Hannah Gersen

I almost gave up on this book when I thought it would be a lot about football. I'm glad I didn't because Dean gave up football, but ended up coaching girls track. While I don't run, I don't dislike others doing it. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read about a suicide, but it's suicide awareness month so I thought I should. While most of what I read is Christian fiction, when I read secular fiction it usually doesn't mention Christianity and remains neutral. Unfortunately, this author put it in a bad light. Possibly, Joelle was one of those people who give it a bad name. Other than my objections, I found the writing to be done well.… (mehr)

Before this book even begins in earnest, the reader learns that Nicole has committed suicide, leaving her husband and three children grief-stricken and confused. What follows is an exploration of sadness, love and the importance of family. This is a slow moving, quiet novel and works well as a depiction of family in despair. It does focus so much on family that all side characters are not well explored and even the small town where they live is often alluded to but never fully developed which I found to be frustrating at times. That said, I thought the familial relationships were fully explored and I found myself rooting for them all to come through their sorrow in the end. I received this book through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)