I just couldn't quite get to this one. And it's been out for a while now, so I'm making it as dnf.
I liked the premise but just couldn't bring myself to read a book about being stuck, even several years after the covid lock-downs. Put it down as ptsd.

If you enjoy character-driven stories, I definitely recommend A Lot of People Live in This House.

A majority of the story takes place in a single location: a big, old house where roommates practice "communal living." The story is set in 2020 when COVID first hit, making this the first book I've read with a plot focusing on the pandemic. I thought it was very thoughtfully done and portrayed well those feelings of uncertainty and isolation that many of us experienced.

There is some plot, but mostly this story is about people. About our relationships with each other and ourselves. About grief and how it can both separate and connect you. And about how we come together to help each other during difficult times.

I loved the diverse queer rep, including a non-binary character who uses they/them pronouns. And the found family aspect was so sweet. Rachel, the MC, can often lash out at others because of the pain she has experienced in her life, but she could also be kind and thoughtful. Rachel was such a complex character and I was rooting for her the whole book. Seeing her open up to the other characters and let herself have family and be supported was very lovely to see.

Definitely check trigger warnings for this one because it covers some very heavy topics, but I would recommend reading this book if you are in the right emotional space to do so. There were also some light-hearted moments, my fave being the cooking competition!

I gave this book 4.5/5 stars, but rounded to 5 stars for NetGalley.

Thank you to Book Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this title. All thoughts are my own.

This is the first book I've read about the pandemic. I'm sure there'll be plenty over the next few years. What the book does really well is capture the anxiety but also the sense of community from the early lockdowns.
Rachel has returned to the US to live in a shared house while her husband remains in India. Its only supposed to be for a few weeks but then covid hits.
Feeling her way through trauma into her new living situation is hard for Rachel. At first I thought her housemates were a bit unreal but as the book went on I could really imagine the house.

This was a wonderful quick read that I could not put down. It was very comforting to experience the intense care that people innately have for each other. This is the first novel I have read that takes place at the start of the pandemic, at first I was scared how the author would handle it. It was done brilliantly with poise and reality. The way humor and happiness were seamlessly incorporated into Rachels life that was overwhelmed with loss felt very real and hopeful. I plan on getting a physical copy and will be interested in what else the author will produce.

This novel offers an excellent depiction of anxiety, both individual in the main character Rachel, and collective in exploring dynamics at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, the process of working through grief and loss are well explored, both in Rachel and in Wren, a non-binary character. Wren stands out as one of the most fleshed-out characters aside from Rachel, though other cast members that live in the house are also unique in their own ways.

If I had one criticism, it’s that the novel is a little too positive in discussing the living situation of 8+ people sharing the same space. There are never any major issues within the house, and the issues that do arise are handled quickly. Similarly, Rachel comes across as overly negative many times in the book because no one else in the house seems to struggle.

Overall, though, the threads of a welcoming, supportive community and hopeful outlook made for a pleasant read.

Reading this novel made me feel like I found a new friend group. I cared about each and every person in Merlin's novel. The novel centers on a large group of individuals living together during the beginnings of the Covid 19 pandemic and touches on so many additional issues not related to the pandemic - grief, mental illness, family relationships. The complexities of living with others and of found family was the focus and it was hard to not feel like you were one of the roommates. Every character was complex and well-rounded and relationships between people was largely the focus, all viewed from the newcomer to the house - Rachel, who is on her own personal journey of growth. For someone who loves a character development focused novel, this book felt like a warm hug. I am looking forward to reading any of Merlin's future novels!

This book… I felt ALL the things, fell in love with its characters, and was completely immersed in its comforting against the odds setting. I will be recommending this for the rest of my life probably, and I say that completely unironically.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

This novel is everything I could want, and I think many things I needed, in one beautifully written package. It’s set during the ‘first’ part of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it brought me back to that time - not completely stressfully, as this novel is about a found family who share live together, but it brought me back to the pain and uncertainty of that time in a way that was cathartic, and I think more people need to read this for simply that reason alone. We’re all eager to forget that time and I can’t blame us for it, but it’s also important, this novel. It holds your hand and says, what you felt was real. It was understandable. The good and the bad, it all happened, and however you adapted and made it through - I’m glad that you’re here.

The found family, the core of this novel, were also… so incredibly heartwarming. Living together with strangers in a pandemic sounds like a nightmare but, through Google calendars and patience and love and Chopped!Nights and bagels, they made it work. The characters all had different genders and sexualities and the main character had to sort of learn how to normalise these identities in her own head, which was great to see - she didn’t have it all put-together, but she tried and was generally respectful, which is what matters. It’s nice to see a story with a diverse cast and a fairly ‘normal’ mc, she has to learn a lot, too, and just as it’s important to write stories for us, it’s important to have stories that show how people live with us and love us - because we need that, too, in stories and in the real world.

Rachel dealt with her trauma in a way that I thought was both realistic and resonant, and when she got to know her housemates better and realised that not everyone’s lives were as perfect as she thought… that struck a chord with me, too. I’ve often envied people whom I think have better circumstances than I, especially people where an aspect of their lives is normal and for me that aspect is not. And she was the same. And it was comforting to see that, see her grow past it and all of them help each other with what they were dealing with. It felt more authentic and impactful to have the found family come together slowly and not quite smoothly - it makes their eventual relationships so much more profound.

Look up the content/trigger warnings for this before you pick it up, but I’d highly recommend it. Brimming with heart, feeling, love, and loss, this is a story of people who grit their teeth and white-knuckle their way to a happy ever after, and get there - together.

A lot of people live in this house tells the heartfelt story of Rachel and Job and their relationship amidst the very recent global pandemic.

The novel deals with a myriad of topics very well such as grief, loss, anxiety and loneliness, to name a few. Overall it’s a story about how much we need community and how much we need each other. A lovely take on communal living that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I absolutely loved this book. It started a little slow for me, but the last few chapters had me crying every couple of sentences, and the story is one I will not forget soon.

This is the story of Rachel and Job, two people who found themselves shortly after they'd been orphaned, and found solace in each other, making it easy for both to fall completely in love. A few years later they get pregnant, only to discover their baby girl will not make it to her due date alive. This is enough to devastate both of them, but Job even more. This triggers in Rachel a desire to travel the world to show Job that life is still worth living. After a year abroad, they decider to move back to the US, and they find a communal home in Boston that they think will fit their temporary needs, while Job finished up his mediation course in India. Bear in mind this is February 2020, just before the global pandemic hit. I won't spoil much more, but this the story about found family that has impacted me profoundly, in a way no other found family stories ever had. The way Rachel's anxiety takes over her, and the importance of allowing yourself to be loved and to be vulnerable is something the author tackled incredibly well.

I will be reading any book by Bailey Merlin from now on.

This book does so many things well. There is a very large cast of characters, but all of them are individual, rounded, and have a role in the story. Rachel's anxiety is handled so carefully. At first, we just accept it as part of her without digging for details, but the sources of her distress do come out at the right times to enrich the story. The use of apps and technology is spot on, and I've seen so many novels that can't get that right. Thinking back, I have clear images of most of the rooms in the house, even though the there wasn't much obvious description. We saw the rooms as Rachel experienced them. And this is the first book I've read that really captures those early months of the COVID pandemic. I was checking news articles and government sites daily to see if choir practice was still on or whether I should cancel Scout meetings, then boom!, a shelter in place order at noon, pack your office and don't come back. Taking safety measures even though not enough was known about the virus, limiting trips to the grocery, all of that came back while reading this.

This book is so lovely and unexpected. I've never known anyone that lived in a community like the one described so beautifully in this novel. I love the writing and really enjoyed all of the characters. As someone married to a health care worker, I really appreciate the real and honest depiction of the early days of the pandemic. While we would all like to forget it, I think stories like this are important. I can't wait to read more from Bailey.

The English teacher in me needs to point out the grammar error in the title (you know, because "a lot" is used for uncountable nouns, and "people" is countable), but that didn't affect my enjoyment of this novel, and I am almost certain it was an intentional choice made by the author. I think this was a brilliantly crafted, quiet piece, that honestly felt like a hug.

I must warn you, though, to check for content or trigger warnings because this novel deals with a lot. It is set in the beginning of the pandemic, so the uncertainty and the fear that the world experienced in 2020 is a very prevalent element of the plot. Grief and loss are also major themes in the book both because of the pandemic, but also because of the life events that Rachel, the main character, and her husband Job have gone through.

Like I said, to me, this book felt like a hug. It took me back to the beginning of the pandemic, when the lockdowns happened and everyone thought, at least at first, that it would only last a couple of weeks. While this novel was short in length, it took me a few days to read because at some points I had to stop and take a break. I cried happy tears and I cried sad tears, and I wished I could learn more about each of the characters and what happened to them after the book was over.

This will be a book I come back to over the years. Still processing a bit, but the relationships between the characters, the development of trust, the growth exhibited both personally and relationally is just something special. This was a beautiful blend of heartfelt prose and hilarity, a striking balance that gives readers an opportunity to find pieces of this story that mirror their own experiences. Is it weird to read a story set in a heartbreaking, challenging, terrifying time of recent present? Absolutely - especially since that time is still not truly over. But I think this will be a story that stands the test of time without receding into irrelevance because of it's time period.

A lot of people live in this house is a story of humans supporting each other told in the most delightful way possible. The found family vibes in this book made me think about my own experiences in communal living and brought back wonderful memories

*potential trigger warning for mentions of the pandemic .

An amazing story of resiliency and how people can become family if we let them. Following Rachel and Job’s relationship during the worst situation of Covid is both heartbreaking and engaging. I love the interactions with all the quirky characters. It made me laugh out loud and choke back tears. I am definitely getting the physical copy!!!

Loved this book as I could very much relate to Rachel. I am an introvert as well and have not been out in situations like this. It's scary to me to even think of it. But, it does make me think maybe I need people more than I realize? Maybe one day, I will? Not everyone is bad.
This makes you realize that humans need each other.