Reviewer: Rowena Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: July 25, 2017
Point-of-View: First, Third
Genres: Women's Fiction
Pages: 336
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
In New York Times bestselling author Beth Harbison's most emotional novel ever, a fractured family must come together at a beach house haunted by the past.
Willa has never fully recovered from the sudden death of her husband, Ben. She became an absent mother to her young son, Jamie, unable to comfort him while reeling from her own grief.
Now, years after Ben’s death, Willa finally decides to return to the beach house where he passed. It’s time to move on and put the Ocean City, Maryland house on the market.
When Willa arrives, the house is in worse shape than she could have imagined, and the memories of her time with Ben are overwhelming. They met at this house and she sees him around every corner. Literally. Ben’s ghost keeps reappearing, trying to start conversations with Willa. And she can’t help talking back.
To protect her sanity, Willa enlists Jamie, her best friend Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey to join her for one last summer at the beach. As they explore their old haunts, buried feelings come to the surface, Jamie and Kelsey rekindle their childhood friendship, and Willa searches for the chance to finally say goodbye to her husband and to reconnect with her son.
Every Time You Go Away is a heartfelt, emotional story about healing a tragic loss, letting go, and coming together as a family.
This book was a very emotional book and I was expecting emotion but not the drag me down in the pits of despair kind. I was expecting and really wanting a more romantic story where we see a lot of reflection and growth on Willa’s part but this wasn’t that kind of story and that bummed me out. Actually, it was that kind of story but it was a lot more Debbie Downer than I hoped.
So this story is told through Willa and her son Jamie’s POV’s and Willa’s part of the story is told in first person while Jamie’s is in third. That took some getting used to but it did get easier, the more I read so that wasn’t really an issue for me but my romantic heart wanted some kind of romance for Willa but sadly, this is all Women’s Fiction so none of that.
Willa’s husband died and he was the love of her life. Her life is not the same and she’s kind of wandering from day to day with no real idea of what to do now. She’s trying to hold it together for her son Jamie but she’s so consumed with grief that it’s hard for her. She hasn’t returned to the place where he died and doesn’t really want to until the time comes for her to clean that place up and get it sold off so that she can put the past to rest and finally move on toward the future. She enlists her best friend’s help and Jamie and her best friend’s daughter come through to help as well.
This book reminded me of the movie Ghost because Ben shows up to help Willa move on and while I thought it was sweet, the story moved too slow for my liking. I found myself browsing through chapters before digging in to read and normally, I could just jump right in and fall right in but that wasn’t the case with this one. I’m sure that it was probably a mood thing where I wasn’t in the mood for a really heavy, emotional story but I did finish it so that was something. I enjoyed the way that everything came together and I did like the characters and the small romance that we got for Jamie but because the book moved slow and was so heavy, my grade for this one is firmly set in the 3 out of 5 stars camp.
Grade: 3 out of 5
Hmm, this does sound intriguing despite your reservations, Rowena. I do like a non-scary ghost story.