I hadn't read Willis before (thanks Netgalley for the ARC which introduced us) so I didn't have any preconceived notions of what this novel would be.  It's very entertaining, quite well written, and actually thought provoking.  Briddey is intriguing as a character because she has a lot of the hopes and fears we all do and she is able to confront and deal with them in a way we can't- at least now.  Science fiction isn't really my genre but this never wandered into a realm I couldn't relate to.  Try this one.

Briddey is thrilled when her boyfriend proposes that they get an EED to make each other susceptible to each other's thoughts and emotions, thereby increasing their intimacies, but things go awry with her loner coworker, overinvolved family and the boyfriend. I'm a huge, huge, huge Connie fan, so I had been super excited to get this as an arc. It was all just a little too overkill, though. In lampooning our overreliance on communication and communicating every thought in our heads, she went too far the other way and created some real jerkish protags. I've never felt like if you've read one Connie, you've read them all, but this just felt like it ticked the boxes she normally hit. My only surprise was the very normal secretary not being the sane one. It had funny moments and romp-like tendencies, and I really liked her niece a lot, but I had a hard time rooting for most of the characters

It's a comedy, it's a love story, it's a send-up of modern day culture, etc., but at the end of the day the story just felt so forced and jumbled together. The characters were such archetypes and really did not feel like real people at all, the whole thing read like His Girl Friday in a bad sci-fi film. The best parts were the romance I guess? But even that was pretty meh. I think the poor handling of the technological aspects really derailed this book for me and made it hard to take anything in it seriously enough so that I could enjoy it. I cringed anytime Apple came up, it was just not fun. NetGalley provided a preview copy of this title, but all opinions are my own.

This book made me chuckle,  and it also drove me crazy. It's a silly ride poking fun at the level of connectivity in the smart phone age and all the irritation of people being in each other's business and expecting instant replies. The main character Briddey is trying to be perfect for everyone and failing. It seems she'll never get a moment alone and is constantly hounded in person, by phone, text, and email by everyone. But the author finds a way to top that insanity and bring a different guy into the center of her life for some not particularly compelling romance. More romance with technological irritation and some silly fantasy added to it, this will not likely be high on many scifi readers lists.

Such a unique and enjoyable story! I loved the writing, characters, and story line so much. I hope to be able to dive into more work by Connie Willis, as this book was a very fun read. It was definitely different from many science fiction stories I read, but that's what I liked most about it. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a refreshing take on the genre!

Enjoyable, but with some major issues. 

The beginning is slow and the end is slow, but the middle is an entertaining fast paced romp. I don't regret reading it and I was invested in it, but it didn't blow me away. I've read better books by Willis, for sure. 

Some of the issues I had:

The side characters are all caricatures, one dimensional and over the top. To the point of them being irritating. The kid was one of those too precocious for words kids that you only find in books. Briddey is a mite slow on the uptake and too much of a doormat to be believable as a high powered executive. The plot hinges on interrupted conversations and badly timed phone calls and that is just weak. The last twenty percent or so there is just way, way too much theoretical exposition as to how all this telepathy works. And, where earlier Willis books got dated when the reality of cell phones passed by her time traveling future where people rushed around trying to find a landline phone, this one schleps in so much pop culture, it is already got dated on the the first day of publication by referring to Brad and Angelina as a couple. 

The strength of the book lies in the fact that these things stop bothering you when the going gets good in the middle.

DNF. Had a hard time getting into this one, unfortunately. I've heard such good things about the author's work, so I'm hoping to revisit this at another time when I can give it the attention it deserves.

This was my first Connie Willis and I ADORED it. I can't wait to read everything else she writes!