Every Time You Go Away Book Review

I got this book on my reserve shelf and I had no clue what it was about and I didn't think that I had read the author before.  Every Time You Go Away: A Novel by Beth Harbison was a new release that was on my shelf so I knew that I must have picked it out from the new releases.  I couldn't wait to find out why.

 

In New York Times bestselling author Beth Harbison's most emotional novel ever, a fractured family must come together at a beach house haunted by the past.  Willa has never fully recovered from the sudden death of her husband, Ben. She became an absent mother to her young son, Jamie, unable to comfort him while reeling from her own grief.  Now, years after Ben’s death, Willa finally decides to return to the beach house where he passed. It’s time to move on and put the Ocean City, Maryland house on the market. When Willa arrives, the house is in worse shape than she could have imagined, and the memories of her time with Ben are overwhelming. They met at this house and she sees him around every corner. Literally. Ben’s ghost keeps reappearing, trying to start conversations with Willa. And she can’t help talking back.  To protect her sanity, Willa enlists Jamie, her best friend Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey to join her for one last summer at the beach. As they explore their old haunts, buried feelings come to the surface, Jamie and Kelsey rekindle their childhood friendship, and Willa searches for the chance to finally say goodbye to her husband and to reconnect with her son.  Every Time You Go Away is a heartfelt, emotional story about healing a tragic loss, letting go, and coming together as a family.

I am not sure what had me reserve this book to begin with but it was a great story with great writing. The book was really sad but also happy.  I was reaching for the tissues more then once and it was a rough book to finish at the car dealership waiting for them to look at my car.  Willa was dealing with the death of her husband and after three years finally goes to their beach house where he died alone.  She is ready to fix up the house and sell it so that she doesn't have to deal with the memories but encounters her husband, Ben's ghost at the house.  She spends time yelling and talking to get more insight into why she misses him and why he can't just come back to be with her.  She is dealing with a lot and he helps her embrace the good memories of the past and let go of the pain.  He helps her love the beach again with all the memories of how they met and times that they shared there fixing up the house together.  Her son joins her in the house and then her neighbor and her daughter.  After fixing everything and getting it ready to sell, she decides that she can't part with the memories.  It was heart wrenching but amazing read.  I highly recommend that you check it out and see for yourself.