Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult is perhaps one of her best.
A young doctor and young woman just starting at Sotheby’s with perhaps the career making deal about to happen are confronted with the early days of COVID-19.
Dr. Finn and Diana O’Toole are scheduled to take a bucket list trip to the Galapagos when it appears Dr Finn needs to stay behind and work extra shifts at his NYC hospital to help with the mounting cases. He suggests that Diana go alone and not waste the prepaid tickets.
The author deals extremely well with the very human emotions of the relationship and of Covid with isolation necessitated by same.
You will not be disappointed and certainly will be entertained with this story. Perhaps some introspection might even occur.
My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy for review purposes. Nothing was provided or expected in return.

I'm gonna say I think it was a little too early in the pandemic for this book. Altho Jodi Picoult always writes amazingly emotional books about life,, love, and searching for answers, this pandemic backdrop was too distracting for me to really enjoyt it.

What a book! It was such an amazing and intriguing story, it did not go at all like I thought it would, unexpected and wonderful. This book really seems to capture a lot of the emotions we all experienced during the pandemic. There were so many feelings and emotions that these characters experienced I could relate to and the storyline was off the charts real and so lifelike.
There were two parts in this story that I noticed errors I have included them in this review since I didn’t know how else to let you know.
“At Sotheby’s, we know art. So naturally, we would we write up the history of the time of Lautrec’s life and pitch it to the top five Imp Mod collectors in the world, and we would give
If you notice we would we write it doesn’t make sense.
Secondly,
But no, we brushed out teeth together and climbed into bed. Frowning, I sit up and pad in the darkness to the living room, calling softly for him.
We brushed out teeth, think you mean our.
Thank you and this is awesome book that truly captures the feelings, emotions and level of fear many were feeling. Thank you for writing a story that captures the good, bad and crazy side of the pandemic.

I feel a bit cheated, but I should've known it was going along too much like a regular romance. Not very fun reading about Covid for entertainment, but this is what she does. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I loved this book so much. At first I was a little apprehensive, this is like the third book I’ve read this year with Covid as a topic and it seems a little soon. But of course Jodi Picoult ran with that like no other. As sad as this was this book covered so many topics. I’m a person for neat endings- nothing dramatic do I was hoping for something different with Finn and Diana, but still I couldn’t put this down. An incredible look at last year and our lives and the impact and it was so well researched. Can’t recommend this enough. I did get a copy from the Publisher.

Oh, you guys, this book!

I was a little hesitant to read this one after realizing it had anything to do with COVID-19. Ugghh, I have spent the last year diving deep into my to-be-read pile to escape and avoid this bummer subject altogether.

I should have known that Jodi would never let me down. Who else could find a way to explore life and its many complex layers of reality . . . to candidly look at animal-brained survival instincts, human connections, artistic adventurous spirits, romance with true meaning and depth, and the many evolving layers of reality . . . how we each create our own existence in this world. In sickness and in health. Just WOW!

I'd like to thank the author, NetGalley, and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Wish You Were Here for an honest review.

It’s March 2020 and Diana O’Toole and her boyfriend, Dr. Finn Colson, plan to travel to the Galápagos Islands for her 30th birthday (and maybe an engagement). At the last minute Finn decides that he cannot go, so Diana goes alone. When the Covid virus hits, the island of Isabela shuts down. Diana interacts with the locals and has little, if any, communication with Finn. Jodi Picoult delves into the “what really happened” question in Wish You Were Here.

Well what am I going to read now? Because I can’t recover from this. Wish You Were Here is storytelling at its finest.
Diana and Finn have a perfect life all planned out. Until Covid hits. And then, as we have all learned, nothing is as it was before.
A trip to the Galapagos is the turning point in Diana’s life, but that is as much as I am going to share, because there are major twists in Diana’s story.
Perfect in every way, and wrapped up so well….

Really enjoyed this - and it stayed with me for a long time after finishing. Thank you for the advance reader copy.

I was able to preview "Wish You Were Here" by Jodi Picoult on NetGalley. This book kept me engrossed the entire time. I was actually shocked when I started reading the book because it begins at the beginning of Covid. There were times when I cried because this book was so truthful and touching. The main character, Diana, was easy to love and her story was so believable. The story begins in New York, then follows Diana to the Galapagos Islands. Following Covid reactions in each of those vastly different places and how Diana's relationships were different in each location. I think this book is amazing!

Welcome back, Jodi!

I am a HUGE fan of Jodi Picoult's writing. She writes with depth and intelligence. She knows how to assemble the pieces of a great story in a way that is captivating.

That being said, I've been very disappointed in the last few offerings from Jodi. In my opinion, she has sacrificed "the story" to preach her societal and political views. Judging by the declining number of reviews her most recent books have received, I don't think I stand alone with this view.

Fortunately for her fans, that's changed with "Wish You Were Here". (Yes, there a couple random and needless digs at Donald Trump, but I'm sure she couldn't go completely cold turkey)

The story is the first COVID novel I've read. She portrays the illness as the horror show that it is, but weaves a departure and a love story into the tale. It's beautifully crafted with just enough surprises to keep the reader turning pages late into the night.

This is her best offering in years!!

This is quite simply a magnificent book. I really loved the beauty and the sensitivity of the first part. I empathized with Diana, exiled far from home, unable to travel. I feel like Finn’s messages reiterated everything we had gone through, especially those of us in NYC. I felt proud of the way she adapted to her exile in the Galapagos. I understood her isolation because I spent months isolated here in NYC. The descriptions of the enchanted island were captivating. The element of romance injected just made Diana’s world more enchanting.

Then, WHAM, Picoult takes the readers for a sudden, sharp turn which I will not spoil. All I can say is this book should not be missed. I know it is the first of the “Covid” books that will be written about this strange and frightening year, but it will be difficult for any novelist to surpass this intelligent and well written novel about 2020.

Thank you Netgalley for this experience. I urge book clubs to put this on their lists, it is worth reading and discussing.

Nothing excites me more than a new Jodi Picoult novel. This one did not disappoint!

Diane O'Toole and her fiance, Finn, have their lives planned from beginning to end. However, as we all know, all plans were pushed aside when COVID-19 forced life as we knew it to drastically change. For fictional characters, Finn and Diane, that statement rings extremely true because Finn is a surgeon in New York CIty, and the couple is expected to leave for an international vacation when the United States shuts down.

For some, this book centered around COVID may come too soon. Overall, I enjoyed it. The book does have two distinct paths. I would have preferred that it stick to the one instead of head down another. Regardless, if the theme does not upset you, I would definitely recommend it. I am happy that Jodi Picoult stayed away from the heavy scientific and political roads this book could have traveled and stuck to a good fiction book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc from one of my favorite authors.

Dianna has her life in order and is working the plan. She has a job she enjoys with an art auction company and she lives with her partner Finn, who is a resident at a nearby hospital. In fact, Dianna just found an engagement ring hidden in Finn's dresser drawer, so she suspects he is planning to propose to her on their upcoming trip to the Galapagos Islands near Ecuador. They've heard about the new coronavirus that is making people sick, but it's not really very widespread in the U.S. so they figure their trip will go off as planned. However by the day before they leave, it's become very clear that Finn cannot leave the hospital and Dianna must decide whether to go without him or stay home and lose all the money they paid for the reservations.

Jodi Picoult has hit another home run with this rumination on how our predictable lives can be upended in a matter of moments. Ms. Picoult has a way of presenting a reader with the kind of dilemma that doesn't have a clear answer - the kind of question that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. I always learn new things from a Jodi Picoult novel, and in this case I learned a great deal about the art world and I learned that the Galapagos Islands need to be on my bucket list. I like to bookmark the parts of a book that I want to go back and read again, and I found myself bookmarking almost every second or third page of this book.

There was one point in the book when I quite literally gasped out loud, and if you've read it, you know when that was. I commend Ms. Picoult for her ingeniousness because I did not see that coming at all. In fact, I'm having a hard time writing a review without spoilers, so here come the spoilers.

WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Dianna decides to go to the Galapagos without Finn, partly because he urged her to go, saying he would be at the hospital so much that it wouldn't matter if she was at home or not, and partly because she really didn't want to risk losing what they paid in advance. As she arrives on the island of Isabel, the driver of the boat delivering her there informs her that the island is closing for two weeks because of Covid, and he offers her a chance to go back. She chooses to stay, not knowing how to speak the language or what to expect, but certainly not expecting to find her hotel shut down and nowhere to stay. A kind older lady who calls herself Abuela takes Dianna in, gives her a place to stay and looks after her. Dianna meets Gabriel and his daughter Beatrix, who are related to Abuela, and the initial mutual dislike between Dianna and Gabriel reads a little like a cheesy romance novel, but that quickly passes and they begin to spend a lot of time together as Gabe promises to show her the beauty of "his" Isabel. Dianna also spends a lot of time getting to know the troubled Beatrix and teaching her about art, and mostly about how art is all around us if we just take the time to look.

Meanwhile, Dianna is communicating with Finn via postcards that Beatrix takes to the supply boat for her to be mailed, and Finn is emailing Dianna with daily updates and regret that he sent her on the trip alone. Dianna rarely gets the emails because her cell service is terrible on the island. Two weeks turns into three months with no end in sight.

Dianna's relationship with Gabriel takes another turn that leaves her wondering if she could leave her life in New York behind and just stay on Isabel forever. On a beautiful day swimming in the ocean with Gabe, Dianna begins to drown, and when she wakes up she is in a hospital bed in NYC. I literally gasped when I realized that the whole Isabel Island adventure must have been some kind of dream.

Dianna has a long way to go in her healing, because she has had Covid and been unconscious for a very long time. As she recovers, she begins to research the cause of such vivid "dreams" as the one she had. It was so real to her she has great difficulty believing it was a dream. And yet the experiences she had in the dream have changed her into a different version of herself. Internet research reveals that many of the details and the places that Dianna dreamed about are real, but she couldn't find a trace of any of the people she met in the dream. The only explanation is that these details were things she had seen and read about while planning the trip.

I loved the ending and the possibilities it presented! I wish I could read about what happened to Dianna next, but maybe that's best left to the reader's imagination.

Every time I think Jodi Picoult cannot get any better she exceeds my expectations once again. Which she has done with this amazing story that I absorbed into my being and let flow over me like a slow moving falls.
Ms. Picoult is a thinking person's writer in that she tackles head on subjects that are controversial or in the news and no matter your personal perspective she manages to make me cognizant of ideas I never thought of before and I look at things differently.

COVID-19 is the subject matter of her latest and I was amazed at this narrative and how it evolves as the pandemic spreads. Severe illness affects all of those around the infected one, not just the patient, and all of us react differently. But can a pandemic, such as this, teach us about life, living and love? This book will open up a whole new trail of understanding, acceptance and change when we travel a road we didn't expect to take.

Don't miss this one! November, 2021!

*****Coming out November 30, 2021*****

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley I was asked to be an early reviewer!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jodi Picoult writes a heartfelt and meaningful book set at the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This book captures the lives from many different perspectives of what it was like living through the unknown, unexpected and unimaginable. But is it what it seems? Jodi Picoult does it again with writing another 5 star book that keeps you guessing until the end. A book that keeps you thinking about it long after it’s finished! Definitely one to add to your TBR list. A great book club pick!

Not yet thirty, Diana O’Toole has had her life planned out, she’s already moving up in her profession, working at Sotheby’s, and her personal life has been fairly smooth sailing, as well. Her boyfriend is a surgical resident, and they are preparing to leave soon for Galapagos. She will celebrate her 30th birthday while on this lovely vacation away from the city, spent with the man she loves, and is pretty sure he will propose. Everything seems to be falling into place just as she’d planned.

And then - COVID. Her boyfriend Finn is needed as a health care worker, but insists that she go anyway, their trip is non-refundable, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t go even if they both can’t go. At least she can get away from all of this for a while. When her plane lands she finds out that her luggage is lost, and when the boat taking her to the island arrives, she realizes it may be the last boat there. And back.

I’ve read several books by Jodi Picoult, but nowhere near all of them - she’s a very prolific writer. Until I read this, I would have said that her The Storyteller was the one that pulled me in completely. But this tops that one for me, there were so many beautiful moments in this, so many ones we could all relate to - unless we’ve ignored the news for the last year and a half. So many that gave me hope.

There’s so much more to this story, the connection she makes with the place and the people, along with the struggles she faces in a place where she doesn’t speak the language, and the restrictions. But she allows herself to open up to the limited possibilities available and celebrates the beauty found in this lovely place and in the people. The struggle with feeling isolated, even as we have all struggled during this isolation, that isolation, that struggle is also what connects us.

While the pandemic is what propels this story to the story that follows, it is so much more than just a pandemic story. It is a story of love in all its many forms, finding the people and places that call you home, and recognizing the beauty in answering that call.

Pub Date: 30 Nov 2021

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine / Ballantine Books

hi! I LOVED this book!!
Thank you!
I wrote about it for THRIVE GLOBAL
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/sizzling-summer-reads-feel-all-your-feelings/

Okay so this book started off extremely slow for me and I even considered not finishing it but after reading the reviews on Goodreads, I decided to power through and it did not disappoint. The twist in the book wrecked me. But I think it definitely ended the way it was supposed to.

Jodi Picoult does it again. This book is propulsive, vivid, witty, and extremely relevant. Picoult has never been afraid to write about tough topics (the Holocaust, religion, sexual assault, suicide, etc.). Recently, many of her books have covered current events, so I was not surprised that she is at the forefront of tackling the topic of the recent pandemic.

She intersperses the story with news from New York City, a COVID hotspot, and the remote Galapagos Islands, home of Darwin's finches and the theory of evolution. She paints a brilliant image of the picturesque and secluded islands, as well as the chaos and terror of COVID in New York City. The characters are likable and relatable and you can't help but fall in love with them.