This was a cute little debut. It was not as strong as I had hoped, but it was funny. I thought that Jolene's little act of email resistance were extremely funny. I really enjoyed the cast of office misfits and their terrible behaviour towards each other, as it seemed very realistic. The sneaky thing about this book was how well Sue reveals the characters through Jolene's eyes, building empathy and caring in a way that I did not expect. I found the pacing a little challenging in the beginning, but once it got going it ended up being a delight.

Title: I Hope This Finds You Well
Author: Natalie Sue
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: May 21, 2024

I received a complimentary eARC from HarperCollins Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Humorous • Messy • Human

📖 S Y N O P S I S

As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text color to white so no one can see. That is until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.

When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favor, convince HR she’s Supershops material, and beat out the competition.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I stumbled upon I Hope This Finds You Well while researching 2024 new releases and the premise sounded right up my alley. In all honesty, I never expected to love it as much as I did and it was definitely one of my most surprising reads of the first half of the year.

The large cast and office setting are the centre of the story, yet the underlying themes of loneliness and the evolution of the relationships between one another were what really stood out for me. The touch of romance was also an added bonus. Jolene's character was one I found myself rooting for very early on. And although not all of her decisions seemed justified that early connection helped move the story along. The side characters were equally relatable and flawed - each with their own struggle. I, myself, have never experienced this type of work culture, yet I still found it to be highly relatable and reflective.

For me, what made it work so well was is how it goes beyond simply being a comedic parody and adds just the right amount of depth. Even as an adult, the reader sees Jolene struggle with parental expectations, childhood trauma, and undiagnosed mental illness. The slower pacing certainly suits the plot and I absolutely apprecaited the author's emphasis on the idea of how we often haven't a clue when other around us are going through outside of the work environment.

This debut novel from Canadian author Natalie Sue was surprisingly delightful and heartwarming, while also being on the mundane side. What I really loved is how it goes deeper than meets the eye. I'd imagine anyone who has ever worked in an office would find I Hope This Finds You Well highly relatable. I cannot wait to see what she writes next - definitely a Canadian author to watch.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• Anxious People
• human stories
• The Office

⚠️ CW: mental illness, depression, anxiety, panic attacks/disorders, PTSD, death, child death, grief, accident, alcohol, alcoholism, addiction, bullying, cancer, toxic relationship, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, sexism, misogyny, infidelity

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"I know what life I'm supposed to live; I have Pinterest. Obviously, this isn't it."

"I know I'm not supposed to think like this. It just feels like everyone else is moving forward with their lives, but I'm trapped behind this glass dome that no one can see through."

So I wouldn’t call this “wildly funny” but it made me chuckle a lot. The characters are so human and real. With a flawed MC struggling with past trauma, her mental health, as well as societal and family pressures, this book was hard to put down.

This really was a reminder that we never fully know what’s going on in someone else’s life.

I definitely cried through the entire last quarter of it.

I really liked this book, although i did think it could have been a bit shorter. Some of the middle sections dragged a bit. I really liked the character development and relationships.

This was a great book, I absolutely loved the building of relationships between the characters. I liked the resolution of the story as well, I can identify with the main character and how she held back at first but then she was trying to hard

ANOTHER outstanding 2024 debut by a talented new Canadian author!! I was hooked by the premise for this book that sees Persian Canadian, Jolene screwing up at working and getting assigned extra HR training only to find herself accidentally given access to all of her co-workers emails.

Funny, heartfelt and with a touch of a forbidden office romance that had me swooning and crying, this had a relatable female main character, mental health rep, a complicated family relationship, fake dating and a great cast of side characters.

Perfect for fans of The Office or The other Black girl and excellent on audio narrated by Nasim Pedrad. I can't wait to read more from Natalie Sue! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Such a great read!! I was hooked from beginning to end and I loved this author’s writing style. Definitely had a lot of fun reading this unique story.

Review - I hope this finds you well

Thank you HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for this Advanced Reader E-Copy. I devoured this funny and heartwarming read! If you’re a fan of “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” and “The Office” then you will also enjoy this book. This is a witty page-turner centred around office politics, which you will find hilarious and scarily relatable if you’ve ever worked a desk job. It’s also more than just your average rom-com, it’s got a depth that touches on more serious societal issues (e.g. trauma, alcoholism, abuse). I love the cultural references about being Iranian, from familial expectations to food to gossipy aunties! Overall, this is is an enjoyable feel-good read that highlights one’s need to cultivate a strong sense of belonging.

“I Hope This Finds You Well” was a great read. It was dramatic, with lots of recognizable feelings from Jolene. The romance part was light and great. It was inspiring. Loved all of it.

This book was presented to me as a comedy about corporate life. The premise sounds like it should be a comedy too. The main character, Jolene, gets into trouble at work because she gets caught sending nasty messages to her coworkers, which she normally disguises by switching the font to white. When her computer gets set up to track if she sends emails with aggressive or inappropriate wording, she is instead given access to see everyone's emails, instant messages, and phone records.

This was not the hilarious read I was led to believe it was. That is not to say, however, that it was anything less than spectacular. Jolene is relatable in a bittersweet kind of way. I know this girl. I have been this girl. I can't help but root for this girl. When she faces consequences in her life, they are realistic and fair.

I cried at least six times reading this. The story is heartfelt and takes a deep look at the pain we all have in our lives, and the strength it takes to keep going in the face of it all. I didn't expect to feel so much when I started reading this, but am I ever glad I took the time to get to know Jolene and her office team at Supershops.

Office Space vibes with some of the charm of powerful yet quiet books such as Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Interesting Facts About Space and Rules For Visiting but wasn't quite all the way there. I had a hard time relating to the MC Jolene and while I understood how her past trauma led her to where she was, it didn't justify some of her morally grey actions and I couldn't get past that. I did like the layered notion that everyone has something going on their life, and we should be careful before we judge those around us too harshly. Interesting support characters but they were also missing just that little more depth to make them less two dimensional. Overall it was just OK for me but I can see how others would find it humorous and enjoyable. Personally, I would just rather an Eleanor re-read.

This was hilarious and awkward in the best way, a surefire hit for those looking for a self-deprecating and darkly funny read for the summer. The comp media of "Fleabag meets The Office" is dead-on - watching the main character dig herself deeper into beaurocratic drama, while also dealing with her own emotions and guilt makes for moments of laughing until your cheeks hurt, and at other points holding back tears.

I loved I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL by Natalie Sue! Right away the humour in this novel stood out to me. This book is funny!! It’s also very heartfelt with a focus on finding yourself, forgiveness and family from blood to work. I really enjoyed the office workplace setting in Calgary. And the representation of Jolene who’s Persian is great to read. The first person narration works extremely well to bring Jolene to life. Her struggles were relatable, contemporary, humorous and laudable. The chapter titles were spot on! There’s definitely some heaviness in this book but it’s balanced well with tender moments and an overall feel good attitude. I’m so glad I got to read this one early!

I really enjoyed this book. I felt going into requesting this I kind of knew what it was going to be about but it turned out better than I expected. I also didn't go into this knowing it was set in Canada which made me love it even more.

While reading I felt I was constantly wanting to continue reading even though I knew I needed to put my ereader down and do something else. So much was happening that I just needed to know more. Everything was super easy to follow but.I almost wish the Ellie storyline happened a bit sooner but nonetheless it did have me wanting to know more and read faster to find out. This book was filled with some really good laugh out loud moments as well as some very heartfelt ones once Jolene started getting to know her cubicle mates. The office/work atmosphere and culture was spot on during a lot of this book that I really enjoyed. The moments between Jolene/Cliff, but also Jolene/Miley were some of my favourites.

Overall an easy spring/summer read! It was heartfelt, witty, and at one point I did shed a tear.

This started off so intriguing but by the halfway point I was just no longer interested in finishing it or finding out what was going to happen to the characters. In the end I ended up finishing it after giving it a few days before picking it back up.

Jolene has a problem. Her job is in jeopardy because she is caught writing secret mean notes in white font on otherwise professional emails she sends to her coworkers.

She ends up having to take these HR courses to keep her job, and HR puts a watch on her computer to prevent further instances of her misbehavior, but the new HR guy, Cliff, accidentally gives her access to everybody's emails and messages.

Instead of getting him to fix this error, she uses it to her advantage - reading her coworkers' emails and instant messages in real time and using the knowledge to keep on their good sides in the midst of pending company-wide job cuts.

This was a really fun read!! All the secrets between her coworkers as well as personal things no one knew about were really interesting to read and made me want to continue just to find out more details. Jolene also has a crush on the HR guy too, so that's a side plot, and I loved it.

This book made me realize that not only is there probably a lot of juicy info in real life company messengers, but that everyone has a story and there is a lot more to people than meets the eye. Just because you work with someone for 8 hours a day, doesn't mean you truly know what's going on in their life.

This book was deeper than meets the eye. It was funny, heartwarming, and relatable. Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins Canada for the eArc, I really enjoyed it!