 In this video, I will be sharing the top reviews of the book, The Paper Palace, written by Miranda Cowley Heller. This book is on the list of New York best-sellers for the last three weeks and overall rating of 4.05 which is pretty great. It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a 50-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at The Paper Palace, the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different. Last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next 24 hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives. As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanors of families. Karen from Roseville says my goodness. I loved this book. Perfect to read right now too. A family spending all their summers on Cape Cod. A family that has dealt with some devastating history. There's so much more to this story than what the synopsis states. So many layers, so much that many of these characters have endured. You'll laugh, gasp, feel enraged, so many emotions. The perfect read for me. Oh, and just beautiful descriptions of the land and sea. Claire from the United Kingdom says I loved this book. The proof, thanks to the publisher, had sat on my shelf for far too long, and when I finally pulled it down, I read it in a day and a half, because I couldn't stop. One of those books that I read while walking around the house, attempting to do other things. Published in July. Every summer Elle goes to The Paper Palace, with her family, husband, three children and mother. A series of cabins in the woods on the Cape. She's been going there since she was a child when she became friends with the neighbors, including Jonas. Ellen Jonas have a complicated history, which we learn in luminous and illuminating flashbacks. The present day narrative takes place over the course of 24 hours, at the end of which Elle must make the hardest decision of her life. In rich and sensuous prose, Cowley Heller, cracks open the human heart and exposes her character's choices, the paths not taken and the devastating consequences. I smelled the old cabins and the backwoods, felt the pond water lapping around my ankles, the love and loss of family. A perceptive and powerful story that will stay with me for a long time. Barbara from Florida says the story begins with Elle beginning her day after consummating a lifelong crush relationship with a man, Jonas, who she's known since she's been a child. Elle and Jonas came to this family compound, named The Paper Palace since they were children. Elle is two years older than Jonas, which is not a big difference in age now that they are adults. But as children, he was a mere boy. The beginning scenes are a bit, racy, in the description of their trist. Author Heller is direct. This is an extramarital affair. Elle then narrates her history, beginning as a baby, including the volatility of her parents' marriage. The structure of this story is Elle going through her present day, after having sex with Jonas, and the history of her life bringing her to this moment. She, at the current time, is contemplating if she should leave her husband and go to Jonas, the love of her life. Yet, through the ruminations of her history, she sees her husband, Peter, as a good stableman, a man whom she loves. Lou from the United Kingdom says The Paper Palace is a story of summer, secrets, love and lies. In the course of a singular day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a light-changing decision that has been brewing for decades. When the novel opens, it is 6.30 a.m., the present day. Elle Bishop, a 50-something happily married mother of three, wakes at dawn and heads down to the pond for her morning swim. She is staying at her mother's summer camp, nicknamed The Paper Palace, on a freshwater kettle pond in the backwoods of Cape Cod. As Elle plunges naked into the bracing water, she thinks about what she has done the night before. How? In the middle of her mother's dinner party, she and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had frantic breath taking sex for the first time while their spouses chatted away inside. Over the next 24 hours Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with Jonas, if only they hadn't had to carry the shame of a tragic event from their youth. Kelly from the States says After having a fail with everyone else's summer faves seven days in June I had sworn myself off of Reese's book club pics. I thought I could easily pass up The Paper Palace after taking a gander at the blurb that talked about how these two married people snuck out of a family dinner while on vacation to bang because no thank you very much. But then people were commenting that it was disturbing and well. And for the content? Yes, disturbing, is an accurate word. I am not one who wants a sensitivity reader or trigger warning so I am not going to spoil the contents contained within this book's pages by saying anything aside from if you don't like dark, then stay the hell away. All you need to know about this one going in is at the story of Elle and Jonas who have been friends most of their lives, spending their summers together vacationing with their families in Cape Cod. This book is all about secrets of the past and what they can do to a person. As far as I'm concerned it proves once again that. Resources of this video are available in the description. Feel free to check them out.