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 … 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.
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I adore this author and was quite pleased to be given the opportunity to read this book. I loved the premise so dove in immediately. I got a few chapters in and had to put it down. I found Willa to be annoying, incredibly irresponsible and maybe just a little more than normal amount of crazy! She completely abdicated her parental responsibility and was barely living. And really, who has ever found a house that they all but abandoned for 3 years and finds it basically fine. I, like most of us read fiction as a get away and initially found this a little hard to take. I put it down for a few days and went back to it and I am so GLAD I did. This is a story of recovery, learning to move forward and taking back your life and all that goes with it. We all have a little bit of Willa in us. Who wouldn’t want someone we loved with every fiber of our being to come back to us? She obviously needed a push to get back to the real world and be the mom and woman she was capable of being and with the help of her beloved husband did just that. I truly enjoyed this book and hope that you find it as uplifting as I did. If you start it and get a little stuck like I did, push through. It is absolutely worth it. It’s a lovely sweet read that is filled with heart, hope and humor.
To be honest, this book was just not very appealing to me. I felt like Willa’s inability to move on after her husband’s death was trite. While I understand her grief, the fact that she abandoned her motherly duties with her son was atrocious. What mother would do that There could have been so much depth to this book, but it fell flat and did not engage me in the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I loved this book. It’s a book that is very similar to Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking except in a fiction setting. Everything Willa experienced I felt and I asked the same questions she did. The thoughts, the what if’s, the regrets, the I love you’s, and the longing. And then there’s the unfinished plans of growing old together, the unspoken dreams all shattered and the broken hopes.
Ben is ever so gently guiding her. I loved how the story unfolded and how mother and son find each other. The timeline is very realistic. I loved how the happy ending is not getting her with anyone just accepting that she will be okay. I cried so hard at the end when Ben and she talk. She talks of their house, slept in, loved in and lived in and how they’d been together bringing home their baby, meeting for the first time, and living together making memories. I definitely recommend this to anyone grieving. So moving!
Every Time You Go Away is a story about a broken family that finds healing in the least likely place. It is about loss, love, friendship, and memories and letting go. Willa’s and Jamie’s stories touched me deeply, and I loved the setting in Ocean City, Maryland, where I used to spend a lot of time when I lived nearby. This is a good book that deserves a read.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own.
Everyone has their superstitions about angels and visits from beyond. This book allows the reader to experience another opportunity with Ben visiting Willa at their beach house. It was welcoming to see Willa grow to be the mother her son needed and to allow herself to move on with her life – stop holding back from experiencing her life. A definite beach read!
This was an interesting paranormal romance. When Willa returns to the beach house where her late/ex husband lived after their divorce, she finds that he still lives there as a ghost. Humorous to read and full of drama and suspense. I read this as a reader copy via Net Galley and voluntarily chose to write a review. An emotional roller coaster with lots of twists.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an ARC copy of this book.
This was a very emotional book. Good from start to the very tearful ending. It pulled at my heartstrings so many times. The struggles of letting go and raising a teen all by yourself when you lose your spouse so unexpectedly. That is what happened to Willa and her son Jamie. Together they will be ok but first Willa has to learn to let go of Ben. After years of grieving she goes to sell their vacation home. It was where they first met and fell in love. His ghost is there and only she can see him. He is able to come back to help her move on. Of course she does not want him to go away again but he can’t stay.
This book has every emotion you can think of. Love, loss, laughter, tears, friendship, motherhood, childhood, saying goodbye. It’s a very emotional book and you will need plenty of Kleenex at some points. It’s well worth the read and will keep you turning the pages. I loved it.
Another 5 star book for me.
Beautiful
I won a copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways, I was not required to give a favorable review. This is a beautiful story about overcoming loss an moving past it. When Willa loses her husband at their beach house while he was getting it ready for summer she doesn’t go back to do anything for almost years. When she decides to go back she is going to sell it. But little did she know that Ben would visit to help her grieve and get past his death, but also have her friend, and their children come to understanding that she needs to live again. I loved it. I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a great summer read.
How do you go on after the death of your husband? How do you raise a son? After 3 years of just going through the motions, Willa has made a decision. The summer home they bought together, she plans to sell. This is the journey of cleaning out the house, updating the decor to get it together to sell. Her best friend Kristin has come to the shore to help her. Eventually her son Jamie and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey come to the shore. It becomes a summer out of time. When the house is ready, can she sell it?
Willa lost the love of her life too early. Like most that are grieving, grief takes a hold of our hearts, minds, and souls, Beth Harbison writes a great book which takes you through the life of Willa after the loss of her husband, Ben. Their son, Jamie, has lost his dad and somewhat has lost his mother as she deals with the pain. For three years, Willa flounders along with Jamie. Now Willa has to deal with selling their beach house, their annual retreat spot, and also the place where Ben died alone. As Willa deals with preparing the house for sale, Ben makes his presence felt in more ways than one. Kristen, Willa’s best friend, and Kelsey, Kristen’s daughter, come and join in their last summer. Jamie comes in and helps with preparations and finds himself also after dealing with a girlfriend issue. It was a great book that will have you giggling some, cheering for Willa and Jamie, and just a “feel good” ending. This was the first book I have read by Ms. Harbison and I will be reading more. Thank you to Ms. Harbison, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
I received a copy of Every Time You Go Away written by Beth Harbison from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I have never read any work by Beth Harbison and greatly enjoyed this book and will be looking for more books in the future.
Willa lost her husband Ben 3 years ago suddenly, and for 3 years have been living a perpetual shell of a life. Reeling with her own grief, she has not been the mom to her son Jamie that she needs to be. Scattered and depressed, she decides to sell the beach house she had with Ben. But when she gets there, Ben’s ghost keeps reappearing. Thinking she is going even more crazy, she demands Jamie to come and help with the house repairs and also enlist her best friend Kristin and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey.
This book is about finally ending the grief state and moving on with your life after you have lost a love one. The fact that Willa leaned on Ben a lot while he was alive as well as the fact they were teenage sweethearts added to her grief. At times whining and slightly pathetic, she wallows in her despair. But when Ben appears to her (and only her) she begins to A) think she has finally gone crazy and B) begins to heal.
Jamie has his own issues (teenager HELLO) but is still grieving the loss of his dad as well. The fact that his mom has been scatterbrained since his dad’s death, adds to his grief and makes him feel guilty at times. While he is unable to see his dad and isn’t even aware he is there, the changes in his mom helps him change and grow.
A wonderful story about grief and the impact it takes on not only you but those around you. Sadly, not everyone sticks around, is patient and understanding, or emphatic for those that go through the process of grief. The fact is that the time frame is different for everyone and life goes one. And this story was a wonderful and well-rounded story about the time frame of grief as well as the coming to acknowledge that you still have time to live yourself and sometimes, that hurts to admit almost as much as the grief itself. #EveryTimeYouGoAway #NetGalley
“Every Time You Go Away” by Beth Harbison is an emotional and intense novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women’s Fiction with a touch of Para-Normal. The timeline of the story is within three years of the present, and goes back to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story.
The author honestly describes some of her characters as depressed, lost, overwhelmed and conflicted. Willa, is a young widow with a teenage son Jamie. Their relationship is strained and dysfunctional due to the tragic death of Ben, three years earlier. Ben died in the family summer home which once had wonderful and happy memories. Willa is very lucky to have a loyal and concerned friend Kristin.
Willa is determined with a heavy heart to go to the summer home, and fix it so it can be sold. As soon as she and the family dog arrive, she has a strange feeling that Ben is there. Literally Ben’s ghost seems to be there encouraging her to move on with her life.
Jaime reluctantly goes to help his mother at the summer home, when he senses there is something off with her. Jaime is getting by in school, and doesn’t seem motivated. He ends a relationship with an over-bearing and demanding girlfriend.
Is this a special summer that both Willa and Jaime can overcome their feeling of loss, and become close. Will Willa be able to move on? I would recommend this novel for those readers that enjoy a book that deals with family grief and healing. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.
4.5 Stars for this emotional read. Not sure I’d recommend it as a beach read, cause the ending had me ugly crying!
Emotional, heartfelt and relatable (to a point) read. Willa is still trying to recover from her husband’s death. To the point where her grief is affecting her relationship with their teenage son, Jamie. Fast forward to a visit to their beach house where Ben died…and he comes to visit with her.
I am a sucker for a good romantic, family read every now and then. Add a visit from beyond. This hit the spot! Memories of Ghost but throw in a little teenage drama. Another plus for me was the setting…Ocean City, MD, a place a visited many times. The author describes this beach town to a T.
Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.
This is my first book written by Beth Harbison and it won’t be the last. If you liked the movie Ghost you will love this book. This book is about moving forward, love and death. Every Time You Go Away is a great summer read.
This is just the book that makes you believe that those who have moved on to the next world, can stop in to peek on us. It is a reminder that our loved one are around us.
When Ben suddenly dies, Willa has no idea how to live.
She returns to the beach house to clean and sell it and Ben is there. Even Dolly the family dog feels it!
“I never thought about how to live. But he’d come to tell me.”
A novel of love, hope, resilience, tears and laughter. I loved it!