Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is a powerful and moving novel about family, love, and loss.

The novel is told from the perspectives of the four siblings, William and Alice .
This allows us to get to know each character intimately and to understand their unique perspectives.
The author did an amazing job of creating believable and relatable characters. I felt their anger, heartbreak, sadness and most importantly their devotion and love pour from every page.
The characters became completely fully formed with this beautifully descriptive and lyrical prose and I felt like I was completely immersed into their world and became their friend. Well maybe not roses lol.

However although this novel is undeniably beautifully written reader be warned it is a very, very slow burn of a book.

This is Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet meets Louisa may Alcotts little women and I won’t tell you if ‘Beth dies’ no spoiler here. But if your anything like me you will find yourself on an emotional rollercoaster by the end.

If you are looking for a novel that will move you and stay with you long after you have finished reading it, then I highly recommend Hello Beautiful.

This is a brilliant novel and is written so well that you really connect with each of the characters and empathise with each perspective of the same situation. It’s the perfect holiday read if you’re looking for something deeper than a beach book, but not too strenuous!
Each character and story line is given time to develop, and Napolitano covers some sobering and difficult topics in a sensitive and meaningful way which allows the reader insight into the behaviour and actions of the individuals. It is very evocative, and you feel as if you’re there with the characters watching the love story unfold, but also understanding the deep sense of pain it’s causing due to its difficult circumstances and the truth which underlies it all. Definitely recommending this book to any book clubs as I think it will bring about some really interesting discussions.

I love a generational novel and this was a great read in light of this; it covers the four sisters of the Padavano family, their parents, and primarily, the eldest sister, Julia’s marriage to William. As expected with these kind of family novels, there is a level of drama encompassing marriage, death, birth etc - it didn’t necessarily surprise me in any aspect here and a lot of the action was expected.

However, I did love the characters. The four close knit sisters really reminded me of The Virgin Suicides, so if you enjoyed that you may like this. The entire family was well rounded and William’s struggles very believable (though I’d have liked more of a back story on him). It started very strong and I feel like slightly crumbled around William’s accident - in characters moving away I felt little pull to them and indeed began to dislike Julia, though I’m not sure if that was the intention? All round though, a good read, and despite it’s size I whipped through it in just over a day :)

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is the story of four sisters all growing up in a loving chaotic household. Then Julie Padavano meets William Walters and they fall in love and marry. However William has issues and is not the man Julie wants to stay married to. So she and her daughter move away and start a new life without William.
This is the story of what happens next.
A delightful story, full of life, love and death. A typical family.
Highly recommended

An instant five stars for this beautiful, totally immersive family drama. It defied my expectations in the best way - I was able to really relate to and care about all the characters, and every one felt well-developed and fleshed out. It reminded me a lot of Ask Again, Yes, another book I loved.

This is a slow gentle story about life, love, relationships and death. It centres around one man, William Waters and 4 sisters, the Padavano sisters. Julia, Sylvia and twins Cecelia and Emeline..
When still a baby, Williams only sibling, his older sister, dies. His parents are unable to accept her death and in some perverse way seem to give William the impression that they wished it was him that had died. His relationship with his parents as he grows older is cold and distant, his mother rarely speaks to him and he has a remote father. When he leaves for college he realises the only child they had really wanted was his deceased sister.
At college he finds refuge in basketball, he is tall and thin and has the players aptitude for the game. However his basketball career is ended when he suffers an injury to his knee. He meets and Marry’s Julia Padavano and they have a child together, Alice.
The story is told through many eyes, including Alice’s starting when she was 5 and her mother has told her her father is dead (they had divorced and he was still very much alive) it’s a story full of character and love and each person has a story to tell. I really enjoyed it although I suspect the slowness of the story might put some people off, but I can see why it was an Oprah Bookclub pick.

#HelloBeautiful. #NetGalley

Hello Beautiful is a gut punch of a novel. It will put you through the emotional wringer, and life won't be the same after meeting the four Padavano sisters.
Loosely based on Little Women, I expected it to be a rather light-hearted and frothy affair, but it was so much more than that.
I always enjoy an ambitious, rather unlikeable character, and Julia (the first sister we're introduced to) ticked that box for me. I could have happily read more about her time in New York and her plans for her life - I found her flawed and relatable and the most interesting character. It felt as though 'life happened' to the others sisters, but the contrast with the proactive Julia was deliberate.
The narratives of the four women - and one man, William, who played a role in all of their lives - were interwoven beautifully, leading to the heartbreaking ending. It really was a wonderful book that stayed with me.

Between finishing reading Hello Beautiful and writing this review, this book has exploded. Oprah has taken it under her wing and shown it as the wonderful piece of work that it is to her followers. So, it has already been read by a lot of people - and rightly so. I loved it. Books about families and family relationships, whether they’re a difficult or loving relationship, are one of my most favourite things.

There are most certainly echoes of Little Women, but if you’ve never read it, it won’t make much difference to your enjoyment. You might want to try Little Women at some point though!

William Waters grows up in a very dysfunctional family, and is drawn into the Padavano family when he marries Julia - it’s a family he comes to love.

With themes of mental illness, family loyalties, love in all of its forms and loss, it’s a big read for only around 400 pages. The story just sped by, and I was bereft when I turned the last page.

I loved the world of William Waters and the Padavano sisters.

Highly recommended.

This was a lovely, gentle read. I enjoyed the way that the story flitted between the perspectives of the main protagonists over various time periods in their lives.
It was an intimate and introverted read, thoughtful and thought-provoking about the ways that family relationships affect our lives.
Once I passed the halfway point I felt like the pace increased a little, but it didn’t feel like a story you could race through.
Beautifully written, touching and well-observed. If you’re looking for an inclusive and considerate story about love and the bonds that tie family together, you’ll enjoy this book.
With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin U.K. for the opportunity to read an ARC.

“Hello Beautiful" follows the journey of Julia, a young woman who finds herself in a new town, starting a new life, and uncovering secrets about her past along the way. One of the most intriguing characters in the book is William Waters, a mysterious and reclusive basketball player who becomes Julia’s boyfriend and later, husband. But the story has a lot of twists you want to read to know.

"Hello Beautiful" is a stunning, heart-wrenching novel that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. Napolitano's writing is masterful, weaving together multiple perspectives and timelines to create a rich, nuanced portrait of love, loss, and the power of human connection. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves deeply emotional, thought-provoking fiction.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the way Napolitano masterfully crafted her characters. Overall, I cannot recommend "Hello Beautiful" highly enough. It is a stunning work of literary fiction that will leave readers breathless with its beauty and emotional depth. If you are looking for a novel that will move you to tears, inspire you to hope, and remind you of the power of human connection, then this is the book for you. Five stars!

I received an electronic ARC copy of the book in exchange for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher.

This book!! I loved it, really really loved it. Generational family drama - yes pleaaase. Excellent writing, characters, some likeable - some unlikeable. It all worked. Did not want it to end.

Grateful for an ARC from Netgalley. Although will 100% be buying a copy.

Family sagas aren't often my thing but I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover and the comparison to a "modern Little Women". I wasn't disappointed. Behind that beautiful cover is an equally beautiful story. Napolitano peels back the layers of the Padavano sisters and William Waters from their childhood through over forty years of their lives and loves, as the family falls apart and pulls itself back together.

It is a little gritty and depressing at times - this book wasn't the most cheerful to read at the start of my honeymoon and there were times I considered switching to something lighter. Napolitano touches on some tough topics, particularly regarding mental health and attempted suicide. But I became attached to the author's authentic characters, and I had to see it through to its beautiful, bittersweet ending.

You might have to be in the right mood to get into this one, but it won't disappoint and it's thoroughly deserving of the accolades it's already receiving

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a free copy to review. My opinions are my own.

Hello Beautiful spans from the late 1970s to the late 00s. It is a family drama, set in Chicago, about 4 sisters. I am afraid that it did not grab me. I found it hard to get through until about the 50% mark. As other reviews have said, it didn't feel like it was set in modern times. Some characters were more likeable than others, but by the end of the story, I didn't care about what had happened to any of them.

This one spans 30 years and gets you so immersed that you feel like you really know the Padavano family. Beautiful. Wow I adored this book! Everyone go out and buy it!

I absolutely loved this book !
Walter was unloved and unwanted as a child which had a devastating effect on his mental health .
At university he meets Julia who has everything he always wanted -a close loving family and a clear direction of what she wants out of life . Walter is more than happy to follow Julia's path even though it isn't really what he wants .
We follow Walter ,Julia and her family from childhood to old age -It was such an emotional ride I couldn't put it down -keep the tissues handy .

This book was very different to Dear Edward, but was absolutely beautiful to read. The writing style from Napolitano was a real comfort all the way through and the way the family relationships are depicted reminded me a lot of Ann Tyler as well.

Initially I was really unsure about this book. It is SLOW, and even when I felt like I'd read loads, it seemed like I hadn't. It took me a while to get a grasp on what the story was actually about as well. Honestly, I almost gave up. HOWEVER. At some point it just clicked. I couldn't tell you when. I couldn't tell you why. All I know is that, going about my day to day life, I'd find myself missing something. And that then I'd realise what I was missing: the world inside this book.

When I saw the reviews saying it was meant to be a bit of a take on Little Women, I was a bit concerned. I love Little Women, but sometimes 'takes' can be a bit kitschy. However, this was less of a 'take', and more 'influenced by'. Little Women is referenced throughout, and the events are drastically different enough that it doesn't feel like one of those books where the characters keep talking about their favourite book without seeming to twig that they're living it. I really liked the way that the Little Women characters were used to explore the personalities and experiences of the sisters, and trying to decide who was who kept me thinking throughout. Another element that kept me thinking was the blurb. According to the blurb, this is William's story. Reading it? - it feels much more like the sisters' story. And yet the two become so intrinsically linked, that by the end I couldn't really decide who it 'belonged' to more, which I really liked.

In general, I really loved the tone, and the way that the main characters were explored. I liked that no one was predictable, and that above all it was a book about the choices we make, and the choices that make us - as well as being a stunning testament to the way that family grows, roots tangled together. I do feel that it was overly slow at some points, and there were characters - particularly the twins and Izzy - who I wish we'd gotten to know more. That being said, overall this was an excellent book.

Blurb
Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls are seen as inseparable by everyone in their close-knit Italian-American neighbourhood. Julia, the eldest, is the 'rocket' of the family - she always has a destination in mind and clear plans for how to get there. Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book, dreaming of the kind of love you only read about in literature. Cecelia and Emmeline, the twins, are the artist and the caregiver. From childhood, the four sisters complete each other.

When Julia falls in love with William Waters, a history student and college sports star, she's delighted by the way her plans for adulthood are coming to fruition: a husband, a house, a family of her own. But when darkness from William's past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante - and the ensuing betrayal tears the sisters apart.

#my thoughts
I totally adored this book it was rich with wonderful characters who took you to there hearts.
The love of four sisters who thought they were Little Women and talked of being ‘Beth’. The circumstances in life suddenly fracturing their family dynamics. Rose the mother just leaving after their gorgeous father Charlie dies and how the family cope with the turmoil of further troubles.
Oh how I loved Sylvie and William their unstated quiet love jumped from the pages.

‘It’s hard to explain but our love was so deep and wide that it made me love everyone and everything in sight ..’

Let’s be truthful I cried reading this book it is wonderfully written and I loved the Padavano girls .

You must preorder this book you will love being in America with this family .. 🥰

‘The only reason for Time is so everything doesn’t happen at once mark Twain ‘

Prior to starting Hello Beautiful I was intrigued but was not expecting to be so heavily invested in this heart wrenching tale of the Padavano family and whilst I didn’t know if I was in the mood to start a 400+ book at the time, I could easily have read another 400 pages of their story.

I feel as though it would be very hard not to be completely hooked with the character driven narrative by Napolitano and I particularly enjoyed the echoes and even direct references to one of my favourite classics, Little Women.

With some hard hitting themes and family secrets, Hello Beautiful was almost impossible to put down and is one of my favourite reads of the year to date!

I adored this book, the storyline and writing style was so beautiful. Had me hooked from page one, i devoured it in a sitting. The cover is so gorgeous.