Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Sunday, April 30, 2023

2023 Challenge: A Book That Came Out in Spring 2023: Hello Beautiful

 Book: Hello Beautiful

Author: Ann Napolitano

Pages: 390


This is my 37th read for the year

This story is about 4 sisters - Julia, Sylvie, Cecilia and Emeline.  They grew up inseparable in the 1980s.  When the eldest, Julia, meets William - a young man whose parents never cared for him - he doesn't know what to make of these sisters and their tight nit family.  He thinks he has finally found the family he has been longing for.  However - as Julia starts to lay out their life, a darkness finds William and changes the Padavano sister's lives forever.

This was a pretty good book.  I loved her first book - Dear Edward - and was happy to read another book by this talented author.  Julia the character was infuriating, as was the mother of the sisters, but Sylvie, Cecilia, and Emeline were lovely.  The closeness of these sisters was felt as you read through the chapters - each one told from a different view point of the 4 sisters or William.  It moves through 1960-2008.  In the beginning as the story pieces together, the time moves slower in the book.  But then in the end it starts to jump years at a time, and that part was a little "eh" for me.  Whole lives took place when, for example, a chapter was 1989-2003.  Such a large amount of time to take place in a short chapter.

That is my only complaint, though.  I would have liked a little more condensed story, but I know the author was trying to cover the adult lives of these characters and give a modern spin to the quite often mentioned "Little Women".  It just left me wanting more details.

Stars: 4


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