This is not the typical book that I enjoy reading. With that said, this book was wonderful. It showcased on the love that 2 people have for each other and how to move forward when tragedy happens. I was very confused by the other reviews that I read. Not sure if the author has put out a few different versions of this book with the same title. No matter. This was a good book

The ARC I read was definitely different from the final released book. Perhaps the editor thought the story needed more and perhaps that was a solid assessment. The story I read was anything but hilarious – it was filled with pervasive grief. It touched every page of the book and I was relieved that the book was only about 230 pages and finished in one sitting.

The story was not unique, a woman loses her husband and soul mate, she is so mired in her grief she neglects her only child who is struggling with the same loss. She tries to come to terms with her new “normal” while wrestling with her heartbreak and depression. The apparition of her husband at their beach house as she is preparing it for sale, augments her inability to move forward. Without this device the story would be insubstantial, with it the story is predictable. The dialog, emotions and understanding ascribed to her seventeen-year-old son is so mature that it felt as if the child was the parent. I thought the underlying story of the teenagers moving forward to be the book’s salvation.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC.

Everytime You Go Away is a reflective book about love, death and moving forward. I have read all of Beth Harbison’s novels, but this novel is a departure from her usual writing, but in a good way. Willa has not been able to move past the unexpected death of her husband, Ben. Dwelling in her own grief, she goes through the motions of raising her son, Jamie, unable to accept Ben’s death and move on.
Years later, Willa decides it’s time to return to the beach house where he died and put the house on the market. She is overwhelmed with the memories of her husband and begins seeing him around the house. But is she seeing visions, a ghost or something else?
Fearing she is going crazy, Will calls in for assistance—her son, Jamie, her best friend, Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter, Kelsey. With support, Wilma finally works through her grief and is finally able to tell her husband goodbye.
In a lesser skilled writer’s hands, this novel could be a disaster, but Beth Harbison has a strong sense of her characters and because they are believable, you believe in them. I love beach novels in general, and appreciated how Beth Harbison used her setting (Ocean City, Maryland) as an additional major character to the novel.

For someone looking for a good love story, I highly recommend this book. I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy.

This not a light beach read, but rather an exploration of grief and how everyone processes it differently. I felt the characters were well-written as were the descriptions of the beach house and area. I'm not really interested in the paranormal, but I did like the story.

So the Netgalley version of this book does not match the Goodreads description. It was good though, I really liked how the adult and the teenager had their own point of view. So many books are about adults look down at teens while YA books treat adults as either the enemy or inconsequential. This one struck a lovely balance.

It is three years since the sudden loss of her husband and Willa is finally returning to the Beach House where her husband, Ben died. Willa is not only struggling with being a widow but also not being able to connect with her son, Jamie. Jamie is now a teenager and Willa is wondering I’d it is just normal teenage angst that she and Jamie are going through, but perhaps also that he has also not come to terms with his fathers death. Jamie refuses to return to the beach hose to clean it out to sell, so Willa returns alone. There are no rules for how to deal with loss, but the entry of the “ghost of Ben” does have its effect on Willa to not move on. Although the book seem to drag in some places for me, overall the conclusion finally brought Willa and Jamie to a place of acceptance of how there life would be from now on and their acceptance of it.

This book follows widow, Willa, and her son, Jamie, as they go through the grief process after her husband, Ben has unexpectedly died.

Years after his death, Willa decides to go back to the beach house they own and ready it to sell. She goes through many emotions as she relives the memories of life with Ben here.

She also knows that she has lost the close relationship she desires with her son.

I didn’t appreciate the language used in this book, nor “ghostly” paranormal references, and therefore chose not to complete the book. Due to that, I could not recommend it to others.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.

This book gave you all the feels! Anger, sadness, love, understanding a more. A book about a normal woman who is grieving her spouse, trying to keep it together for her son, going through the motions of a loss and trying hard to close a chapter of her life does the last 3 years. With the help of her best friend, son and her best friends daughter she is trying to get her beach house ready to sell since losing her husband in the house 3 years ago. It's her first time back and she is haunted by the ghost of her husband who is desperately trying to get her to move on with her life. A wonderful book about loss and finding your way again.

I have to say I'm confused. The blurb I read is very different than the ARC of Every Time You Go Away. I greatly enjoyed the ARC and I hope that the published story stays true to what I read. The story I read is not really what I think of as a light, fluffy beach read, but more of a soft, tender exploration of moving on and trying to find oneself after the death of a spouse.

The descriptions of the beach, the boardwalk and the house were great. I could easily picture myself walking along the beach, eating something at the boardwalk and cozying up in the beach house in the evening.

The main character in what I read was named Willa and her husband Ben did not cheat on her. There was no sister involved or hunky contractor. Ben died at 36 of a heart attack and this book is about how Willa moved on....or tried to...and finally decides to visit the beach house 3 years after Ben's death there.

Evidently she'd never been back and neighbors closed it up and left it. I would probably have let someone else do the same for me in the same situation. Nonetheless, she is back and attempting to get the house ready to sell.

I liked the characters in this book, especially the teenagers and how they grew over the summer. Ben ~ I loved Ben and was sad he died. Willa tried hard, knowing she'd mourned a long time and let things slip.

All in all I'd definitely recommend the book I read. I hope that's what is published. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC.

I'm sorry but I could not finish this book. The first time I checked to see if I was close to the end, I only 18% into the book. I persisted and made it to 58% but I am done. There are too many characters and the main character is just unlikable.

Thank you go Netgalley for the ARC of Every Time You Go Away. I really liked the fast paced, quick story. This is definitely the type of book to read during the summer. Pick it up and be entertained.

Although I ultimately enjoyed this book, it was definitely not the book I thought it was going to be. It looked like a light-hearted beach read, judging by the cover, but it turned out to be a little bit heavier than that -- both sensitive and sad. Really well written.

Every Time You Go Away is a sweet and sentimental story about love, loss and learning to live again following devastating heartbreak. Who hasn't wished for even one more minute with a loved one who has passed away-particularly if the loss was sudden and unexpected? That's what Willa is dealing with-her 39 year old husband Ben died three years ago, yet she still finds herself deep in grief and unable to move on. To make matters worse, Ben died at their summer beach house-the place where Willa and Ben first met and has so many special memories for them. Willa hasn't been to the beach house since Ben died, but after three years of it sitting empty she has decided to sell it. Willa and Ben's son Jamie was 14 when his dad died and he still can't bring himself to return to the beach house, so Willa has to clean it out and get it ready to sell on her own. But Willa isn't really alone...Ben is everywhere-nothing has changed since Willa was last there-even the sheets on the bed where Ben died remain untouched. Willa is filled with overwhelming sadness and dread at the huge task she faces, but help and support come in the most unexpected and fantastical way. To say much more would spoil the story-let's just say Ben "goes away" a lot. Every Time You Go Away is the dream of every person left behind, and even though it's unbelievable, it's also wonderful to imagine it could be true.

Weirdly the description on Netgalley and the description on Goodreads don’t currently match so I’m not certain if the book will be different than the one I read of if they just haven’t updated the description. This book was a little bit too sad for me. I was expecting sad, but in smaller doses and I think it could have really used a dose of humor every now and then. I usually like paranormal aspects but this one was a little too melancholy. I still enjoyed the book though and the house renovation part was interesting.

Willa is a widow, her husband Ben unexpectedly passed away several years prior at their beach house and she has just now finally returned there, to prepare it to be sold. Willa is a shell of the vibrant woman she once was. She feels bereft without Ben, a ship floating aimlessly at sea, a specter going through the motions. Willa's relationship with her son Jamie has also faltered. Jamie, who has progressed through those transition years from child to man since his father's death, does more or less what he wants. And he does not particularly want to go help his mother at their beach house. But when Willa arrives, she finds that there is still some presence of Ben there - she can see him and speak to him. He wants to get her over her grief and help her return to the land of the living. As the summer progresses, Willa begins to blossom back into happiness.

Oh, this book - Beth Harbison always puts out fun, light beach reads and this one was no exception. Everyone who has walked from a boardwalk with the sights and sounds of the food and ocean and tourists will appreciate the way Harbison conjures those images. But this book also broke my heart a little - the pain Willa was in from losing a man whom she deeply loved was palpable and stories like this are all too common in our lives. It's a nice premise for a novel - that our lost loved ones are just behind an unseen veil and sometimes can surround us when we are feeling particularly sad or lost without them. I recommend this book for any fans of Beth Harbison or fans of "chick lit" who need a quick summer read.

An emotional filled read that will have you questioning what would you do if faced with the same thing. First off Willa you get to see how deeply she truly loves her husband in this one. She's grieving and trying to come to terms of what to do next. Using summer break as a way to try to heal and move on at the same beach house her husband died in reads highly emotional alert. And it is. The interactions with Ben are sweet and loving. He is trying his hardest to get her to understand it's okay to start letting go and move on. This beach house is kind of magical in it's own way. I say that because I love how it brings Willa and her son Jamie closer together. Not only that but shows Jamie the love he's been waiting for too. With help of Willa's friend Kristin you see the gradual healing begin. Even though this is a book of grieving from the loss of a spouse you still get a few giggle moments too. From reading the blurb I was prepared for a heavy emotional read. But in fact I love that I got a lighter one that still had a big impact. This is an amazing heartfelt read.

This is a heartwarming story of a woman who comes to terms with the grief of her husband's death by communicating with his ghost.

I thought this was a very entertaining book that I found hard to put down. It's an interesting point of view about dealing with the loss of a loved one & how it affects those left behind. Willa is a very rich character as well as her son, Jamie. Their relationship & how it develops throughout the book is very touching. I would highly recommend this book.

I have not read anything by Beth Harbison in quite a while and was delighted when I found Every Time You Go Away. I was not disappointed! It is a completely captivating story about a woman, Willa, struggling after her husband, Ben, dies and must, after three years, face preparing their beach home for sale. Her loss of vigor for life has affected her relationship with her teen son, Jamie, actually devastating each of them with the loss of how their relationship used to be.
The meat of the story is found in the ghost of her dead husband who visits her and talks to her at the beach house. He is there to pull her back into life and into an improved relationship with their son.
She is joined at the house by her best friend, Kristin, Kristin’s daughter, Kelsey and Jamie. As the summer and renovations progress, Willa finds there is life after Ben.

Willa Bennett (not Jane as in the description of the book, name change?) lost her husband Ben 3 years ago. He had gone to get their beach cottage ready for the summer and died unexpectedly in his sleep. Willa has just been going thru the motions since. She has decided to return to the beach to get the cottage ready to sell. While there she sees Bens ghost.

Willa and her son Jamie are each grieving in their own way, but they aren’t connecting with each other. This is a story about grief and learning to move on. It has a ghost which is not my favorite genre. The book is fast paced and would be a good read for the beach. Because of the ghost I am giving the book 3 1/2 stars. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.