I really enjoyed the writing in this - it was witty and clever and fun to read. The premise was interesting, but there was just something with how the plot was developing that didn't keep me engaged and didn't work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing company for this Digital Advanced Readers Copy! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

"The Lady Waiting" is the darnedest book. I disliked it – a lot – when I first started it, but I loved it by the time I finished it.

It’s not Magdalena Zyzak’s debut, as she published a novel back in 2014, but part of the problem at the start of the book is that it reads like one. A few newbie mistakes immediately jumped out at me, like a thin thriller-like setup and one-dimensional characters. The characterization, in fact, is problematic throughout the entire book because only Viva, our Polish protagonist, seems somewhat real.

And I could’ve done without all the vulgarity. The characters’ way of speaking is too crass at times for my tastes, and there’s a lot of sex within the pages. It’s tiring after a while.

Zyzak herself is Polish, so there is, however, an air of authenticity to the story, in Viva’s dialogue especially. And it’s easy to see how Viva is manipulated into taking a job as an assistant and then becomes an accessory to an art heist. She’s newly immigrated to the United States, doesn’t know anyone, and needs money. She’s sitting prey.

But what’s really remarkable is how much Zyzak’s writing evolves as the book progresses. After some time, the story begins to take on a richness that is absent in the beginning, becoming rife with moral complexities and intricate character motives. I found myself unwilling to set the book aside.

The ending is perfect, too. Ambiguous, yes, but executed so well.


My sincerest appreciation to Magdalena Zyzak, Riverhead Books, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

I wanted to love this so bad, you have no idea. It hits all of my buzzwords: Eastern Europe, art heist, messy relationships, love triangle. But this just didn't hit the way I wanted it too. The character dialogue was so annoying I would find myself skimming it at times. I know the point is for the main characters to be annoying but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy reading it.

This book is crazy horny. That part I did enjoy.

The conceit of the novel is that it's a retrospective being told by the narrator in her 80s. I did not think this framing of the story was unnecessary. There were all of these throwaway "foreshadowing the doom" lines that kept pulling me out of the story. I thought the writing was doing a really good job at foreshadowing itself without the need for the narrator to blatantly point it out. This is such a petty thing to quibble over but I found it annoying.

Overall, this did not meet my expectations and I dnf'd at 130 pages.

The Lady Waiting was a really interesting and engaging read. I appreciated the character exploration and would read more from Zyzak. The writing was propulsive!

*sigh* UGH such an unfortunate miss for me. This had all of the makings to be something I'd really love: an art heist, Eastern European intrigue, and quirky characters. BUUUUUT I think the writing was a miss for me. I didn't love the retrospective prose and felt very disengaged from the story. It was quirky, but not unhinged. It was not contemporary, but also didn't have that literary voice it sought to.

Ultimately it lands at around a 2.5 for me.

The novel begins with Viva driving down an LA highway and being flagged down by Bobby, a mysterious woman in a green chiffon dress. After several days, Viva is asked to be Bobby and her husband’s assistant and eventually an accomplice in an art heist. Quickly turning into a confusing love triangle, Viva finds herself entranced by their lifestyle and dangerous activities. She must rely on her instincts to avoid disaster.
This novel started strong but quickly lost control. By adding shock value at times, the plot didn’t seem genuine to the characters' development and depth. In addition, I could have done without most of the gratuitous sex scenes with the husband, as I don’t think it would have changed the overall structure of the novel's central theme. I wanted to love this, but I had difficulty enjoying the characters and their connections to one another.

This book was an okay read. Its overall idea is not very unique, but it could be a fun “by the pool” book.

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

I tried really hard to get into this one, but I just wasn't able to. I am still really thankful to the publisher, author, and netgalley for granting me advanced access to this digital collection before publication day.

The book was chaotic but I’m not sure in a good way. The characters were so larger than life, it felt cartoonish at times but a good chunk of the book was not as cartoonishly written so it felt at odds with itself .

I did like that the characters were Polish and felt that added some flair but it kept feeling uneven to me and I couldn’t get into as much I would have expected.

Listen, telling me a book involves a heist is total book catnip for me and will draw me in every time. Unfortunately the execution on this one wasn’t for me and I decided to DNF. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

Both outrageous and outrageously original, this cool combo of art-heist-return-for-reward, Russian gangsters, and couple’s threesome with their assistant manages to simultaneously entertain and offend. Destiny and coincidence serve as lightning strikes moving the plot breathlessly along.

Viva, a naïve and poor 21-year-old Polish woman, wins the immigration lottery for a chance to come to America. As she arrives in L.A., she picks up a wealthy woman stranded on the side of the road who profoundly changes her destiny and her luck. Bobby Sleeper, the woman she picks up, is also from Poland but from a wealthier family and living in luxury with her sexy, retired, movie director third husband, Sebastian.

Bobby offers Viva a position as their live-in-assistant, as well as eventually that of mistress of her husband as well as herself. Bobby is both comedic provocateur and victim of her own mischief, constantly spiraling out of control of her own life. She comes up with a scheme in conjunction with a past Russian mafia husband to steal back a stolen priceless artwork and get a piece of the huge reward money for its return. Mayhem, adventure, danger, and endless plot twists ensure.

Best of all, the tale gets told by a now 84-year-old Viva, still speaking her broken English, recalling the caper along with her humorous observations for girls reading her tale of how much society has changed in the meantime.

All that remains is the movie that’s sure to follow!


Thanks to Penguin Group, Riverhead Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

I have mixed feelings about the plot in this book, but the writing is just…chef’s kiss.

To an extent if you really care about writing for writing’s sake (I do), then the plot of this book doesn’t matter much. The characterization does, as does the sense of place, and those are well rendered and gorgeously enhanced with some of the best writing I’ve seen recently.

I love books that can take banal interactions and make them poignant, and that’s masterfully done here. The acerbic, biting wit of this is outstanding, and the understated poignancy and humor is brilliantly achieved. The affected intellectual banter of the characters is perfect, somehow both smart and deliberately shallow. It’s a commentary on who the speaker is, but also a signal to the reader. I’ll be laughing about “sprezzy” forever.

The bones of the plot are excellent too, though it does go frustratingly a bit off the rails at the end, and all the threesome stuff feels like a bit of an overplayed hand and an eye roll after a while.

Still, the writing is exceptional, and renders any plot flaws minimal as far as affecting one’s enjoyment of the novel.

Unique characters written with a hilarious voice.

A fun stolen painting romp, wealthy people and a brand new immigrant who just arrived in LA.

Sex, politics, relationships, beautiful clothes, weird marriage/love triangles. It's everything.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Lady Waiting by Magdalena Zyzak has all the necessary elements for a highly entertaining read: it is a hilarious, over the top, romp of a novel involving a stolen painting, international locales, and a steamy love triangle. Viva, once a polish school teacher who immigrated to the US by winning the green card lottery is trying to make a way for herself in the US when she picks up a woman named Bobby who is hitchhiking on an island on L.A.s Highway 101 clad in an evening gown. By helping Bobby she wins another kind of lottery and is instantly inserted into lavish and surreal lives of the Sleepers. Shortly after Viva joins them as an assistant they embark on an international search for a stolen Vermeer painting. Viva is astute to the fact that a game is afoot and wishes for agency in the game but is also so swept up in her desire for Sleeper that she is willing to play along. This novel was WAY more spicy than I anticipated based on the blurb so definitely prepare yourself for some steamy scenes between Viva, Sleeper, and Bobby. I would say there is more sex than suspense.

Zyzak is a filmmaker and the ability to create a narrative I could visualize definitely came through in this novel. I could see the scenes playing out and hear the accents of the characters in my head. This novel could easily be adapted for the big or small screen soon.

I don’t know that this novel is intended to be anything but entertainment, but there are some deeper themes to contemplate here related to the immigrant experience, wealth, and what constitutes right and wrong. I wouldn’t say this is the focus or that it is weighed down with morals or commentary but I did think about these things as I reflected on this work.

There were a few aspects of the novel that didn’t quite work for me, and they could be spoilery so I’m going to put those separately below.

All in all, I think this is a hilarious global jaunt that is entertaining and worth checking out if you're looking for a fun read.

Thank you @riverheadbooks @netgalley for the #gifted advance copy.

Possible spoilers:
There were a few things that didn’t quite work for me. I loved the premise of this being a retrospective story of the present day told by Viva far into the future. Unfortunately, I just never felt like the author was able to make me feel like it was being told from the future Viva. There were small interjections here and there but they often felt jarring or out of place. I felt like I needed something more to make it feel really believable.

The middle of the book which focused heavily on the relationship between Viva, Bobby, and Sleeper was just too drawn out for me. I understood that diving into and exploring the dynamic between the three of them was essential to the story but it just felt to me like it went on too long and that it became more about just including lots of steamy sex scenes with the three of them then building up the dynamics between them. I was most engaged and interested in the beginning and end of the story. The middle definitely fed into this being a good fit for a visual medium (TV/Movies).

The Lady Waiting by Magdalena Zyzak was a great time.
I enjoyed this story a lot more than I originally thought I would.
The detail was amazing and the writing really sucked me in.
The characters in this book are amazing to say the least.
This story is so well-written and engaging, I really enjoyed it.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Well, I’ve never read anything quite like this before! I found it mostly a nightmarish fever-dream, mixed with episodes that are zany, glamorous and sexy. It was almost a bit too much for me, but I stuck with it, because I became invested in knowing the outcome of all that craziness. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A chaotic tale narrated by Viva, an 84 year old woman, about things that happened when she was 21 and a recent green card recipient from Poland. Set in 2018, it's all about how Viva gave a ride to a hitchhiker and changed her life. Bobby and Sebastian Sleeper are too much- just too much- but they hire Viva and then involve her in a wild plan involving a stolen painting. The dialogue is all over the place, the plot over the top, and it's sort of exhausting. That said, it's got bright points and spots where I laughed out loud. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An intriguing debut that would make a good movie.

I was really excited to get this book but felt like it really fell flat. It was soooo incredibly chaotic, in a hard to follow way. I didn’t understand who Lance was until about 30% in and was still confused about him. I struggled to pick this back up and wish there was more about Viva’s life and less about Bobby and Sleeper overall. None of this felt relatable either and the ending was really flat. Not sure I’d recommend this one.

A young Polish woman who recently immigrated to LA finds herself involved with a mysterious, wealthy couple who convince her to assist them with an international art heist. I love rich people behaving badly, especially when they’re this messy. The characters are so absurd and funny. Major White Lotus vibes.

This book was wacky as hell! I enjoyed Viva and Bobby. Such a strange and interesting pair. Viva is a Polish immigrant decides to start anew in Los Angeles. Bobby sees Viva hitchhiking on the freeway and rescues her from impending doom. The two become entangled and start breaking the law. This book is a fun summer read, but it's not very memorable. The writing is solid, but I did have some problems with the dialogue. It felt disjointed and a little lackluster. Decent novel but it's not an all-time favorite. If you want something breezy and silly, then you might enjoy this!

Thank you, Netgalley and Riverhead for the digital ARC.