Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the Advance Reader Copy of You Are Here!

You Are Here tells the stories of several employees and patrons of the Greenways Mall and how their lives intersect and become inevitably entwined. The person at the heart of the story is 90 year old Ro, who visits the mall regularly and also lives next door to the manager of the mall bookstore. Despite her age, Ro is learning to be more accepting of the cultural and racial differences of those she encounters.

I enjoyed this book. The main characters are wonderfully developed and nuanced. Some of the side characters are vague and stereotypical - the bland best friend, the creepy kid with greasy hair.

I did not enjoy the narration of this book. The voice the narrator used for Ro sounded childish and I had trouble differentiating between the characters at times.

I'm not sure if I would have noticed in the book but listening as an audiobook made it apparent that some of the writing was more Middle Grade than Adult Fiction. Things were repetitively "nice" or "sad".

I'm glad to see this author has many positive reviews and ratings for her debut novel. Based on my experience, I recommend reading a a physical copy of this book as opposed to listening to the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio for gifting me an ALC of You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg. In exchange I offer my honest review.

This is my favorite type of summer read, light but not frivolous. Debut author Lin- Greenberg did an outstanding job of blending heavier themes ( racism, classism, mental health and violence) in an accessible and good natured setting.

In upstate NY a community mall is in financial trouble. With fewer patrons supporting the stores and many shops already shuttered, the few who work there are left to ponder what their future looks like. When a devastating act occurs at the mall, local residents are forced to consider what they value and cherish.

I was charmed and engaged throughout my reading and found myself thinking about the characters off the page. I absolutely recommend this audio if you’re in the mood for something lighthearted but thought provoking. Audio narration by Jennifer Aquino was perfect. Available May 2, 2023.

3.5⭐

The once-bustling Greenways Mall in Upstate New York now houses several shuttered businesses and is about to close its doors for good.

As the story begins, we meet Tina Huang, Asian American single mother once an aspiring artist and is now a hairstylist at Sunshine Clips a salon operating in the mall. Her nine-year-old son Jackson spends his time after school in the salon. He dreams of becoming a magician and avidly follows videos of famous magicians to learn about the craft. One of Tina’s regular customers is the elderly Ro Goodson, a widow who lives alone and who is kind to Tina and Jackson. Ro isn’t quite liked by her neighbors for her aloof yet judgmental attitude. Among her neighbors is Kevin, an employee at the mall bookstore. Kevin is in a mixed race marriage to Grace, an academic and poet. Once an aspiring academic, Kevin is struggling to complete his dissertation. Parents to twins, their financial struggles have resulted in them moving into a Tiny Home in Grace's mother’s backyard. We also meet Maria, a high school student, working at a fast food joint in the food court of the mall, who hopes to secure a spot in her high school’s production of West Side Story. All of their stories intersect at the mall where they work/visit. The narrative follows these characters through the ten months preceding the mall’s closure.

I found the premise of You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg to be very interesting. The characters are well defined as are their individual stories. The author touches upon several themes in this novel – family, community, financial uncertainty, discrimination and racism among others. Despite a few relatively lighter moments, overall the novel is a heavy read. This novel reads like a set of interconnected stories with the failing mall at the center of most of their common interactions. Naturally, there are multiple tracks to follow/subplots that are woven into the narrative. I enjoyed the first half of the novel where we are getting to know these characters, their aspirations, their connections and how the impending closure of the mall might affect their lives. But I feel that too much time is devoted to establishing the characters and thereby limiting how deep we can get into what transpires before the mall closes. As the narrative progresses, I felt that these different tracks remained mostly disjointed until almost the end of the novel. There is a lot that is happening in the lives of our characters and while there are some moving, impactful moments in this novel, I couldn’t help feeling that the story suffered from repetitiveness and overall lacked depth.

Overall, this story had potential and while I do appreciate the concept and the characterizations, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the execution of the story in its totality. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jennifer Aquino, which was satisfying but sadly not engaging enough to make up for the flaws in the execution of the story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on May 2, 2023.

In this small town in upstate New York, the locals' lives intersect at the mall. Unfortunately, the mall is dying. As more and more stores go out, the locals look to their next chapters, and their lives intertwine in ways they would never have imagined.

I loved the idea of this book, both because I think the small connections between people living in the same town but otherwise uninvolved in each other's lives and because I think the dying mall situation is fascinating. The main characters-- the mom & son-- were really cool, i liked seeing the dying mall and what that means through their very different perspectives. The secondary characters were also pretty good. I just found the whole thing to be very slow going. I also wasn't really sure what the focus of the book was-- I didn't know where it was going, then what I guess was supposed to be the main event happened and was over and done with so fast that it seemed more like a side note.

I would try more from this author-- the writing is good, this particular one was just flat for me.

This book was definitely outside of my own personal taste, and as such it was very hard for me to resonate with it. It's about a community of people all interlinked by their neighborhood's steadily declining mall, and delves into the deeper stories of what it's like to be a part of a changing community.

I thought the book was well-written and often funny at times, but overall it just didn't mesh for me. I felt like the first half was very long and drawn out as we learned more about each of the main characters, and it often got stilted. It didn't feel like much was happening for the first half of the book, and even then not much happened afterwards. Additionally, I got an audiobook and felt like the narrator was narrating the book as if it was geared for children. It almost felt like a book for middle to high schoolers based on the tone and voice of the narration. Overall, it was ok. Too slow paced for me and couldn't really click with it. 4 stars.

Thanks to RB Media for the ARC!

You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg is Small Town Fiction with Multicultural Interests!

As a once thriving mall prepares to shut down, it sparks residents of the surrounding community to contemplate how this change impacts their town.

For those who are directly impacted, it has a more personal feel:
Tina Huang - She's the only remaining hairstylist in the mall's salon and has always dreamed of becoming an artist. Her son, Jackson, secretly practices and trains himself to become a magician.

Ro Goodson - One of Tina's clients is an elderly widow who is misunderstood by the neighbors who avoid her. She walks the mall every day to soothe her constant loneliness.

Maria - A high school senior who works in the mall's food court is upset about not getting the lead in the school production of "West Side Story". She has set the bar high with ambitions of becoming a Hollywood actor.

Kevin - The mall's bookstore manager, has a different dream for himself than completing his dissertation. Gwen, his published poet wife, struggles with their tiny house situation and Kevin's lack of focus with completing his doctorate.

As businesses wind down, a tragedy takes place in the mall that rocks the community. Will this crisis bring to the forefront how crucial it is to realize their dreams and stress the importance of focusing on those most important in their lives?

You Are Here is packed full of themes and topics. Perhaps too full, and for me, it causes the story to feel heavy, weighed-down and slow. It was a lot to cover and the longest 8 1/2 hours I've spent listening to an audiobook in a good long time.

The audiobook of You Are Here is narrated by Jennifer Aquino. Her narration overall felt stilted and gave the feeling of appealing to a much younger audience. Topics were over explained and repetitive. If there hadn't been profanity included, I would say it was YA Fiction and at times leaned towards Middle-grade Fiction.

I enjoyed You Are Here for it's interesting premise and main characters. I'm glad to see this author has many positive reviews and ratings for her debut novel. Based on my experience, I recommend reading a print or e-copy of this story as opposed to listening to the audiobook.

3 Stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, HighBridge Audio, and Karin Lin-Greenberg for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

The mall. The epicenter of my small town growing up, much to the chagrin of my small business owner father. I loved going to the bookstore, the food court, and I even got some ill-advised bangs at the Super Cuts once upon a time. You Are Here brings that nostalgia back while also facing the reality that a lot of those once-loved places are closing in long, drawn out and uncertain ways.

You Are Here goes into the lives of the people who depend on the mall: the hairdresser, Tina, who dreams of something more for herself and her precocious son, Jackson; Kevin, the bookstore manager who can’t seem to pin down what his dreams actually are; Ro, the curmudgeon older woman who goes to the mall in search of community; and Maria, the beautiful teenager who works in the food court and dreams of being an actress. The loose ties that connect these people are linked in an inextricable way after the mall is the sight of a violent shooting.

You Are Here arcs in a very sad way, but the book is still a happy one in the end. The characters are so well developed, and while I wondered at points why we needed to learn certain details about the characters, the author found a way to tie it all together in the end. I especially loved the undercurrent of art throughout the book and the many ways to celebrate art: whether through traditional drawing and painting, to theater, gardening, poetry, and even a magician. Expertly done.

While I very much enjoyed the book, it did drag in certain points so I’m giving it four stars. Thank you Netgalley and Counterpoint publishing for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Out 5/2 and I would recommend the audio version except the narrators Ro voice was not my cup of tea.

3.5 stars

I liked the small town feel of this novel, which centers on a dying mall & the nearby neighborhood. Lots of interesting characters & detailed settings.

[What I liked:]

•Jackson & his mom Tina were my favorite characters. Jackson is so smart & observant, but he’s also just a kid. Tina is not perfect, but she’s a pretty great mom. It’s really touching how they both encourage the other to follow their dreams even though they both feel insecure about their own.

•Both Kevin & Ro are not easy to like characters, but they do feel pretty realistic & have depth. They made the story interesting, even though I got annoyed with them sometimes. I could totally imagine living next door to Ro, or visiting a bookstore with an employee like Kevin.

•I liked Maria a lot, but somehow she didn’t feel quite as fleshed out as the above-mentioned MCs. I still enjoyed her interactions with Jackson, though.

•The setting was great! Both the mall & its shops, & the neighborhood where Ro & Kevin live, were nicely detailed & gave grounding to the storylines.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Maria is concerned that because she didn’t get a lead role in the high school musical, she won’t be able to submit a clip of the performance as part of her application to theatre degree programs. But that’s not how those applications work. You have to audition in person with a monologue, vocal solo, etc. (Although you can list roles in shows on your résumé)

•Somehow the shooting felt a bit out of place with the rest of the book. I don’t know, it just felt like it came out of left field, and then the rest of the book was just about the various characters having survivor’s guilt. It felt like it overshadowed the drama & emotions of the mall closing, which up until then was the focus of the story.

CW: murder, gun violence, child death, racism, stalking, infertility

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

You Are Here is a story about a number of people connected through a dying shopping mall- how it’s shaped their lives, how they’re affected by its impending closure, and how a sudden act of violence ripples through them all in the moment, and going forward.

It’s a story about a particular time and place, but perhaps also a snapshot of where the US has found itself in recent times- dealing with changing consumer trends, dying brick-and-mortar businesses and their related communities, and ever-more-frequent gun violence.

At times I found myself laughing along with a character’s insight, or moved by a poignant interval, but there were also moments where the story seemed to drag a bit. But overall, it definitely left a lasting impression.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was expecting something different from this novel. So many books lately have been about communities rallying around a library, or shop, or something trying to save it so I thought this would be the same and it wasn’t. I’m not sure what the first half was really about; we were introduced to each of the characters and slowly they started to mingle and become part of each other’s lives. The action starts about halfway through and it’s not even really action. I guess this is just a year in the life of each character if you looked at the minutiae that makes up each person’s day. It wasn’t really eventful. It all just kind of happened.

I really loved this novel about a dying mall and its inhabitants. I liked the multiple points of view.

A dying mall and its diverse array of workers become entangled in such an intricate and unique story. Tina, a hairstylist, dreams of going back to her love of art while her son, Jackson, is secretly studying magic. Fast food worker Maria agrees to be his magician's assistant, since she has dreams of Hollywood stardom and figures an elementary school talent show is as great a place as any to practice. Ro is a lonely widow that gets her hair done every week at Tina's salon, and she lives next door to Kevin, a bookseller with business aspirations, and his wife Gwen, a successful poet. Their stories and perspectives are all so unique and heartrending, and the way they come together is unforgettable.

I adored this story! It's told from the POVs of many of the characters, without being disorienting as that kind of switching can sometimes be. Each character is unique in voice, story, and dreams, and I honestly loved them all. I grew up in a town with a dying mall like this one — even some of the stores are the same (Boscov's!) — and I think that experience only enhanced my enjoyment of the story.

The way that these disparate characters come together to form a little community is just lovely. I definitely recommend this to anyone that has a fondness for character-driven stories! Thank you to Karin Lin-Greenberg, Counterpoint, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy.

Deeply moving and quietly impactful! I really, really enjoyed this slice of life story that takes a look at a suburban, upstate New York town and the ways a number of its residents' lives revolve around a dwindling mall. Everyone is rocked when a tragic gun shooting kills one of the residents leaving ripple effects that reach them all in different ways. The focus on the Asian American immigrant experience was my favorite part in this relatable and touching debut novel. Highly recommended for fans of Kim Hooper's No hiding in Boise. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital copies of this book in exchange for my honest review. (Absolutely LOVED this cover too!).

TW: gun violence/public gun shooting

I'm an avid audiobook reader/listener. This one was just to painful. The pacing. The voices. The way it was doing. I couldn't do it. I tried. But I dnfd it.

Thank you, Net Galley for an audio ARC of You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg. This book centers around a failing mall and the community it has. I didn't resonate with this book and that is a shame. The narrator of the audiobook was unfavorable, sing song, I couldn't sink in the story.

Wow. "You Are Here" hit me right in the feels. Centered around a mall, a neighborhood and a disparate group of humans of different races and ages, past, present and future, this book is the stuff of book hangovers. I feel better for having listened; I feel sad that these characters are now out of my life. THAT is the essence of a 5 star novel.

I won't give you a summary of the plot because it's on the back of the book and in most reviews. Instead, I will say that I related to a lot of these people. All of us want a community. Look around - that is your community and you just need to figure out your place within it. The mundane? That's life. The challenges? More life. Choices? Sadness? People who come, go, then return? Death? Changes?? Late starts? ALL those things make up a life and author Karin Lin-Greenberg delivers.

That's it. Read this book.