Julie's Review: Pack Up the Moon

Author: Kristin Higgins
Series: None
Publication Date: June 8, 2021
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 463
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: You know the ending but it'll still get to you; so have those tissues ready
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Joshua and Lauren are the perfect couple. Newly married, they're wildly in love, each on a successful and rewarding career path. Then Lauren is diagnosed with a terminal illness. As Lauren's disease progresses, Joshua struggles to make the most of the time he has left with his wife and to come to terms with his future--a future without the only woman he's ever loved. He's so consumed with finding a way to avoid the inevitable ending that he never imagines his life after Lauren. But Lauren has a plan to keep her husband moving forward. A plan hidden in the letters she leaves him. In those letters, one for every month in the year after her death, Lauren leads Joshua on a journey through pain, anger, and denial. It's a journey that will take Joshua from his attempt at a dinner party for family and friends to getting rid of their bed...from a visit with a psychic medium to a kiss with a woman who isn't Lauren. As his grief makes room for laughter and new relationships, Joshua learns Lauren's most valuable lesson: The path to happiness doesn't follow a straight line. Sometimes heartbreaking, often funny, and always uplifting, this novel from New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins illuminates how life's greatest joys are often hiding in plain sight. ~amazon.com 

Review: If you knew you were dying, what would you do to ensure that your spouse, the love of your life, would be ok? Could you and would you write letters for each month for the first year after you are gone? How hard would that be? This is exactly what Lauren Park does for her husband Joshua. 

We are told Joshua and Lauren's love story through both of their eyes. We live through their love story as Lauren writes letters to her dad, through Joshua's life with and after Lauren and then of course the way she continues to love him through her letters.

Lauren has an understanding of her husband that she knows that his response to losing her will be to become a recluse and a workaholic again. She wants more for him so her letters are a way to make him continue to live. It is almost a guide for him and by following his wife's tasks he brings people into his life that he would never have encountered. He also grows his relationships with those people already in his life. 

There are laugh out loud parts, parts where you are sad and in the end you better have that box of kleenex handy. I didn't and I was using my shirt. 

This is a departure from the other Kristan Higgins novels I have read but she wrote it with obvious emotion and research into the terminal illness that Lauren has in the novel. In the end, the take away from the book is to live each day and love each day. 

Julie's Review: On Second Thought

Author: Kristan Higgins
Series: None
Publication Date: January 31, 2017
Publisher: HQN
Pages: 455
Obtained: publisher via Little Bird Publicity
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3.75/5
Bottom Line: A novel about how to find your home and make peace with your path in life
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: Ainsley O'Leary is so ready to get married—she's even found the engagement ring her boyfriend has stashed away. What she doesn't anticipate is being blindsided by a breakup he chronicles in a blog…which (of course) goes viral. Devastated and humiliated, Ainsley turns to her older half sister, Kate, who's struggling with a sudden loss of her own. Kate's always been the poised, self-assured sister, but becoming a newlywed—and a widow—in the space of four months overwhelms her. Though the sisters were never close, she starts to confide in Ainsley, especially when she learns her late husband was keeping a secret from her. Despite the murky blended-family dynamic that's always separated them, Ainsley's and Kate's heartaches bind their summer together when they come to terms with the inevitable imperfection of relationships and family—and the possibility of one day finding love again. ~amazon.com

Review: On Second Thought  s about redefining yourself after unexpected events happen. For me though, it was more about the complex family relationships, especially between Kate and Ainsley. It's not that Kate was mean to Ainsley but more that she was indifferent. Their older brother Sean was more removed from Ainsley and never really wanted anything to do with her. For him, she was the little sister.

Kate and Ainsley couldn't be more different. Kate has been an independent woman for year before meeting and falling in love with Nathan. Ainsley has been in love with and catering to Eric's every whim for 11 years. They aren't even married and she already keeps house while maintaining a job, even if it isn't as demanding as Eric's. With Nathan's sudden death Kate can't help but wonder if she would have been better off never meeting him and falling in love with him. His death sends her reeling and questioning her choices in life.

When Eric dumps Ainsley very publicly, she is a little lost and questioning how she could have been a bit blind about him all these years. Ainsley doesn't let it keep her down for long though; she is the poster child for resilience.

As Ainsley and Kate live together they begin to bond and appreciate each other in ways that weren't possible. Instead of Kate finding Ainsley's unwavering happiness annoying, she sees it as a good thing that her sister sees the best in every situation. Ainsley sees Kate for what she is; smart, independent, strong.

I really enjoyed the development of the sister's relationship for me that was the focus of the book. I mean you could see the romantic relationships that were going to define the novel a mile a way but they were still a fun ride.

Kristan Higgins books are the best kind of escape for me. They isn't too much fluff but enough to make it interesting. The center of this book is really about family relationships and I think that can resonate with all of us.

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Julie's Review: My One and Only

Summary: Divorce attorney Harper James can't catch a break. Bad enough that she runs into her ex-hubby, Nick, at her sister's destination wedding, but now, by a cruel twist of fate, she's being forced to make a cross-country road trip with him. And her almost-fiancé back at home is not likely to be sympathetic. Harper can't help that Nick has come blazing back into her life in all of his frustratingly appealing, gorgeous architect glory. But in Nick's eyes, Harper's always been the one. If they can only get it right this time, forever might be waiting—just around the bend. ~amazon.com

Review: I don't normally read books that are classified as "Romance" but when I read the description of My One and Only , it sounded more "Chick-Lit" than "Romance". We meet Harper James and instantly we know that she's been burned and she's looking for a boyfriend/fiance that meets her checklist. Enter sweet, lovable, totally hot firefighter boyfriend Dennis. The one she's about to propose to in a bar and then one who doesn't exactly say yes. Harper quickly learns that her younger sister is getting married; for the third time to a guy she's known less than a month. Given Willa's history, Harper isn't exactly excited. Plus the wedding is in a week and in Montana. Oh and it's her ex-husband's brother her sister is marrying! Yup, can you say twisted?

Harper is a realist when it comes to matters of the heart. You see, she's been burned before many years before and now she's a divorce lawyer. Although, she likes to think that she's helping her clients match their heart with their minds while trying to get them their fair share.

Harper tries to convince herself that seeing her ex after 12 years apart will be easy but she brings Dennis along as reinforcement. Of course, things go awry very quickly for Harper, especially when it comes to Nick. She misses her flight and is forced to hitch a ride with Nick so that she can get back to Martha's Vineyard and her life. Of course, things don't go as planned and we end up with going on the roller coaster ride that is their relationship.

Sure, the ending is pretty much known as you read the description but some times it's the revelations that come to getting to that ending that is the fun part. I really liked Harper and I also liked Nick. The problem is that neither one could admit mistakes and therein, lies the problem. I felt that separately and together they made sense.

If you are looking for a great beach read, that touches on some issues but not heavy handily, then you should go pick up My One and Only for the summer.

Final Take: 3.75/5