Fans of Maynard will enjoy this latest memoir about the love and death of her second husband.

Thank you for netgalley for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I read Joyce Maynard's book "At Home in the World" when it came out. I enjoyed reading about the story of a young promising writer meeting the famous J.D. Salinger and then living with him. Once upon a time, I had writing aspirations and a love for Holden Caulfield, so I understood how Maynard fell for Salinger. I felt it was sleazy for Salinger to exploit the very young Maynard. When I had the opportunity to read this book, I jumped on it, remembering how I had a favorable opinion of Maynard's prior work.

This book is a much sadder tome. It outlines Maynard's love affair, marriage and then death of her husband. Maynard's personality and aspirations are completely opposite to my own. I found myself not liking her or her new husband very much. I found reading about her trips, wine, fancy houses, cars and watches to be tedious. The story about her adoptive children was very sad. Maynard is clearly very impetuous and doesn't think things through before she jumps to the next new thing whether it is a child or a house.

I do admire Joyce Maynard and her husband for not succumbing to the lure of fad medicine. They did dabble with diet and "Dr. Miracle" but for stuck with the traditional treatment protocols. I also appreciated Maynard's thoughtful consideration as to whether extreme surgeries such as the Whipple procedure are the best choices. The Whipple surgery always alters the quality of the patient's life but only rarely cures the pancreatic cancer that it is meant to treat. Are a few extra months of life worth the pain the surgery inflicts? I felt these discussions were the best part of the book.

Joyce Maynard's memoir is compelling as she shares her intimate experience with her husband's battle with cancer.  I would experience fleeting moments where I'd wish I'm reading a work of fiction and the pain is not real.
But it is very real....raw....heartbreaking...
We are reminded to treasure the things in life that truly matter such as family, love, a sunrise, a gentle touch....

I received this advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Joyce Maynard's memoir of her time with her late husband before and during his cancer is deeply personal and extremely precise. For me, it was a bit of a slow start with loads of background information, but I feel like she wrote this more for herself, her family, and her friends. This is her way to remember and immortalize her husband, the great love of her life who she met later in life.

I felt like I could hear her voice through the pages -- as if she was sitting at a table across from me -- even though this wasn't an audio book. I feel privileged to have read her story, even when it did get repetitive and when the unfortunate outcome was clear.

I think this is a memoir that will deeply impact anyone who reads it, but especially so if they've experienced cancer in a personal way.

I'm now following Joyce on Facebook, and if she comes through Philadelphia on a book tour, I'd love to meet her.

This is very well written. I don't feel I can really review the book because this is the writer and the love of her life's' story. Who am I to say they should have done something different or more or less. It is sweet, tender and heart wrenching. What a great web of supporters they found some of which they never met in person.  It's funny- Joyce gets angry when store clerks, office workers keep asking how her day is going or to "have a good day " or what plans she has for the weekend.  She just wants to scream she's having the worst day of her life or that her husband has constant diarrhea or can't eat without excruciating pain.  How can I review this very real story?  Yes I would recommend to family and friends or anyone I know with a loved one going through the terrible roller coaster known as cancer.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

Joyce Maynard made me feel like I was in the novel and a visitor along for the ride. From the 1st page all the way through to the last paragraph, I felt the devastating blow of pancreatic cancer diagnosis and their year and a half hard fought battle against the ugly, painful disease of cancer. I have loved every novel of hers and The Best of us is no different. You will feel every emotion, every devastating setback and the love between husband and wife, if this doesn't make you feel.. you may not have the ability to.

I thought I knew what to expect when I requested this one from NetGalley but it was much more heart wrenching. The story was told with such brutal honesty that you couldn't help but feel for the author. This will stay with me for a while, I'm sure.

Be Best of Us is such a well-written memoir - but honestly, hard for me to read at times.  
This book is just so raw and real that at times, it was almost too much to bear.  

Believing that you are at the point of never finding love, I think for many of us is quite real. 
Finding love and thinking you are going to be happy and together the rest of your life is a dream come true for some.  Then losing it - the pain is unbearable.

Reading this, I felt like I was on this journey with her - the highs and lows.  

Thank you NetGalley for this wonderful opportunity, and thank you, Joyce Maynard, for sharing your life with me.

This memoir must have been incredibly difficult to write. It's a story of being 'independent,' and learning to be interdependent with a partner through a great romance, a short marriage, and tragic loss.
Before the author met her husband Jim, in her late fifties, she thought she was done with love and romance. She introduces us to life before Jim, their relationship, the difficulties with their children that they encounter, and their marriage. But, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, Jim was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
During the nineteen months that followed, as they battled his illness together, she discovered for the first time what it meant to be a couple with the person who always had her back. She certainly had Jim's and although they had difficult times, they pursued prolonging his life together.
The description of these nineteen months is very open, honest and the author shows a great deal of vulnerability in sharing her reactions and thoughts during this time. 
What I liked was the realistic way she dealt with the horrible news, the ways they both coped, and the friendships they developed with the pancreatic cancer community. 
Her memoir doesn't make her out to be a saint or a sinner, just a woman in love with her husband who fought for one more day with the love of her life.

Wow!  What a sad, uplifting and brilliant book.  The power of love comes through each word.

NetGalley provided a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Joyce Maynard’s memoir The Best of Us is a personal and touching glimpse of her journey with her second husband Jim. In her fifties, she was living an independent life until she met Jim. She quickly discovered emotions she had never experienced before. He opened up her heart to true love and a real partnership. The quick courtship and short marriage gave her the tools to move forward in a positive way. The diagnosis of her husband with pancreatic cancer after their first anniversary changed her forever. Her detailed account of her personal and professional journey provides insight into her determined and positive character. The reader will be impressed with her integrity, honesty, passion and true grit. Maynard is a positive force and is unstoppable. The Best of Us is a reflective read. It really is never too late.

This book grabbed my heart and held it. I don't know how to describe the emotional roller coaster I went on as a reader, so to imagine the life experience of it is overwhelming. My Dad had pancreatic cancer that took him so swiftly no one had time to catch up emotionally before he was gone. I can't say I understand what the author went through, but my heart hurt for them as much as it was proud of how they handled the heart wrenching twists life threw them. I chose 5 stars to rate this book because that is the format required. It is a life changing book and goes way beyond that. Thank you to Joyce Maynard for sharing her heart

As a woman who had also lost a spouse, there are many emotions in the book that I can totally relate to.  Her in depth description of her relationship with her husband certainly honors his life.  I think there may be too much information about all the minute details of his treatment.  This information would certainly be helpful for those reading about pancreatic cancer but too much for those who are reading it without that experience.

The Best of Us: A Memoir by Joyce Maynard
Sept 2017 

I received this digital book from Bloomsbury Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a touching and honest memoir! Joyce Maynard displays remarkable strength in sharing her story. Every author has a story to tell, not just the ones conjured up with imagination. This is a deeply personal exploration into her brief but moving relationship with her soul mate. Most divorced  people will be able to relate to her quest for a meaningful relationship post divorce. Although cliche, when you least expect something wonderful to happen is when you are presented with the unexpected. 

It is wonderful to read how they relished everyday together before and after Jim's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It is admirable the painful fight exerted against this growing "cancer" monster. They put up a vicious fight until the end. Accepting hospice is not "giving up" but a choice to once again take control over your life and death. I remember sitting with my father-in-law as he lay dying at home as he wanted. That takes courage to choose your ending by reflecting on your life and memories. 

This is truly a memoir written from the heart. It is an easily read book that is hard to put down for the genuine life lessons she shares. I could feel the grief and relief to which she must have felt to confront her deepest feelings through writing. Similarly, I believe we all have painful memories of situations in which we might've handled differently in hindsight. Although, it is said that the best life lessons are learned through experience. 

I had read, "Under the Influence", and had such mixed feelings about it. After reading this book, I find new meaning in those words. She was enduring her own challenges while writing that book.

I have been a fan of Joyce Maynard's work since I was a teenager and read "Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Old in the Sixties" (which I swear was a Scholastic book). I'm 60 now and I still remember parts of that book to this day.  
The Best of Us is yet another wonderful saga about Joyce's life, although it is probably one of the hardest to read. I read about Joyce and Jim's marriage in "Vows" in the New York Times the Sunday it was published and I knew her husband had died, but reading the story of her life, their love,  his untimely death and their fight to delay the inevitable was a wonderfully sad, horrifying love story and I would read it all over again in a heartbeat.  
Having had a close relative who died of pancreatic cancer I kept flashing back to my aunt and what she must have gone through (although her story did not include surgery) but it was still easy to make comparisons.  This is not a happy book but it's not a sad book either. It's a fascinating saga of a lives well lived and while Joyce faces her pain and the biggest mistakes of life with her usual honesty I am still eager to find out what the next "chapter" of her life will be like. I'm so glad she'll be here to write about it.

If you judge a memoir by how vulnerable and real the author is with us, the readers, than this is a 5 star book!  After having read this book I have tremendous respect for the author, Joyce Maynard, who I have never read before.  She opens her heart and soul by showing unlimited vulnerability as she shares her life story.  Based on the synopsis of the book I thought I would immediately begin to read about her late husband's illness but his diagnosis wasn't shared until 40% of the way into the memoir.  This story is really about a woman, a mother, a wife and and author who has had her share of happiness and quite a bit of sadness as she tries to find herself and love.  I respect her for her honesty and I am so sad for her loss but I struggled a bit with the book as at times as I had a hard time connecting with her.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book.

Well-told story of finding love when you don't expect to and the pain of losing it. Joyce Maynard had been divorced for twenty five years when she met Jim. Shortly after their marriage, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Together, they tried to find a cure or at least a reprieve, but it was not to be. Maynard's perspective on love and loss is both poignant and uplifting.

Very authentic. I have enjoyed a number of Joyce Maynard's books, this was different, a memoir specifically allowing the reader a glimpse into her relationship with her partner as they met, married and he then was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. At times I thought the author seemed selfish as she wanted to do for herself first, and then I realized how real that is. In life we often want to think of ourselves first but social norms force us to hide that - "be selfless", whatever, often times we don't want to but we do what is right according to the world. The author was so honest, to a fault a times, I never doubted her deep love for Jim as he suffered,, she suffered. In her early 60's during much of the book, it was as though she found her first true love. So bittersweet.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Joyce Maynard, author and journalist, discovers true love later in life.  Before she me Jim, who we are told several times, has a great head of hair—I imagine Patrick Dempsey gets told this a lot too—Maynard believes she is done with marriage.  She is fiercely independent, but open to companionship and ends up realizing that Jim is more than a companion, he is her partner.  

The couple has a whirlwind romance, and marry, only to have their years together cut tragically short.  Jim is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just after they celebrate their first year of marriage.  Raw, honest, and heartbreaking, Maynard doesn't shy away from sharing the ups and downs of marriage with the strain of a terminal illness.  She courageously writes about Jim's final days—her writing is beautiful and reminds us that love is fleeting, as is time, and that both are a gift to the heart.