Hannah is a teenager who recently committed suicide. When Clay receives a box of audiotapes in the mail, he realizes that they are from Hannah describing the 13 Reasons Why she committed suicide. Clay, who knew Hannah from school and work, has no idea why he would be included on the tapes as one of the reasons. Clay was interested in Hannah and wanted to get to know her but overall there was no true relationship between them. Then Clay proceeds to spend all day and night listening to the tapes as he wants to know what happened.

I think this book is a good read for a lot of teenagers and their parents. It is very hard to see the signs of mental illness and thoughts of suicide if that person is trying to mask it from others. In this book, I felt that Hannah had a lot of reasons to be upset about her life. When you are truly depressed, it is very hard to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that suicide is not the answer. As I have suffered major depression all my life (thankfully under control with medication), I can completely understand being in pain and just wishing life would end.

However, Hannah did have opportunities to change her life that she CHOSE not to take and even sometimes intentionally made things worse for herself. Unfortunately, not everyone is a mind reader or can observe external signs if the person does not let them into their life. If Hannah had reached out for help sooner or reported certain events to authorities, things may have been different.

Maggie, a 53 year old woman with 2 adult children, re-evaluates what her life should be after going through a separation and subsequent divorce after 27 years of marriage. Adam, her husband, asks for a divorce after indicating he had an affair with a woman in her 30s. Initially, Maggie clings to the hope that Adam will want to get back together and spend the rest of their lives together. When that hope does not come into fruition, Maggie decides to explore the idea of being alone. What follows involves a Roman holiday, moving to another town, and discovering the possibility of a new love. When Adam turns up in her life again, will Maggie go back to her "old" life and continue on her journey to self-actualization.

I fully enjoyed this book and feel that others will connect to this story. The writing was excellent and felt the author did a great job in developing the characters. I would be interested in seeing what becomes of Maggie in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Aimee Duffy for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My rule is to give an ARC till 10% before I call it quits. This was definitely one where I wanted to quit reading well before 10%. Natalie and Dean meet each other when they are both crashing Christmas parties to find random people to "hook up" in order to avoid true emotion. I did not feel this book had any attraction for me to continue reading. The characters appear to be selfish and shallow. My prediction is that these two will "hook up", fall in love, and find the true meaning of Christmas. However, this one is a no-go for me.