I was delighted to be invited to review this ARC for Netgalley. Dear Edward is one of my favourite novels and I was looking forward to this.

I have been reading it for over 2 weeks though and am less than a third through.

Last night I closed the ARC and though I cant do this anymore.

The writing is to long, the story is to long and the characters just do not engage me.

I feel really bad but this novel was just not for me.

I really loved Dear Edward so much that I bought a copy for my son and was so looking forward to this book. The title caught my eye, the cover is beautiful however, sadly I think my expectations were just too high.

This story is just not working for me, usually I like slow burners where the author develops characters slowly until the big twist or event in the story but in this case I have lost interest and I'm not really liking any of them. I've got questions which will be SPOILERS but honestly the direction it's going in where Sylvie's slowly falling in love is just not the kind of love story I want to read about. She can choose any man so why is she after her sisters husband? How can William so flippantly walk away from Alice? Why is Julia so heartless?
To be honest I DNF this book around a third of the way through. I don't think I can carry on. Sorry. This is my honest review. Thank you to netgalley for this ARC.

This book made me laugh, made me cry, made me gasp in shock. I loved it. The story of William and the padavano sisters had me enthralled from beginning to end. I found myself emotionally invested in each of the different characters as the story played so beautifully out. Just beautiful.

What a wonderful title for Ann Napolitano's follow up to Dear Edward. Hello Beautiful.

This family saga tells the tale of William Waters, an unloved boy who falls in love with the daughter of a close knit American Italian family. William grows up in a family dealing with the loss of his younger sister. He seeks solitary solace at a local basketball park until one day some other kids ask him to join in. Thus begins his love affair with basketball and his path to escape a home devoid of love.
We follow Williams life through college, marriage, fatherhood ,loss and divorce. We also meet the family of his wife whom the story is centred around.This is very reminiscent of Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women'. As we meet the four Padavano sisters, we get a glimpse of how life and its choices can affect the core of the family .

A slow paced, gentle character driven tale that will surely be on everyones reading list this year.

Hello Beautiful will be published on 13 July 2023 .

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I wish I could read this all over again. I’m not even sure how to describe it, but I’ll try.

Hello Beautiful is about the four Padavano sisters from Pilsen, Chicago and follows their journeys and the journeys of those they love throughout their lives. It is beautifully observed and written and I felt like I knew all the characters, even if I didn’t understand or agree with them in the moment. Being with them and some of their loved ones on rotation for periods of their life (sometimes short, sometimes as long as 15 years) is fascinating and it really worked in this context, and I couldn’t stop reading.

I loved this novel and this was my first experience of reading Ann Napolitano. I would definitely read more from this author.

I love these epic family sagas so I expected to enjoy this novel and I absolutely did. There was so much to enjoy - from the funny observations of how siblings behave, to the emotional journey they each go through, I felt very engaged from the start.

This had every ingredient to be an excellent read.

I loved the authors previous novel, Dear Edward and both the title and cover of this book immediately appealed when I read the synopsis I was all in, a family drama with female protagonists and a nod to one of my all time favourite books, Little Women, I was in love with this book before I began to read.

My expectations were sky high and were being met when I began to read about the four Padavano sisters, an Italian - American family living in Chicago. The book begins in the 70's and follows the sisters lives over the following decades as they grow up, grow together and grow apart. This book started really strongly. There is gorgeous writing within and I really liked all of the sisters however, I felt they were held at arms length as the story progressed, I wanted to know them better but I did enjoy their relationship with each other and their family as a unit. The main issue I had was with the central premise of the story, the one man who causes this family to fracture. I did not find him believable as a character, I did not understand his appeal and I didn't particularly like him nor could I get over the actions that causes this family to fracture.

By the final third, I was somewhat back on board and I did enjoy the final chapters. Napolitano writes emotion, love and family well.

Perhaps my expectations were too high but overall I was a little disappointed with this one. Nonetheless, it is a lovely read on the power and importance of family and the ties that bind us together and I really like Napolitano's writing style and I will read whatever she writes next.



3.5 stars which I will round up rather than down.

Heartbreakingly beautiful from start to finish, I loved following the Padavano family over the years and seeing how different generations are affected by the actions of their parents. The characters were so intriguing and diverse, I loved seeing their emotional arcs and changes and the difference between the sisters. The writing was amazing, although I did find the book slow in parts (so is life) because there was not distinct chapters I generally liked the pace once the story got going. This entire book was a rollercoaster for your emotions and so thought evoking with many different perspectives on family issues and depression (among many more), I believe this is a must read for anyone with a love of fiction and Napolitano will become one to watch.

This novel is itself a thing of great beauty. The story is about sisters and sisterhood but doesn't limit itself and it embraces much wider social commentary and a critique of social mores. The characters are full of life and often demand the reader to take sides. The story flows flawlessly and I'll be recommending it to all four of my own sisters!

What a beautiful story. I really enjoyed reading about these characters and their lives. I would have loved to see the perspective of the other sisters as well, because I felt that every character was so special in their own right. This sweeping story hits all the emotions.

The interlinking ups and downs of 4 italian-american sisters living primarily in Chicago. The oldest falling in love with a basketball star in the making, whom she moulds into the perfect man she needs by her side in order to live her best life. Only to be betrayed in the worst possible way by those closest to her.
Allowing for a crack in the sisters shield that encompasses them. The story highlights that even though they look similar, each of their personalities differ greatly and the tale of what ensues is thrilling, I was hooked from the first chapter. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for ARC copy.

Hello Beautiful follows the four Padavano sisters (Julia, Sylvie, Cecilia and Emmeline) and their families, spanning almost 50 years of their lives. When Julia meets and falls for William Waters, a chain of events is set into place culminating in a betrayal breaks apart and remoulds the intense close-knit relationship that bonds the sisters together.

I found myself REALLY enjoying this book - and I suspect it will remain with me for a while after finishing reading.
It was a bittersweet, beautiful family saga, an obvious homage to Little Women, with endearing characters and gorgeous writing. It was perhaps a bit slow at times, but never so much that I wanted to put it down.

Absolutely would recommend, especially to fans of Black Cake, Shuggie Bain or Pachinko.

3.5 stars rounded up

This took me a good while to get into. While the first third or so wasn't exactly boring, it also didn't make me want to lose myself in the story. Nevertheless, the plot picks up significantly after that and Hello Beautiful turns into a heartfelt, emotional and beautiful story about love and identity. I especially loved the multiple POVs and the overlap between the timelines. If you don't mind the first third being a bit slow, this is definitely worth a read.

This is the most enjoyable read I have had in a long time and I read a lot! A beautifully written, deeply emotional exploration of family dynamics with a host of themes addressed in the most sensitive of ways. Grief, love, sexuality, family script patterns and more all underpin the plot and the way the characters are developed is just wonderful.
I can't wait to go and read the author's previous books!
Grateful thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC of this wonderful book.

Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy this book.

'Hello Beautiful' is a family story, not exactly a saga, but a story over an extended time. It is a book about the nature of love. Sisterly, parental and relationship love are all explored, as is the grief that comes from bereavement, relationship breakdown and family conflicts.

It's a really clever exploration of what it means to be a member of a family and what happens when a family member turns their back on the rest of the family.

There is a good sense of the times in which the novel is set and the places, Chicago, New York and Florida.

Another very enjoyable novel from this quite exceptional writer

Thanks so much to Netgalley for a copy of Hello Beautiful.

I really wanted to like this book. But it just wasn't for me. It was just a tad too meandering and long-winded. The narrative was too tangled. I wished I liked it more, honestly.

This book is filled with love and loss, family drama, depression, tough choices and happiness.

Hello Beautiful is a story about family drama and you follow the lives of the Padavano Sisters and William from their childhood to adulthood. William becomes part of the Padavano family and this helps him see the love a family can give to you, since his family never showed him any love.

What a wonderful book. Ann is a beautiful writer and really depicted the personality of all of the characters. Each chapter is written with the title of the characters name, this helped you to really dive deep into their specific life and how they were feeling at certain family dramas and moments in their lives. I absolutely loved every character and felt like I truly knew them by the end of the book. I also loved that Hello Beautiful was what the Padavano sisters Father greeted them with, it was such a lovely part of the book as Charlie saw them for who they really were and nothing else.

Such a fantastic book which I would recommend to everyone! Definitely a five star read for me.

A slow, steady, beautiful story about love and sisterhood. I loved the writing, I loved the Padavano sisters. One of the best books I’ve ever read. 5 stars.

I just loved this family saga centred around the four Padavano sisters. Brought up in an Italian Catholic home, their mother is the one who rules the roost as their father is a bit of a drinker and a dreamer. However, his daughters adore him and he always greets them with a ‘hello beautiful’.
The sisters are inseparable until William Waters enters their lives and there follows a chain of events that changes their relationship forever.
So beautifully written, I loved all of the characters and laughed and cried as their stories unfolded over the years. I have no doubt this book will be a bestseller and I’ve already recommended it to many.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hello Beautiful is the first book I've read by American writer Ann Napolitano. The story surrounds a family the four Padavano girls who 'are so similar they are like different versions of the same face', and how their lives change when they intersect with William, an only child from a loveless home. It has been touted as a modern 'Little Women'
I enjoyed the novel at the beginning, thought that it lost its way a little in the first third, but then picked up steam and I really loved the last half. The characters are realistic and well-written. The family dynamics are believable and I found myself wishing I had sisters like them!
I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoyed Little Women - I'm not sure it's necessarily a modern day comparison but it has a depth and emotion to it that makes it well worth a read.