Smart, studious young Esme is living in New York, studying at Columbia. She falls in love, and then learns to navigate the stormy seas of a relationship while trying to hold onto her Self. The bookstore she works at becomes her emotional home base, and where she finds unexpected but real friends.

I loved the plot. I liked experiencing Esme figuring out her life against the backdrop of her figuring out New York living.

The writing enchanted me. Meyler uses precise and impressive vocabulary. We get to know Esme through Meyler’s smart word choice.

However, at times the book was too wordy. There were entire pages worth of descriptions of art or writers that didn’t contribute to the plot. For me, the numerous art and academia allusions held me up and disrupted the storyline.

Characterization was done well… Esme was a brilliant, idealistic student. Mitchell’s family was blue-blood hilarious and provided a backdrop for a nice bit of social class commentary. Nick’s fondness for Esme made my heart skip a beat.

Because of the wordiness, this was a slow book for me. It took twice as long as usual to read. But I’m so glad I did. Esme was magical, sad, fanciful — and by the end — hopeful.

I received this ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.