Must read alert!!!  I completely devoured Astrid Sees All in record time because simply put it’s unputdownable!  The premise is extremely original, the storyline is meticulously planned out, and the characters are uniquely unforgettable!  I found myself so invested in the characters and their outcomes-so much so that I keep thinking of what they would be doing present day!  Astrid Sees All is the first adult novel from Natalie Standiford (who is well-known for her children’s and young adult novels) and I’m hoping she continues to write more in the adult genre because shes’s so stinking good!  The entire time I was reading I continuously thought what a fantastic book club selection this book would make!  Astrid Sees All is a  5 star novel will absolutely be on my 2021 favorites list!

This book was fantastic!  “Astrid” starts telling fortunes at a club in NYC and her life forever changes as she becomes one of the typical glam glitterati of the 80s.  While her best friend Carmen struggles with her drugged-out boyfriend, Astrid finds herself afloat in the city that never sleeps. I found this story mesmerizing and devoured the book in just a few days.  The ending was epic and really sent the story out with a bang.  Don’t be surprised if you’re up until 4 am, unable to stop, with this one.

Really love this book!  Such a fun, readable novel that I couldn’t wait to get back to when I was doing other things.  I was in another reading slump after struggling with several (books) in a row.  Some are so hard to finish and it seems like a chore.  Not this one.  Phoebe/Astrid is a great lead character. I enjoyed her adventures and relationships.  Kind of wished she actually did have some magic in her when reading futures.  That would have been cool.  I love a book with a bit of added magic!  This is an author I’m familiar with and I’m so glad she jumped into the adult genre.  I will be watching for more!

When I read about the setting of Astrid Sees All - East Village NYC in 1984, I barely needed any other details to be sold on it. Add in gritty underbelly of the club scene and drugs, this Sid and Nancy-loving gal was sold. There's something about that time period that has always fascinated me, and the story did not disappoint. 

Phoebe is in her early '20s, and like many wide-eyed college grads (especially artists, writers, publishing types) the allure of Manhattan is hard to ignore. Phoebe joins forces with wild child high school pal Carmen, and the two of them throw themselves into living in NYC when you're young and broke - when the fantasy of the city makes it easy to overlook roach and mice-infested shoebox size apartments as long as there are clubs to dance in all night and coke to be found. 

The gritty part of the story is that Carmen's boyfriend Atti is a junkie, Phoebe's beloved father is terminally ill and all the booze and drugs in the East Village can change that. When the inevitable happens and Phoebe's father succumbs to his illness, she ignores her family's pleas to stay home and calm down for a bit and returns right back to NYC and Carmen and more drugs, sex and rock-and-roll. Eventually she turns a one-off party trick (telling fortunes using old movie stubs) into a regular gig as Astrid the in-house fortune teller at one of the city's hottest nightclubs, which finds her rubbing shoulders with fictional characters as well Andy Warhol. 

The story follows both girl's ups and downs with the city as a constant background - full of ghosts, shadowy figures in the night, a serial killer on the loose and more. I can totally see the comparison's to Bittersweet. I loved this book, and when it comes out I can't wait for other readers to discover it, and get transported back to that specific, early 1980s=eras East Village in New York.

WOW.... I was transported into the 80’s. I was immediately sucked into this story. The characters were amazing. The story line is something relevant today with drug use. Anyone that loves the NYC area will appreciate this book. There’s not 1 thing about this book I didn’t like other than it ended. Phoebe’s journey as a young woman and the choices she makes to get through her early is something a lot of people can relate to.

I loved everything about this book and I couldn't wait to read it but now I'm sad it's finished. 
This was a book I was so looking forward to reading when I read the description and it actually lived up to all the hype. 

1980s, New York...omg! I think I was in love with the atmosphere alone. I think the author did such a great job with the city scape and describing the city and time period, I felt transported back to a time that I've always wanted to live in NYC. 

Phoebe is in her 20s living with her friend Carmen. Phoebe is trying to figure it all out, still getting over her fathers death. She borrows money from a guy she was dating and takes a job at a club reading futures to try to pay him back quickly. 

For some reason Phoebe put Carmen on a pedestal and wanted nothing more than to be like her. However, Carmen was controlling and betrayed her, their friendship was more than complicated.  
Soon, they have a fall out and Phoebe's life is going in a different direction and it's nothing what she thought it would be. 

I don't want to say anymore because I want y'all to read this book. This book had everything- mystery, romance, drama and amazing characters! Plus that 1980s NYC scene!! Please put this on your TBR list for April 2021

Thanks to the publisher Atria Books and NetGalley for my advanced ebook copy.

I’m one the luckiest cows in the earth to have a chance to discover this precious gem! I sat for at least three hours to gather my thoughts how this book made me feel and I’m still worried I can miss some parts and my words cannot be powerful enough to reflect my thoughts properly...

Because so many thought balloons and caged feelings just released from my soul as soon as I saw the last page. It was truly smart, so entertaining, gripping, addicted with flawed, realistic, vivid characters, clever writing technique blended with dark comedy, near historical fiction, mystery, drama genres. 

  A blazing, blinking time travel to 80’s bohemian, artistic life, culture in New York with drug fueled VIP parties, fabulous downtown clubs loaded with celebrities including Andy Warhol, Christopher Walken, Debbie Harry. 

  Our narrator Phoebe in her early 20’s becomes roommate with her friend Carmen renting a drug dealer’s apartment with reasonable price ( poor girls cannot afford to rent a proper place when one of them is waitressing and the other one works as a fortune teller in a very high end downtown night club!) , dealing with quirky, noisy neighbors (drug addicts, mentally sick people or extra expressive artists!), trying to survive and adjust into city life by meeting new people from art industry, trying to find a place at the inner circle of celebrities! 

  Phoebe still tries to find who she is and what she wants to do with her life because two tragedies she recently endured changed her completely. She loves Carmen and she wants to be like her, creative, independent, effective. But her love she feels for her friend sometimes pushes her to live in her shadow. And of course after having an affair with Ivan who is twice of her age, being dumbed by him startles her. It’s time to payback! Now she aims to collect the money she borrowed from him and throwing it at his face. 

  Her job at the club is reading the future’s of mostly famous clients for cheap price as five dollars by using her cards with full of movie names. Three cards her clients choose will determine their future and answer their questions ( actually I want to do this thing for fun and I already started to collect movie names randomly so I’m thankful to the author gave me such a wonderful entertaining idea for our dinner parties with friends!) 

  Phoebe and Carmen’s friendship is so complicated. Sometimes I felt so sorry for Phoebe because I feel like she underestimating herself by thinking extra highly of Carmen even though she did several things to betray her trust. And Carmen just a little controlling by choosing people who she can take care ( like boyfriend) or people who devotedly adore her like Phoebe. 

  Well, of course Phoebe is not perfect. She makes a mistake but she still doesn’t realize  the consequences because well... Carmen’s reactions are not so predictable but the worst thing happens and their friendship affects very badly. They have a big fallout! 

  And Phoebe realizes her life’s direction suddenly changes: she feels like she’s driving a car without brakes and she doesn’t know when the car will stop where it is headed where it will crush into and explode! 

  The explosive, action packed, surprising conclusion of the story entertained me sooooooo muccchhhhh! 

  Flawed, quirky, unreliable heroine who sees ghosts, showing weird reactions to the death of her father, taking notes from baseball games for her death father, reading movie cards to tell the future for living, snorting coke till her nose bleeds like Mia Wallace on Pulp Fiction, sending cards to her mother to make sure she’s alright when she is not! 

 And the book is such an objection reflection of 80’s bohemian life style, artists, music, movies, politics and culture! 

 No more words! I did everything not to finish this earlier and I also barely held myself not to skip my work and lock myself some silent place to finish my reading. This was my most compelling dilemma about this book! 

Maybe it’s early to say but I’m still saying this is going to be at my best top ten books of 2021 list! I LOVED IT SO MUCH and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! 

So many thanks to dear Isabel De Silva, Atria Books/ Simon &Schuster and NetGalley for sharing this amazing reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.