Want by Lynn Steger Strong

☆☆1/2
ebook, 173 pages
Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Henry Holt & Company
About the Book:
Elizabeth is tired. Years after coming to New York to try to build a life, she has found herself with two kids, a husband, two jobs, a PhD—and now they’re filing for bankruptcy. As she tries to balance her dream and the impossibility of striving toward it while her work and home lives feel poised to fall apart, she wakes at ungodly hours to run miles by the icy river, struggling to quiet her thoughts. When she reaches out to Sasha, her long-lost childhood friend, it feels almost harmless—one of those innocuous ruptures that exist online, in texts. But her timing is uncanny. Sasha is facing a crisis, too, and perhaps after years apart, their shared moments of crux can bring them back into each other’s lives.

This is a well-written story, but there was just something about it that I couldn’t connect to. It felt like there was so much internalization and many things felt unresolved. I really, really struggled with the writing style on this one. Some great books come from this publisher, so I didn’t hesitate to check out this new-to-me author, but the extremely internalized, subdued writing felt forced. That combined with a lackluster plot and a couple of frustrating elements have me dropping this rating lower than I normally go. There were parts of it that I liked, but they were far outweighed by the things I took issue with. This story has a lot of potential, but I feel like it only scratched the surface.

That cover is absolutely stunning!

Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books and Lynn Steger Strong for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#Want #NetGalley