Special thanks to the author, publisher, and netgalley for my advanced reader’s copy.

It took me awhile to get through this book. Eve’s grief was endless and I felt there was no depth or progression to her character. But that also made me understand there’s no timeframe on how long grief will last and it’s not an exciting thing.

How can you overcome such a traumatic experience when you’re left with so many unanswered questions?

There’s nothing peaceful about death and the topics covered were so heavy. The writing was emotionally compelling to the point you literally experience every stage of grief with the MC.

Her husband did the unimaginable committing suicide. How can she get past this? How will she go on without him? Is there something she could’ve done to prevent it? These are the questions Eve tortured herself with from the day she found Q’s body. Then she lost her job, had to deal with the mother-in-law from hell, and overly supportive friends and family. While still dealing with the worst situation anyone could endure. Yet somehow she eventually found light at the end of the tunnel.

Now her mother-in-law Aspen really irked my nerves. The fact she blamed Eve for the loss of her son was beyond me. I doubt I could’ve held my tongue the way Eve did with her because she was definitely pushing it.

When Aspen said “Did you find the facilities, dear? You were gone so long I thought someone had mistaken you for the help and dragged you off into the kitchen or something!” That would’ve been the last straw. Not sure if I could marry someone whose parents don’t accept me. Let alone make remarks as such and you don’t say anything to defend me. But Eve and Q were happy together so Eve said. I don’t know if I really felt that from the stories Eve would reminisce over.

Favorite Quotes:

“What is love if it misses that which drags your husband beneath the surface, never to be rescued?”

“People think because you have cried in their presence they have witnessed real grief.”

“Grief is not neat. Pain is not dignified. Both are ugly, visceral things.”

By the end of the novel Eve does experience some form of acceptance. Did she ever get past losing Q? Of course not. But she did however experience another life changing event that I feel helped her cope with the loss.

Overall this was an okay read the only downside for me was there was no explanation as to why her husband committed suicide. But that also leads me to say this though. Had Eve found a note or was given a reason as to why he did it. Would that have really made a difference?