Wow, what a book! I didn't see the twist coming.
I liked reading about Diana's journey and her realization about things in her life that weren't working for her.
I would read a sequel to hear more about Diana's life after the epilogue.

I loved this book set during the pandemic. I didn't know what to expect, as I had heard about the book, but not the subject. Diana and Finn are a couple, planning to head to the Galapagos. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hits, and Finn, a resident, has to work at the hospital. He encourages Diana to go without him. When Diana gets to the island, everything is shut down. Fortunately, a local woman offers her shelter and food. Diana spends weeks on the island, waiting for the time for her plane to return her to NYC.
What happens next is shocking. As always, Jodi Picoult throws something at you that you were not expecting. Brilliant!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

** spoiler alert ** I firstly should like to thank NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I am going to be honest and say that I struggled with this book and could only give it 3 stars. I read the first part of the book and thought it was going to be an interesting story only to find out that it really didn't happen. I felt quite honestly like I had read it all for nothing. While I tolerated Diane O'Toole in the first half of the book I didn't like her at all in the second part. She seemed to be very self centered and me, me, me. I know many won't agree with me but I feel that I have to be completely transparent. Finn was a perfectly wonderful man and I thought he was too good for her so I wasn't shocked about their break up. No more to say other than that I know Jodi Picoult fans will love this book and it was written in her usual inimitable style but it wasn't for me. Again, thank you NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for giving me the opportunity to read this book and to review it honestly.

Wish You Were Here exceeded my wildest expectations. Like many, I was weary about this book. I couldn't imagine reading a story about Covid while still experiencing it in my everyday life. However, I was pleasantly surprised and found this to be one of my favorite novels on 2021. I fell in love with the characters' stories and was completely swept away. Jodi Picoult crafts such beautiful stories and her writing is truly magnetic - once you start you cannot stop. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This was the first novel that I have read that has taken place during the Pandemic. It was interesting reading about some of it and thinking….I remember that… ie toilet paper shortage. I loved the idea of the book being a second chance at life, as I believe that many people have felt that at some point during the pandemic whether they were sick or not. Overall, while I did enjoy the book, I found at times it was a little fast and not developed in some ways and other ways it felt slow and I was bored at some points.

I was happy that it was more than a story about Covid. At the heart of the story, Diana and her boyfriend Finn have their future perfectly planned down to the detail of their dream home. Their plans take an unexpected turn when Finn as a physician stays home to battle the deadly virus and Diana leaves for their dream vacation alone.
Diana’s adventures in the Galapagos was my favorite part of the story. I could picture the beauty of the island and the people.
Diana, Finn and their perfect plans are changed by their experiences and Picoult leaves readers pondering what they would do in such a situation.

Jodi Picoult was one of my favorite authors in middle school, despite her books being lowkey traumatic at that age, so I was really excited to give this one a try. I was a bit concerned her use of Covid in the plot, but she managed to pull it off in a really heart-wrenching and profound way. Picoult captured the human experience here and re-ignited my Jodi Picoult obsession.

Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ability to read this digital ARC copy!

I mean who does not love a Jodi Picoult book?! and Wish you were here is no different! Wow!! Wish you were here is so GOOD!! Such an intense page turner and very hard to put down. I had already read some books that were COVID in topic so I wasn’t sure how I felt about reading another book surrounding the pandemic but this was a good read!. It was eye-opening! Jodi really did her research before writing this one. About halfway through the book, Jodi threw in a total shocker and it was so intense and so unexpected! This book kept me on the edge of my seat. A fantastic book!

I almost wish I wasn't reading this book - or any of her books. Right from the start I get sucked in and turn page after page - and forget about any kind of life I might have at the moment. This does the same thing. Picoult doesn't shy away from a tough subject (COVID) but she pulls it off with ease. But the pandemic is really a way for her to reflect on how her (main character is Diana) life has been, where it's going, and what she wants out of life. I enjoyed the descriptions of Galapagos Island. Also makes me introspective of my own life.

This is Jodi Picoult at her finest, in my opinion. I absolutely loved this book. I loved that she surprised me, and wounded me, and I love that she left me a with strong sense of hope and a newfound feeling of peacefulness and gratitude. Did I expect anything less? Nope. But Picoult delivers. Every time.

The story takes place at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and follows the lives of Diana and her boyfriend Finn. The two had saved up all of their money to take a trip to the Galapagos Islands when tragedy struck the world, and Finn, working as a surgical resident in a NY hospital, could not join Diana on the vacation of a lifetime.

Reluctantly, Diana leaves without Finn and the two try their best to communicate with spotty (at best) service in The Galapagos and Finn's overly stretched schedule in the hospital serving the medical needs of so many patients who have recently become infected by Covid-19.

Without giving too much away, this book SHOCKED me. I was not prepared. And I could not read it fast enough!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher, Ballantine Books, for this advanced copy of Wish You Were Here in exchange for my honest review. 5-stars out of 5.

I get what the author did with this book, but this was super disappointing. Everyone was talking about it and unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t like our main character and the route this book took annoyed me. It felt way too ridiculous!

I was originally nervous about picking this book up due to the last few years with COVID and the struggle every person has had with dealing with their own emotions as well as those around them. Although, I will say Picoult really knows how to get her readers to feel all their emotions as well as the characters feelings.

Diana, the main character, has her life planned and set the way that she wants it and that all changes when her boyfriend has to stay in the city while she goes on their trip to the Galapagos on her own. Her trip continues to spiral out of her control when the island is shut down for quarantine and she must accept what is happening. Fully recommend this book if you are ready to feel out your own feelings dealing with COVID and ready to go along for a ride with the narrator.

My favorite book by this author to date! I couldn’t put it down! I thought because it deals with Covid and the pandemic it may feel off putting, but it wasn’t at all. And that ending!!! I need an epilogue!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley & Jodi Picoult for my copy of Wish You We’re Here, for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review this this book.. it really made think. Diane O’Toole is on the right track in life. She has plans and she is checking off accomplishments all the time. She has a great job at Sotheby’s, an auction house. It is a competitive job and she is really doing well. She has a perfect fiancée.. a doctor and they have a beautiful apartment. Things are so good they her & Finn are planning to go to the Galapagos. She could just pinch herself, life is that good. Until March of 2020 and the Corona Virus hits the Us and the world stands still. No one knows what is happening or going to happen. Finn decides that Diana should go in the trip. He thinks it’s best to get her out of the city, anywhere has to be safer than NY. She heads off to the Galapagos, with hesitation because there are so many unknown’s. Once in the island things aren’t much calmer and the last ferry is leaving as she lands on the island. She has to make a decision to go or stay quickly. She decides to stay.. her adventures begin in the island and is having a good time. There is no signs of Covid and the sun is healing. She has little contact with Finn.. and she finds she isn’t missing him, that much.
Meanwhile NY City is a mess. So many people are sick and dying. Not enough doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Finn is so busy he can barely think.. there is an awesome twist in this story.. The second half of this story flew by. It was so good. I don’t want to give anything away, but it is good.
This story is well written and I really enjoyed the characters.
The twist had me thinking about it well after I finished the book. I hope you enjoy it as much I did.

I usually love Jodi Picoult books, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I was very disappointed. I felt that it was slow. I really wanted to give it a 3.5 stars, but can’t on goodreads or here. I am not sure I would recommend this book.

This was such a beautiful written book. The details were so vivid and really created a picture. It was a bit tough to break into for me, and living in the pandemic it's hard to read about it in fictional worlds as well, which are usually an escape. However, this book broke through that to me, and was very special.

Unsurprisingly Jodi Picoult has her finger on the pulse of the what is happening. The writing is beautiful. The story captures what is happening in the times of COVID. The fear of the unknown and well …..everything. What happens when you wind up far from home all alone on what you thought would be a romance filled holiday with the love of your life and must face every fear you’ve ever had? Will you find within yourself to discover who you really are and what you are capable of? And when you do, when can you go back to living the life before? This is that story. I don’t want to give away anything so have a little faith and go along for the ride. It’s a wonderful journey.

Although I write science fiction and fantasy, I’m a diehard Jodi Picoult fan. She has the almost magical ability to take a current issue and spin it into a compelling, human story that transcends the news of the day.
Wish You Were Here opens with art auction specialist Diana and her fiancé, Finn, regretfully cancelling their dream vacation to the Galápagos Islands. It’s March, 2020, and Finn is a resident in surgery in a New York City hospital…and it’s all hands on deck in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Immediately I was hooked, not just from the drama of the unfolding crisis we all lived through, but because my younger daughter was then in her final year of residency in Family Medicine. Instead of the usual rotation of specialties (such as surgery or pediatrics) she spent that last year caring for desperately ill Covid patients. Watching them die alone. Coming home to her wife exhausted, shift after brutal shift, when she got to come home at all.

I knew what was coming for Finn, even if he and Diana didn’t.

At Finn’s insistence, Diana goes off to the Galápagos by herself. First she loses her luggage, then, just after she arrives, the islands are locked down. Her hotel is closed and there’s no wi-fi. By gradual steps she’s drawn into the beauty of the islands and their animals, and the lives of the people there. Although she and Finn can’t talk directly, she writes him postcards about her adventures, and he sends her emails.

Without divulging any spoilers, Diana’s carefully planned life quickly unravels as she embraces the beauty and serenity of the islands and its people.

I found Diana’s stories about her time on the islands rather placid or perhaps idyllic, given the benign climate, isolation, and low threat of violence. The tension revolves primarily around Diana’s relationships, marred only by her frustration at not being able to contact Finn. But Finn’s emails, so strongly resonant of my daughter’s experiences with death, exhaustion, and burnout, hit home, and hit me hard. As the book unfolded, I realized that, in Picoult’s skillful hands, the contrast is not only deliberate but significant. Such intense, tragic experiences change us forever.

This was one of the first novels that have read that dealt with the pandemic. Beautifully told with a heart wrenching twist that you will not see coming.

4/5 stars for me! I typically don’t like books centered around Covid since that’s been our world for the past 2 years, but this one tugged at my heartstrings and was the perfect mix of Covid in the story.