From the author of The Astonishing Thing and Something Worth Saving comes a tender, wise, and insightful novel of a family cat, a second chance, and the love that persists through the deepest heartache . . . They say that cats don’t like change. But Luna, an imaginative tabby, understands that sometimes it’s necessary. When her owner, Annika, moved back to her small New England hometown six … moved back to her small New England hometown six months ago along with her sixteen-year-old twins, Luna knew it was for the best. Ever since Annika’s husband, Peter, died suddenly, the family has been floundering. Luna, too, is guilt-ridden, sure she could have done more to save her favorite person. Luna also knows something the others don’t know. Peter’s spirit is still with them, and Luna believes there is something he needs her help to do . . .
Annika has been struggling to move on. It doesn’t help that her son, Donovan, blames her for his father’s death. Peter always told Annika that they had the best love story going, yet the fact is that much of their story has been hidden away, even from their children. When Annika’s first love, Sam, arrives to plow them out during an intensifying storm, the truth begins to emerge at last. And Luna—watchful and unwavering in her affection—may be her family’s best hope of learning how to forgive and to heal . . .
Praise for Sandi Ward’s Something Worth Saving
“Told with empathy and hope, this would be a perfect gift for cat lovers or anyone who enjoys a fresh take on the family drama.”
—Booklist
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I really enjoyed reading your book. This deserves a lot of audience. Why don’t you publish it in NovelStar?
I liked this book. It is a story about the healing presence of a cat as a family heals from losing their husband and father. It is about coming to terms with teenage years and how those years effect your future. I would put the book down and would have to open it back up because I wanted to find out what happens next.
First off the cover is what got me to take a chance on reading this book and I wasn’t disappointed. If you enjoy heartfelt books about family, love, and loss then you will enjoy this book.
Their furbaby Luna helps the family through their loss of husband/father and holds them together while they process their grief and heal. Luna tells the story of his death through her eyes and how it affected the family as well as her own feelings of guilt.
I found it to be told with care and respect for what a family of teens go through after a parents death. Having lost my father as an adult I can only imagine the pain of losing one as a teen.
I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from Kensington Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Not enough cat too much high school.
What Holds Us Together was such a different read for me. As a cat person, I was instantly drawn in by the cover. And was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the book. The book is told from two different perspectives: Luna, the cat; and Annika, the cat’s owner. They are all struggling after Annika’s husband dies and they move, hoping that the move will help them move on.
I will most definitely be looking for more books by Sandi Ward to read!
If you have read any of Sandi Ward’s books in the past, you don’t want to miss this one. As the others, it features a beautiful cat on the cover and a heartfelt family story.
After Annika’s husband, Peter, suddenly dies in his sleep, she moves back to her family home with her twin teenagers and their cat, Luna. Only Luna knows Peter is still with them. She can see and communicate his ghost. While trapped at home during a snow storm, along with Annika’s high school boyfriend and his brother, Luna helps her family heal from their loss. Annika also learns to trust in love again.
This was an enjoyable, and emotional, book and I liked how it was told from different points of views, including Luna’s. The story switches from the present to the past, telling Annika’s story about her life with Peter, Sam and the troubled relationship with her sister, Lisa. The author fully uses her imagination to weave a tale that is unexpected and highly memorable. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
“I can’t cling to guilt for the rest of my life. It does no good, and it isn’t what Peter wants for me.”
Luna is the family cat. She and her family are grieving. They are desperately trying to move forward in life and yet each one has an abundance of guilt. Why?
Peter the patriarch has suddenly died.
How did they miss the signs? Or did they?
If only Luna had tried to help him. If only Annika had been home. If only Donovan and Delilah had realized that he may have not felt good.
If only….
Luna knows that Peter is around and needs her to find the answers for him so “her People” can understand that they can move on this journey and begin to take the climb upward.
A wonderful, heartfelt book that was definitely well written with enough detail to feel all the emotions!