Another brilliant read by Kate Hewitt. No Time to Say Goodbye is the heart wrenching story about the death of Laura, a wife and mother of three who is suddenly shot on a subway. Her husband Nathan is left to pick up the pieces with 3 young girls, clueless as to why this happened. He starts to question if he even knew his wife at all.. He befriends Maria, his wife's friend a colleague at a refuge centre who helps Nathan care for the girls. Soon it becomes clear that Maria has secrets she wants to keep from Nathan. The book focuses on grief, loss and moving on. It also has drama and intrigue interwoven. A really good book. Thank you Bookouture.

What a riveting story. I'm sure Ms Hewitt will have done extensive research into the Bosnian war and that comes across in this saga. The tale of a devastated family being helped by a survivor of this controversy kept me enthralled from beginning to end.

Lovely sad read. Pulled at the heart strings. But it was well written and flowed very well. Not the time ype of book I usually read due to the sensitive nature.

This book was heartbreaking. It was particularly hard for me to read because my family has been through this type of loss and the emotions that the author brought to the pages are all too real. Hewitt did a magnificent job of capturing a family’s journey of grief.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Really enjoyed this latest book from Kate hewitt, a lovely story really sad in.places and stirred the emotions. Thanks to netgally for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

No Time to Say Goodbye is a very well written book. A real tear jerking plot with believable characters. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher for my advance ebook. This is my unbiased review.

"Warning...............Warning................You will need Tissues when you read this brilliant book by the author Kate Hewitt. No Time to Say Goodbye by Kate Hewitt was just an emotional roll a coaster. This is a book that everything in your life can change in a blink of an eye.

Nathan was happily married to Laura and they had three young daughters. Laura held the family together and was the heart of their family. Until one day in a blink of an eye all their world came crashing down when Laura was killed, a lunatic drew a gun and shot her.
Nathan tried to keep his family together but the woman he loved deeply was taken from him so cruelly, he felt life without her feels almost meaningless and pointless. He has to be strong for his three daughters who are also grieving for their mum and are finding it challenging. Nathan is desperate to understand his own grief and then support them with theirs, he reaches out to others who knew Laura for help and guidance. Nathan also asks for help from Laura's new friend Maria shows warmth towards them all and this is what all the family needs. This gives emotional support to all and helps them through this tough time.
Whilst Nathan gets close to Laura's new friend Maria she finds out that his late wife Laura felt ignored and she felt she could not do enough. He struggles to reconcile it with his own memories of the woman he loved.

Is it possible he didn’t know his wife after all?

Could he trust Maria? Was she telling him the truth as Laura was everything to him and their daughters!

Nathan can’t escape the feeling that she’s keeping something from him.

Maria is hiding a secret with the power to rock Nathan’s family to its core. Because it is about what happened the day that Laura died…............What is it?

What is the Big Secret that will destroy all their happy memories they all have left of them being together as a happy family!

WoW.......I highly recommend this book.........However, don't forget to have some tissues handy.

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

EXCERPT: NATHAN
I didn't take the call. I'll never forgive myself for that, even though I learned later it didn't matter. It was already too late. I don't even know who the call was from - the police? A stranger?

I'd never know, but the time of the call still haunted me - 11:42. Just minutes after the moment of my wife's death, according to witnesses. Apparently, someone was checking the time on their phone while a lunatic drew a gun and shot my wife.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Nathan West loved his wife Laura with all his heart. But now she’s gone, taken from him in a seemingly random act of violence. Laura was the glue that held their family together. And for Nathan, life without her feels almost meaningless.

As he tries to find hope in the darkness, his three young daughters express their grief in different and challenging ways – with one set on a path of self-destruction that could devastate their family all over again. Desperate to understand his own heartbreak better, he reaches out to others who had known Laura. Including her new friend Maria, whose light and warmth are exactly what their grieving family needs, and who is soon helping out and providing emotional support for them all.

But the picture Maria paints of Laura is unfamiliar to Nathan – of a wife who felt ignored, a mother who felt she couldn’t do enough – and he struggles to reconcile it with his own memories of the woman he loved. Is it possible he didn’t know his wife after all? And can he trust Maria? He can’t escape the feeling that she’s keeping something from him.

Maria is hiding a secret with the power to rock Nathan’s family to its core. Because it is about what happened the day that Laura died…

MY THOUGHTS: I finished No Time to Say Goodbye with tears running freely down my cheeks, snuffling like a child. Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time, this book is a reminder that life can change in an instant and that we do need to take the time to stop and smell the roses, to appreciate the people we love, and to count our blessings.

And the end wasn't the only time while reading this beautifully written story that I cried. Each copy of this book should come with its own box of tissues.

Kate Hewitt has absolutely nailed her characters. From workaholic Nathan, to sulky teen Alexa, I felt their pain, their suffering, their frustrations, their occasional triumphs.

This is no glib tearjerker of a book that ends with a 'happy ever after'. It is written with empathy and understanding. It realistically chronicles the struggle of a family finding its tremulous feet again after having its heart torn out.

And alongside this is the story of a refugee of the Bosnian war, of the atrocities committed against her and her family. I could not imagine having to endure what Maria endured, and surviving.

And although I quite quickly realised who had shot Laura, I had no idea why.

No Time to Say Goodbye is a magnificent and emotional read, my first by this author. It will not be my last.

#NoTimeToSayGoodbye #NetGalley

😍😢❤😭😍

THE AUTHOR: Kate is the USA Today-bsetselling author of many books of women's fiction. Her latest releases are A Vicarage Homecoming and Not My Daughter. Under the name Katharine Swartz, she is the author of the Tales from Goswell books, a series of time-slip novels set in the village of Goswell.

She likes to read women's fiction, mystery and thrillers, as well as historical novels. She particularly enjoys reading about well-drawn characters and avoids high-concept plots.

Having lived in both New York City and a tiny village on the windswept northwest coast of England, she now resides in a market town in Wales with her husband, five children, and two Golden Retrievers.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of No Time to Say Goodbye by Kate Hewitt for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage

I received this book "No Time to Say Goodbye" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. A heartwarming story that I enjoyed reading.

Laura is shot dead on the subway by an unknown assailant for reasons unknown. She leaves behind her husband and three daughters.
This book for me highlighted the struggle her husband, Nathan, has in becoming the only parent to three daughters who he doesn't really know and taking up the tasks that Laura did for the family that he wasn't even aware of. You feel sorry for him as he is out of his depth with in-laws that are no help.
Enter Maria, a friend of Laura from a shelter she volunteered at - that her family didn't know she did. Maria knows about grief and loss but the Laura she knew is different to the one Nathan and the girls knew, that the life she was living was not the one she wanted for her family.
Central to this story are the feelings of grief and loss and the paralyzing effect of them. And even how in a seemingly happy marriage how out of touch one can become. How secrets keep you from moving on and living and loving your life.
But above all its a story about find hope again and healing.
A beautiful, touching read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this book.

Kate Hewitt has written another emotionally draining and heart wrenching story. A tale drenched in grief, guilt, and blame. How does a family survive when the person who held it all together is no longer around? How do you live another day, take another breath, when the worst possible thing has happened? This is the story of Nathan and his three daughters and how they try to pick up the pieces and learn to live again after Laura their wife/mother has been murdered. It was heartbreaking watching Nathan struggle to keep it together while his three daughters all at different ages dealt with their grief in very different ways. In an attempt to come to terms with what had happened to his wife Nathan visits the place where she was volunteering and the people that new of her secret longings. This leads to him meeting Maria. Maria is all too familiar with guilt and grief having gone through her own tragedy. She soon becomes a major source of support for the family and ultimately is hired as the children’s nanny, but Maria has some secrets that could possibly change everything.

This story really tugged at my heartstrings, especially the grief of the daughters. Alexa was so angry, Ella was so timid, and Ruby was just so young. And then there was Nathan, he was just so lost. Not only had he lost his wife, but he didn’t really know his daughters quite as well as he should have. I thought the subject of grief was handled very lovingly and realistically in the story. Maria was a great character and I’d love a story about her that delved more into her life leading up to the events of this book. There is a bit of a mystery in the story, who killed Laura and why? But if I’m being honest it really was so unimportant to the story that I am not even certain it was necessary. An emotional read that should come with a box of Kleenex.

This book in three emojis: 🇧🇦 🙍🏼‍♀️ 👨‍👧‍👧

Kate Hewitt never stops amazing me with each new book release. I am such a huge fan and at this point, I don’t even need to read a synopsis of a book as long as it has Kate Hewitt’s name on it I am going to NEED to read it. Hewitt has such a way of immersing her readers in her signature style of emotionally heartbreaking and tearjerker storylines. With her newest release, No Time to Say Goodbye, Hewitt has really upped the game and the tears with a story that will completely break your heart.

A theme that stands out from this storyline is how do you survive the loss of a loved one? How do you survive grief? I think these are two important questions we have all asked ourselves with the death of a loved one.

The first chapter of this story really pulls you right in immediately with its raw emotion, vulnerability and realism. Nathan West’s wife, Laura is killed in what seems like a random act of violence. With three daughters left without their mother, Nathan is left to pick up the pieces and try to hold his family together while they each go through their own form of grief. Nathan is also struggling with the knowledge that his wife was keeping secrets from him, namely that she was volunteering at a refugee center. Did Laura tell him and he just didn’t pay attention or did she hide it from him knowing he would never understand her need to help?

Searching for answers Nathan seeks out Maria, a Bosnian refugee with her own tragic past who also volunteers at the refugee center and was friends with Laura. As Nathan, his three daughters and Maria’s lives become entwined the healing process slowly starts to begin, but is Maria hiding a secret? A secret powerful enough to destroy Nathan’s fragile family? What really happened the day Laura was killed and an even better question is why?

Kate Hewitt is one of the greatest storytellers right along with some of the biggest names in the industry such as Jodi Picoult and even Nicholas Sparks. Her stories are so powerful and deep often times tugging at your heart and make you cry. No Time to Say Goodbye is definitely another top read of 2019. At this point Kate Hewitt is probably always going to be on one of my yearly top of the reading list. Hewitt is definitely a force in the writing community. If you haven;t figured it out by now, YEs this is a definite five star read for me and one I hope every reader will want to pick up a copy and immerse yourself in a truly remarkable story.

Nobody plumbs the depths of the human heart quite like Kate Hewitt and this immensely prolific and highly talented writer is back with a tale of hope, grief, redemption and renewal that is as impossible to put down and it is to forget: No Time To Say Goodbye.

Laura and Nathan West had been madly in love with one another. They were soulmates who thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives together and had so many hopes and dreams for a future that seemed to stretch out in front of them for infinity. Sadly, reality proved to be far different for Laura and Nathan. Their plans and hopes for the future never did come to fruition because Laura had been taken from Nathan in a random act of violence, leaving him crushed, heartbroken and completely and utterly alone. Laura had been his entire world and without her presence in this world, his life became empty and meaningless. But Nathan does not have the luxury of wallowing in despair and misery. He has three grief-stricken daughters to look after and he must be a tower of strength for them and help them through this horrific and terrible time for them all. Yet, Nathan’s grief consumes him and envelops him, leaving him desperate for someone to hold his hand and help him through losing the woman he loved with all of his heart.

Reaching out to some of Laura’s friends, Nathan sees some light at the end of a very dark tunnel when he hears from one of his late wife’s newest friends, Maria. With her generous spirit and positivity, Maria is just the sort of person Nathan and his girls need as they navigate through this horrific ordeal they’ve been plunged into. Yet, when Maria tells him of her own perception of Laura and how she felt as a wife and mother, Nathan is floored when he is informed that Laura felt ignored and side-lined by her husband and a mum who was never up to scratch. How could Nathan possibly not know that Laura felt like that? What kind of husband was he? And why did Laura never share her insecurities with him, but had no qualms about opening up to someone outside of the family?

The more time Nathan spends with Maria, the more he finds himself wondering whether his new friend is somebody he can really trust because Maria is keeping a dangerous secret from him…a secret that could shed light on the day Laura had died…

Kate Hewitt never ceases to amaze me with her character-driven, multi-layered and thought-provoking novels which I find myself unable to stop reading and to stop thinking about weeks after I’ve finished them.
Haunting, affecting and powerful, No Time to Say Goodbye took my breath away with its beguiling blend of superb characterization, intense family drama, visceral emotional intensity and expertly woven thread of suspense that kept me reading until the early hours of the morning.

Kate Hewitt is a writer at the height of her powers who more than holds her own with writers such as Diane Chamberlain and Susan Lewis and No Time to Say Goodbye is a superbly written tale which I highly recommend.

This is the first book that I’ve read that’s written by Kate Hewitt, but I’m sure it won’t be the last! It is so full of all sorts of emotions. I’m sure everyone will feel them at one time or another in some form! Thanks for the great book Kate!

Nathan's wife Laura is dead and he is now alone to raise their three young daughters. Facing this challenge, and the fact that he doesn't know his daughters as well as he thinks he does, causes him to reach out. For starters, Nathan cannot believe the circumstances in which his wife died. When he meets a woman at Laura's funeral, she is the very person Nathan reaches out to.

This woman, Maria, said that she was a friend of Laura's. Before long, she pretty much steps right in and things begin to make sense to Nathan and the girls. With Nathan's intense workload, Maria seems to be a godsend. However, things simply cannot be this easy, this smooth. Eventually Nathan begins to be concerned - not just about Maria being part of his current situation, but also Nathan begins to wonder if even knew his wife at all.

As emotional as this story is, there is more than a bit of mystery and drama when it comes to Maria. She is holding a secret very close, and things slowly begin to reveal themselves. This story is delivered in a nice format. Not only do we have both Nathan's and Maria's points of view, but there is also then and now that goes back and forth.

This touching story was literally impossible to put down. Not only was it very sensitive and heartbreaking, it made me think about my own life, my own family. This book, as in life, however, offers hope, and therefore was very compelling.

This story, as well as the previous ones, always pull at my heartstrings. Every story I read by Kate Hewitt affects me the same way. I highly recommend this book and so look forward to reading much more by this fabulous author.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

When Nathan’s wife, Laura is killed he is left, not just to bring up his three young daughters, but to deal with his own grief and hold his family together. Finding support from Maria, Laura’s friend, Nathan begins to realise perhaps he never really knew his wife at all….

I’ve already read a few books by this author, so I knew by reading this one I was letting myself in for an emotional rollercoaster ride!! I was reaching for the tissues by the end of the first few chapters and my heart went out to Nathan and his children. The story was told from Nathan and Maria’s perspective and from a ‘then and now’ timeframe. Nathan’s story was obviously particularly heart-breaking, losing his wife and having to deal with his grief. Maria’s story was equally heart-breaking but in a different way. Her retelling of living in Sarajevo through the Bosnian War was gripping and emotional.

Connecting with the main characters straight away, this book shows you not only how they deal with their losses but also how everybody has different ways of dealing with it. This is a charged story of grief, sadness and learning how to cope when the worst happens. With the mystery of who killed Laura keeping you in suspense throughout the story, this read keeps you turning the pages until you get to the very last word. As usual with this author, I was left thinking about this book long after I finished it and I certainly gave my family an extra big hug that night. Would definitely recommend, but be warned there may be some sensitive subjects to deal with.

You live your everyday life and you take a lot, almost everything for granted. You focus on one thing and the rest is going on the backburner. Suddenly there is an incident and that's when you get kicked in the butt. A period full of regrets and what ifs starts and you are feeling like you are falling in a bottomless pit. But life goes on and you have to follow even though you don't know very well how you have to tackle everything. 

You thought life was good and everybody was happy, but the incident is also a big eye opener. Little by little you find a ladder to climb out of the darkness and the sun starts peeking through the clouds. Then, once again, the life of your family is turned upside down. 

This is a story abound getting up after being flung to the ground due to a tragedy, about healing and helping others to heal as well. 

There are a lot of emotions involved, happy ones as well as very sad ones and I loved it. I had just put away my tissue and then I read the epilogue ... 5 stars.

Thank you, Kate Hewitt and Bookouture (via Netgalley)

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

The characters are well-developed & easy to like. The storyline is unique and easy to follow. The writing is fantastic. The author is clearly talented.
I can't wait to read more by her!

First, I want to thank Kate Hewitt, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me this book so I may bring you this review.

No Time To Say Goodbye is a heartbreaking and gripping emotional page turner by Kate Hewitt. So many times, in this book there was no time to say goodbye-so this was a perfect title for this must-read book. This book will bring up so many emotions up in you including sadness and anger. Not to mention empathy for the children especially Ruby. This is one incredibly powerful read that will have you thinking about your own life after.

I totally fell in love with this cover when I saw it. The little girl (It could be Ruby) with the dress bending down to pick something up behind the beautiful scenery was breathtaking. The colors and the theme were so vivid. Kudos to the graphic artist who designed this cover. You have talent.

From page one I was totally engrossed into the story as I was totally shocked by how the begging of the story was starting! Then my heart went out to the family and how they were each trying to deal with their loss. Each In their own way in their own time. My heart went out to all of them especially.

In No Time to Say GoodBye we are introduced to Maria one of the characters that plays a huge role in this book. From her we get such and cultural lesson from when she lived in Sarajevo. Stories about what horrid things happened to her growing up. How it has affected to her this day.

This book has a few themes in the book about forgiveness, letting go, moving on, sticking up for what you believe in, not everything is as it is always it seems. You also learn life is short don’t take it for granted.
Kate’s books all have a theme one major theme to them. This theme is what do you do when the worst happens? The worst might be different from every book or every person nut and for every person. Kate has struggled in the past through her own losses and sorrows. However, she has found hope admits the deepest sorrow or the wildest grief. She tries to convey this in her writings.

I didn’t understand why this book was broken up into two parts. Did she want it to be two books combined into one?! I didn’t feel like it needed to be labeled as such. However, by the end of part 1 I was getting a little frustrated that there was no mention of finding the suspect. That the story was still on the family and Maria. The part of me that LOVES a good mystery needed to know who killed Laura and why!! Needless to say I got my answers and was totally shocked and blown away by the reveal.

With a title and the cover such a this, I knew I was in a heart rendering journey, and my instincts were bang-on. I read the book armed with a box of tissues. A family lost its backbone and devastation left its scars. Life changed.

Laura, a mother and a wife died suddenly and the family was left bereft like an oarless boat being ravaged by the storms of life. Husband Nathan needed answers to try to make sense of what was left. He met Maria, the woman befriended by Laura, who helped him as well as painted him a different picture of his wife. And she had a secret buried deep in her heart.

Having read books by author Kae Hewitt, I have become a big fan of the author as I knew that the strength of her writing lay in her portrayal of honest heart tugging emotions. Tears in my eyes was a foregone conclusion. I think I read the book with a film of it.

Two POV of Nathan and Maria, the story unfurled slowly as if free from its binding. Past and present slowly met in the middle to show the true picture. Nathan's grief moved through its stages, his need to get some answers spoke to me. Maria was intriguing, her past left me shell-shocked.

The plot was filled with feelings but also had a huge secret hiding in the wings which beguiled me. Kate Hewitt is an amazing storytelling who could weave the threads of the characters so finely that the framework on which the book rested, uplifted the story.

The story was a bag of emotions, each pulled at my control and brought mine to the surface, well written in its concept, with hope reflecting through, a story which made me shut my kindle and spend time with my family.