Plot or Premise

A woman is surprised to find out that a local bookstore has a gift for her from her husband, who passed away six months before. He arranged for “A year of books” to help her heal.

What I Liked

The author had me at the initial premise of twelve books to help the surviving spouse heal and live again. Throughout the months, you see her reluctantly start to read again, try new things, and develop a life without him. Their life together is told through flashbacks and you see her come out of her shell with the help of family and new or old friends. She even travels to exotic locales that she always wanted to visit.

While contemporary or romance is not my usual jam, I picked it from an online book club list based on the wonderful premise, and it didn’t disappoint. I read through it in one sitting which let me escape into the book, except for the need for refreshing the tissue box every chapter. There is an intentional small plot hole that gets filled near the end, and I never saw it coming. I might have if I had read it over several days or weeks, but straight-through worked perfectly.

What I Didn’t Like

It is a bit schmaltzy at the end, with the typical rom-com-style “let’s avoid talking about something and just make huge assumptions instead” plot device, but it isn’t egregious. I was expecting a different “solution” at the end, actually 2 or 3 different ones, but mostly liked the one that showed up.

The Bottom Line

Come for the backstory and bring your tissue box