Book Review: Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison
Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: July 24, 2018
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
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.
I chose this book because I liked Beth Harbison’s book When in Doubt, Add Butter. Interestingly, that book also has a character named Willa but I don’t think it’s the same Willa as in this book. If you’ve read both books, let me know what you think. I read When in Doubt, Add Butter several years ago so I don’t remember many details.
Anyhoo, on to the review. Willa’s husband Ben died unexpectedly of a heart attack at their beach house three years ago. Their son Jaimie was just fourteen years old. After avoiding the beach house since then, Willa decides it’s time to sell it and moves in for the summer to fix it up. Soon, Ben’s ghost appears to her. He’s not a white-sheet type of ghost – he’s just like Ben was when he was alive but Willa is the only one who can see him.
Willa and her son haven’t had the best relationship with each other since Ben died. Willa has been too obsessed with her own grief to recognize the extent to which Jaimie is hurting too. Jaimie has an annoying girlfriend who is a borderline stalker. After they break up, he decides to go help his mother with the beach house, much to her surprise. Once he’s there, they begin to reconnect, although it’s still a struggle.
Obviously, this isn’t a totally realistic book since one of the characters is a ghost. If you don’t think you can suspend your disbelief to accept that Willa’s dead husband visits her, then skip this book. I was able to do that and thought that it was a cute story. Even though the premise is sad, it never got heavy enough to be a depressing read. I would call it a “cozy” paranormal romance. Or something like that. It was definitely a cozy something. Since the setting is the beach and it’s a light read, it would be a good beach read. The temperature is still in the 80s where I am in the Midwest – it’s not too late to squeeze in another summer read!
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
