost and everything (including the stories) are connected. It is quite magical and I remember feeling similarly when I read Narnia as a child and hoped that there was a door in my closet. If you love great literature, magical realism and poignant tale, Terrace Story is for you!
#Ecco #TerraceStory #HilaryLeichter

Hilary Leichter crafts a story unlike any author I've read before, making it impossible for me not to read this in one sitting. In Terrace Story, we're introduced to Annie, Edward, and their baby, Rose, a city-dwelling family embarrassed of the limited space in their apartment and on their credit card. But when one of Annie's co-workers, Stephanie, pays a visit, a vast and breathtaking terrace suddenly appears beyond their closet door. When Stephanie leaves, so does the terrace, thus beginning a give-and-take relationship between the family and Stephanie — both acting on entirely different motivations. Through four connected, nonlinear short stories, we’re taken on a generation-spanning journey through the points of view of Annie, Annie's parents, Stephanie, and Rose.

Without getting into too much detail, Terrace Story manages to explore complex and existential concepts of familial and romantic love, loss, extinction, death, and what it means to exist. The synopsis puts it best when describing the book's questioning of "how we nurture love when death looms over every moment." Terrace Story crosses between magical realism, fantasy, and even science fiction in the way it plays with the construct of time and reality. Reading this book feels like putting together a 3D puzzle within a dream, and the result feels both satisfying and heart-wrenching.

Terrace Story is undoubtedly a new favorite of mine, and I can't recommend it enough for those who love mind-bending stories and are constantly contemplating life's purpose and the human condition.

This book was an absolute delight. I liked Leichter's first book, Temporary, and knew to expect something...unexpected with "Terrace Story." I LOVED this quick read. It's impressive when an author writes something so completely original and does so in a way that can keep a reader's attention. Can't wait for her next book.

This book is hard to describe in the best way possible. Kind of a short story collection, kind of a novel, kind of about all different characters but also kind of all about the same thing. A book about liminal spaces that is itself a liminal space.

I would recommend if you are looking for something scifi-adjacent and are willing to be a little bit confused.

i completely ate this up within one sitting. it’s quite difficult to put into words the feelings one experiences when reading this novel. straight from the beginning, you’re met with this underlying sense of twisty deceit blanketed under comfortable tones and relationships, creating this sense of questionable uneasiness.

the storyline itself is a bit disorienting, as the central themes of loss and love, and the mistakes and repercussions that result from loss and love can most definitely feel confusing and insurmountable. its disorderliness feels like a nod to the lack of a linear path through life. the added elements of magical realism emphasize this turbulence as well as the lengths one would go to prevent loss, to deal with grief, to love unconditionally, and to continue to exist while simultaneously uncontrollably spinning.

while the experience of reading terrace story felt dizzying, it somehow also felt vivid and deep. it almost felt like watching an episode of black mirror. i am excited to pick up more of hilary leichter’s work!

thank you NetGalley and Ecco Books for an ARC! review will posted on my book instagram (@roe.reads) on pub date

Utterly unexplainable and unforgettable, haunting and evocative, this book will challenge you to examine your notions of love, contentment, identity, extinction, the future, the past... I'll be thinking about it for weeks and weeks to come. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

I started reading the pre-publication copy of Terrace Story without knowing too much about it aside from the idea of a magical terrace that appears in the main characters' apartment, but found a series of interconnected short stories. The language was lovely and the stories were full of magical realism, but there was also a lot of ambiguity in them. I wish there had been more character development and cohesiveness in the stories. It could be me but I felt more confusion than satisfaction after reading.

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. This book will be published on August 29, 2023.

This novel starts with a young couple who move into a small apartment. Cramped quarters and no view to speak of, they make do with what they have. But one evening, a secret terrace appears with a spectacular view that doesn’t correlate with their apartment's direction, set up with outdoor seating. Strangely, it only appears when their friend Stephanie visits and turns back into a closet once she leaves.

Breaking away from this young couple, we follow several other characters that have some relation to them, which inevitably ties them to the terrace as well. The reverberations and repercussions of that terrace haunt the many generations to come in so many ways.

I enjoyed the beginning of this novel but quickly got confused and thought I had accidentally clicked into another book when the new couple began their journey. This was a well-thought-out plot, but a more seamless segue would have been helpful, though.

Overall an entertaining story with slightly disturbed characters who I enjoyed eavesdropping on. I highly recommend it for a beach day or laying out on a hammock with refreshing lemonade.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I finished reading Hilary Leichter's TERRACE STORY weeks ago and have been putting off writing this review because I feel like I'll never be adequately prepared to put into words just how fantastic it is. I'm a big fan of Leichter's debut, TEMPORARY, so I was very eager to dive into her sophomore novel. While the two books are certainly different, the tone that I fell in love with was present here as well. There's a dreamy quality to both stories, a sort of space between real life and make believe that they occupy. The things that are happening to the characters could quickly become too emotionally heavy in different hands, but Leichter knows exactly when and how to use wit to perfect, bittersweet effect. Her voice keeps you reading with a sort of lovely ache in your chest and a rueful smile on your face. Smarter people than me will surely do a better job of explaining this book beyond that, so I'll leave it to them. But basically, I loved TERRACE STORY and am definitely a Hilary Leichter fan for life.

*I received an advance copy from NetGalley.

"Terrace Story" by Hilary Leichter led me on a journey I was fully not expecting. I can't even begin to describe the magical way in which she weaves the lives and backgrounds of Annie, Edward, Rose, and Stephanie together. With elements of magical realism leading to, ultimately, a futuristic backdrop, Leichter explores love, loneliness, desire, relationships, uncertainty, life, death, and the future of the world all in one. Her ability to think outside of the constricts of the real world, and yet make things seem so real, is something I haven't seen another author do in recent years. I am hesitant to go too into detail because I don't want to give any of the twists and turns away, but I highly recommend you put this novel by Hilary Leichter on your "want to read" list ASAP.

Premise sounded great. I like magical realism. But this was disjointed and never really went anywhere. I will stick to Alice Hoffman for magical realism.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

wonderful!
This book consists of four short stories that explore different themes of loss and love.
The writing style was vivid, descriptive, and magical. I could not put it down! Looking forward to reading more by Hilary Leichter.

A copy of the ARC was kindly sent to me by Ecco.

Terrace Story, much like Hilary Leicher’s previous book Temporary, is another delightful blend of the fantastical & the slightly weird with the mundane, the predictable, and the average of our lives. Through a series of separate, but somewhat interconnected stories, Terrace Story explores place, home, love, loss, families, and the desire to belong, all with the warmth, nuance, and humor I’ve now come to expect from Leicher.

Terrace Story is a quick read that will be enjoyed by anyone who loves a unique story.

The book reads more like four short stories that are related. I liked that aspect, which felt new and different. The stories evoked so many emotions: sorrow, loneliness, love ….and the writing was really beautiful.

While the first story/chapter really felt strong, I thought that the remainder was confusing enough that it took away from the story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This story (stories?) is unreal. It's such a strong example of creating interlocking stories that simultaneously effect, and are affected by one another. Despite the abrupt changes in time and place between stories the reader has no choice but to press on to discover more about the world, all while being chased by the suspicion that something is terribly wrong.

I truly loved the use of a story within a story as a vehicle for the characters inner thoughts and motivations. The central concept of a "Terrace Story" was perfect for these miniature fables that played out over and over again, giving away the characters endings in advance yet making you want to watch it happen in real time.

This is a must-read for fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea or the podcast The Magnus Archives!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hilary Leichter for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my thoughts on it!

This was such a weird collection of interconnected stories, but I loved them. I can't wait to read more from Hilary Leichter in the future, and I'm excited to buy a physical copy of this novel for my shelves.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

📖 ARC REVIEW📖

Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5


This was my first Hilary Leichter read, but certainly won't be my last! I thoroughly enjoyed the interconnected fables that became Terrace Story.

Spanning space and time, Terrace Story covers four different, but intertwined, tales of grief, love, loss, and longing. It is difficult to put into words the experience of reading Terrace Story, but it is unsettling, disorienting, thought-provoking, and magical in all of the best ways.

What I loved:
-Compelling characters that you feel connected to and are intrigued by
-Wonderfully playful, evocative, contemplative writing that keeps you engaged
-How each story built upon and connected themes and messaging from the previous

What I didn't love, but grew to appreciate as I read:
-Feeling confused and like I missed something at certain parts and having to work to better understand connections made throughout the book

Overall, I would recommend Terrace Story to friends that enjoy short stories that don't skimp on depth, beautiful writing, and phenomenal characters.

Shout out to NetGalley, Ecco for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.