I had no idea that this was the book with the famous first line of “It was a dark and stormy night”

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book had me going from laughs to tears, all while making me hungry for grilled cheese and brownies.

Amy Reichert develops characters that are wholly realistic. From the mother who keeps secrets from her daughters and lives her life based on a carefully curated societal image to the struggling relationship of a teenage daughter with her mother.

The underlying sadness in this story is that Gina's life is traveling down a path parallel to her own mother's, but she doesn't even know it. And her mother, so caught up in maintaining her country club image and lifestyle. This sets her down a path that is unfortunately causing a rift between her and her daughter, May. Both May and Gina are grieving the loss of father/husband privately. Gina, because she is trying to be strong for May, and May, because Gina is not showing any emotion regarding the loss, she feels isolated by her grief. When they finally come around and are honest with each other, my heart cracked open, and the tears fell openly.

Its a beautiful story of how loss and grief affect you, but you truly have a choice in how you want to live your life.

How would you live your life, knowing that you were slowing going to lose control of your body?

At first, this book seems like it is about a woman, Karina, who is trying to navigate life as a newly empty-nester post divorce. It is clear to see that the marriage was not a good one, but now she is all alone.

But soon, we meet Richard, the ex-husband. Richard is a concert pianist who has recently diagnosed.

We follow his journey as his body begins to betray him, we see his struggles. We also see the evolution of their relationship and the healing that happens over time.

I would consider this a gentle introduction to the devastating disease that ALS is.

Pretty blase. Both the book and the main character.

I felt like the author kept giving you snippets of a potentially epic story, but it fell flat.

Not my normal “read” but it made for great entertainment while cleaning the basement.

Amy is out there-honest and living her truth. Boldly, with lots of swearing. I don’t know if I’ve ever her the words orgasam and clit/vagina so much.

I love her honesty though!

Wow. I have a friend who has had two strokes in her life, the first when she was in high school. She preaches all the time about the hidden affects that people do not see all the time.
This is a very compelling story that showcases how damage to the brain is hidden.

This book incited me to anger--as it should. The amount of corruption and injustice that Ray was up against. 30 years on death row for a crime he was innocent of. Not just innocent of, but a case where the state rounded up 3 crimes and falsified evidence just to have a criminal put away.

And yet, Ray was able to take his time and choose to look for the light in life, compassion, and helping, vs choosing anger and hatred

2.5 stars
This book makes me sure glad that I am not currently single and trying to date, with all of the use of technology. It seems so foreign.

I did appreciate the overview of all the different apps, websites, etc, how they are used, and which instances they shine. One great point he makes though is that even though it is called online dating, one should consider it online introduction. It seems so foreign to me that people have entire relationships via text, etc. and never actually meet face to face.

The other part I liked, was the analysis of dating customs in other parts of the world.

If I had been actually reading this book I would have stopped. When a book is by a comedian you expect it to be funny, and I didn’t find much of that in here