In Every Life by Rea Frey ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

What happens when a husband's dying wish is for his wife to find a new love . . . before he's even gone?

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

August 2024; Harper Muse; 978-1400243136
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); women's fiction

In Every Life is an interesting and well-written book and the basic premise is good but I ran into several issues that ruined the story for me.

First a brief synopsis - Ben and Harper were madly in love and on their honeymoon when Ben first showed symptoms of his disease.  After lots of tests and consultations, they find out that Ben has stage IV cancer and won't live very long.  Ben has a lot of wishes that he thinks will make Harper miss him less when he is gone -- he wants her to go back to her art career.  She turned her back on a great chance for a gallery show ten years earlier in NYC.  She got discouraged and has been teaching art but Ben feels that teaching isn't what she really should be doing and that she should pursue her art career again.  His other wish is that she finds a new love before he dies so that he knows she'll have someone to take care of her.  She doesn't like his wish about her art career and is adamantly opposed to finding a new man when her whole life revolves around Ben.  Harper was totally immersed in Ben and his disease and making him comfortable.  She isn't really thinking about life after he's gone.  Will Ben get his wishes granted and plan Harper's life for her after he's gone?

Harper and Ben's love came across very strongly in the story and it was somewhat believable.  There were some fantastic scenes in the story and yes, I cried a few tears throughout the book.  However, parts of the book were just unbelievable.  Ben is really kind of a sexist believing that he can control Harper's life after her death. After going through the death of a spouse, I can tell you that having another person in your life is very unrealistic plus you learn that you really can take care of yourself and make decisions after the death.  The other part of the story that I did not like is the magical realism.  It's a genre that I don't like but it's ok in small amounts if it fits into the story.  The alternate timelines in this novel were really difficult to believe and didn't add to the romance of the two main characters.

If you enjoy magical realism, you should give this book a try.  There were parts of it that I absolutely loved. I have read this author before and definitely enjoy her work.  I won't give up on her because I didn't enjoy this book.

Buy In Every Life at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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