Slow-moving and confusing at times, but beautiful descriptions and an interesting plot. Thank you to NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy

It took some time to get into this book, which is something I dislike in books. I want to be engaged from the getgo rather than forcing myself to keep going in hopes that it gets better. Nonetheless, once I made it past the opening, I enjoyed this book, both in the plot and Dennis's writing style. I dislike when authors don't use quotation marks and this book was no exception.

In Her Here, the thoughts, feelings, and personhood between PhD student Elena, and missing distant family friend Ella blur as Elena tries to piece together Ella’s whereabouts using only her old journals. Set in a combination of France and Thailand, author Amanda Dennis transports readers to these locations and introduces us to the colorful members of Ella’s life. As Elena, hired to write the narrative of Ella’s last year or so, digs deeper and deeper into her last known experiences, she succumbs her own personhood to Ella while ultimately learning more about herself.

The written narrative of Ella’s time in Thailand was my favorite part of the book, and I found her and the people she interacted with in Thailand to be relatable and believable characters. While I really loved Her Here overall, I did struggle to understand or be engaged by the first 10-15% of the book due the artistic syntax and more prosaic writing style. I quickly shed these feelings, however, as Ella was introduced and I and learned more about her experience in Thailand. Based on the description, I thought that Elena’s amnesia would be a bigger factor, and by the end of the book I don’t think it was necessary. I think ‘burnt out grad student in a stagnant relationship’ is totally sufficient to explain why Elena left the US to take the job of transforming Ella’s diaries into a story. Elena’s relationship with her own mother and behavior after her passing is also wrapped in quite a bit of prose, so it seems to fade into the background behind Ella’s more enticing story.

There is a lot to enjoy about Her Here, including beautiful descriptiveness and an interesting plot, and I am impressed that this is the author’s first work. I would look forward to reading more by Dennis. 

Note: I received Her Here as a free ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was very slow moving, and the way the story was written made me confused a few times about what actually happened in Ella's diaries and what Elena was writing. I also didn't like that quotation marks weren't used (and this probably was part of the confusion for me too) and I'm hoping that this will be fixed before publication. The names are also very similar which was confusing a few times.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.