Book Excerpt 🎙️:
Read this if you crave a heartwarming, easy and relatable read that leaves you wanting more.
Book Summary:
Twelve stories. Twelve months. Once chance to heal her heart...
When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her fiancé waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. Mainly because Joe died five months ago…
The gift is simple – twelve carefully-chosen books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.
Tilly sets out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to vlog her journey, her story becomes more than her own. With help from Alfie, the bookshop owner, her budding new following and her friends and family, can Tilly’s year of books show her how to love again?
Considered Reads Summary:
After losing her husband Tilly Nightingale is navigating a newly found grief and barely surviving. She’s lost her sparkle and anything she’d normally find enjoyable is no longer, when her late Joe decides to intervene. Gifting her a year of books through a local bookshop, Tilly moves through each month stronger as she begins processing her suppressed emotions, unexpectedly connecting with others who have walked a similar path, and partaking in activities only Joe was fond of - finding her light slowly resurfacing.
In parallel, the bookshop owner, Alfie, is also navigating a loss and conflicting emotions and thoughts of his future. They both become overly fond of one another and the relationship begins to blossom. Once intense emotions start stirring, Tilly isn’t sure she’s ready to move on. As Tilly nears the end of year one, she starts to worry what life will look like without Joe’s lifeline of notes to look forward to, but knows in her heart she has something just as special on the other side of her fears.
Page writes such fun loving, relatable characters in vibrant settings with the perfect amount of suspense and fun making this novel unforgettable.
Audience Match: Bibliophiles and rom com/slow burn fans alike.
Quiet Question: Is there anything you are quietly grieving that would help if you shared it with others?
Mood: Grief finds a new energy.
Pacing: Fast
Our Rating: 5.0 - I loved this heartwarming easy read, even though it’s a hefty one I flew through it in 5 days, finding it hard to put down and leaving me wishing for more.
Favorite Quotes (impossible to narrow down, they are all so good):
“Because she loves books. She wanted to discover new authors who would someday become someone’s favorite author. To put stories out there that would help people switch off or understand themselves more clearly through meeting a character just like them.”
“Maybe this is what books do, she thinks, whether stories is real or imagined or poems compiled in one place for people to flick through and search of what they need. They offer something universal but allow you to find your own meaning among the words. They are for everyone and yet they are for you too.”
“I’ve had moments when I’ve wondered what the point of all this is. But we’re still here. And I think we owe it to him, and ourselves, to live. Nothing can take away your memories. But it’s OK to make new ones too.”
“Tilly‘s grief has always felt so earth-shattering, so new. And yet looking at Rachel, she realizes that all around her there are people carrying their own losses, their own scars, even if you can’t always see them.”
“But it’s OK to feel happy and sad at the same time. Very few moments involved just one emotion. That’s life, isn’t it? It’s messy.”
“But the truth is you have always had everything you need - these books were just to remind you of that. You were kind and curious and strong stronger than you know.”
“The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.”
Comparable Titles:
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
Love Letters at the Borrow a Bookshop - Kiley Dunbar
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife - Anna Johnston
