Jayme's Reviews > Hello Beautiful

OUTLIER ALERT!
Not quite my cup of tea! 🫖

From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?

I have to be honest-this was almost a DNF for me. I picked it up and put it down, read another book, and picked it up again, hoping to have a better result the second time around. The beginning of this book was a slog to get through!

William Waters grew up in a home devoid of love. He turned to basketball as an escape, and found he actually had the height and skills to earn himself a scholarship out of town.

So much talk of basketball-not an engaging start for someone who isn’t a fan.

Injury would sideline him, but he will meet Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, and she is a young lady who knows what she wants. She has decided that William will become her husband, and a Professor, and that she will provide him with the love and family he never had. Her three sisters also warmly embrace him, and for awhile he feels content.

But, is it the kind of love that he needs?

This is billed as a homage to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and without spoilers, you will find several themes from the timeless Classic, repeated here.

I enjoy MOST homages, but this one opens in the late seventies/early eighties and YET-it STILL reads like a period piece from DECADES earlier, and that didn’t feel authentic.

Something will challenge the close bond that the sisters share, and something else will bring them full circle, but I never felt invested enough in this tale, to remain engaged in this 400 page, multi generational family saga.

I did enjoy “Dear Edward” but too much telling and not enough showing kept me from connecting emotionally with this one.

And, perhaps, because I have read “Little Women”, I was always a step ahead of what would happen…

But, I am in the minority.

Perhaps it will work for you?

2.5 stars rounded up.

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Themes of depression, attempted suicide, terminal illness and familial bonds are thoughtfully explored.

Thank You to Dial Press for inviting me to read this! A gifted copy was provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.