"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found...."

Guilt, grief, regret, shame, and secrets meet grace, forgiveness, and second chances in an exceptional novel. I have become a little disillusioned with some of the fiction I've been reading and its predictable plots, but this book leaves me wishing for more. Yes, it has the guy meets girl and the predictable ending, in a way, but it is filled with so many deeper things.

A decade has gone by and the guilt and grief, regret and shame have only continued to hound at the doorsteps of three different individuals. Another couple is at loose ends and only coexisting because they too don't know how to go on together anymore. Everyone is reunited by a wedding and a celebration of life. Tucker has been told that some things need to be spoken aloud so that he can really find and accept forgiveness and the ability to fully go forward and live life. He gains the courage to do just that and so do the others. Of course, in the end, everything does work out and yet, it is also a portrait of God. I don't know if Courtney intended it to be that or not, but when the real truth, the deep secrets come out, each person finds themself still fully loved and accepted. And that is how God is. He loves us and He wants us to come clean with Him and seek His forgiveness.

I just don't want to say much about the characters themselves, because I'm not sure how to say anything without completely giving away the story and I can't do that. You need to read the book and see for yourself how amazing grace can be and how found you can feel when you let go of the secrets, tear down the walls, and let someone else share your pain with you.

I received this book from Waterfall Press through NetGalley and was not required to write a positive review.

I’ve been a fan of Courtney Walsh since the first book of hers I had the privilege of reading. She gives me such rich communities filled with relate-able people and a romance that typically isn’t over the top. Ya’ll know that romance isn’t the seller for me in a book and story is. I can take or leave a romance but when it’s built into something that captures my attention then I’ll take it. ‘Things Left Unsaid’ is a romance, it’s actually a couple of romances, but it’s so much more than that as well. It’s a known fact that earlier this year my best friend past away. Last year? Another good friend passed as well. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning, still. Sometimes, I get caught up in life and for a moment I might forget . . . until I go to make that phone call I can never make again. I’ve not even made the one year anniversary so I certainly can’t begin to fathom the 10 year anniversary. I do hope, however, that I’ve achieved a greater since of healing in 10 years. I like to believe that I am forever moving forward, even when it feels less than incremental, and won’t stagnate like so many of this community have. I guess, literally, only time will tell.

OK, so I mentioned all the romance this book brings us. It’s the culmination of a forbidden romance a decade in the making, it’s the ignition of a romance that was avoided a decade ago, and it’s the rekindling of a romance that went stagnate for a decade. Cementing love through a wedding, finding love in a past crush, and finally finding healing in a marriage. All based around the 10th anniversary of a best friend, a sister, a daughter. I told you, all the romance. However, it was sweet and so well integrated that it didn’t set my slow burnout of romance on edge. It worked for me. Walsh avoided all the romance cliches that drive me batty. I think I adore her even more now. There are, however, a couple of things I didn’t adore. Yup, this is the part I dread.

Pacing. I feel like it took so long to actually get into the story. I had to hear everyone’s ‘head talk’ and circle talk, and almost self-pity feeling mumbo jumbo that I was ready to Gibbs’ smack every last one of them. I struggled to truly buy into the idea that some things weren’t resolved in the intervening decade of when this group was last together. The hurt read so fresh that it was hard to believe it had been a decade. I mean I can understand a lingering ache, a stab of hurt as these memories are being brought back to the forefront but I struggled to buy that it was this fresh after so much time. That is why this book is only four stars from me. The thing is though, that while I was distracted by the need to smack these guys into actual real life communication I also adored them. I was drawn into their romances and pain. I was drawn into their hurts and their joys. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a solid romance, a good redemption story, or just needs to work through some loss and hurt of their own. There is no wrong audience for this book!

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

Lyndie St. James returns to her childhood home town to celebrate her best friend Ellie's wedding. Painful memories resurface reminding Lyndie why she's stayed away so long. She's unsure how she will make it through the week. Throughout the whirlwind of wedding activities, someone is missing. The death of Lyndie and Ellie's best friend when they were teenagers has left a whole in the hearts of so many in the small town. Unexpected confessions will be spoken, relationships will be altered. A story of how loss can change the lives of so many in an instant. Some try to push away the loss and some struggle to move on. This book was able to show the level of emotions one can feel when someone is lost too soon and how each person deals with loss in different ways. I would recommend this book.

This teen book my author Courtney Walsh is a deep and intense book about deep and intense topics. Will definitely need a lighter title after reading this one. The book did not move quickly, mostly because it was so intense.

Author Courtney Walsh has written an inspiring, powerful, and emotional story in her novel Things Left Unsaid. This story focuses the relationships between friends and family and overcoming the death of a loved one. This beautiful and stirring story is written from multiple points of view as it comes to life from the eyes of those grieving the loss of a daughter, sister, and best friend; those that have drifted apart and are trying to come back together again. This story will stir the heart, soul, and mind, causing readers to reflect on their own lives and the relationships of those around them. This haunting and heart wrenching story will draw the attention of readers and leave them wanting more from an astounding author. This is one of those stories that will be on the mind long after a reader turns the last page. Readers that enjoy contemporary, women’s fiction will not want to miss this fabulous story!

Genre: contemporary, women’s fiction
Publisher: Waterfall Press
Publication date: October 30, 2018
Number of pages: 349

Courtney Walsh revisits her beloved town of Sweethaven in her most recent book, Things Left Unsaid. This book left me thinking about it for weeks after reading it. I loved all of the characters and their journey through the book. Many great lessons to be found inside these pages. I highly recommend this book!

Things Left Unsaid is littered with broken characters resulting from the tragic death of a teenage girl on the brink of adulthood.

I found the characterization of Elle, Tucker, Lyndie, Karen and Davis to be realistic. They all handled grief a little differently and each found they were still drowning in it. As Elle, Tucker and Lyndie return to Sweethaven, they are pressed to confront the pain they are trying to ignore.

While this novel is filled with heartbreak, there is an underlining message of hope.

Ten years after a terrible accident, the people who have had to learn to live with a major loss gather again with their guilt and secrets hidden until one by one they break. I didn’t realize this was a “religious” book (not really my thing) but that wasn’t a big deal to me. It’s a very nice story about friendships and relationships. Well written!

I have enjoyed every Courtney Walsh novel and Things Left Unsaid is no different. This may be among my favorites by her. I am giving it a well deserved five plus stars.

This story surprised me more than once. What I expected to be a story of friendship, summertime memories, and the way the past shapes identities became so much more with every new secret revealed and emotional layer pulled back. Courtney Walsh has penned (another) beautiful story of GRACE. Of how important it is to belong and be known, and to forgive… even if it’s about forgiving yourself.

I enjoyed how the pace of the story allowed for time to get to know the characters, especially Lyndie, in their current frames of mind before events pulled them all together in the same town. This timeline starts to paint a picture of the past and hints at the baggage each of them carries.

Courtney Walsh always manages to write relatable and even flawed characters, and Lyndie, Tucker, Elle, and Karen are all representative of the struggles we face. When you read this story, you WILL relate to at least one of them, whether their pain, grief, complacency, self-confidence struggles, or possibly the honesty, faith, and positive steps to growth call out to your heart.

I won’t give away any plot points or heart-wrenching secrets (you will have to discover them when you read this story) but I will say that this story deals with some sensitive issues. All of them have to do with the fallout of choices and mistakes, some of them long-buried or years in the making. Courtney Walsh’s straightforward style handles this sensitively and realistically which further proves her place on my must-read authors list!

I went from laughing to crying and experiencing every emotion in between while reading! I highly recommend this book to women’s fiction fans or of authors like Katie Ganshert, Jennifer Rodewald, Amy Matayo, and Katherine Reay.

Thank you to Waterfall Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lindie is headed back home to where a tragedy happened years ago, to be in her best friend Elle's wedding. She has not been back there since the loss happened and Elle was the last to see their friend, Cassie alive.

Lindie also has a history with Travis, and is also harboring a secret of her own.

A tale of love and loss, and what it means to truly come home again, this book was a great read and highly recommend!

Wow. Just wow. This is such a powerfully written story that I don't even know where to begin describing it to you, friends! A story of working through hard things and coming out on the other side having more than survived. From first page until the last, I was hooked into the lives of each of the characters. Not one of them has made easy or always right choices. And they struggle. But oh, watching as they push through anyway... As per my usual, it's the characters who make the story for me! :)

Harsh emotions are never fun to deal with and all the characters in this one have lots of those to work through. Guilt and forgiveness are hard. And forgiving oneself? Even more so! Why are we always the hardest on ourselves? That's what truly struck me about these characters. They are real and genuine. The reader has the privilege of walking through some dark places with them and as I did that, so many times I just wanted to reach into the pages and hand out bear hugs! My emotions were caught from the first chapter and I couldn't stop until I knew how things would get fixed. Yet even "fixed" doesn't mean everything is all hunky dory. Unfortunately, that's not real life. But that's the beauty that's here! It's the real that I connected to and it's why I stayed glued to every chapter.

Still, it's not just hard things happening, the story is also filled with lots of hope. It infuses every paragraph. I think that's one of my favorite things about Ms. Walsh's skill with the pen. She just has a way of sinking deep within her characters and her storyline and instilling lots of hope and grace within the words. It permeates everything and it's exactly why the story truly works. Because without those bits of hope and grace, how does any one of us keep going? That's a marvelous aspect to this crazy life we all get to be a part of! :)

Ms. Walsh is an author you need to read, my friends. And this story? Is the perfect place to begin! Read it now! And then go back and read all her backlist if you haven't yet. Then come back here and thank me. Don't worry. I'll wait. It'll be worth it. ;D

**I received a copy from the author via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

“An emotional novel of family, friendship and forgiveness from Courtney Walsh, the New York Times bestselling author of Hometown Girl.

Lyndie St. James is thrilled that her best friend, Elle, is getting married but unprepared for the emotional storm of the wedding week and returning to her childhood summer home of Sweethaven. The idyllic cottage community harbors some of her best—and worst—memories. It’s not only the tragic death of her childhood friend Cassie that has haunted her for ten years, it’s the other secrets she’s buried that have kept her from moving on.

But Lyndie isn’t the only one with secrets.

Cassie’s mother, father and brother, still struggling with the loss, have been drifting further and further apart. And Elle herself, the last to see Cassie alive, carries an impossible burden of guilt. Now reunited, each of them has a choice: to reveal the truths of that night or continue to live in its shadow. That means embarking on a personal journey of the heart—to escape the darkness and all its regrets and to finally come to terms with the past and, especially, with each other.”


Naturally, this blurb caught my eye while browsing NetGalley.
The thought of a summer home, with a close knit community, seems like a rare find these days.
Toss in a tragic accident, which held many secrets... even after ten years... it sounded like a nice escape
to me!

Things Left Unsaid was the first book I read by the author, Courtney Walsh.

The first half of the book felt a bit slow to me ~ perhaps more information dumped out versus being shown why this stuff mattered. At this point, I had no real feelings toward the main characters. Outside of the parents, I could sympathize with the reactions to their daughters untimely death.
None of this kept me from reading, as I knew the story needed to be built up.

I found it interesting how each chapter focused on a different character. We were shown the story through their eyes.

By the 60% point, I began to soften to the characters as their circumstances of that summer began to flesh out. I had an idea what the “secrets” might be, but it was enjoyable learning the details. How such an event continued to burden them for ten years... and how each one began to heal.

The story held my interest until the final pages.
I enjoyed how things wrapped up in the end and wouldn't mind following up with the characters!

I received this electronic book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this opportunity!

This is a story about forgiveness and redemption. More importantly what it feels like to live without forgiveness. It brings to mind words that can change your life: you are only as sick as your secrets. When you get rid of your secrets there is room for love.

In Things Left Unsaid, Courtney Walsh writes characters who know the heartache of protecting secrets and the freedom that comes with speaking the truth to themselves and others. On the surface this is an interesting story about three young girls who become friends. Ten years later there is an event that gives the story more depth and meaning.

I enjoyed reading this book. Discovering how the characters were able to change made me appreciate the skill the author used in dealing with difficult subjects.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Waterfall Press through NetGalley.
#ThingsLeftUnsaid #NetGalley

I had a hard time with this book. I think it was mostly due to the fact the characters were so hard to connect with. Lyndie especially just came across as very unlikable for most of the book, and I figured out her secret pretty early on.

Karen was probably the most identifiable to me. Her struggles with her marriage and her need to almost smother those around her seemed very real for someone having lost a child.

I felt myself getting a bit frustrated with each character. As in: why won't you just talk to someone about this? GO SEE A COUNSELOR OR SOMETHING! I can understand that sometimes it's hard to admit we have a problem or that something is wrong, but all of their issues were so big that it seemed weird that they couldn't see it.

Minor spoiler ahead:
I got extremely frustrated by the fact that Lyndie spent SO much of the book lamenting the fact that she just wanted Tucker to notice her when they were young, but after we learn what happened between them it was like, well he certainly noticed you! I couldn't understand how there was 'nothing' between them until the night Cassie died. Really?

I guess I was expecting something a little more. There's this huge secret surrounding Cassie's death and I guess maybe it's the Dateline watching/true crime junkie side of me that was expecting something more mysterious relating to Cassie's death. There just was a bit of a letdown once everyone's secrets were out. There was this buildup to a big moment and then sort of a letdown once it was all out.

This book is packed with emotion and maybe that was part of the problem for me. I am more logical and not one to base decisions on emotions, so it was hard to identify with that aspect of this book. I can certainly understand other people who are more emotional, it's just every emotion seemed so extreme here.

While I really like some of Courtney Walsh's other books, I'd recommend skipping this and going with Just Look Up

This was an emotional read, and a difficult one at times for me. I am NOT the kind of person who can hold big hurts close to my chest like these characters. Perhaps I was just blessed in having a mother whom I could confide in, no matter what; perhaps I’ve been fortunate in not having experienced situations like the ones these characters have experienced. Whatever the case, I’ve never managed to carry the burden of guilt for very long, and so to spend a whole novel with characters struggling under ten years of its accumulated weight? Yeah, it was a bit tough for this cookie. I was very keen to get to the resolution so I could breathe freely again!

But one of the things I love about fiction is the way it allows me to experience life from a different perspective—one completely outside my own realm of experience—and unlike other novels where lack of communication can be downright irritating, I felt the honest struggle of these characters, even if there was a part of me that kept saying, “If you would just talk to someone about it . . .” It may not have been the way I would have responded, but it was very believable (and understandable) that these characters had held their secrets close the way they did.

There were a few times in the first half of the novel where the story felt a little slow and the characters’ inner narratives a little repetitive, but I couldn’t help but be drawn into their story. Through the four point-of-view characters, we get to experience a range of struggles, from perceived guilt and intense regret through to grace and forgiveness, and from the shame that holds us back from being fully known to the freedom and joy that comes from allowing those we love to see all of who we are—the best parts and the worst parts—and love us in spite of ourselves.

Definitely an emotional read, but also a rewarding one.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I couldn't put this hauntingly beautiful book down, nor could I stop thinking about it when I absolutely did have to set it aside for a moment. This story is all wrapped up in one tragic secret involving a death. Cassie, Lyndie, and Elle were inseparable during the summers while growing up and with Cassie's unexpected death years earlier, the other two have drifted apart.

It's been ten years since Cassie's death and it seems that she was the glue of this broken, tangled cast of characters, yet they're coming together once again for Elle's wedding and to remember Cassie. This book does not spell out the struggles that Elle and Lyndie have endured over the years, nor does it reveal the secrets that each hold relating to that night long ago. As the story progresses, these guilty secrets are gradually uncovered and the emotion relating to these revelations will rip and shred the heart. And what do you do when a character makes choices differently than you would? Why, you forgive them, of course!

The feelings these characters brave are raw, powerful, and vivid, but an underlying current of hope shadows the words. I was completely invested and grasped in the clutches of this book and in the lives of these characters. This is an intoxicating read and the messages of hope, love, forgiveness, and second chances are ones that will stay with you long after the last page is read.

Content: moderate romantic elements (kissing, premarital relations, a tough choice); moderate religion (grace, forgiveness, hope, repenting, etc); mild+ violence (death); underage drinking

Courtney Walsh is one of my favorite authors so I don’t even read need to read the synopsis on the back of the book because I already know I’m going to love it. That was exactly the case with “Things Left Unsaid“.

Each character is diverse. Some characters were young while some were older. Some characters were single while some were married or about to get married. Some characters were strong believers in Jesus Christ while others were struggling to find their own faith. The 10 year anniversary for a loved one’s death is quickly approaching and each character is hurting in different ways.

I found myself emphasizing with Lyndie during her journey throughout the book. If you’re looking for an emotional rollercoaster, then this would be one for you. I found myself aching, crying, and mourning with each character, cheered when characters found healing, restoration, and redemption.

This is also a brilliant story that shows the power of forgiveness, not just from the Cross, but also for ourselves and others we’ve hurt in our pasts.

Trigger Warning: While none of the scenes go into detail of any kind, there are characters who reference to pre-marital sex and alcohol.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review, which I have given. I was not required to write a positive review and have not been compensated for it in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

As with other books I have read by Walsh, this one packs an emotional punch. The story has so many things to say about friendship, forgiveness, and the extremely divisive and detrimental effect that keeping secrets has on a person's life. As I read through this story, I couldn't help but feel for Lyndie, Elle, and Tucker as they each struggle with things they have kept secret and are finally bringing to light. Guilt and grief are at war with each other and none of the people affected by Cassie's death can really heal and move forward until they deal with the guilt and expectations they have places on themselves and others around them. This is a very meaningful story with some insightful spiritual messages as well.

Romance, clean; Christian faith elements; PG-13 for death and adult themes
This was a beautifully complex story about three couples and how secrets, hurts, and misunderstandings can be healed with honesty and forgiveness. Gorgeous small town setting, multiple family dramas, hurts, secrets, and some beautiful chemistry and the maturity that time and hurt can bring as pride is left behind. Beautifully poignant, healing, and hopeful, along with several love stories made this a beautiful read. Worth every minute of reading as they search for their HEA in the best way possible-with forgiveness in their hearts as they realize their faith and their hope can help to heal their relationships as secrets, secret hurts, and all are admitted, and worked out.