Finally read this one. Intriguing premises. Parts of it were enjoyable but overall forgettable. I had to double check that I did in fact read this one and that’s never a great sign.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed. I

I'm not sure what to think of this book. I enjoyed listening to the story and the character development, but I think I needed more of a plot for this book to work for me.

This book was exactly what I needed at the time. I would describe this book as "quiet." A book about ordinary life, love and human experience. It was so well written, entertaining and pulled at my heartstrings. Thank you for the opportunity to review!

Early Morning Riser was okay! I loved Heiny's Standard Deviation, so I was really looking forward to getting. my hands on this one. It was good, I really like the characters even though they weren't the most likeable. I just found there was really no plot, so if you like character driven, then I think this is for you.

A must-read of spring and one of my Books of Summer! Delighted to include it in the April instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month's top fiction for Zed, Zoomer magazine’s reading and book club vertical (full review and feature at link).

I can't say enough good things about this book! This book is divided into 7 parts, each diving into a part of the story in depth and with great purpose. Reading this book was both insightful and uplifting. I absolutely loved Heiny's writing style and can't wait to read more from her!

A humorous and heartwarming book about life and love in a small community. Second grade teacher Jane falls in love with Duncan, but it soon becomes obvious that Duncan is not so great on commitment. Filled with a lot of memorable characters, Early Morning Riser is a good distraction from this pandemic.

Early Morning Riser feels like a gift of a book. It is sweet, smart, poignant, and very real. We meet Jane, a teacher, who has just moved to the small town of Boyne City. We watch her life over two decades as she moves through the seasons of her life. This is a character driven novel which beautifully shows life- daily life, mundane life, life with sparkles of beauty and life with sprinkles of sadness.

I laughed out loud the entire time I read this novel. Katherine Heiny’s sense of humour and voice throughout this novel is incredibly clever. After reading it once, I now want to go back to reread each word as I know I’ve missed other nuggets of hilarity and truth.

Each character is beyond fascinating. Each character feels so real. Each character I can see before my very eyes.

This five star is an absolute gem of a book which I will recommend again and again.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and AA Knopf Canada for the digital ARC and also the physical ARC. It was such an honour to read this book.

This was such a lovely slice of life novel!

This story follows Jane’s life from 2002 to 2019. Jane moves into town as a new teacher and from there her life becomes intertwined with a group of quirky, sometimes frustrating, but overall heartwarming characters. We meet Duncan, a ladies man, who Jane falls in love with. Aggie, Duncan’s ex-wife, who is still very much a part of his life. Freida, Jane’s mandolin-playing best friend. Jimmy, a guileless lovable friend. And many more!

This was a comforting, slowly paced read that I couldn’t get enough of! My favourite character has to be Jimmy; he is such an innocent and insightful person who you root for throughout the novel.

If you like books that are more of a character study without much plot, I think you would love this book. Katherine Heiny has written a beautiful and poignant story with a cast of truly memorable characters that I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for this ARC in exchange for my opinions!

A story of compassion, confusion and compromise. Jane a schoolteacher in a small town finds herself falling for Duncan the handy woodworker who's slept with what seems like the entire female population and even towns outside. This isn't really the issue as she meets his ex-wife whom he still connected to though she remarried and is confronted with the fact he never wants to remarry. Add his lovable assistant Jimmy who becomes an important and life changing addition to her life and everything else that small town life seems to provide.
Some truly relatable moments of not knowing what kind of relationship you're in and feeling you want and need more but unsure how or if you will get it. Some quirky characters along the way which makes you question Jane's motives and patience. Also I wasn't completely sure of how Duncan felt so that played with my head for a good chunk of the story. Parts were overly detailed that I found myself skimming over paragraphs and other moments wishing there was more to share.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley , Penguin Random House Canada and Katherine Heiny for this read. It was so funny! Great, loveable people in this book. Small town relationships. It was a happy read and it was a book that could be easily read in less than a day!! Lets see what else you are writing about Katherine Heiny!! thanks!

This book may be exactly what you need right now. It certainly was for me. It's a love story and it takes place in a small town and if that all sounds like a Hallmark Christmas movie, you are a little bit right. However, there is a reason those movies are so popular, they depict people and communities as we would like them be, especially this year when every thing is so unsure and anxious. The writing in this book elevates it above a Hallmark movie and the humour shown by the main character Jane will engage and delight you.

3.75 rounded up to a 4! I was utterly charmed by this group of characters. This isn’t my usual type of story, I prefer plot-driven stories generally. But Early Morning Riser made me actually laugh out loud.

We meet people through Jane, a woman who had recently moved to Boyne City to teach a grade 2 class. We meet students, other teachers, and eventually her boyfriend, Duncan. From there we meet mothers, neighbours, in-laws, ex’s, scam artists, and the best of friends. It is a rather unique experience from a story, I cannot compare it to anything else I have read. I have seen others describe this as quirky and off-beat, and I agree entirely. This isn’t your usual rom-com, but truly a picture of a city where many people know other people, especially when Duncan has slept with half of the population.

While funny, the situations Jane ends up in paint her as a morally gray character, and I liked that. Sometimes she does things that make you angry too, but she’s also easy to empathize with, especially when her friends are so different and occasionally very annoying. I thought Jane was a wonderful character, although I did find myself a bit bored within the middle of the book. However, the last third was really funny to me as their happenstance family grew and there is a funeral event that made me cackle (not the actual death, but the characters who attended).

Early Morning Riser read like a funny T.V show to me, and perhaps some of the humour would even translate better on-screen. I am surprised by this little gem. Heiny has a talent for writing characters that I have never met, yet also know intimately, so, so well. I will definitely pick up more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC!

Loveable characters that had me laughing out loud. I adored this books exploration of tiny and messy moments in life. I finished this book in less than 24 hours and have added the author's other novels to my Want to Read list. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy.

Early Morning Riser is a story from which sitcoms are created. Katherine Heiny has woven a tale, set in small town American, where the everyday life of an unconventional family, borne from love and friendship rather than genetics, meanders along detailing the mundane and humourous threads of life.
Early Morning Riser will bring a smile to your face. A definite beach read!
2.5/5
Thank You Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

4.5 * rounded up. This is perhaps a little more 'cosy' than other books I have read by Heiny, but it was not without edge nevertheless. The lives and relationships portrayed in it demonstrate the compromises and accommodations of every day life. It is very funny - I laughed aloud a few times and in my head continually. It was refreshing to read about a woman who has her life together only a usual amount and yet is excellent at her job, and has recognizably normal family relationships (so far as you can with an eccentric mother, a 'challenging' daughter, and your husband's first wife!).

Highly recommended.