What I loved best about this book was all the real human emotion. Ben and Elsie have just married when he is killed suddenly - and then Elsie is dealing with a mother-in-law who doesn't even know about her. Discovering that Susan (Ben's mother) also lost her husband to cancer and is grieving herself just added to the sense of tragedy. Watching both women come to terms with their grief - and the fact that after the initial hostility, Susan becomes something of a mentor in the journey of grief - all that was heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. ( )

Lovely book on working through grief, especially if you're a random things/activities that take you back to them sort of griever. ( )

We need to talk about Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I don't read reviews before I read on purpose. I like going into a book with the summary, a general idea of the overall rating (because if there's 80,000 ratings and the average is one... gotta be bad), and that's about it. Sure, I sometimes see a Twitter comment or two, maybe an Instagram collage, but I don't want to be biased. I want to enjoy the book, especially when it's by an author like Taylor Jenkins Reid.

So I read the book and then looked at the reviews and OMG... why so mean? From my understanding, this was one of Taylor Jenkins Reid's first books. Everyone is degrading her for the book being "bad" (which it's not) and how her other books are better. Which... you know... over time your writing should get better. This book isn't bad and was beautifully written, so reviewers... stop being jerks. Seriously. And do some research about when this book was read before saying she's gone "downhill" when this is one of her first books... written before Daisy Jones, Carrie Soto, etc. Geez. Louise.

Anywho, I enjoyed this book but it's so darn sad! It really was a book that made me more sad overall and killed my empathetic soul. Elsie deserved better. Life can suck so bad sometimes. Her husband dying after a week of marriage? Crappy. Not cool.

Now, does that make the book bad? No! Not at all! Taylor Jenkins Reid displayed a pretty honest viewing of grief. I haven't lost a husband, but I know when I lost my Dad I felt similar feelings to Elsie - being alone, not wanting to get rid of stuff, saving their smell, feeling completely misunderstood, etc. It hurts and it sucks BIG TIME. I felt this book really hit that nail in the coffin well.

For me, this book was awful though. I don't do well with sad books - even if it has great theming and things can get better. It made me super depressed and for me as a reader, my books are an escape from the crappy times. I do give Taylor Jenkins Reid all of the love though because the book is so well written and such a gem. I highly recommend it if you can tolerate sad books. I, alas, just can't.

I did finish the book. It was a hard read for me but I did it! It's beautiful. It's heartbreaking. It's haunting. Loss sucks. The romantic chapters were so good and sweet, but the sadness made it hard for me to read them.

Overall, fantastic book by the always wonderful Taylor Jenkins Reid. I'll obviously be picking up more books by her, but man... books need a "SUPER DEPRESSING BOOK TRIGGER WARNING" so poor Briar doesn't almost cry herself to sleep.

Three out of five stars - due to the sadness in this book. ( )

I have been reading/listening to TJR's books for awhile and just love them! While waiting for her next new one, I found her debut novel which I hadn't read. While not quite on the highest level of her more recent books, it's a good story which kept me listening after I went to bed. ( )

Well, this one didn't have me bawling like EVELYN and DAISY did, but I still really didn't need to be tearing up on the subway in the middle of the day, thanks TJR.

Immensely readable and fun, but not enough plot/development to really make me want to shout its praises from afar. ( )