Review: In general I enjoyed this (in that it was a nice palette cleanser and didn't require a ton a brain power). I thought it was a cute take on a magical realism romance. However, I do think that essentially all the storylines were incredibly underdeveloped. The romance was lukewarm at best, and I think that's mostly because Luca felt like a half thought out person. We never really find out anything about who he is, but instead just what he does for others. Also, if I had to hear one more time about how Catherine never thought she of all people would fall for someone with tattoos, I think my eye balls would have strained from rolling them. I think the whole how her existence essentially got erased was the most interesting part of the story, and it was talked about for all of like two pages at the end. Honestly, the most interesting part of the story for me was the side characters that lived in the building/were friends with her dad. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book tried to do too many things and ended up half-assing all of them. BUT it did make me laugh and I did like the focus on a woman in academia. This book won't likely win awards, but it might still be nice to read if you're looking for something very low stakes

Synopsis: For type-A mathematician Catherine Lipton, growing up with a free-spirited single dad who worked part-time as a clown was more than a little stressful. So as an adult, the only place she’ll allow for variability is in her data sets. Everything in Catherine’s life is ordered, from her lists to her lesson plans at her new job as a college professor. Catherine’s carefully calculated life goes awry, though, when the university’s human resources system rejects her employment paperwork. Soon after, her credit card is declined. At the Social Security office, Catherine makes a shocking discovery—she’s disappeared from the government’s records, and there’s no evidence she exists at all. Catherine can’t seem to convince anyone she’s a real person, even though she’s standing right there in the flesh.

Catherine knows she can’t count on her dad, and the university is only concerned with who will teach her classes. The one person who offers to help is Luca Morelli, her attractive but aggravating doorman who spends more time flirting with Catherine’s neighbors than he does enforcing the building rules. The older residents might fall for Luca’s charm, but if he can’t keep bikes out of the lobby or put packages in their designated area, how can he help Catherine get her life back?

Left with no other options, Catherine reluctantly agrees to enlist the help of Luca’s well-connected Italian family. Soon, Catherine finds herself following Luca into the back room of a smoky bar to meet a Mafia man named Vito, breaking into the records room of a local hospital, doing a little light stalking, and having a surprising amount of fun. She also finds herself growing closer to Luca, who makes her laugh and challenges her well-ordered ways. As Catherine begins to unravel the mystery behind her missing identity, she may discover that the “real” Catherine is someone she never expected.

3.5 round up

This was a fun opposites attract romance that sees Catherine Lipton befriending her doorman as she tries to track down her birth mother and secure an original copy of her birth certificate in order to gain a much desired, tenure track mathematics college teaching job.

Part romance, part family drama, this was a heartfelt, kissing only romance that was compelling and good on audio. I enjoyed it a lot and loved seeing type-A, workahlolic Catherine discover that there's more to life and love than finding career success.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Catherine Lipton a buttoned up mathematician just obtained her dream job, just rented her very own apartment, finally has her life organized and on course. All this to leave behind the chaos of her childhood raised by an eccentric single dad.
Still there is the distraction of the handsome doorman, Luca Morelli and the buildings lively seniors to contend with. Inevitably fate and a bit of magic step in to disorder everything Cat has built. Nature vs nurture plays a role here and Catherine has to decide what her life might look like.
I breezed through this story in one afternoon, reminiscent of Ashley Poston and definitely a good time. Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Books.

I am a big fan of found family in my romance novels. I think it’s too important to have a good secondary characters. So I really enjoyed that part of the book. Also different but perfect for each other is a favorite trope of mine so kudos here as well! But mostly, I really enjoy the sense of magical realism in this novel. It just makes the books so charming!

Thank you #Netgalley For the ARC and exchange for an honest review

I’m gonna be honest and say that this book annoyed me. I’m not into characters that are super smart but need to be rescued by random men. Also not a fan of a person that doesn’t hold people accountable and just is left to flounder. I know, I know, she finds family but that doesn’t mean she should let herself be treated poorly. ( Clearly, I wasn’t able to get over the lame that is her father. ) It just was a sore spot for me so after that I wasn’t in the mood for found family or whatever luke warm romance they were serving. Hard pass. 2.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

After years of moving around and lacking stability, Catherine Lipton seems to finally have found herself in a stable environment with a place to call home and a promising new job. As she prepares to do her work orientation for the university’s mathematics department, she finds herself in an odd situation: the HR department informs her that Catherine Lipton doesn’t exist. With her identity missing, her father’s unwillingness to give her answers and her new job possibly on the line, she is forced to pair up with some unexpected support characters who live in her elderly appartement complex, to reestablish her identity.

What a sweet and cozy read this was with its beautiful sense of community, found family and romance. I’m a huge fan of magical realism and was excited to find it sprinkled throughout the novel. I loved how Catherine and Lucas couldn’t be more different but still fit together just right. I found the main plot to be a fun concept with its missing identity but the best thing was most definitely Lucas and his friends/ residents, who quickly come to Catherine’s support when she needs it the most.

✵𝖬𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝖥𝗈𝗋𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 (𝖦𝗋𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖢𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗋𝖺𝗅 𝖯𝗎𝖻𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀), 𝖬𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗌𝖺 𝖶𝗂𝖾𝗌𝗇𝖾𝗋＆ 𝖭𝖾𝗍𝖦𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖠𝖽𝗏𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾𝖽 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋’𝗌 𝖢𝗈𝗉𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝗒 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐.✵

Wish I Were Here is a wonderfully sweet, cute story about the importance of found family and finding oneself. It’s filled with delightfully quirky characters, a bit of romance, and a touch of magic. A great, heartwarming escape.

Thank you Melissa Wiesner, Forever Publishing, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

I can’t even explain how much I loved this book! Nobody does found family like Melissa Wiesner does, and Wish I Were Here is a prime example of just how wonderful she is at it. Themes of found family abound; from the senior citizens who live in Catherine’s apartment building, to the circus and burlesque performers she grew up with, to Luca’s seemingly boundless Italian family, there are so many quirky and heartwarming supporting characters that touch Catherine’s life. I adored Catherine and related so much to her driven, organized Type-A personality, with her lists and color-coded folders and uptight need for order. And Luca…. *swoon* Give me a big-hearted, tattooed sunshine of a MMC all day long! There is so much chemistry in their opposites-attract romance, and I loved the sweet, patient way Luca nudged Catherine out of her comfort zone. Her character arc of self-discovery is so beautifully written with humor and heart, making me both laugh and shed some tears along the way. There’s also a touch of magical realism woven throughout, and the ending is perfection!

I loved Second Chance Year, so I was excited to see Melissa had another book coming out! This book did not disappoint! I love the way she writes magical realism. The book is full of quirky characters, who are easy to love!

My favorite part of the book was Luca! The way he cared for and helped everyone in the building so selflessly was heartwarming. A true golden retriever if you ask me. I thought he and Catherine were a good match, though being such opposites didn’t come without its issues. I enjoyed their banter and little adventures they went on while trying to find Catherine’s identity.

I loved how the story ended! I couldn’t help, but have a big grin on my face! Thanks Sal!

Read if you enjoy:
✨ Magical Realism
✨ Grumpy/Sunshine
✨ Found Family
✨ Quirky Characters
✨ Self Discovery

I really enjoyed Melissa’s previous book The Second Chance Year. The magical realism aspect and being able to get a do over on a shitty year are on point. Wish I could do it sometimes!

This time around we have Catherine, an aspiring mathematician and Luca, the doorman of her apartment building. These two people are night and day. Catherine is an uptight no nonsense professor type and Luca is all nonsense and cares more about people than his career. I really was not sure how these two were going to come together. It was awkward at times but I enjoyed their relationship and how it developed. The storyline of Catherine and her mom was heartbreaking. I enjoyed all of the building’s residents and their stories as well.

Overall it felt kind of on the surface and felt like it had the potential to dig a little deeper into Catherine and Luca and how these two people would end up together. It was a quick and fun read.

Thank you so much to @melissawiesnerauthor @readforeverpub for the gifted copy/ARC!

🍬 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🍬
Ya’ll I don’t know where to start, with how cute, funny, sweet, relatable, and magical this story was to read! I need more magical realism books in my life after this one!

Catherine is starting her new job as a math professor soon when the university tells her that they can’t confirm her identity. Neither can the social security office; it’s basically just disappeared. Catherine is very type A and flipping out, and her wonderful building doorman Luca steps in to try to ease her worries and help her out. Along with some other helpful building residents!

Soon the missing identity debacle has Catherine facing her past and questioning her future. I felt for Catherine so much in this book; her personality and how she is always so prepared and this just throws her life completely out of wack! Which is relatable to everyone; life isn’t going to go as planned and how we react can really determine how we move forward.

I loved Luca and the side characters in this story! I love octogenarian characters that are so full of life and fun! And Luca was definitely the opposite of Catherine in so many ways, but he was a perfect complement to her personality.

The touch of magical realism in this book just made it so fun. I love how it was woven in just enough that it doesn’t make it out of the realm of possibility to happen. It gave the storyline a fun twist and really let Catherine examine her life and what was most important to her. I love the appreciation she develops for who is in her life too.

This book left me feeling warm and fuzzy and full of hope. It’s the perfect book to stretch your limits of thinking of how life should be and make you wonder if there is more to it after all!

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🍬 Missing Identity
➕ STEM Heroine
💙 Opposites Attract
🍬 Magical Realism
➕ Found Family
💛 Tattooed Artist MMC
🍬 Octogenarians and Mafia Men

Thank you to Forever, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for the advanced copy. Also thank you to Melissa Wiesner for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of one of the traveling arc teams. All thoughts are my own!

Absolutely adorable! A wonderful story about recognizing that you can be whoever you want to be if you decide to open your viewpoint beyond the things you know.

Catherine spent a majority of her childhood living in a circus, literally. The chaotic nature of her upringing leads her to live a life of structured order as an adult. It's where she feels safe, comfortable, and feeling most in control of reaching for her dream as a tenured math professor at the local university.

However, after a twist of magic, Catherine's whole identity vanishes. After teaming up her with her carefree and open-hearted doorman Luca, Catherine soon learns that her identity involves a lot more than what's on paper. Life can be so much more vibrant if you learn to look around.

Magic realism is one of my absolute favorite genres and this was a great entry. I loved the dynamic between Luca and Catherine. They seem like complete opposites in every way but they just work and fit so well together. Catherine goes through so much character development and it was heart-warming to follow along as she rediscovers herself. Luca was absolutely hilarious at times but also so so sweet. You could tell he truly cares about everyone around him and he was such a great companion in the hijinks.

Some other tropes you'll find:
- adorable cast of elderly neighbors
- a massive amount of Italian family members
- artist mmc (he has tattoo sleeves of his own work!!)
- reverse grumpy x sunshine
- for fans of Ashley Poston!!
- found family
- cozy magical mystery vibes

If you're a fan of romances with a little bit of magic sprinkled in, this book is definitely one to add to your reading list. This book felt like a warm hug and I can't recommend it enough.

This book was cute, but it moved too slowly for me and I wanted more from the romance end. I think with better developed main characters, this book could have been more enjoyable. Catherine lives a buttoned up life as a math professor. When she discovers that there is no government record of her, she finds her life spinning out of control. With the help of her carefree doorman, Catherine is on a mission to figure out what happened. Will she figure out what happened - and what will she learn about herself along the way? I enjoyed the plot of the story, it just took too long for something to happen, yet I still felt as if I didn't really know the characters. I enjoyed the connection between the characters, but it felt flat and impersonal at times, which again made it difficult to feel committed to the story. An overall easy and quick read.
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Wish I Were Here is absolutely charming and fun!

This book has some of the best tropes; Grumpy x Sunshine, magical realism, and found family. It's a sweet look at priorities in life, finding your way, and being able to stand up for yourself (the romance was nice too!!). There were so many wonderful and colourful side characters - the residents of the DeGreco, Andy's performer friends, and Luca's never ending family - that really brough this story to life.

Luca and Catherine were so great for each other, they balanced each other out perfectly and I loved their story of finding Catherine's identity after it had been lost. Definitely a good read for fans of sweet romance, even though the romance is more of a subplot in this entry. It's definitely more of a women's fiction book with a lot of heart!

I liked this and it was cute, but it required more suspension of disbelief than I was able to give it. The magical realism element of it was glossed over a little bit, and I think that made it hard to believe that things could resolve the way that they did. I think the family part of the story is the strongest, and I felt pretty furious on Catherine's behalf that she didn't really have enough support or stability growing up. The elderly characters give this one so much charm.

I enjoyed this book, but it was a bit hard to start. Once I made it over that hump, I found the writing style to be good and the story interesting.

Thank you @readforeverpub @netgalley for the review copy!

📖 Catherine has landed her dream job as a mathematics professor, but when her identity gets lost in the government’s system, her whole career is put in jeopardy. Lucky for her, her handsome doorman is on the case and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help her get her identity back.

💭 This was such a cute story of self discovery and found family. I loved the cast of characters. I loved getting to know the other tenants in Catherine’s building. I loved the chemistry between Luca and Catherine. It was so sweet and I liked seeing their crazy antics to try and get Catherine’s identity back. Overall, I just loved how sweet this story was and I even teared up a little bit at the end.

📚Read this if you like…
Found family
Self discovery storylines
A touch of magical realism
Closed door romance

This was an interesting book! Catherine Lipton lands her dream job as a math professor at a university but when she shows up for orientation, she finds out that her human resources paperwork was rejected. It seems her social security number was a fraud, her license was is a fake. Catherine Lipton didn’t exist. Catherine lives in a building with mainly elderly people, except for the doorman, Luca. Luca helps Catherine by enlisting those in his Italian family to help her exist again! While she and Luca grow closer, Catherine finds that she herself was evolving as well.

I really enjoyed the premise of this story. It was different from other books that I have read in the past. It’s a fun read that blended together romance, magic, and the need for human connection. There are some fun, lighthearted parts of the book, and then there are some more serious scenes in the book.

I know that there was romance in the book between Luca and Catherine, but for me, that wasn’t the focus. The focus was really Catherine discovering who she was outside of “Math Professor.” It was nice to see how Catherine’s mindset changed over the time, in slight pieces, without her noticing. By the end, Catherine felt so much more open to life.

I think this book will be enjoyed by many!

**Thank you to NetGalley, Melissa Wiesner, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for free ebook ARC copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

I blew through this ebook so fast. This story was a true testament of "you can build your own family" and "it takes a village". I love Catherine's character development. We are introduced at the beginning to her as this uptight mathematician who with some help from Luca and their community learns to loosen up and not take life's seriously. Being too career driven without friends and family there is a very lonely place, but she learns she's never been alone. She's always had her dad and their "selfmade family".

I absolutely adore Luca. I think everyone needs a Luca in their life, he's such a carefree, good-natured soul. The other characters were awesome too. Especially Mrs. Goodwin, there's just something about an old lady that gives zero cares about what people think of her.
I would definitely recommend you pick this one up :)

This was such a fun magical romance. Catherine was recently hired as a mathematics professor and learns that she doesn't exist according to the government. Her doorman, Luca, jumps in and helps get to the bottom of it.

The story is a big wild goose chase as they meet various members of Luca's family. I really enjoyed seeing Catherine's growth and understood her desire for stability and schedule and how she learned to live life.

There are so many fun moments between Luca and Catherine as well as the residents of rhetorical building.

Thank you @readforeverpub for a copy of this book.