I wanted to read No Two Persons because it was a tale about books and how they impact our lives. As a reader, I live for such stories, but this book surpassed all my expectations.

I was fully engrossed from the very start and a huge fan of the structure. The story moved from person to person, and it almost seemed like it was based on Theo, the fictional book's main character's, years of existence. Beginning with the author and moving from reader to reader, it was wonderful to see their connection to this novel. I began to realize that Bauermeister also wrote connections between the readers, and I reveled in spotting how their lives were intertwined.

Theo's story was a way for the author to work through the grief of losing her bother. It was amazing to see the impact and the ways this story inspired others. We all view a piece of art through a personal lens. We bring different life experiences and ideologies, and these things affect the way we receive and interact with a story. I simply enjoyed this so much!

Overall, this was a beautiful story about the power of books.

I cannot believe that this was the first time I had read anything by Erica Bauermeister. I feel like I have been missing out and will seek to rectify that problem at the earliest possible time. There was something oh so beautiful in the telling of this book, this book about a book and the way that it meets the various readers of it where they are at. I have always been enchanted by the way that one book can affect so many different lives based on the surrounding circumstances in that life and this book was testament to that. Written beautifully about a truth that I firmly believe in. Just stunning.

💫 No Two Persons 💫
By Erica Bauermeister
Publisher: St Martins Press (May 2.2023)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

“She’d always prided herself on her ability to see things in people they might not see themselves, but now she was realizing that was still only her view, which was itself limited……. There are things you can’t see until you are ready to look”

Nine readers for one book and one book for nine readers.

Lara: relatable exhausted mother who feels like it’s a lie that you ‘can have it all’ until she reads a manuscript in the middle of the night while nursing that has her gripped with emotions. That one is the one she pulls out of the stack.

Rowan: movie star who gets a condition called vitiligo that threatens his social esteem and his idea of perfection in his career. At a low moment he reaches for audiobooks for an escape. It’s at this point that he realizes the direction his life can go that combines his love of acting and his comfort of reading. He just needed that one book…

Miranda: the mother-daughter relationship that helped them find connection by way of a novel.

Tyler: the swimmer who fought to break free of his own inner demons. Always pushing himself harder as both a form of discipline and euphoria until a stroke takes away all that confidence. The healing for him came in the form of a book.

Nola: a homeless teenager is able to fake her life story to the school she attends. Nights in a shed and scrapping together what food she can get. Until that book ‘Theo’ is assigned at school that has a character that becomes her lifeline. The book that sees her and makes he feels seen.

Kit: A book store seller who knows that the novel Theo is well loved by readers but not one he expected to love. The character that stayed with him but also made him realize the path he was on was the wrong one for him.

William: a widow with an adult daughter who places a book into his car as he heads onto a new journey with grief overwhelming him. It’s the book that tells him that he’ll find his way through.. the light that needs.

Juliet: An Intimacy coordinator for movies aka the sex choreographer whose job is to make people look better until her own love story finds herself heading in a new direction as a mother and a teacher of the arts. Years pass her by until she starts to listen to an audiobook that had been on her TBR for a long time. It’s the book that felt like a conversation that lets her dig deep into her marriage.

Madeline: A woman who is struggling with aging in her world of book publishing. She made herself important amongst authors and selling them to readers. But now she’s faced with a health battle that may rip her life apart and a book that connects her to another: Nola

This book was unique and special. Unlike anything else I’ve read. I let felt like a love letter to all those authors who felt the characters alive inside of them but also to those readers who always knew they were meant to write 💞

Fun fact, I was teased and called “flipper” as a kid because of my last name.

This book is so different, and I enjoyed every minute. One book, nine readers and many lives changed...this was an easy read, and I could not put it down. An emotional story that is composed of short stories that all intertwine one book and how that book effected its readers. This would be a great novel for any book-lover and should sure get you out of a reading slump. 4.5 stars
Thank you St, Martin Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange of my honest review.

I absolutely LOVED this story about a young debut novelist who writes a book out of the depth of her pain but then struggles to write anything again.

Told with a full cast of narrators, this was great on audio and perfect for fans of books about books and the power that reading can have when the right books find us at the right time.

Written like a series of interconnected short stories, we get to know nine different characters (plus the author Alice) as they each encounter her book and find it changing their lives in different ways.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital and audio copies of this book in exchange for my honest review! It's definitely going to be a favorite of mine for the year!!

This book takes the idea that "no two people read the same book" to a new level. The entire theme of the novel is this idea that "no book is for everyone" or that you must be in a certain mind set for a certain book. I agree with this sentiment fully, as a popular book that everyone raves about may fall flat for me.
This book is the story of Alice, who writes the book "Theo" along with 9 specific people who read her book and the effect it has on each of them. It's a series of short stories all revolving around the novel, and the stories of the readers as they each take something different from the book depending on the life experiences they are in at the time of reading.
It's a cute, fun read to see the power of written word and how it means a lot to the people who read it. I can completely relate to feeling a strong connection to the words of an author, both as a reader and an English teacher. I would recommend this novel and enjoyed it. 3.5 stars

This book is really interesting because it’s a novel, but also a series of short stories where sometimes the characters from one story interact with people from another story. Their common thread is a book written by a young woman from a dysfunctional family who doesn’t have anything but her gift of writing. She writes a book about a boy named Theo, and the book is rejected many times until her college professor gives her the name of one last publisher. And that’s all it took. The book gets published and is a big hit.

With that one story, Theo, the story pivots to nine different people who become exposed to the book. I can’t say read the book because a few of the people didn’t even read it. They are the ASSISTANT, the ACTOR, the ARTIST, the DIVER, the TEENAGER, the BOOKSELLER, the CARETAKER, the COORDINATOR, and the AGENT. Each chapter is a short story of the person and their interaction with the book, and what the book meant to them. This book is a love story to writers and the book lovers who embrace the books that are written.

I do have to say that while this book celebrates books, many of the stories told are sad. Some of the people are wholly unlikeable, some do pretty stupid things. But that’s the beauty of Erica Bauermeister’s work: it evokes strong emotions, much like the book at the center of the novel. Some of the stories end abruptly, so the reader has to use their imagination to figure out the conclusions to the stories.

I recommend this book, but prepare to have something frothy and fun to read to follow this book because it’s heavy on emotions.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Erica Bauermeister is an instant-buy for me. I fell head over-heels in love with “The School of Essential Ingredients,” and have devoured everything she’s written since. This book was just lovely, and I adore how the author gave us snapshots into the lives of the people who were all affected by the same story. It was such a wonderful premise for a story, and I couldn’t wait to see how it unfolded. Highly recommend this book, and it would make a wonderful choice for a book club!

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister was such a beautiful and moving book! The writing was poetic and just draws a reader in. Because of all the different POVs it feels like you get to read a dozen different books all in one collection. This is the kind of book that you can go back to again and again, always getting something different from it.

Saying that I loved this book is an understatement. It was one of those that was near impossible to set down once you pick it up. Each POV is so unique and moves you in a different way. Despite only getting a chapter from each perspective, you feel like you really know the characters, and I cannot give the author enough praise for that feat! Even though there are so many different views and stories, they ebb and flow so well. This book was like a river with each chapter being a tributary that leads in to the main river. There is a story within all the other stories, all with different lessons. I loved how it all came together into a cohesive story as the book went on. At the beginning it is just a lot of different stories about different people, but as you go they start feeding into each other and then culminating into a very satisfying and cohesive ending.

The only reason that this may not be the book for you is if you do not like books that are lyrical and a bit of a slow burn. This book is not an action-packed thriller or big mystery, it is truly a work of art. I can see how some who do not like beautiful and slow flowing writing wouldn't appreciate it.

That being said, I absolutely adored this book. It is a top read of the year for me and I am going to be singing it praises from the top of my lungs. I will most certainly be watching for more books by this author!

I’m not sure where to start with this review. This book affected me in profound ways that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of.

This book is about the fictional book “Theo” and how it affects/colors the world of ten people (including the author) during and after reading it (or in the author’s case writing it). Each person (i.e. an actor, a caretaker, a teenager, etc.) is in a different place and time in their lives and most of them pick up “Theo” as just an afterthought. The book is not a bestseller or even originally on anyone’s particular radar. But as they become immersed in the story of Theo’s life, they find something resonating from his story in their own lives. What begins as an outpouring of grief and loss from the author, transforms into something deeply personal and meaningful to these readers…as all truly great books do.

I already knew and loved Bauermeister’s prowess with the written word from her book “The Scent Keeper”…so no surprise there. But this book, which reads somewhat like a short story volume, does something that I always look for in books that I love and recommend to others…in a few short pages each, it showcases characters who are so visible and real that I felt that I knew them on a visceral level. I cried with them, laughed with them, simply lived alongside them. The author took very different characters at very different stages in life with very different motivations in those lives and brought them together for a tour de force of how the written word can wring every last emotion from you leaving you weak and unsteady but then motivate, illuminate, encapsulate your life in all its messiness but also preciousness.

While physically this book is only a mere 300 pages, it felt much longer to me as I found myself slowing down to savor EACH sentence, its meaning and its beauty, before moving on to the next. I also found myself dreading reaching the final page…again, as I feel with all great books.

I’ll sum up by saying, I know that every novel is not for every reader. But while some (I can say with some certainty) will not receive goosebumps and a-ha moments from this particular one, I do think it’s one to read just for the sheer beauty and flow of the author’s writing expertise. Highly recommended.

My heartfelt thanks to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing the free early ARC of No Two Persons for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
No Two Persons releases May 2, 2023

<i>“Each story has its own life. In the beginning, it lives in the writer’s mind, and it grows and changes while it’s there. Changes the writer, too, I’d bet. At some point it’s written down, and that’s the book readers hold in their hands. But the story isn’t done, because it goes on to live in the readers’ heads, in a way that’s particular to each of them. We’re all caretakers of the stories. Writers are just the lucky ones that get to know them first.”</I>

No Two Persons is an innovative story that takes us on a chronological journey of a book called “Theo”, where each person it comes into contact with is impacted by it in some way. As readers, we all know that feeling of coming across a book that nestles its way into your core and gives you a feeling like no other; one that you savour the words of and cherish when you reach the last page.
While I didn’t get those feelings reading <i>No Two Persons</i>, I can certainly appreciate the concept the author tried to convey.
It’s best to view this as a collection of short stories that all have a common thread between them, which is the book “Theo”, though it’s not always front and center to the story.

Maine, 2010, The Writer:
Alice, a young woman and a writer. She faced a period of time where writing was a struggle, having lost her brother to an overdose/suicide, but we slowly see her get her passion back. After querying her manuscript and receiving rejection after rejection, she submits “Theo” to Madeline Armstrong Literary.

New York City, 2010, The Assistant:
Lara, a reader at Madison Armstrong Literary, who is a mother to a newborn boy and works from home. Her job is to find the needle in the haystack among countless submissions from authors. She generally only gives time to five pages before deciding whether to move on to the next. Alice’s book “Theo” lands in her pile, and Lara is completely enamoured, deeming it <I>the one</i>.

British Columbia, 2011, The Actor:
Rowan is the golden haired actor we all know and love, but as his career progresses, so does his vitiligo. As he tries to grapple with his skin condition that keeps evolving, his self confidence diminishes and he doesn’t believe that he’s perfect enough to suit the roles he’s normally casted in. His sister suggests being the voice for audiobooks. “Theo” is his eighth audiobook job.

Washington State, 2012, The Artist:
Miranda is gifted “Theo” in the mail by her mother. Though she doesn’t ever end up reading it, she does use the pages for one of her art projects.

Florida, 2013, The Diver:
Tyler is a deep diver. One day he was too ambitious and overshot his dive and had a stroke which left lasting damage to his body. His girlfriend (who happens to be the sister to Lara from The Assistant), leaves him and the book “Theo” on his table. Tyler then reads about a boy who didn’t love water, which is difficult as that’s something Tyler deeply loved but can no longer have in the same capacity.

Northern California, 2014, The Teenager:
Nola, attending school by scholarship, lives in the shed on school grounds. Her English class is reading “Theo.”

Maine, 2016, The Bookseller:
Alice, the author of “Theo”, came into the bookstore where Kit works. Soon after, Kit picks it up to read and it leads to giving him a lot of clarity towards his current relationship.

Eastern California, 2017, The Caretaker:
By reading “Theo”, William is able to process the grief of his wife by reading along with her annotations.

Southern California, 2018, The Coordinator:
Juliet is an intimacy coordinator for movies. On a flight with no other reading material, wifi, or an Ambien to sleep, she listens to the audiobook of “Theo.” It turns out, she used to teach Rowan, the voice narrator, how to fence.

New York City, 2019, The Agent:
Coming full circle, we reach Madeline Armstrong (head of the Literary Agency that published “Theo”). Her health is declining, and she has had a series of mini strokes. By chance, Nola (the girl from The Teenager), lands a week long job on a whim to organize Madeline’s four story home, starting with the books.


“But that was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go.”

“Books spoke to specific people for specific reasons, and it had everything to do with where they were in their lives.”

The set up of No Two Persons is unique. Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view. The common thread is a book called Theo. We meet the author, the agent, the audio narrator, and others. Some have a closer connection than others, but they all have the book in common in some way. I don’t usually like it when a novel is basically a bunch of short stories, but this is an exception. I loved everything about this book. I have read a couple other books by Erica Bauermeister which I also loved. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Erica Bauermeister's No Two Persons is a gorgeous, deliciously unique book that takes us on the journey of Alice's debut novel as it passes from the hands of one reader to another. Told from varying perspectives, we see how Alice's Theo impacts the lives that it touches in dozens of different ways. I didn't want this beautiful story to end and I felt a connection to every character whose life was changed by Alice's words. From Nola, a young girl whose life has been a series of obstacles, to Kit, the bookseller who realizes that contentment isn't necessarily happiness, to us as the lucky readers who get to meet these real and flawed and amazing people... this is a tribute to the power of words on a page that last forever in the hearts of those who take them in.

“No two persons ever read the same book, or saw the same picture”. - The Writings of Madame Swetchine, 1860.

This book is so unique and different from the books I’ve been reading lately. The book starts with Alice, the book writer of Theo. It sets up her story and journey as a writer. The book takes her 5 years to write and then begins the process of trying to get it published. The following chapters follow 9 various people who at some point encounter the book, Theo. The book impacts them in someway in their life. Each chapter is like a short story for each of the various characters. It’s a very fascinating story how one book can be experienced in many different ways by the various readers. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

⭐️ BOOK REVIEW ⭐️
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NO TWO PERSONS
Release Date: May 2

“Books spoke to specific people for specific reasons and it had everything to do with where they were in their lives”.

One of the things I love best about books is how we can interpret them differently based on interests, circumstances and experiences. This book really dives into that. and does it incredibly well. The first chapter is about how the author, Alice, creates her book “Theo” from her grief about losing her brother and how the story gets sent out into the world. After that, each chapter focuses on a different character who crosses paths with her book and how the book affects their lives. I really wasn’t sure exactly what to expect with this book, but I ended up really loving it. Each chapter had very real and complicated characters and I related to every single one of them in some way or another. Also, I LOVED the little interconnections some of the stories had. I was not expecting that at all and it was such a cool touch. I felt like this book was almost a little reminder to readers that we all come into a story with different perspectives and life experiences and it does shape how we read a story and how it affects us. Not every book is for everybody and that’s okay. But this one was absolutely for me and I’m very thankful to have read it.
TW: suicide, death, abuse

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written but this is not a novel. It's a collection of short stories that are rather weakly connected by a novel ( that touches the lives of various characters) Sadly, the novel that connects each story never reveals itself in a dynamic way. It's simply a link.

Very interesting approach as the reader follows a certain book and how it impacts a variety of characters. I truly enjoyed.

I was intrigued by this book the minute I read the synopsis. No Two Persons is essentially a collection of short stories, each focusing on a different character who is touched in some way by the fictional book, Theo. Some of the chapters were heartbreaking, but all of them were beautiful in their vulnerability. I loved how Theo was woven uniquely into each of the stories in varying degrees and how different characters would cross over into other chapters. As hopeful as some of the stories were, this was not a light and fluffy read. I found myself taking breaks between chapters to really reflect on the characters. The Writer, the Teenager, and the Caretaker were probably my favorites, but I enjoyed each chapter so much. This is definitely a 2023 favorite for me.

I know this book will resonate with readers in many different ways and that the short story layout might not work for everyone, but that’s the beauty of it all and isn’t that the point?

CW: suicide, death of loved ones, assisted suicide, stroke, homelessness, financial hardship, child abuse, bullying, food insecurity, strained parental relationships, grief, addiction, parental abandonment

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

3.5 While I have read books before that tie characters together by an object, event or idea - No Two Persons does so in a unique way, through a book. It isn't an uncommon thought or feeling that any given book will hit different for a number of different people. What I love, you may not and vice versa, and of course timing plays into that as well. But in No Two Persons we go a step further in how someone's journey may be altered by reading or even just the existence of this particular book. I did like it quite a bit, yet sometimes its disjointed nature was just a tad much for me. Those that love deep character driven novels may love it even more than I did. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early release e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion. No Two Persons will be released on 5/2/2023.

This was such a unique book and I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like before. The entire book revolves around a novel called Theo. We first meet Theo's author and then a series of people connected to her who are all impacted by the novel. The book is told in chapters that focus on one person and tells their story, including how Theo plays a role in that part of their life.

The book goes person to persona and dives into their story. I loved this and read it in one sitting on a plane. I was completely pulled into the narrative and loved how the connections were loose but all the characters were connected by Theo. The chapter each character gets took about 25 minutes or so to read and I felt they were the perfect length. It was like I was reading a collection of short stories that were linked together. The stories were wonderfully written and the characters stayed with me after I put the book down. No Two Persons was thought provoking but still had light moments. I highly recommend this and feel it's a great unique fiction read.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.