I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I was excited to read Jodi Picoult's take on the COVID-19 pandemic. It just fell flat for me. The plot jumped around a lot and moved too slowly for me. I think the part I liked most was learning more about the illness itself and medical explanations for how COVID affects the human body.

(Giving this one 3.5 stars)

A woman goes on vacation at the start of the pandemic and gets stranded. Away from her loved ones and her home, she struggles with whether her life is really on track and realizes she may want to chart a new course for herself. Jodi Picoult returns with her trademark attention to detail in a book that’s too self-aware with Wish You Were Here.

At 29, Diana O’Toole is on course to hit all of the milestones she’s set for herself: married by 30, kids by 35, a home in the New York City suburbs, and a promotion at Sotheby’s. She’s just an associate specialist at the famous auction house, but Diana is about to close one of the most coveted art deals in years. Even if her boss hates that Diana, a junior member of the company, initiated the deal, there’s no way she’ll be able to deny Diana the new position once the auction goes through.

Her boyfriend, Finn, is a surgical resident in New York. They’ve talked off and on about marriage, and now Diana knows Finn is going to pop the question. She found the ring and thinks he’ll do it on their upcoming vacation to the Galapagos. They’ve been saving for ages for this trip, a first in what they both hope will be many international vacations to see the world.

Days before they’re supposed to leave, though, in early March of 2020, the hospital asks Finn to stay home. A new virus is starting to creep across the city, and even though everyone on the news says it’s nothing the hospital staff suspects otherwise. Diana waffles. She really wants to see the Galapagos; after poring over guidebooks and websites for weeks, she feels like she’s already there. But she doesn’t want to go alone.

Finn tells her to go anyway, and after some reluctance she does. The minute she lands, though, Diana knows she’s made a mistake. Everyone is leaving the island, and her hotel is shuttered. No restaurants are open, and no one speaks English. Plus her luggage is lost. She’s thousands of miles from home with nothing to eat, nothing to wear, and nowhere to stay.

An elderly woman takes pity on Diana and lets her move into an empty apartment. With minimal cell service, Diana can’t even talk to Finn. When she manages to catch a signal, emails from him pour into her inbox. The virus isn’t just a virus, he says. It’s a disaster.

Diana is beside herself with worry, but she’s also restless. The island is under lockdown, but she meets a teen with secrets. As their friendship develops and Diana gets to know others on the island, she begins to question whether her life plan really made so much sense after all. She’s eager to talk it all over with Finn, but it doesn’t look like she’s leaving any time soon and she starts to think maybe the virus is a sign that she needs to hit the pause button on everything she’s ever wanted.

Author Jodi Picoult takes care in developing her characters and storyline in every book she writes, and once again her depth of research is unparalleled. Given that the pandemic is ongoing, however, some readers may be wary of reading this book because of crisis fatigue. Also, the depth of information released between the start of the pandemic and this book’s release nearly two years later is vast, which makes it difficult to suspend disbelief to accept Diana and Finn’s naivete.

Despite Picoult’s clear dedication to the story, the book comes off as too self-aware. Within a day of arriving at the island, Diana talks about “social distancing” with an ease that just didn’t exist in March 2020. In later scenes, she runs across islanders wearing masks without batting an eye or wondering about the benefits. Time and again, the lack of any connection to the outside world is mentioned—the plot depends on it in many places—yet Diana’s acceptance of the pandemic can only belong to a well-informed person.

The second half of the book, though, is where Picoult’s work shines and the story comes into its own. A fantastic plot twist brings Diana’s entire life into question in only the way Picoult can do so. There’s always something to learn from a Jodi Picoult novel. This one is no exception.

A beautifully written story chronicling the struggles of the Covid 19 pandemic while also mixing in romance, and a little bit of mystery. As always, Jodi Picoult makes you think about things from a variety of perspectives. In this case, she reminds us that while we mourn what we have lost, we also have to embrace the opportunities to reflect, to change, and (sometimes) to start over.

Another book with the COVID-19 backdrop. The author is especially good at this type of book where she focuses on the human condition. It is a heavy book with a lot happening - a little bit of lightness would be nice while keeping the spirit of the book.

wow!! I love Jodi Picoult, even though her books can be long, they are super informative, and there is always something that you take away from all of her books. We meet Diana who works for Sotheby's, she is on point when it comes to her future, she has a boyfriend, she wants to be married by 30 have kids and a home, she has it all mapped out. But when Covid started to rear its ugly head, Finn (her boyfriend, he's a surgeon) tells her that she should go the Galapagos, which is a trip that they were going to take together, alone and stay safe from the madness that's to come.

Now this is where the fun begins, this trip was not what she expected, but it ended up being so magical. I don't want to spoil ANYTHING, but it was awesome, in this trip she found herself, and thats always good to see in a character, she was evolving, but then something else happened, and then EVERYTHING changed again, and this is where the topic of Covid comes through, which was giving me ANXIETY. I have a week immune system, but for years I have been taking care of myself, and when Covid invaded out lives I was petrified... I felt so connected with the characters and their experiences.

Other than that Jodi did her thing with this book. I really enjoyed this one, the ending left me with a huge grin on my face. Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Diana and Finn are engaged. They had planned a trip to the Galapagos Islands because it's the first thing on their bucket list. Finn is a doctor and Diana works in art. They live and work in New York. Then, the coronavirus hits.

ALL THE STARS FOR JODI. I seriously LOVED this book! Like… so good. This book IS about COVID, just an FYI, and it’s extremely eye opening. I don’t want to spoil the plot, but let’s just say I learned a lot about a COVID experience that’s far underrepresented. Jodi made me feel EVERYTHING in this book… I’m actually planning to send her accolades and fanmail where I can gush after this. I really don’t want to say too much and spoil the book, but this is a MUST READ. It’s heavy, but it’s so freaking good.

Wasn’t sure what to expect from (or how I’d react to) a book so firmly entrenched amidst covid. Also, JP is really hit or miss for me and I don’t always love her trademark twists - but I couldn’t put this one down and I loved the sharp turn this one made. Excellent vacation read - which I realize is a bizarre thing to say about a pandemic book.

*ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley

After "Small Great Things," I knew I would never read a better Jodi Picoult book, but I was wrong. The people - they're too real to call them characters - in "Wish You Were Here" continue life in the reader's mind, not just on the page. The situations are real and complex but still carry the reader away into a tropical getaway and the busy streets of New York. Picoult knows how to make the reader cry and laugh, sometimes at the same time, gasp, worry, and rejoice.

Jodi Picoult has always been an auto buy free from when I was a teenager. She has this amazing way to fill your heart up with love and hope and then immediately rip it out at step on it. This emotional novel set during the Covid-19 pandemic has hit every heart string that I have. Diana is a driven and hard working and has her entire life planned out. Her boyfriend Finn and her had planned a romantic vacation, but the pandemic hit and finns vacation was cancelled and he was asked to stay at the hospital and help combat the incoming cases. Diana ends up going by herself and so much good and bad happened. Reading this novel was incredibly difficult because it puts you back in the headspace of what life was like both before and in the heat of this pandemic.

I wasn't sure if this was one I would want to read yet with all that has been going on in our world. However, I have enjoyed every one of her books and after the first few pages I was hooked. Another winner for me.

Crazy to think books about covid are already hitting the shelves! This was an amazing story. I loved the first 50% so much with the Galapagos, but the second 50% was equally as beautiful albeit harder to read in terms of subject matter.

Wish You Were Here is an excellent story about the coronavirus pandemic. A couple has a romantic trip planned for the Galapagos. Finn can no longer go on the trip, because he is a surgical resident and is needed to help with the coronavirus pandemic. Diana ends up going on the trip alone. The trip is nothing like the romantic trip she plans. A disaster of a trip turns into her questioning her life choices and debating what kind of life she actually wants. She meets locals while struggling to contact her boyfriend back home. She only gets occasional emails from him.

I highly recommend Wish You Were Here. The story is unique and relevant to today since it's about the coronavirus pandemic. I really enjoyed reading about everything Diana went through and how that caused her to reevaluate her life. I liked all the characters and seeing how they reacted to different situations. Wish You Were Here has a typical Jodi Picoult twist that I didn't see coming.

I had zero interest reading a book about covid but Jodi Picoult made me do it! Her more recent books aren't my favorite so I was a little apprehensive picking this one up. I ended up loving the scenery, the atmosphere, and the story. I especially loved everything about the Galapagos, which really propelled the story forward.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine, and Jodi Picoult for an ARC of this book!**

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Can you remember EXACTLY what life was like before COVID-19? The dreams you had, the trips you wanted to take, the memories you thought you could make?

Jodi Picoult's latest novel, fresh off the front page of life, explores all of these questions, as her characters battle the pandemic from two entirely different perspectives. The result? A tale as heartbreaking and poignant as you could possibly imagine.

DIana always has a plan. Her PLANS have plans. Working for Sotheby's art auction house, alongside her charismatic and lovable best friend Rodney, she is about to close the deal on a very special Toulouse-Lautrec painting, while her boyfriend-and-she's-sure-soon-to-be-fiancée Finn works at a hospital in NYC completing his residency. The two are just about to check off one of their collective bucket list items with a trip to the stunning Galapagos islands. However, news of this new virus has brought the city to a standstill and Finn is trapped at work with no respite in sight. Diana hesitantly listens to Finn when he tells her to go on their trip anyway...and despite her reservations, she does.

After arriving, however, COVID continues to escalate, essentially trapping Diana on a small island in paradise.. As idyllic as this sounds, Diana quickly learns she will not be able to return to NYC anytime soon...and she's stuck with almost nothing to her name, no way to contact Finn, lingering fears about her mother's health at the front of her mind, and she's forced to quickly adapt to island life. When she befriends a few locals, however, her perspective on the trajectory of her life begins to shift. What exactly IS she missing at home? Can she hide forever in paradise? And as lives hang in the balance, is she gaining more than she thought she lost?

Picoult has a knack for pressing a finger firmly on the pulse of our nation (and in this case, our world!) and does it again with this book. She never shies away from controversial topics and isn't afraid to make her viewpoints known. Aside from her political views, however, she knows how to write a heart and gut-wrenching story and although this book didn't move me to tears, it did SHOCK me. There is a Trademark Picoult Twist ® that whether you like it or not, and see it coming or not, will turn everything on its head for you as a reader. I was absolutely stunned, and it's probably one of the more surprising experiences I've had reading any of Picoult's books thus far.

And of course there's the small fact that we are all STILL dealing with COVID in some way shape or form, so at times it was difficult to read about it, mainly because like so many of us, I wish this was a chapter we could consider closed. Picoult never rests though, her thorough and detailed research shines, although it can feel like a LOT at times. But again, this is due to the fact that COVID has been such a loud and relevant part of our lives for well over a year now, and the fatigue can be overwhelming (and I can only imagine how it is exponentially worse for those in the medical field and on the front lines in any respect!)

It's easy to identify that feeling of nostalgia for a time when masks weren't a part of our daily wardrobes, when we didn't time how long we washed our hands, and most of all, when TRAVEL was an easy and effortless break from the monotony of day-to-day life and Wish You Were Here captures all of these emotions. What it also ultimately does, however, is remind us that destiny is ALWAYS in our hands even when the universe tries to tell us otherwise. This is another strong, beautiful, and moving effort from Picoult, and hopefully someday it will stand testament to a time when we could feel truly grateful for all that we have, all we can give, and all the potential our lives TRULY hold.

4 stars

I am simply in love with this book. I wasn't sure how I would feel about reading a book that has Covid as its center focus, but this was wonderful and emotional and even had one of the best twists I've ever read in a Jodi Picoult book! What would you do if you were stuck on a beautiful island that gets shut down by the Coronavirus? While your fiance is stuck in New York City working in a hospital right when Covid explodes in the city? The twist 200 pages in took my breath away! This was an incredible book, and I just cannot recommend it enough!!

Thanks to NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review!
I’m struggling to come up with a review that does not include spoilers, but there will be no spoilers.
…
This is my second Jodi Picoult novel. The last one, frankly, I didn’t like. This was to give her a second chance and to hopefully see why her books are so wildly popular. Plus being braced for questions from my patrons helps.
I have to say that my emotions went from “oh no” to “wow” to “whaaaaaat?” to heart stabs to “wait, it’s over?” Is this vague enough? I wasn’t sure this novel is what I really wanted to read, but I ended up loving it!
I was along for the ride 100%. By the 60% mark, I was reading straight through to the end.

Really, really well done. 5*

This is the first book I have read that is about the Covid Pandemic. I don't know if it is too early to read about the pandemic, since we are still living it, but I did enjoy this book. There is a huge twist half way through, that made blew my mind. I went back to the beginning to see if I missed something!

This story really got me thinking about our purpose in life. Do we follow dreams or continue down the safe path?

I highly recommend this book, but just be warned! If you have any triggers that reading about Covid and the quarantine would affect, you may want to wait a bit to read this story!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for giving me this ARC,

I will read every Jodi Picoult book without even reading the blurb (except for the ones she writes with her daughter...I haven’t given those a go.) She could write about the sky being blue and I would read it. The first of her books I ever read was My Sister’s Keeper and it is one of two books that ever made me cry. This is why I will always read her books. No matter what.

I liked this book and then I didn’t. I had no idea what this book was about when I began reading it. Like I said...it’s Jodi. This was an unexpected book. Not from the reader standpoint, but from the writer standpoint. She openly admits that this came only from the pandemic. It’s a book about Covid. About the pandemic. About the shutdown. About surviving. About relationships. I was invested in Finn (I loved Finn) and in Diana (less love here) from the opening. Finn and Diana had planned a romantic trip to the Galapagos Islands when Covid hit New York hard. Finn, being a surgeon, could no longer go, but rather than lose their money invested in the trip, he encourages Diana to go anyway. When she gets there, tourists have left, businesses are closed, and she is quarantined to an island she’s never visited, with language she doesn’t speak, and all alone. We get to witness her struggles of being in a foreign land as well as the new relationships she forms with Abuela, Beatriz, and Gabriel, among other residents of the island.

If you are a Picoult lover you know her books have a twist, make you contemplate issues, and place characters in dreadful situations. Some turn out how you would like, others don’t. This was a don’t for me.

This book felt different than her normal books, and I believe she will even tell you it is. It was more of a book for remembering. Remembering what we’ve experienced during this time. Commemorating the doctors, those who have been lost to Covid, those who survived the virus, the changes people have had to make, the sacrifices of many. After reading her note at the end, I feel that she has done her due diligence research-wise and the Covid details and after effects are real, not that the virus isn’t real, because there is no question about that, but that the experiences people have had while saving lives or surviving themselves are real. It’s accurate. It’s scary. And Jodi does a good job telling it. I just don’t like Diana, and the choices she makes. She made me confused, angry, sad. I don’t understand her!

With all that being said, it was overall a good book. I’m glad I read it, and will tell others to read it. I would like to discuss with others what they thought of Diana and her choices. Maybe my outlook will change. I don’t know.

Recommendation: yes...with reservation...maybe not...yes...read it.

Rating: 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title for review.

This is by far her best book yet! So well written and timely. I was actually aghast! But I loved every page of it. The best one she's written since Sisters keeper, and that says a lot!