Fall in love with this heartwarming and heartbreaking novel perfect “for fans of Me Before You” (Next Magazine). When Ava Green turns twenty-eight, she discovers this will be her last birthday. The cancer she thought she’d beaten three years ago is back — only now it’s terminal, and she’s not going to waste any of the time she has left. All she truly wants is the one thing she’s been … she has left. All she truly wants is the one thing she’s been dreaming of since she was a little girl: a wedding. The only problem: She doesn’t have a groom.
Ava’s friends and family rally around her to help throw the wedding of her dreams — without the husband-to-be. As word spreads on social media, the bridal planning goes viral, attracting the attention of a prominent women’s magazine. And when a photographer volunteers to help document the whole event, it becomes heartbreakingly clear that it’s never too late to discover the love of your life.
Life in general has been kind of depressing lately with all of the holiday restrictions to help keep us all from catching COVID so I’m not sure why I picked a book that I knew would make me cry. It did make me cry but it helped put all of my other problem issues in perspective. Yes, there’s a lot going on but at least we are alive to complain about it!
On the day that Ava Green celebrated her 28th birthday with her friends and family, she found out that this would be her last birthday. She had breast cancer several years earlier and was in remission when her doctor told her that the cancer had metastasized to her bones and that her prognosis is very poor. Much to the surprise of her supportive parents and two best friends, she decides that she wants to fulfill one of her lifelong dreams and have a wedding before she dies. It won’t be a normal wedding because there isn’t a groom but it will be a party to celebrate her life with her friends and family. As plans move forward, one of her friends decides to put the plans on Facebook. It goes viral and she is swamped with well wishes and offers of a wedding dress, a venue and anything else it takes for a successful wedding. It gains the attention of a magazine and they want to follow her journey preparing for her wedding. Will she be able to have a successful wedding without a groom or will she find out that it’s never too late to find love?
I had a problem identifying with Ava and her friends but I did identify with her parent who were devastated by the news but wanted to make their daughter’s dreams come true. This book is a definite tear jerker but there are also a lot of good messages about living our lives to the fullest that we all need to remember.
Before you open the cover and read the first word, make sure you have a box … or two boxes … of tissues close by! There are no words to describe how deeply this story touched me emotionally.
This book is a journey through sadness, pain, hope, love, loss, relationships (family, friends, romantic), emotional healing, and grief and even amidst the painful moments, there is still laughter. The author brings the characters to life. They are richly developed and you will respond to them strongly. Their support for each other is amazingly compassionate.
When you are given a number of days left to live, how will you spend that time? What will become important to you? What kind of person will you be.
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC of this beautifully crafted and heartwrenching story that I hope will make you examine yourself and realize how precious life and relationships are. All comments are honest and freely shared. This is a book that needs to go the top of you to-be-read list!
Poignant
Heartbreaking
Hopeful
If this was to be your last birthday ever, what would you wish for. For Ava Green, all she dreamed of was to one day be able to get married. The cancer Ava thought she beat three years ago is now back, and back with a vengeance. Her whole community and family rally around the chance to give Ava the wedding of her dreams and Lucas Gable may be the one to be able to make her wish come true.
I absolutely loved this book. I felt that the story line was solid and any book that leaves me in a sloppy mess, is one heck of a book for this woman with a hear of steel. It takes a lot for me to get weepy and this one opened the flood gates for me. I loved that! Robinson is truly a talented writer that could write with such passion, dialogue and a realistic and well written characters that you will absolutely fall in love with.
Overall, this was an amazing book that tugged at the heartstrings, delivered with a strong message and yet left he reader with a satisfaction that only a true gem of a read can deliver.
A definite tear-jerker, make sure you have a box of tissues handy when you start reading.
When it comes to reading romance, I prefer happy endings but occasionally I like to torture myself with tragic stories. These books stay with me longer than the ones with HEAs. I chose to read Photos of You because I was in the mood for such a story. It was a heartbreaking and emotional read!
Ava Green finds out that her twenty-eighth birthday will be her last because breast cancer she thought she beat three years ago, has returned and is now terminal. The one thing she dreamed of since she was a little girl is a beautiful wedding. She is determined to have it before she dies, even though she doesn’t have a groom. Her story goes viral and is picked up by a women’s magazine. Many people volunteer to help Ava organize her special day, including a photographer to whom she feels an immediate attraction.
The Photos of You is a perfect mix of hopeful and devastating, bitter and sweet. It’s a powerful story that reminds us it’s never too late to fall in love and live life to the fullest. I highly recommend it.
Poignant, pensive, and profoundly moving!
Photos of You is a beautifully written, emotional novel that takes you into the life of the young, twenty-eight-year-old Ava Green as she spends her last months of life reaping as much joy and pleasure out of each day, savouring all the little things, enjoying time with those she loves, doing the one thing in life that she’s always wanted, and falling in love for the first time.
The prose is eloquent and insightful. The characters, including all the supporting characters, are strong, compassionate, and endearing. And the plot is an absorbing, heart-wrenching tale of life, love, family, friendship, kindness, honesty, acceptance, generosity, romance, humour, introspection, and loss.
Overall, Photos of You is a moving, reflective, bittersweet tearjerker by Robinson that does a remarkable job of reminding us of what’s truly important in life and highlighting the sheer power of love.
I am writing this review through foggy glasses because I can’t stop the tears. Photos of You is a book I needed in my life!! It gave me so much perspective on life and appreciating this life that I was given. It a book that is heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. I am so excited for everyone to read this book because I know the positive impact it will have on so many readers’ lives.
Photos of You is about a 28-year-old woman named Ava who receives the heartbreaking news that her cancer has come back. Her doctor tells her that she has about a year left to live. She goes through all of the emotions but ultimately decides that she wants to have her control back. This disease is controlling her life and given her an expiration date, but she can control how she says goodbye.
Ava decides to say goodbye to those she loves most by having a wedding. Although she doesn’t have a groom, she will be celebrating her life and cherishing her moments she got to spend with everyone.
When her friends post about her situation on social media, there is a huge response. So many people around the world want to help her in any way they can. She even gets the attention of a well-known magazine and they agree to make it a story.
The magazine will document the actual wedding and everything leading up to it. Ava also agrees to write a section every so often to give readers a look into her life and what she is feeling.
This whole process led Ava to the realization that she hasn’t lived the life she wanted to. She uses this time to experience new things and truly appreciates all the little things in life.
I loved that Tammy Robinson fulfilled one of Ava’s biggest wish/hope. Experiencing love. She wrote another amazing character when she created James. He is funny and kind. His heart is so big. James makes Ava feel special and like a woman; not just a woman who is dying.
I could go on and on about this book. I want to thank the author for writing such a special story. Photos of You was one of my most anticipated releases of 2020 and it exceeded all of my expectations. I loved how I could tell she did research about cancer and handled it with so much class and respect. I could also tell that her own experiences were in her writing. I felt every word, every precious moment, every breath, every blink!
I give Photos of You 5 stars. It’s a must-read that will pull at your heartstrings. It leaves you feeling fearless and ready to tackle your life with newfound confidence and appreciation. Photos of You Tammy Robinson