Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

First of all, I finished this book at 11:00 pm last night, and I lay awake far too long thinking about the ending. Today, I had some things I needed to take care of in preparation for a school play I am directing, and I found myself repeatedly day dreaming about this book. I think I will be “lost in thought” over this book for quite some time.

Deborah Serra has done something different with this novel, her third book. Serra has a very successful career as a writer, writing for TV, film, and many literary magazines, however, this was my introduction to her writing. I am so glad to have discovered her.

The title, Lost in Thought, refers to the question, “Where do our minds go when they wander without you?” Serra explores the decision-making process and how much control we have over our own decisions, and one of the male characters in this book, Adam, researches and studies this as his life’s work.

The female protagonist, Ilana, is a very accomplished professional living and working in NYC. She has done everything right her entire life, from schools to activities to her love life to her career choices. She is at the top of the world at the start of this novel, the production manager for the Lyric Opera House, where all things, big and small, fall under her domain. She and Adam are the perfect couple, or are they?

For me, the initial draw to this soon-to-be published novel was Ilana’s work at the opera house. I was very active in community theatre for five years, and produced several very large productions which were joint efforts of the theatre group and the university’s music department. I could totally identify with the hundreds of moving parts at each rehearsal and the thousands of moving parts on opening night. So, naturally I found the science talk a bit much, and I wasn’t sure where it was going. However, as the plot moved forward, I began to understand Adam’s work’s significance to Ilana’s dilemma and its importance to the success of this storyline.

One of my problems with reading an ARC, and falling in love with it, is that once I’m finished, I have no one to talk to about it. No one I know has read this book yet, and this leaves me like a boat adrift. I’m not sure what to do with all my feelings from this book, and I can’t really talk about them here because it would be a series of massive spoilers.

While I won’t write any spoilers here, I do feel I must share some things that may be triggers for other readers. This book deals with loss in a really BIG way. Ilana has a lot of loss that spills upon her through the pages of this book, some that were very close to my own life experiences, and some I haven’t experienced but felt deep down inside because of Serra’s strong writing. This book touches on Covid, and even though it takes place after the pandemic was officially over, the consequences of Covid are addressed. This book also deals with adoption, which may be sensitive to some readers. Serra also addresses same-sex relationships and the biases these relationships bring to light.

In my late night pondering of this story, I wondered about some loose ends that I felt were still drifting around for me. However, these loose ends did not unravel my overall feelings for this book. I loved this book, even if I did cry onto my Kindle when reading the last few chapters. I will read it again, even if it keeps me up all night. I will read whatever Deborah Serra writes next, even if she is brand new to me today.

Thank you to NetGalley and Meryl Moss Media Group for this ARC. I’ll be purchasing my own copy of this book once it is published on October 22, 2024.