I Hope This Finds You Well

I thought this novel was fresh, funny, and sad, with an intriguing premise. It does a great job reminding the reader that everyone deals with something that they don’t want others to see; that first impressions can be deceiving and that there is always light in the darkest night. I wasn’t sure whether Jolene’s colleagues knew that she whited out probably hundreds of emails or if it was just the one addressed to Caitlin. I thought it was the latter but then Jolene mentions white out emails (plural) to Armin and he doesn’t seem surprised. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this novel. Thank you HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for the ARC!

Office politics and the lonely business of being young in a world where everything is online is explored with an unflinching eye, in a witty tale of emails that reveal more than they should. Ultimately uplifting.

Thanks to the Publisher , Author and Netgalley. I loved the book.

The book is so engrossing and compelling. It’s unputdownable, thought provoking and relatable. It has dark humour and satire. It will make you reflect on your own self. The conversations and innermost thoughts were thought provoking.

Trauma changes people and Jolene Smith’s traumatic past has changed her too. Jolene is working since eight years at Supershops Incorporated. Adding nasty comments about her co-workers didn’t get her in trouble before but one day it certainly did and she had to agree to do the training with Cliff. Him being friendly with her makes her suspicious about him. Not only that but suddenly she gets access to all the private emails and direct messages. The less she know what her coworkers thinks about her, the more she can do her job but as she read them all, she get into each of their lives and the secrets begin to unveil as they all have secrets. And now Jolene is also carrying one. But will she get disheartened? or she will find a way to make things work with them? I loved the ending. There were heartbreaking and heartwarming moments too. This is a must read.

Thank you for my copy of this book to read and review.

I loved everything about this book. I thought it was original, relatable, funny, sad, heartwarming.

I have already recommended this book to friends.

A definite 5 star read from me.

Welcome to a new kind of corporate espionage in this darkly funny and tragically relatable tale of modern day working culture. From the very first page the social awkwardness was almost paralysing, cutting into those strange traditions and unspoken rules of the office that we follow but honestly make no sense.

We move through the dull monotonous rituals of office life and the stress of family, loneliness and adulting; going through the motions with Jolene as she appraises the world around her with a whip-smart humour and hilarious observations, sharing thoughts we’ve all had but never said out loud. She’s got a mischievous, playful streak that I fell in love with but also clearly has some trauma and tragedy from her past that’s trying to creep back in.

As Jolene finds herself getting pulled deeper into a web of spying and lies, it got intense; I felt the nerves and fear wondering if she’d get caught, if she’d taken it just a little too far but I just couldn’t stop reading. It had the high-stakes of a thriller, with a dash of absolutely swoon-worthy workplace romance, a generous helping of silliness and a lot of heart.

Now, I’m going to check my email settings while you add this book to your tbr.

It's bad enough working with an office full of people you don't like.

But it's arguably worse when, thanks to an IT cock-up, Jolene can see everyone else's emails and private messages.

But, with job cuts looming, is knowledge power?

I loved this book.

I thought it was going to be a lighthearted read about a girl who worked in an office, office gossip etc. But it was SO MUCH MORE! It delicately deals with mental health as well as love (familial, friends, romantic), loneliness, friendship, kindness and more. The author addresses all of these factors in an empathic and credible manner. Jolene, the protagonist, is perfectly credible. She comes across as cold and unfeeling, but inside, she's full of anxiety, she feels passion and she wants to be liked. As the story progresses, we see Jolene come out of herself and see the real person.

I liked the pace of the book, I really liked that the other characters are initially portrayed in a particular way, but eventually their real personalities are uncovered. I liked reading about how Jolene's relationship with Miley progressed through the storyline.

I really liked that the author properly ended the book; so many draw out the story and rush the ending.

I would definitely recommend "I Hope This Finds You Well", I have already suggested it to a number of my book-friends.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review!

5 stars!

Oh wow! I JUST finished it, and I sobbed like most of the way through the second part. This seemed to have hit parts of me I wasn't even aware of. Jolene felt like a real person. She had flaws. She had a sense of being like a normal human, and that yanked me by the neck from the get-go, and I was rooting for her and Cliff the entire time. I did NOT expect to love this like I did. I didn't expect to get so invested in this story that I would simply break down from simple thing's they'd say. I didn't expect a romance either like I got, and I was so ready to throw my phone across the room at any moment that pissed me off.

I can not tell you how happy I am to have requested this. I NEED my mitts on a physical copy because I need to read this again and annotate the HECK out of it. I sound insane but wow, this was a funny, relatable, and surprising emotional ride for me, and I loved every second of it!

This book caught me off guard!
It made me laugh, it made me cry... it's truly incredible and the best book I've read so far this year.

I Hope This Finds You Well is described as an office comedy, and it is that, but so much more! This book centres around Jolene, an office worker who truly does not like her job and coworkers. She vents about this in postscripts she adds at the end of her work emails, turning the font to white so no one is the wiser. However, she forgets to change the colour of the font once and is punished with email restrictions by the very friendly and new HR guy, Cliff. Instead of restrictions, however, she ends up having access to everyone's inbox and instant messages and learns of all that is being said about her and what's going on behind the scenes at the office.

This novel was such an incredibly sensitive exploration of trauma, loneliness and new beginnings. It discusses that what people show us is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their whole lives. We never truly know what is going on with people. I Hope This Finds You Well also reminded me that life may seem dreary and difficult at times, but there are good people out there, even if it may not always look that way. This book is truly incredible and one that I see myself going back to, even though I don't have a habit of rereading novels.

Thank you so much to The Borough Press/HarperFiction/HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for this eARC!

I loved the cover of I Hope This Finds You Well on Netgalley which led me to be request it after seeing the comparison to the TV series The Office and Monica Heisey’s novel. I’m so pleased to say I enjoyed this book even more than I expected to.

I completely loved the main character, Jolene and this was a story that I couldn’t wait to get back to when I wasn’t reading it. The book manages to perfectly encapsulate the madness of working so close to people for years on end yet not necessarily knowing anything about their lives away from the office.

The loneliness felt by the characters is quietly devastating and I know comparisons to the TV series Fleabag get thrown around but this is probably one book where the comparison is justified as the main character doesn’t deal with the trauma of losing someone close to her.

At first I wasn’t sure how a whole novel could be sustained around the goings on of the office setting, but the different characters and their stories are nicely intertwined and you quickly become invested in their storylines and rooting for things to work out for them, particularly Jolene and Cliff.

A really wonderful debut by Natalie Sue which I think will be on my favourite books of the year list!

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.