I received a free copy of, Lost in Thought, by Deborah Serra, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Ilana Barrett seems to have the perfect life. great job and boyfriend, but she has a lot of questions and doubts in her mind, what could of been, what would of been, what should of been, so many questions unanswered. I did not care for this book, Ilana was not the easiest character to rad about, the book was to heavy at times.

See my full review at http://michelleardillo.com/2024/09/17/book-review-lost-in-thought-by-deborah-serra/

The writing here is magnificent and the story is quite thought-provoking. Nature vs. nurture, how we make choices - whether it is free will, conscious thought, or something hard-coded in our DNA from those who've gone before us. It's a lot to unpack and you would think it would make for some heavy reading. Far from it though. I was pulled in from the start and I would venture that it is because of the masterful writing.

Not really my cup of tea. A lot of existential thinking and discussion of how the mind works. I skimmed most of those sections. I did enjoy the relationships the main character built. I would have enjoyed more of that.

This is among the best books I have ever read. The language is beautiful and the story will have you on a roller coaster of emotions from the beginning. It’s the story of Ilana, a successful woman in management of a New York opera company, whose life has been laid out for her by her adoptive parents, although subtly and with loving intentions. She has a wonderful man, Adam, in her life, as well as her best friend, William, a gay psychiatrist upon whose shoulder she cries on more than once. She lives her life by what are in retrospect very rigid strictures about how to behave, what to wear, and what to say. Oddly, she reminds me very much of my late best friend since before college, who had a senior management position at what shall be an unnamed opera company in New York.

Ilana is adopted and goes on a quest to find her birth family, which she does, and they are so unlike her that at first she is kind of stunned. But this journey turns out to be a journey to discovering who her “self” really is, and a very unusual journey it is, as not only does she find her family of origin, she discovers new and different people in New York who become additional sage voices that help complete her.

It’s hard to describe the story without making it sound trite, but I assure you, there is nothing at all trite about this book. I savored every encounter Ilana has and I savored every word that tells her tale. And at the end, I burst into tears.

Highly recommended. I look forward to reading more by Deborah Senna.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley and am truly grateful to have had the privilege and pleasure of reading it.

This was an interesting read. Ilana leads a life that others envy, but she doesn't think so. She is confused about where she is in life and wonders how her life could have been different. Can she make piece with her life?

This book was so good that I literally didn’t want to put it down to do anything that I needed to do including work. This book had me thinking about my own life and many choices that I have made and wonder how different my life would be now had I made a different choice. Highly recommended!!!

An excellent read. This is a thought provoking book about nurture or nature about every type of love and acceptance out there. It sad, funny, shocking and exhilarating and peaceful. A must read 👍

This story was brilliantly written. It fused scientific ideas about free will and a compelling story about Illana. I absolutely fell in love with her. She made me laugh, she made me sad, she made me proud. Ilana had a yearning to find out more about who she was and why. In doing so, she slowly changed and found herself.

This story really made think. How many times have I been afraid of doing something others didn't think I should do? Do I have the courage to step outside of the social norm and follow a dream?

I highly recommend this book! This story has drama, romance, hidden secrets, love, heartbreak and even laughs!

This is a completely compelling, heart wrenching, life affirming,
charming work of fiction.
It is the most moving story have read in quite some time.
My heart was full of love and hope one chapter and in a
minute, I was holding my breath to see what heart wrenching choices would wreak so
much havoc in the life of Ilana. The characters in this story are so well written. They
are so right off the page as we are led through the lives of the story. It would be hard to
know whether Ilana will ever really find herself, but her newest adventure will be a fine
start.
I received a copy of this book from Deb Zipf, Meryl Moss Media Group, via NetGalley,
whom I thank for the download copy for review purposes.

I could relate to this story. Ilana begins to question her life, she knows who she is now, but wonders about who she would be if life had taken her a different path. As her journey continues on, we read about her life, her choices, but I wondered while reading, is it life making the choices or can a person override what life wants it to be. As I read, I could see things I hadn't before, and it kept me reading. I find it fascinating reading about people's journeys, and this one was different. It made me think, to see something's differently, and when we get to the end of this part of her journey, I started to see who she was becoming.
When I was asked to read the book, I wasn't sure, but it intrigued me enough that I had to read it. I think it helped me understand my own journey more. As I said, I could relate to this story. I received an ARC from Deb Zipf, Senior Publicist at Meryl Moss Media Group.