I'm well aware that this is going to be a divisive book and so many people are going to hate it simply for the fact that it's written about COVID and the 2020 pandemic, but boy, is it GOOD.

Jodi Picoult has written a true literary masterpiece chronicling the Coronavirus in real time, in a fictional storyline. I got so swept up into these characters emotionally, that I could not physically put the book down. It literally broke my heart at times to read, but it was so well done.

In this novel, Picoult's story starts on 3/12/20 the day after Broadway theatres have shutdown, and the protagonist and her boyfriend are planning a trip to the Galapagos the next day, but since he is an ER doctor he is unable to go, he must remain on the frontlines, and Diana goes alone....where she experiences a whole new lifestyle, and meets and connects with a family that I just simply loved and wanted to wrap my arms around.

And ofcourse, it wouldn't be a Jodi Picoult novel if there wasn't a mind-blowing twist, and let me tell you, it's a doozy. My heart is broken, my heart is full, my heart is just a little all over the place. She has truly outdone herself here; I can't imagine how tough and painful this was to physically write and put the words to paper. All the praise to her. What a powerful, truly life impacting story of resilience, that I think so many people are going to connect with deeply.

Thank you to Ballantine for my advanced copy!

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Jodi Picoult has written such a perfect book about such a completely imperfect and messed up time. But I am. Because it seems impossible that she could have already done the work that she obviously did to make it real and true and achingly sad and beautifully uplifting at the same time. It’s a gorgeous book. It’s sad and smart and lovely and so so so real.

I loved it like I love all of her books, but with something a bit more personal. 💜💜💜💜💜📚

I have read every one of Jodi Picoult's book and was so excited to read this one that I didn't even read what it was about. Considering the past year and a half, this book should come with a trigger warning for anyone who has pandemic PTSD. I was committed to finishing it but found that in certain sections I had to skim extensively or just pass over (i.e., the emails recounting Finn's medical experiences in NYC during Covid). If you can get past the Covid theme (and I get it if you can't), this novel has all the wonderful Jodi Picoult trademarks from characters you really enjoy to a twist that has you going "OMG". So I highly recommend this but with a caveat that for some it might be just too soon to read about the pandemic.

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC of this book. I devoured it over a weekend and couldn’t put it down. I am a devoted Picoult fan and this book typifies why I continue to wait — very impatiently most years for a new world to fall into from her writing.

In Wish You Were Here, the pandemic year is captured through Diana’s story. The first of the “pandemic” novels that try to describe life in 2020 — from the POV as the novel opens of a woman stranded in the Galápagos Islands after she goes on vacation without her resident doctor boyfriend can’t leave the NY hospitals as the coronavirus starts to take over the city. I do not want to give away any spoilers, as I had my “OH” moment taken away by a review I glanced at before reading this — so carve out a day or two, This ride is soooo worth it and as it jumps through the last pandemic year - capturing it for readers in the future, but also for us that were there. Before the memory begins to fade, a moment to remember.

What happens when you have a plan for your life and your plan gets derailed by a pandemic? Diana and her boyfriend, Finn, are planning a trip to the Galapagos, but when Covid rears its head, he tells her to go by herself. Her vacation goes awry from the start but she manages to make it all work. Or does she? Once again, Jodi brings current events into her novel but if you're not ready to read a book about Covid, you might want to wait a while before reading this one..