Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray is being compared to Gail Honeyman’s popular 2017 novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I’d also suggest similarities to The Truth and Triumphs of Grace Atherton by Anstey Harris and The Cactus by Sarah Haywood. Thus, this story becomes an uplifting mystery centered around missing persons, the passage of time, and the crushing anxiety and grief of not knowing what might have happened. I relished it from start to finish. A beautiful book. Thought-provoking. Evocative. A treat to read' 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 long since buried and Amy's carefully curated life begins to unravel.”

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.Amy’s neighbour, Rachel, cares though, and blames her for an ongoing problem with mice. When a new family moves in next door, Rachel thinks she has found an ally in forcing Amy to change, but with a well paced and thoughtful plot, it doesn’t happen in the way that you may expect. I loved the unexpected way in which some of the elements of the story developed, and though I had an inkling of what the main twist would be, I wasn’t disappointed to be proved right. Amy is left in limbo, and instead of looking for a therapist to help her deal with her feelings of abandonment and grief, Amy buys beautiful things that give her momentary pleasure. (No judgement here: many of us been there, done that.) But Amy has gone to an extreme, and the neighbours and the neighbourhood council want Amy to reduce the massive clutter in her home - contractors can't even get in to repair the chimney, for goodness sake! 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? The LoveReading LitFest invited Eleanor Ray to the festival to talk about this wonderful debut Everything is Beautiful. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Hachette UK Audio via Netgalley for providing an audiobook ARC of Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Eleven years have passed since the events that sent Amy into the proverbial tailspin and Ray does a good job at explaining how her coping mechanisms – putting together a collection of treasures or keepsakes – became an obsession and resulted in the Amy we meet.

I relished it from start to finish. A beautiful book. Thought-provoking. Evocative. A treat to read’ Equal parts heart-warming and heart-breaking, Everything is Beautiful mesmerized me in the best way possible. The book comes out on the 4th of February, 2021. Please read it when it comes out, you’ll fall in love, I promise. 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.

ABOUT 'EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL': Sometimes it's impossible to part with the things we love the most... The Missing Treasures of Amy Aston (2021) written by Eleanor Ray, is an uplifting mystery centered around missing persons, the passage of time, and the crushing anxiety and grief of not knowing what might have happened. Ray studied at the University of Edinberg, where she earned a M.A. in English Literature, she lives in London with her husband and two children. Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift InspirationThis is a sweet story, about how broken hearts can harm us forever, if we don't let go, but also about how broken hearts can be mended if we make room for love. Letting go can make room and this is a lesson that Amy needs to learn.