A Little Hope was very well written and different than I expected. I was worried it would be a little too sad for me, and parts of it were sad, but overall it felt more hopeful which is exactly what I needed.

The novel follows along with multiple character’s and they are slowly introduced within a different character’s story. Each character is interconnected, we feel their pain, we feel their love, we feel their heartbreak, and we feel their hope. I look forward to reading more from this author!

Greg Tyler has just discovered he has cancer. He has a great life, a beautiful daughter, a powerful career, and a happy marriage. When faced with all he has to lose, he realizes how much he really loves living. As Ethan Joella tells us the story of the Tyler family, he also tells us the stories of the people whose lives they touch. Kay and Alex, a loving couple trying to put their past in perspective. Darcy Crowley, a strong business woman learning to reclaim her independence as a widow. Joella gives us so many beautiful lives and makes them intersect in the smallest ways, yet still creating a strong network of hope and love in a small Connecticut town.

I loved the book. It took me a while to form an attachment to the characters, but ultimately, I loved them. This book did exactly what it was intended to - it gave me hope. Life can get really tough, but this book reminds us why hope is so important. Hope helps us find strength in situations we never thought we could bear. This book was very difficult to read at times, heart-wrenching and emotionally draining. But the overall message of hope makes it worth powering through. Easily one of the most beautiful books I’ve read this year.

Happy pub day to this one, as it just came out today. I can’t recommend it enough.

Thanks to Ethan Joella, Scribner and Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

Happy Publication Day to this is a special little book. It absolutely destroyed me at several points but only in the best way possible. I love debut authors and this one did not disappoint. Reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout, the writing is sparse but with an impact. Each chapter almost reads like it’s own short story but the characters are interwoven and overlap. There is a lot of grief, regret, and sadness but it’s not depressing. Not to be corny, but there is truly “a little hope” in each story. The title could not be more perfect. This was a bonus selection for Read with Jenna and as we’ve come to expect, she’s picked a beautiful book to share.

Thank you @scribner and @netgalley for my eARC. All opinions are my own. A charming book about a year in the life of a Connecticut town. Through the highs and the lows, the characters are so different, that at least one of them will connect with you.

I thought this book was incredibly well written. You felt as though you were part of this town by the end rooting for everyone's success!

I would not read this book if you are dealing with sadness in any way, though. It illicit all the feels, but mostly the shocking and sad feelings


TW: death, overdose, drug use, cancer, child death, marital affairs

Lyrical, emotional and beautifully written, A Little Hope reads like poetry. It’s a simple story, set in a small town, where ordinary people’s lives intersect in ways that will change them forever.

While the story is not Greg Tyler’s, his cancer diagnosis is the catalyst that drives the story. Through Greg, we meet his wife Freddie, Mrs. Crowly and her son Luke, Ahmed, Alex, Isis and others. Each character stars in their own drama and we see the conflict between the self that they show to others and their more tangled inner thoughts. Through a year’s immersion in Wharton, Connecticut, we feel the love, death, grief, anger, sadness and joy in their daily lives.

A Little Hope is a gift to the reader. It belongs on a shelf in your house, to be read and reread. It will stay with you long after you have finished the final page. Ethan Joella is an incredibly talented, gifted author. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Scribner and Ethan Joella for this ARC.

I’m definitely in the minority with my 2 star rating but this story fell flat for me and I could not connect with any of the characters. DNF at 55%. None of it was making any sense. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my review.

Gorgeous. This is my favorite kind of book - vibrant characters with their own lives and complex stories who are intertwined with other characters with complex stories. The writing is beautiful and includes breathtaking internal and external dialogue. I took out a notebook to write down certain bits of dialogue and descriptions. Everyone will relate to this book - and excellent book discussion book. Bravo to author Ethan Joella. Heartfelt thanks to Scribner / Simon and Schuster for the advanced copy. I loved it.

This was my first book to read by this author but I cannot wait to read more! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book. Such a great story and fast read. Highly recommend!!!

This book reminds me a lot of Elizabeth Strout & Ann Patchett's writing style, very literary, excellent writing & interconnected stories. Highly recommended! Hard to believe it's a debut novel; it reads like an expert writer.

What a lovely, emotional novel this is. This winds through the lives of a group of interconnected people in a small Connecticut town, illuminating their grief, loss, pain, love, and hope. Starting with Greg, who has been diagnosed with a vicious form of cancer and proceeding through his wife Freddie who is so fearful for him and yet still working as a seamstress for Darcy, whose husband died and who has a tortured relationship with her son, Luke. it then expands out an additional layer. Alex had an affair after the death of his son with Kay and now years later, there's a blessing to be had. Ginger who loved Luke as a teen is back in town for her friend Suzette's wedding and is wearing a dress made by Freddie. And so on. These people leap off the page (oh Hannah) but what really stands out is how we are all part of a community, dealing with the bad and the good alike. I found it impossible to put this down because I wanted to know what would happen to everyone, not least of which is Greg. No spoilers from me but know that there are some deeply sad parts to this. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is a wonderful read - highly recommend.

This book gave me all the feels. The author shares the story with us from multiple POVs with small town characters, each connected to each other and to the larger story. This is a story about love, loss, deep grief, and abiding hope.. It is powerfully written, rich in character (and characters!), emotional, raw, and real. Beautifully and powerfully written.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Get out your tissues because this book will grab your heartstrings. The author does such a great job on connecting you with all the residents in the small town of Wharton, Connecticut. that you feel their joys and sorrows right along with them. We get to catch glimpses into their lives over the course of a year and see how each person’s story seems to connect to others in unknowing ways.

Freddie is dealing with her husband Greg’s recent cancer diagnosis and trying to be optimistic yet protective of him. Her boss at the dry cleaner, Darcy is dealing with the estrangement from her son Luke and being a widow for some years. Ginger is trying to figure out whom she loves and where her life is headed. Another is dealing with her husband’s infidelity. Hannah just wants to be worthy. These are women of strength facing great challenges in their lives. How their lives intertwine and hold each other up gives us all a little hope for the simple challenges that we face in our own lives.

A wonderful debut novel that shows you how those in this small-town community pulls together in the face of grief and hope during where life leads you. Themes of love, family, friendship, forgiveness, courage, and second chances are prevalent. These characters are real and relatable. This book drew me in immediately and I could not put it down. Be sure to read this one.

Many thanks to #netgalley #simonandshuster #alittlehope for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a change of pace read for me, and while it wasn't a page turner, it definitely held my attention and I felt quite attached to the (many) characters by the end.

This story follows the lives of many people who are all slightly connected as they navigate both the seemingly perfect and extremely difficult highs and lows of life. I really enjoyed reading how all the different characters fit together, and how their perceptions of each other were both wrong and true.

While it did end with a little hope, I found myself wishing for a bit more of it along the way ("real life" has felt quite heavy lately in general!) So for the right time/right reader, it’s definitely one to make you think about your priorities in life and I am happy to have read it! 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to Scriber Books for my gifted review copy.

I have seen so much hype and praise for this book over the past few months so I know I am definitely in the minority here (and it may be because my expectations were set so high). This was objectively a well written novel but I personally just did not really connect with this at all. It felt more like a short story collection because each chapter focuses on a different character (although they are all connected), so I never felt like we got a full fleshed out story.
I also felt like it was very “straight white people problems” type of novel and I just didn’t really care about or connect with a lot of the story lines here

This is absolutely my kind of book. We all carry around grief in our hearts. Often stuck between being pulled down by all our hardships and getting back up. We think we’re alone in this and this story shows us how wrong we are in that feeling. Each one of us struggles in our own ways. At times I wondered if the author would make a play on those hardships and push me over the edge but I sat on the edge with my heart heavy and a hand full of tissues. Loved this emotional read so much.

I wanted to love this book but it fell flat. The writing was poor and the characters lacked depth of any kind.

Genuinely one of the best books that I have read this year. Joella's writing is superb. The characters are beautifully rendered. It takes some time to get used to the changing perspectives, but each character is deeply nuanced so you just enjoy the time that you have with them. While some may consider the topics depressing, it's truly a story about love, hope, and resiliency. The people who we've lost, but still love. The people we need to forgive but are no longer with us. The waves of grief that knock you off your feet, then the love surrounding you that picks you back up again.

This story of family, friends, hometown, struggle, celebration, laughter and tears is the heartbeat of life. This is a behind the scenes look at the phrase, 'you never know what someone else is going through, be kind." This is that place. Intricately woven together we meet characters that come to life as a result of their struggle, not just of their shining moment. It teaches us that each day matters. Each hug, each hello and each moment is meant to live!

A Little Hope is the debut novel by Ethan Joella. It is beautifully written and touches on love, loss, betrayal, strength and hope.

Pub Date: November 16, 2021

Synopsis:

In the small city of Wharton, Connecticut, lives are beginning to unravel. A husband betrays his wife. A son struggles with addiction. A widow misses her late spouse. At the heart of these interlinking stories is one couple: Freddie and Greg Tyler.

Greg has just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a brutal form of cancer. He intends to handle this the way he has faced everything else: through grit and determination. But can Greg successfully overcome his illness? How will Freddie and their daughter cope if he doesn’t? How do the other residents of Wharton learn to live with loss, and find happiness again?


What I loved:
-Multiple POVs. I usually enjoy 2 POVs (3 max) but this novel has several (I believe 10). Somehow, Joella makes it work and I really enjoyed reading all the characters’ stories.

-This story will give you all the feels. Even me, being emotionally challenged, felt the story pulling on my heart strings.

-The title! A Little Hope is the resounding theme throughout the characters’ lives. No matter how small that hope is, no matter if that hope is so hard to find, there is always a glimmer of hope, even in the darkest places.

-The way the characters are connected. Being that this story takes place in a small town the characters are linked to other residents, sometimes in big ways and sometimes small. But, no matter what the connection, the stories strings the characters together seamlessly.

What I did not like:
Something that was very apparent about this novel is that it is lacking in diversity. The characters seem to be born into “cookie cutter” families. If this book were about only one or two families this might not have stood out to me as much. But, since it focuses on a community, I feel as if this was a missed opportunity to expand the connection readers could make with the characters. Because of this, I had to reduce my star rating for the book.

Thank you to Ethan Joella, Scribner and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I grabbed this to try a few pages and got drawn in right from the beginning. It opens in the morning in the kitchen of Freddie Tyler. She’s getting things organized for the day and reflecting on her life and her marriage. She is actively trying not to worry about her husband Greg, who has just received news of some irregularity in his bloodwork. This is used as the jumping-off point to examine the lives of many of the people in the town of Wharton, CT. They are all loosely connected and a new character narrates each of the chapters. Generally, I prefer a deep dive on a few characters versus getting to know many, but the author was able to craft this story in a way that made me feel like I got to know them without spending a ton of pages getting there.

You have Greg’s perspective and his fear of what’s to come. He’s used to being a successful businessman and struggles with being one that needs to be taken care of. There’s Luke, who struggles with addiction. He’s disappointed in the way his life has turned out but doesn’t know how to fix it. Luke’s mother is still mourning the loss of her husband and wishes she could find a way to get through to their son. Luke’s childhood girlfriend Ginger returns to town for a wedding, which causes her to rethink the course of her life.

It sounds like there’s too much going on, but the author really wove these stories together seamlessly. I loved the storytelling and although it was quiet, and makes you really realize how you never really know what’s going on behind closed doors. This book is sad, but it wasn’t as heavy as I was expecting. It was also beautiful. I thought it was a really good pick for this time of year, and fans of character-driven books would like it.