Dnf at 60%. This book had such a great premise but the execution wasn’t great for me. It was very interesting to see Emilia’s life and her experiences from different ages while interacting with those versions of herself. I just found the pacing to be extremely slow. For me to be a little over halfway in the book it didn’t seem like she was learning too much about herself in terms of growth so it felt like “what’s the point of this”.

Yet another case of interesting concept but a boring execution. I haven't been gelling with speculative fiction these days.

Intensely emotional and introspective, and incredibly well written. The writing was propelling and made me just want to keep reading.

A really unusual and engrossing story of three women who find themselves trapped in a lift together, in the Metro, Washington DC. A 17-year-old, a 47-year-old, and a 77-year-old who - at first - seem to have nothing in common, but it gradually expires that they have all suffered the same trauma.
The story takes place entirely on the same day, October 12th, and there is a hint of time travel involved. However, the psychological theme is what is most interesting, self-examination and different viewpoints of the same event. I cannot say more without giving the story away, but it’s a thoroughly interesting read, with insightful character portrayal and it illustrates how incompatible people can come together in times of stress to support each other. An ultimately uplifting tale.

Emilia faces the worst nightmare of many people: being trapped in an elevator without a way to call for help. The more unexpected turn of events is that the two women she finds herself trapped with are versions of her from different points in her life. Emilia, her teenage self, and her elderly self, are forced to unpack their mother’s death and what really happened that night, and why the universe has brought them together on the anniversary.

The point of Just Emilia from my perspective is to demonstrate how we view events in our past in different lights influenced by the experiences we’ve had since then. Emilia’s three selves are separated from each other by decades and, despite having guilt in common, they all view the accident that killed their mother differently. I think the concept of this book is very smart and a great way to explore this idea. You can also tell the author had fun playing with characters from different eras and the challenges they face in conversation.

Unfortunately I really struggled to keep picking this book up despite being relatively short. I think the cuts between perspectives could’ve been improved because it felt too choppy for no good reason. I would also say that if you’re interested in this book solely for the time travel element, I would give it a miss as there is no REAL explanation and there are a few holes if you think about it too closely. I do enjoy it as literary fiction, but wouldn’t recommend it as a sci fi. There were also a few moments that felt really unrealistic and some of the breakthroughs shared between the Emilias felt forced.

I still think this is a good book! It just could’ve been made better in editing in my opinion. My favourite part was seeing current Emilia on the cusp of divorce meet a future Emilia where that decision has been made and how that impacts her. Plus the ending was great! It’s definitely a conclusion some would find unsatisfying but I loved it.

An engaging read with complex emotions, fine structure, and a love letter to D.C. and Maryland. Grief is actualized in an evolving and profound tone. I didn’t care for the political parts just because it’s too close to reality but it’s sparse throughout the book. Emilia is a stunning character to honor the weight of her thoughts. Every character has a complete arc.

Just Emilia by Jennifer Oko

Are there not many instances where we wish we could guide our past selves to do better? Or want for our future selves to tell us that everything will be okay! That everything worked out just fine. So, imagine finding yourself stuck in an elevator with your past and future selves - what would you do?

This sounds unbelievable and ridiculous, right? But it is not so unbelievable, ridiculous, or senseless, when our main character Emilia, 47, finds herself stuck in an elevator on a particularly important date after a rough start to the day. Her company, a 17-year-old teenager who looks like she might be in her rebellious era, and an elegant 77-year-old woman, who reminds her of her dead mother-- doesn’t sound exactly fun, does it?

But what happens when they realize that they’re the same person? Will it be like fictional movies where they will sort out things, change their future, and hug each other for being so strong? This I can’t tell you. You will have to read the book to find out what happens to three stubborn versions of the same person, tangled in the past, refusing to forgive themselves, and wanting to go through life without changing, all while being stuck in an elevator where the overhead light decides to shine based on its mood!

I love reading about obstinate characters, and the way their inflexibility makes things worse before they can grow and maybe heal. And this book did not disappoint. When you believe or know something that everybody refuses to believe or accept is not an easy thing to live with. Yet, even when enough time has passed, we still keep twisting the knife inwards. Emilia was one such character, and her relationship with her daughter and husband was shown as realistically as it is possible to show. It infuriated me, made some sense later but equally made me sad.

Her relationship with her mother, who was a celebrated anchor, was more of one-sided unconditional love with moody reciprocation. This story beautifully highlights the harsh reality of growing up with an emotionally unavailable parent, where you end up loving them and craving their attention by trying too hard. And when unexpected tragedy strikes, you are left grappling with the threads of something you thought you knew.
The premise of the story was interesting and fun. The comically complicated and realistic situations that arise due to being stuck in an elevator for a long time are humorous. You can’t help but crack a smile or laugh a little at the witty banter, some classic references (books and music alike) and a whole lot of moodiness are sure to keep you hooked on this book. The book is set in DC and has lots of references to places within the city. This was not relatable to me and kind of threw me off track. So, if you are from DC, you are bound to enjoy these references even more! I do wish that the ending was explored a little more, it felt kind of rushed.

Overall, I loved this book. I devoured it. If you love books that cover the themes of loss, finding yourself, growing, and healing with a touch of magical realism without being too long then this book is for you.
Thank you Netgalley, Regal House Publishing, and Jennifer Oko for providing ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you could spend time with your past and future selves, what would you say? What would you ask? Try to change? A traumatic event as a teenager links these 3 together and forces them to view themselves in a new (and sometimes not so pleasant) light.

The opening of the book quickly introduces us to Emilia, a harried mom in her mid-forties who feels like she can't do anything right. She has a failed career, her marriage isn't doing so hot, and her pre-teen daughter is starting to prefer her phone over mom time. So it goes.

On an important historical anniversary for Emilia, she winds up stuck in an elevator with Em and Millie. With nothing to do but talk, the 3 quickly find out that they are one and the same person. (Not a spoiler, this is in the book synopsis.) What ensues are reflections and curiosities on the past, the present and the not too far off future, and coming to terms with things that can and can't be changed.

There is a steady footing between all 3 characters, giving most of them equal plot time (maybe future Emilia is a little gipped, but I can see that the author didn't want to give away TOO much of what was to come). The details were well thought out and the balance between past, present and future was well done.

I think the author took a deep delve into what shame and guilt can look like, and how overthinking can muddle everything all to bits, taking over a life, and changing its trajectory immensely. Kudos to that persistence of thought of "what if".

Lastly, I am torn between this being a good and bad thing at the same time - there was too much time spent in the elevator, and not enough time. Yes that's right. I was a little bored about a 1/3 to 1/2 way through, as details of them in the elevator seemed monotonous and were getting a bit tedious. But then it perked up, and more time was spent on the meat of what occurred in Emilia's past. Til the end, I wasn't ready for it to be over. I wanted more time in the elevator. I wanted to know if anything had changed for any of them based on the time they had just spent together. I guess it is left to our imaginations.

Favorite Quote : "It's not worth waiting around our whole lives for someone to see us for who we are and continually punish them when they don't."

The past, present, and future collide in a DC Metro elevator as three women get caught up in a gripping time-traveling tale of memory, emotion, and unspoken truths about their shared When Emilia Fletcher finds herself trapped inside a Washington, DC Metro elevator, getting out is the least of her problems. Sharing the confined space with her are Em, a troubled teenager plagued by suicidal thoughts, and Millie, an elderly woman yearning to mend ties with her estranged daughter. As the hours drag on, hunger, exhaustion, and panic set in, revealing an almost incomprehensible they are the same person. Locked in an uncompromising match of memories, the three women excavate and attempt to reckon with the shared shame and suffering stemming from an unresolved trauma that has cast a profound shadow over their lives. Brimming with biting humor, compassion, and quick-witted insight, JUST EMILIA is remarkable journey of self-discovery.

I was immediately intrigued by the premise: three women—Emilia, Em, and Millie—trapped in a Washington, DC elevator, only to discover they are, impossibly, the same person at different stages of life. It’s a bold concept with so much emotional depth to explore: a teenager wrestling with suicidal thoughts, a woman in midlife trying to hold it all together, and an elderly mother yearning for reconciliation. Together, they unpick the threads of a long-buried trauma, revealing just how much one life can hold.

This is a story that should soar, and I so wanted it to. But sadly, it never quite found its lift (no pun intended) . The dialogue didn’t convince, and the internal voices felt more like exposition than lived experience.

There’s a beautiful, brave idea at the heart of this—something with real potential—but for me, the execution was uneven and ultimately didn’t land. I wanted to love it; I just didn’t.

I really wanted to like this book.the concept to me felt very intriguing and I felt like it was something that I really enjoyed. However the truth is I really struggled with this book. I really liked the way this book was written and the fact that it focuses on each part of the character to tell that side of the story but considering there were only a few POVs I found it to be very confusing and very difficult to follow. I just don’t think the style was for me.

I would still recommend because I really do feel like this book has such a good premise and style it was just the execution of it not being for me.

After yet another argument with her husband Joel and her daughter Sonya about a certain tradition she insists on following, middle-aged Emilia Fletcher steps into a lift in a DC Metro station and gets stuck in it with two other strangers. Stuck in this strange limbo, three women at very different stages in their life—angsty teenaged Em, Emilia, and elderly Millie—gradually find out that they are all the same person at different points of her life. Confronted with this reality, they talk to each other and form an unusual friendship as they try to process a traumatic event from their adolescence that threw a shadow over the rest of their life.

JUST EMILIA constructs a situation in which its protagonist is confronted with a question a lot of us may like to entertain, despite its impossibility: what would you do if you got to meet an older or younger version of yourself? What would you say to them? That is the crux of JUST EMILIA, and you get to see its protagonist’s reactions to the glimpses she gets of the answers to these questions. JUST EMILIA is a contemplative and slightly humorous novel that explores grief, trauma, and the malleability of memory, and how they can mould a person over the course of their life.

I went into this book with fairly high expectations, because the synopsis sounded interesting, and I'm pleased to say that it lived up to them.
I was throughly immersed in this story from start to finish. It's short but packed full of emotion and an interesting plot.
I enjoyed it a lot.

ended up being a 2.25 stars for me

thank you netgalley for this arc! ugh i really wanted to love this book. it has such a cool premise to it and the storyline idea was so neat. however the pacing and structure was hard to stay engaged with. the main character too just fell a little flat to me. like by the end i just didn’t really care. also some scenes should’ve been cut one in particular threw me so far off seeing the amount of detail described for no other reason to emphasize being stuck in a elevator (iykyk). i loved the idea of this book and ideas of the characters but it just didn’t do it for me. this would’ve easily been my kind of book so i know it’ll still be loved. i wish i was one of those people but i just wasn’t.

Jennifer Oko's "Just Emilia" has a promising premise carried beautifully in the first quarter of the book. The writing is lyrical and flows really well.
After the main reveal, the book slows down too much to be enjoyable, at which point the only thing that kept me reading was the beautiful writing.
The ending is, simply put, disappointing. The all-too-long journey of exploring grief and learning to move past blaming oneself is rendered meaningless by one of the final revelations, and the much awaited moment of catharsis is stolen from the reader.
Overall, plot aside, it is a nice read, but it could have been so, so much better.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the advance copy for this review.

Just Emilia has an intriguing concept, and I wanted to love it.

The story centers around internal conflict - the same conflict in the same girl at 3 different stages of life. Emilia is self-loathing and unforgiving; she hasn’t been able to live her truth since the day of the tragic event and is unable to move past that burden as she continues in life. It took a while for the story to get into the issue though - it felt like the story didn’t begin until the 20% mark.

Ultimately, the conclusion wasn’t as moving as I had hoped. Their learning moment did not come across as a big, impactful moment, so their takeaways didn’t feel all that satisfying. There was also something about the idea of Emilia not being able to figure out her issues until being stuck with a younger and older Emilia that felt a bit counterintuitive. The only way for her to resolve her issues was to literally confront and comfort her other selves because she isn’t able to do it without physical forms to interact with? I understand the concept, but it weakened the point, in my opinion.

I will say though that their takeaways upon leaving the elevator were a healthy change for each of them. It’s the baby steps we were looking for, and also the baby steps I’d want Emilia to focus on if she was a real person. In that sense, even though I wasn’t as emotionally moved as I would have liked, I appreciated that the author ended Emilia’s story with realistic ways of moving forward.

Premise is interesting and had me intrigued from the blurb; being stuck in a lift with your past present and future self. However, for me the book wasn’t engaging enough, this was mostly due to finding all threes versions of Emilia unlikable. Not only unlikable but also I wasn’t able to connect to any of them.
By part two I still wasn’t drawn in but thought the potential was there and I had seen so many positive reviews. Some chapters were interesting, such as the unravelling of grief at multiple stages of life. Perhaps with some editing it could be a great read for some.
Overall, I found the book okay but it just fell short, it didn’t feel impactful and that was a shame. I ended up giving this book 2.75 stars, rounded.

DNF - unfortunately I just don't think this book is for me. It didn't do anything wrong, I just didn't connect with the characters, which is a shame as I thought the premise was really interesting.

This book is both a mind-bending experience and an interesting take on a "bottle episode" stereotype while just featuring one person in different multitudes. From the beginning, the reader is drawn into Emilia’s journey, feeling deeply for her as she navigates the raw, complex emotions of grief.

The way the novel explores grief’s evolution over time is beautifully done and serves not only as a reflection of her mourning for her mother but also of her own life’s trajectory.

The incorporation of newspaper clippings, police reports, and other mixed-media adds a layer of realism to the story, grounding it even as it leans into the fantastical. Trapped in an elevator with different versions of herself, Emilia’s experience echoes the themes of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, where time is fluid, and the true boundaries of past and future remain uncertain.
The novel’s exploration of grief and shifting realities is handled with nuance, keeping the reader questioning what is real and how time distorts memory. While the ending feels somewhat rushed and leaves a few threads open to interpretation, the final moments are thought-provoking, leaving us to wonder whether the future is inevitable or if Emilia has managed to alter the past.

3.5 stars
The premise of this story drew me in immediately. Oko did a good job of making Em, Emelia and Millie feel distinct and yet the same person. It's unclear what happens to the older two Emelia's if the young one makes changes to her life from here onwards so I did wonder if there was much point in middle-aged Emelia who may not benefit from the experience or be able to share any wisdom older Emelia couldn't. However, if we assume they're all on separate timelines (which there is some suggestion is the case) then it's not such an issue - I wish this was explored a bit more. The ending itself was a bit rushed and didn't really wrap things up. While I understand the author perhaps wanted it to be more mysterious, I was just left wondering whether there was any purpose in the whole event. This is perhaps one of those books where an epilogue is worth including! There were some references to real world events that not all of them had experienced yet that I actually felt took me out of the story, I think this may be in part due to the story being set in an elevator which forces the focus onto the characters rather than the outside world. A little bit of editing is needed. For example, Emelia mentions how Em has worked out how to zoom in on documents on her phone twice.

Please note received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.