4.5 stars rounded up. This is so much more than an 'office comedy', although there is plenty of comedy involved. It's charming and awkward, hearbreaking and very human. If you have an office job, you probably spend enough time with your coworkers to know things about them that maybe others don't. After a meeting with HR due to a "threatening' note in an email Jolene accidentally gets access to her coworkers emails and chat messages when the IT fix for her computer isn't applied properly. No one else knows that she can see their emails, so she decides to use the information she learns to her advantage at first. After a while, she starts learning things about her coworkers that makes her see them in a different light, all while trying not to fall for Cliff, the HR guy. This book has a ton of heart and reminds us that we can never know all that is going on in the lives of our coworkers and people around us on an everyday basis. It never hurts to have a little compassion.

I want to say that reading I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue was fun but it was also kind of anxiety inducing, which is good! The storyline is definitely unique and I found myself entertained while reading it. The characters felt flushed out and definitely people I can I imagine working together in an office environment. I think this book will appeal to a large group of people and I look forward to everyone reading it. Overall, an entertaining and engaging read.

This was the first book I was able to review early with NetGalley. As an individual who works within an office role in an administrative hallway, the way this book had my attention and provided relatable entertainment was terrific! It was an easy ready, but by no means dull or lacking. The author provided an excellent story with just the right tone of humor. I recommend this work to readers looking for something outside their usual book choices. I hope to see nothing but success once this final product has been published!

I actually laughing out loud during this book. The perfect balance of heartfelt and comedy. I think this is the perfect book to pair with a coffee and some emails.

If the main character from Yellowface worked in a corporate office, but then experienced character growth? It would kind of be this.

Jolene enjoys writing how she really feels about her coworkers in a P.S. at the bottom of her emails. Only, she changes the text to white so no one knows it’s there. That’s kind of iconic, tbh.

She gets caught one day after forgetting to edit the color, and HR gets involved. While installing something to track her keystrokes, the new guy accidentally gives Jolene access to all her coworkers emails and DMs.

Jolene is a mix of socially anxious, traumatized/ptsd, and judgmental. However, once we see what her coworkers are saying about her, they’re even meaner. Some are conspiring to get her fired, others stoke drama, and by the 15% mark, I felt bad for Jolene. Her coworkers talk shit about her and make fun of her all day long in their email DMs.

This book feels like a character study. It’s frustrating and sad and hopeful and I somehow couldn’t look away. I found myself reaching for my kindle to see what was next for her.

To be fair, Jolene does try to tell the guy who installed the software that something is wrong, but he doesn’t listen to her (shock, a man not listening??), so she goes back to her desk and reads the incoming messages between her coworkers. With layoffs looming, she’s curious. And the tea is so good.

While she does try to be a better coworker, her motivation isn’t necessarily from a good place. It’s complex, everyone is kind of messy and has their own inner turmoil, but it has a great overarching message about how our perceptions of others are biased. What could seem rude to me might actually just be another person struggling and trying their best.

Also, Caitlin can kick rocks.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

This was like A Man Called Ove vibes with a thirty-three year old woman in an office and I really liked it! Jolene was really hard to root for for a really long time and I really hated a LOT of the decisions she made, they just felt so unrealistic even considering her character, and though it's a long road and a wild ride, I ended up really hoping for the best for her. 3.5 rounded up!

“I Hope This Finds You Well” mark is a workplace novel with rich sarcastic humor, and complex characters that kept me up late at night reading. The story follows, Jolene, an administrative assistant in Calgary who REALLY hates her job. When a strange software glitch allows her to read her colleagues’ emails, she becomes engrossed by her coworkers’ workplace dramas and personal woes. Jolene finds herself tangled in a complex web in her workplace and unravels her own life in the process - but in the best way.

What I liked: Jolene is incredibly funny and relatable. I really loved learning about Jolene’s family and her Persian heritage. I also thought that the way Sue handled a training high school incident in Jolene’s past was masterful. I also really appreciated that Jolene’s slow burn romance complemented the plot but didn’t take it over. Finally, quite of the few minor characters had incredibly rich backstories, which I also really appreciated.

What I didn’t love: honestly… I can’t think of much to change. This one was one of my favorite recent reads.

I highly recommend this one. If you’re looking for a fun and funny read that centers personal development. Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley!

What I liked: What would you do if you were accidentally given system admin privileges allowing you to see all your coworkers emails? Jolene chooses to use the information to get a leg up on her terrible office-mates. This book was hilarious. The premise, the dialogue, the variety of characters. I loved all of that. More and more I’ve been enjoying stories where the female lead is struggling with mental health issues. This book could have easily been all laughs, no substance. But the way the author wrote Jolene, our protagonist, gave this book so much more depth than I was expecting.

What I didn’t like: There were a lot of cringe-worthy moments in this book. Intentionally, for sure. But I did find myself viscerally stressed / cringing for Jolene and that ended up hurting my neck.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🥰
No-scroll: 📵📵📵📵
Jaw-clench: 😬😬😬

Recommend if: you like moderately unhinged protangonists, you’re an Office / Parks and Rec fan, you like romances off the beaten path

"Hope This Finds You Well" is heartfelt and relatable that touches on the trials and triumphs of everyday life. The writing is both warm and candid, offering a refreshing glimpse into the shared human experience and her words resonate on a deeply personal level. Would recommend this to anyone.

Office Space meets Mean Girls. I loved this one! Jolene is painfully relatable as a socially awkward executive assistant languishing in unresolved trauma. Her accidental access to company wide emails and instant messages creates funny, cringy and heartbreaking moments. Such a witty, fun read. I couldn’t put it down.

4 stars out of 5
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
I Hope This Finds You Well follows Jolene as she navigates the unexpected parts of dull office life. She gets caught sending white-text messages to a colleague, and everything goes downhill from there. Or does it?
At first I wasn't sure about this novel. For maybe 30%. And then suddenly I was hooked and I couldn't put it down. Something about the way Jolene talks and thinks was funny and captivating. She was also a bit annoying, and I kept wanting her to see her self worth and the truth about other people's actions, and she didn't, so of course I was invested because who doesn't love knowing better than the main character as she continues to seemingly mess up her life? I was hooked seeing what she was going to do next.
Jolene is very depressed after a traumatic accident and that depression is seeping into the rest of her life. She's also understandably depressed about working her office job. Her view point of herself is skewed but in a way that I think many people actually live. I appreciated how the author showed her coping. It was relatable.
Jolene's web that she weaves of reacting and lying and trying to cover things up gets more and more complicated, and we follow her as she faces the consequences of all this. I liked the ending a lot and I liked the story. I liked the characters, the plot twists, the way it developed. The author's skill really shines as the story unfolds.
This was an enjoyable read. I truly couldn't put it down. I actually delayed a nap to finish this book. Worth it.

This was honestly so unexpected in a good way although I must admit there were times I didn’t know if I was actually reading the same story. I loved and enjoyed the banter and romance but my heart went for all the struggles the characters went through. Not gonna lie, it took me a while to get into the book, but once it started to gain pacs I couldn’t stop reading and wanting to know more and more. Overall it was a nice fun read I would definitely recommend. Ps, the cover is just the cutest.

I loved the office communication (email/instant messages) piece of it, as it gave a little bit of old school vibe. I appreciated how the book was a fresh take on a plot device that could have been trite. Each character had some depth so that no one was fully "good" or "bad" (except for a couple!).

I devoured and adored this book. It’s witty, snarky, and touching — a poignant send-up of office culture, and all the things we don’t know about the people we spend our workdays with, the ways our coworkers can leave an indelible imprint on us, and the masks we wear in different situations. Bravo to Natalie Sue on this brilliant debut!

[spoilers ahead]

I left my long-time corporate office job a month ago, and as someone who regularly used to hide extra text in emails (disguised in white text, obviously, but mine were always funny, or designed to make the reader feel good), I related to the main character, Jolene, big time. Her secret messages, however, aren’t so nice — and when they’re discovered by her office nemesis, she’s put on a performance plan, and HR installs restrictive monitoring software on her machine. Except, instead of the restrictive setting, Jolene ends up with the God setting, and can sift through all of her coworkers’ email inboxes (and outboxes) and chat messages. She decides to use her inside knowledge to her advantage to save her job, and the plot branches from there — introducing us to Cliff in HR, Jolene’s parents, her coworkers Rhonda and Arvin, and young neighbor Miley. We learn that everyone is carrying a secret struggle, and by the end, anti-social Jolene has built a patchwork of community. If a rising tide lifts all boats, Jolene is the tide — confronting her own secret trauma helps her start to heal.

Note: I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC! Natalie Sue perfectly encapsulates the ridiculousness of office politics and made me feel seen. Jolene was such a fun character — awkward and chaotic but willing to grow. This book was so entertaining but also surprisingly heartwarming; I was completely invested.

Thank you William Morrow & NetGalley for the ARC!

I was so excited to get the approval for this novel - I just knew it was going to be perfect for me. And let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint! I found myself highlighting so many of the passages in this book, as I could relate to Jolene's character more often than not. I absolutely loved Cliff and Jolene's banter, and how Jolene developed throughout the book. I will say, I definitely did not know how it was going to end, so I was engaged until the very last page! I loved this one and was so glad I read it.

Thank you again for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for granting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is set to be published May 21, 2024.

I absolutely loved this book! I wasn't sure what to expect but I was very surprised (in the best way) by how much I enjoyed this read. Our main character, Jolene, works in a dead end office job. She comes in, does her job, and leaves. She doesn't really socialize or make that much of an effort. Her way of getting by is to write silly and often rude post scripts in her emails, but in white font so nobody can read them. She is caught. But when her computer is altered by the company, she ends up with administrative privileges and can see everyone's emails and messages. Stuff hits the fan from there.

Natalie Sue did such a great job crafting a really complicated and likable cast of characters. Any one of them could have been intolerable (Jolene included, she definitely made some bad decisions) but Sue makes her characters flawed and layered in way that made them likable, even when they had done bad things.

I think fans of the Office or Superstore will really like this book, though it does deal with some heavy subject matter. I laughed, I cried, and I got butterflies thinking about a certain HR cutie with a penchant for donuts.

I highly recommend this and I'll definitely be buying a physical copy when this comes out!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

this is the kind of story I am always looking for. it was sad and lonely and relatable and maybe me feel every single thing with Jolene. I cried almost the entire time and I could truly connect with how everyone was feeling.

You can see how Jolene struggles. she knows she shouldn't be doing what she's doing but she is so desperate for SOME kind of attention and to not feel so lonely anymore. and in the midst of that, she realizes she truly isn't alone. everyone is struggling. no one has a perfect life. and sometimes, when you encounter someone who is snarky or unpleasant...maybe they are going through something too.

in the end, everyone had their redemption. I'm happy I got to be there for that journey and for Jolene.

Everybody loves gossip, right? But when the gossip is about you, it can be hard to take.

This book carefully depicts what it’s like to be depressed and lost. It also shows how one can rise above, take charge and change their life.

I loved this book for the office drama, but stayed reading for the character development. This is a contemporary tale of the modern day workforce, the isolation millennials feel and the hope that is a result of forging a human connection.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book—I can’t wait for my friends to read.

Heartwarming, funny, and relatable; this is a story anyone can place themselves in (for better or worse).

Jolene, a corporate secretary, finds herself in harassment training after crafting targeted (yet hilarious) email responses to her coworkers --which she doesn't "delete before sending" like a normal person but rather SENDS THEM IN WHITE OUT TEXT! This unhinged behavior prompts HR to restrict her computer access, except due to an IT mixup, she now has full admin access to the entire office's online affairs.

The author does a great job crafting the supporting characters into vessels that encompass some of Jolene's own faults. Jolene sees her younger self in her neighbor Miley's desire to fit in, her coworker Rhonda's loneliness, and even enemy-turned-friend Armin's desperate need to please his parents. Through the gift of knowledge (aka the ability to read all her coworker's email's and DM's ) she sees right through the niceties of office politics, discovering her coworkers flaws. She begins using the information to her advantage, but somewhere along the way she begins to empathize with many of them. The main plot of this comedy has a deeper meaning-- you never really know what people are going through.

There are a lot of themes explored here: corporate culture, family expectations, and self-esteem. One I wish was developed more thoroughly was the grief Jolene felt over the loss of a close friend. This grief influences the story, but is never fully understood, and it's one of the areas she never really finds closure. But maybe that's the point? At the end of the day we all have baggage to carry and we have to figure out how to neatly compartmentalize it.

I found myself invested in this story from the start. It's a fresh take on day-to-day office politics that will have you both laughing and crying from one page to the next.