Everything is Beautiful: 'the most uplifting book of the year' Good Housekeeping

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Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration They even share a flat together which makes Amy feel warm and happy to have the two people she holds dearest with her always. Until Tim and Chantel disappear leaving Amy to wonder what happened to them.

I’m giving this four stars. I was surprised by the genre bending sort of storyline and truly appreciate any author willing to write about potentially offensive subject matter. I think Eleanor Ray did a bang up job with Amy Ashton. I would have given it 4.5 had the original title and cover been kept . . . .Meet Amy Ashton. Amy’s life has been dormant and stagnant ever since the disappearance of her boyfriend Tim and best friend Chantel eleven years ago. Eleven. Long. Years. Ago. The mystery of what happened to Tim and Chantel is an integral part of the plot and, is what drives Amy's obsession with " things". And by "things", I mean just that, tea cups; newspapers; wine bottles; vases; disposable lighters and ashtrays (even though Amy doesn't smoke); garden pots; oh, and bird figurines just to name a few. She has filled her house so full of things she can no longer see the floor in most rooms, she sleeps on the sofa because her bed is full of 'things'. She has left herself thin slivers of space so that she is still able to move throughout the house, albeit perilously. I have no recollection how this ended up on my TBR and I didn’t bother reading the blurb once my library hold came up so imagine my delight when it turned out this was about one of my most strange addictions . . . . A gently absorbing entry into the mystery-uplit canon. -- Vaseem Khan, author of THE UNEXPECTED INHERITANCE OF INSPECTOR CHOPRA

So much goes on, that it is critical as readers, that we wait for the amazing conclusion to tie it all together. Eleanor Ray has an MA in English Literature from Edinburgh University. She lives in London with her husband and two young children. This book is being marketed at fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I can see why. I actually had the same reading experience with both books, despite the many differences between the two main characters. I became heavily invested in the wellbeing of Amy (as I did Eleanor), and I wanted to see her character grow and heal from her trauma. Now her house is overflowing with the objects she loves - soon there'll be no room for Amy at all. But when a family move in next door, a chance discovery unearths a mystery, and Amy's carefully curated life begins to unravel. If she can find the courage to face her past, might the future she thought she'd lost still be hers for the taking? Amy has found her best friend for life in Chantel and the love of her life in Tim. They even share a flat together which makes Amy feel warm and happy to have the two people she holds dearest with her always.

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Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma Complex Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures When it comes to the character of Amy, her development is gratifying to read. But there were many times where I found her behaviour frustrating. I felt like there was a human element missing to her personality that crossed the lines of interesting to perplexing. However, I love that Ray avoided using Amy as a tool for humour. As much as I appreciated the glimpse into her life, I still found myself feeling less engaged as the chapters went on. I also disliked almost every character besides Amy’s neighbour, Richard, and his sons, Daniel and Charles. While they were a source of joy, the others felt more like a distraction. When Amy Ashton's world came crashing down eleven years ago, she started a collection. Just a little collection, just a few keepsakes of happier times. Things that others might throw away but to Amy, represent a life that could have been. The LoveReading LitFest invited Eleanor Ray to the festival to talk about this wonderful debut Everything is Beautiful.

The narrator is Amy Ashton (3rd person POV). She is such an unusual heroine. She is quirky and kind. She had a trauma happen to her 11 years before. And now her house is completely full of "treasures". I used to like to watch those reality shows about hoarders. I'm not sure what the fascination was but I would wonder how these people got to such a point in their lives that their living conditions were unsafe and unsanitary. I liked the character of Amy and loved the descriptions of some of the mixed media artwork that she created in the past. It was very heartening to see the changes in Amy as the story progressed and the ending was perfect. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to a friend. MY THOUGHTS: Everything is Beautiful was a little more chic-lit than I was expecting... I liked the plot and thought it had a great deal of potential, but I found most of the characters, including Amy, quite stylized. I loved Richard and his boys.

I didn't really like all of the stuff from the past. But the things that I did like a lot: 1) Richard and his kids (the new neighbors), and 2) the mystery (of what happened to her boyfriend and best friend).