If you like odd little books, then you will love this. I'm somewhere in the middle. It's a cute and quirky story, but I don't think the ending pays off. It's part reality, part fantasy. I liked the husband and wife, and I felt their struggle in the financial department, but the magical realism lacked something. I can't put my finger what the story was missing. I appreciate the novel being short and tidy, but I think I needed more character development. I wanted to know the main characters a little better.

Thank you, Netgalley and Ecco for the digital ARC.

3.25

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for the E-ARC of this book!

Terrace Story consists of four separate but intertwined short stories, all exploring various themes of love and loss. The first story unfolds with a family of three: Annie, Edward, and Rose (Rosie). They live in a cramped apartment but find solace in a secret, mythical terrace that only ever seems to appear when Annie's friend Stephanie is over. This is the story that kickstarts the events of the others in which we follow other characters that are all connected in the same web of the universe.

This is my first experience with Leichter's work and I definitely will be keeping an eye on her from now on. She has a very deliberate prose, somehow encapsulating intangible feelings and concepts but in such a beautifully subtle way. Her writing is simple but somehow manages to strike you right in the chest. In particular, I'm amazed by how attached I grew to feel for the characters in this story despite only spending short amounts of time with them. When characters experienced various forms of loss, I felt a distinct form of it as well. Their pain was my pain.

Reading this collection elicited the same reflective and almost eerie feeling I get when reading Emily St. John Mandel's work – specifically, I think if you enjoyed [book:Sea of Tranquility|58446227] then you'll enjoy this one. It leaves you with that same haunting inexplicable feeling of how vast the universe is but how connected everything feels anyway.

I also very much enjoyed the magical realism elements involved in the story what with the terrace and a specific character's abilities (that ended up being my favorite story of the four and even now, I want to read more about them). I never thought of myself as a magical realism fan but recently, specific books have been changing my mind!

My main grievance comes with the plots or storylines themselves. I enjoyed how every story interconnected, but I feel like I was left with this feeling of incompleteness with each one. I am a great appreciator of ambiguous endings and conclusions, but in the case of these four vignettes, I felt deeply unsatisfied with how they left off. Every time, it felt like the story was going somewhere with a specific theme of love and existence and then it would abruptly cut off. As the end drew near, I wasn't sure if I would be leaving with what the author intended me to leave with, and I still feel that way to an extent.

I feel like there was a lot of potential here, but I'm not sure all of it was lived up to. I do think many will disagree with me and enjoy the lack of concrete endpoints, but I personally was left hanging.

Overall: I do recommend for a genuinely interesting and quick collection of stories, but I still wouldn't enter with too grand of expectations.

This book is essentially four short stories woven together regarding the characters in the book. I really felt that the book had a lot of interesting ideas and concepts that really made you think, however in the end they did just not mesh together as a whole which was essential for this book to come together. I felt the writing was good, but it just did not go anywhere. It was a bit frustrating. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Despite the title, what Hilary Leichter has written is four interlocking stories, not one — each part fable and part, well, I don’t know what. I had been expecting a magical children’s book, but Terrace Story isn’t that at all. The book is unsettling in all the right ways, but it would be simply too easy to spoil the many surprises it contains. Let me just reveal that I enjoyed it very much, and I will be sure to appreciate every day with my loved ones.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Ecco in exchange for an honest review.

Terrace Story’s cover caught my attention immediately! It is beautifully written and has an interesting plot. Unfortunately, I found myself confused through most of it and rereading paragraphs. This book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this!

I loved the spare writing of this book, and thought that the premise was incredibly imaginative. I do wish that the book had been a bit longer, as I felt like the separate narratives didn't fully come together into a cohesive idea at the end; I was left wondering "so what?" There were so many ideas about loyalty, parenthood, marriage, and partnership but I feel like none of them were as fleshed out as I wanted them to be. That said, the ending was lovely and really original. I didn't see that coming.

In all honesty I don't know what I think of this book. It is pretty deep and I also suspect that the depth runs even deeper than what I could grasp. It was beautifully written but in the end I feel like I just missed much of the intention.

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for sharing this ARC!

Terrace Story is one of those books that is intriguing in premise but lacks in execution, at least in my opinion. I wanted to love this story but it flew over my head and left me perplexed There is certainly an audience for this type of book but it is not me. I will give credit to the interesting characters and the original story presented.

When I read the description, I thought it would be a bunch of story from the same building, but alas it is not. Although, I still like the story, I found the main character Stephanie to be sad and abandoned by those who were suppose to love her, because they didn't understand her and couldn't believe what she could do. You see, she has a special abilities to expand things and make things into reality even dimensions and because no one else could guide her, she ends up doing catastrophic things that changes people lives around her and she can never change them back.
Although, there are explanations as to why everything Stephanie has done is explained, it still leaves me sad, because she can never undo what she has done to Annie or for that matter to the planet.
The book starts out ordinary but as it progress it is takes you to a totally unexpected place.

I want to thank Ecco and NetGalley for an advance copy of the novel, its was quite a journey.

This was the second proof I received from Netgalley. I requested this title shortly after or during my reread at the start of the year of the Wayward Children series, a portal fantasy series I love. When I saw the premise of this book was about spaces that exist at some times and don't exist at others I was in the mood to read it. I was unaware that this book is broken up in to four pretty separate-feeling stories. I honestly can't remember back to the first story and all I recall about the fourth story is that I think it was set in the future. The second story was the most memorable and enjoyable for me. It was about a couple who have a friend over one day shortly after moving into a new, cramped apartment only to find that when she opened what was typically a closet door it turned into a beautiful patio space. It was interesting to see how it impacted their lives. The third story was the longest and focused on the woman who came to their apartment and the fact that she had this power to create new spaces. I just found myself pretty bored by her story. I honestly felt pretty lackluster throughout the book and it felt like a bit of a slog to get through.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel, releasing in August 2023!

I had previously read the author's novel Temporary, and enjoyed it but wasn't blown away; Terrace Story was much more emotionally affecting. The book is a series of four interconnected stories about a related cast of characters that examines love, family, and grief with a metaphysical bent. I really enjoyed the characterizations (especially the way characters introduced in the first story evolved throughout the book) and the writing and found the stories very moving. The ending chapter was something of a surprise in terms of the setting but I thought wrapped everything up very effectively. Happy to recommend this one!

A well crafted set of interconnected stories that examine love and grief stretched across time and space. Told almost like a fairy tale, Annie invites a colleague, Stephanie, to her apartment to meet her new baby despite being embarrassed of its small size. Yet when Stephanie opens the wardrobe, instead of clutter, she magically finds a gorgeous terrace to enjoy a beautiful day outside. Annie and Eddie are astounded and find that themselves quickly addicted to the terrace space that only appears when Stephanie visits. The rest of the stories add context to Annie and Stephanie and the events that transpire.

The reader is required to suspend belief a bit and just enjoy how the stories unfold. I enjoyed each story which included tales of castles, funerals and the complications of relationships and love across death and time. I loved how the ending came together. I've had Leichter's earlier book on my to read list and will definitely move it up the list. Her language and characters are well crafted. I felt is if I knew them or were them.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this book as the premise of a magical terrace sounded very interesting to me. Unfortunately, I had a hard time understanding what the theme was. A couple downsizes their family into a smaller apartment and a magical terrace, that is quite quaint and beautiful, appears only when one of their friends shows up. I pressed forward trying to piece together the time segments, the funerals, apartments, couples, etc., but I really struggled to understand the plot, if one. I hate writing negative reviews but this just did not work for me. I just did not understand what I read as it was not a cohesive story.

Terrace Story by talented author Hilary Leichter is a well written novel but needs a plot or a theme. The author's potential was evident but it just did not execute well here.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I would like to sit down and have a conversation with Hilary Leichter because WOW. Anyone who can write a story like that must have a very interesting brain. I'm glad I read it, and I think parts of it will stick with me for a long time mostly just for how off the wall they were. Probably won't read it again, but it was a worthwhile read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Hilary Leichter, and Ecco for the ARC. Terrace Story debuts on August 29, 2023!

This is one of those books that reminds me of an art gallery.

I'm not sure if it's really good and nouveau and I just don't get it; or if it's actually just okay and everyone else wants to feel important by raving about it's brilliance to the plebs.

It felt so unusual and disjointed and I couldn't follow what the hell was going on or really what the point of the book was. Climate change? Self discovery? Acceptance?

I don't know. This wasn't for me. Maybe a creative writing professor would be blown away but this book was too much something and not enough substance. 2.5 rounded up.

The concept of this book was really cool, but I got a little lost in its execution. The first story set up the characters, then each following story went back or forward in time looking at the difference experiences of these characters. Such a fun concept but my issue is that I’m really bad with names and I have a horrible memory so it was hard to keep track of people’s connections to one another in these subsequent stories. Maybe that was a personal issue, though, and other people will be better at keeping things straight.

I love books with magical realism and sci-fi and I think it was talked about in a really cool way in this book, but I wish things had been expanded further. I want to know the real details of what is happening rather than just vague descriptions of feelings or imagery.

Overall, a very cool book and I’ll definitely be recommending to my friends.

3.5 stars

I loved the ideas behind this book--the concepts that push the parameters of reality and make the reader think about our expectations of narrative. I was less interested in the plot action and character development, though, which at points felt like they were manipulated to "tell" a story rather than show it through character action and point of view. Some connections between the four parts were clearer than others, and I felt like I was spending time trying to figure the logic out instead of enjoying the story itself. Overall, an interesting read with what felt like a bit of heavy-handedness of the author.

I don’t know why I keep trying with Hilary leichter books. They’re just simply not for me. Beautiful writing but boring as can be.

What a strange, delightful little gem of a novel! It feels like a departure from Temporary, though fans of Leichter's debut will find much to love here, but the tone is more melancholy. There was something strangely heartbreaking to this novel. Not to mention the innovative structure that resists convention, and any sense of tied knots. I am still processing, but what a joy. I can't wait to read whatever she writes next.

A very modern, witty read that has the feel of a few short stories but comes together so nicely toward the end! The author has insight into those secret, solitary thoughts and spaces that individuals in relationships experience. You can feel the loneliness, the grief, the longing. But it’s not a sad read so much as it is a profound look into the nature of family and our slippery grasp on the time we have together.