An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Dear Luke,First let me say—I love you…I didn’t want to leave you… across the front in Natalie’s handwriting, waiting for him on the floor of their suburban Michigan home.
The letter inside, written on the first day of Natalie’s cancer treatment a year ago, turns out to be the first of many. Luke is convinced they’re genuine, but who is delivering them? As his obsession with the letters grows, Luke uncovers long-buried secrets that make him question everything he knew about his wife and their family. But the revelations also point the way toward a future where love goes on—in written words, in memories, and in the promises it’s never too late to keep.
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When Natalie loses her battle with cancer, her husband begins getting letters from her. How can this be? Therein lies a mesmerizing story line. This was a very good read. It is a love story, but one with plenty of secrets and mystery to it. You will fall in love with Luke, Natalie’s husband and the twists will keep you guessing until the very last page. Highly recommended.
This is another great read by author Emily Bleeker. The majority of the book was a roller coaster ride of surprises, secrets, misunderstandings, and revelations. It takes a true talent to pile on a number of turns without making them seem at all contrived. My only comment would be that the magnificent pacing was not evident at the beginning, but once it picked up, it didn’t let go.
This book is about a wife (Natalie) who died of cancer sending her husband (Luke) letters after she is gone. It is not supernatural, she wrote the letters while alive and arranged to have them sent. Luke discovers that Natalie has been keeping some secret’s from him and this “rocks his world” perhaps even more than her death. Natalie’s best friend, Annie, steps in to help Luke with 3 children and brings her own set of drama to the story. Can Luke let go of Natalie? Will he ever learn her secrets? Was their whole marriage a lie? These questions and many more keep you turning pages. On my reading scale it lands on a shaky 4. I have a few friends that might like this book. Let me know what you think!
My Reading Scale
-1. Garbage, throw it in the fire. No one should read this ever!
-2. I’ve got nothing better to read right now :::sigh::::
-3. I kept turning the pages until the end
-4. I have a few friends that might like this book
-5. Everyone on the planet should read this book
So when I picked up the book, I read the reviews and saw people said it’s like PS: I Love You. I have to say that this starts of like it but it is a very distinct book. I liked how Luke is pictured and their whole love story plays out between him and Natalie. It made it even sadder to read about her cancer and death. I also appreciate that the author didn’t make the recently widowed husband immediately go out and find Annie or get with her. Grief takes so much longer…to heal.
I loved how little Clayton is portrayed and the intrigue about Natalie’s secrets keep going. This is a wonderful read. My only gripe is that Natalie is portrayed as a veritable saint. He never had any complaints about his wife until he finds she has lied to him. This is a slow paced bittersweet book. Enjoyed reading it.
I have read all of her books and none disappoint.
It took me so much time to pick up this book, I was so eager to read When I’m Gone as it kept showing so much on my suggestions and finally here I’m.
This is the story of Luke and his family, a man who was trying to move on with his life but the constant memories of his wife and her insisting ways of lurking around in his life kept him unable to move forward.
Luke is a faithful hard-working husband that thought he had it all, the happy marriage and the great family life but when Natalie leaves this world his life turns into constant pain and burden without being able to feel like himself ever again. he wanted to forget about everything but some mysterious letters started to show up at his doorstep and his life started to shake again. not knowing what to believe anymore Luke embarks on an investigation not sure if he wants to continue learning the truth about his past.
Annie is a secondary character but it can be also considered as the main character as she is super supportive of Luke and his family as well as a great friend and a good shoulder to lean on when things got chaotic. she is also dealing with her own problems and past that keeps making her afraid to move on and finally embrace the love and the friendship Luke and his family keep offering her at all times. she is a very important person in the life of the Richardson family, her character and story will also make more sense and adds more to Lukes life.
Life and circumstances Turn Lukes’s life way more chaotic, the more he digs into these letters, the more he feels like Natalie was not the woman he fell in love with. only time and the truth will show him what was she so eagerly hiding from him and the entire world..
What I like about “When I’m gone” the story is great, I really didn’t know what was going to happen next, the secrets, the lies all that made the story more intriguing and with the right amount of angst, love the characters so much, the kids where amazing I really fell in love with Clayton. Annie was another amazing character that really stole my soul. I was super entertained, it had the right amount of angst to keep you glued to your chair not wanting to put it down, laugh, tears and beautiful moments are what made this story very enjoyable.
The only reason I’m giving this book 3 stars was because the last part of the book around 80% it felt so rushed for me, I kept turning the pages and felt like there were so many things that still so unclear, Brian’s story was so rushed, Terry passive-aggressiveness towards Luke, Neal, Jessie all those questions where “answered” in the last pages and still felt like nothing was resolved. The story between Annie and Luke also was on hold many things felt like they needed more time for the characters to settle. I really wanted to see some happiness in Luke’s life after the rollercoaster he went through, I felt he deserved it and this ending really felt like he never had peace and happiness he deserved. I was also waiting for an Epilogue and it never came.
Another thing that really made me cringe was the constant silence of the characters, they kept so much to themselves, they constantly thought important things to say and end up keeping it to themselves. I felt like many things where unresolved because of that like Terry and Luke’s relationship, She never apologized. I wish Luke had the chance to had a good conversation with Terry so they can finally move on.
Overall the book was good but left me with the feeling of wanting a few more extra chapters.
Such a page turner. I could never bring myself to put this book down! The author did such an amazing job writing this beautiful book.
Wow! WRECKAGE- Bleeker’s first book- was more powerful, but that is the only book I can really compare this to – this book is *that* good. And it may even be as good as/ better than WRECKAGE – which is about the highest praise I can possibly give. Certainly in this genre, *possibly* in books in general. At first, you’re in it to see how Luke and family cope – you’re introduced to them on the first pages as they enter their garage after Luke’s wife’s (and the kids’ mother’s) funeral. While hints are dropped to the mysteries to come early, you really don’t get to the mystery aspect of this until around halfway in – then it starts building on itself, as Luke and family are finally healing enough for Luke to start asking questions and being more observant. From then on… watch out!
Easy read, sweet story
At first I wasn’t sure I should even read this book. Having stage IV metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma, I wasn’t quite ready to dive into a story about a family losing their mom to cancer. But I read Wreckage and am intrigued by Emily Bleeker’s writing. I made it through this book with all its unexpected twists and turns and am glad I did! A bittersweet story with lots of hope!
I liked the Table of Contents (TOC) for When I’m Gone by Emily Bleeker. Suspense is built right away as parts of the novel have differing numbers of chapters. The parts go from January to August. March and May have only two chapters; the final part, August, has nine chapters. It is going to be a very busy August. Already impressed by the TOC, there is an impressive twist on pages two and three of Part One, January, Chapter One. What a resounding start!
Natalie had cancer. Then she went into remission for three months. When cancer returned and she went for chemotherapy treatment, she began to write husband Luke a series of letters that would track her journey with the disease, no matter the result. The letters were written in secret and timed to be delivered over the course of a year after her death. The idea was to help Luke and the children, teenage Will and the younger May and Clayton get through the grieving process. The letters were delivered anonymously and formed a crutch that Luke depended on to get through the day. Some of the letters reminded him to make pancakes, a favorite breakfast for May. Later letters hinted at a few secrets that Natalie would later reveal. She was preparing Luke.
That might have worked had it not been for a secret box of “Natalie Stuff” uncovered by Will. Luke had respected her privacy and continued to do so after her death. Will felt no need to do so. What Will found caused him to doubt his own parentage; there were documents and letters from an adoption agency. Anxiety caused Will to act out in school which was the basis for a sit-down with the school guidance counselor and Luke. Luke’s discovery of Will’s suspicion led Will to question other parts of his life with Natalie. An examination of phone contact lists and messages revealed names Luke did not know about and one that he did. The name of Natalie’s ex-boyfriend, a former schoolmate of Luke’s, appeared occasionally. Was Natalie leading a secret life? The arrival every few days of anonymously delivered letters from Natalie, letters designed to help him, seemed to Luke they might be mocking him.
Luke determined to track down names and documents and find out how much of his life with Natalie had been true. He would take time off from work and arrange with Natalie’s best friend Annie to help take care of the kids. Annie, married to a police officer, had the time to take care of Clayton and May while husband Brian slept between shifts. Annie had a separate married life also and could not be a full-time caregiver so she split the time with Jessica, a fellow student and friend from university with Natalie. A few letters Luke received specifically recommended Jessica.
This is a complex tale of relationships on the surface and secret. Another main element of the story is one of domestic violence and abuse. There is abuse that may result directly from alcohol and drug abuse. There is another kind of domestic violence acquired as a result of having been a victim or having seen it and then repeating it in later years. Both types of violence are explored in this novel.
There are several surprises occurring throughout the novel. I won’t reveal any of them as they would be spoilers EXCEPT for the first one I mentioned above. As I began to read the story I was immediately shocked by Natalie’s death. The first several paragraphs led me to believe something different. I don’t see how a review could be written that doesn’t acknowledge Natalie’s death. After that, no spoilers.
This is a five-star Amazon read. I will now look for Wreckage, by the same author. I didn’t intend to read this in one session but that is the way it turned out. The novel has many intense emotional points that a reader will not want to interrupt with mundane things like food and drink. OK, maybe I’ll just give up the food; I can drink while reading.
This is priced at USD 4.99 on Amazon but is a free read with Kindle Unlimited. As an added bonus, the book can be both read and listened to through the combination of KU and Audible.com.
The story has a lot of twists, some that i was not able to anticipate. It also has mystery, love, loss, betrayal and friendship, and hits all the emotions necessary to create a meaningful story. It is a bit of a slow read and not as rich as say a Picoult or Hannah story.
Main character, Luke Richardson, has just lost his wife to cancer. Now he has to begin life alone as a single dad to three kids. As he begins to adjust to his new life, he begins receiving letter from his deceased wife. The letters are in her handwriting but have no return address.
Luke has no idea who is sending the letters but he quickly looks forward to their arrival. Things begin to take a turn when the oldest child discovers something that leads himto believe he was adopted. Luke’s investigation into this, plus the mention in his wife’s letters of a mysterious man that Luke does not know, begin the unwinding of the secrets that his wife kept from him.
The story is wheel written and moves at a steady pace. I found myself consistently interested despite the lack of any major major climactic moments. Woven within the main story, you also have the growing relationship between Luke and his wife’s best friend, who also received her post-mortem letter from her friend, a school guidance counselor who’s interested in more than just the kids, and, of course, the nasty mother-in-law.
In the end, I found myself wanting the story to continue, which is a feeling I don’t usually experience. It was a story of love, loss, trust and friendship that I would recommend as a good adult read
A heart-wrenching family drama with surprising twists. Highly recommended.
For the most part predictable.
Excellent book! I stayed up way too late to finish the book.
great read. wish it had a part 2
One of the most compelling books I have read in years. I stayed up all night to finish reading it.