As a cat-lover i found this very much adorable and cute. I enjoyed how we got to know Luna.
Though, it was adorable, it was also slightly boring here and there.

I’d like to thank Kensington Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘What Holds Us Together’ by Sandi Ward in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The thing that drew me to this book was the cat on the cover, as a crazy cat lady.

I really wanted to love the book, but I found it slow. I just couldn’t get into it, no matter how many times I tried to pick it up and continue reading.

But please do not let my review sway you from reading it. As I do believe every book has a season for each person, depending on your life at the moment. So I don’t believe the book was horrible, I just think I was picked it up at the wrong time.

This was an enjoyable, and emotional, book and I liked how it was told from different points of views, including Luna’s. The story switches from the present to the past, telling Annika’s story about her life with Peter, Sam and the troubled relationship with her sister, Lisa. The author fully uses her imagination to weave a tale that is unexpected and highly memorable.

The cover drew me in, but the story of family, love & loss kept me interested. I look forward to more from this author!

First off the cover is what got me to take a chance on reading this book and I wasn’t disappointed. If you enjoy heartfelt books about family, love, and loss then you will enjoy this book.

Their furbaby Luna helps the family through their loss of husband/father and holds them together while they process their grief and heal. Luna tells the story of his death through her eyes and how it affected the family as well as her own feelings of guilt.

I found it to be told with care and respect for what a family of teens go through after a parents death. Having lost my father as an adult I can only imagine the pain of losing one as a teen.


I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from Kensington Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a good read! Great for a relaxing cold winter day sitting in my chair with a cup of hot cocoa and a quilt. Nicely put together, it touched on grief and the way each person in a family will grieve in their own way. With my cats here...which is partly why I was drawn to the book. I love cats! Thank you, Luna, for making my day even more enjoyable!
They say that cats don’t like change. But Luna, an imaginative tabby, understands that sometimes it’s necessary. When her owner, Annika, moved back to her small New England hometown six months ago along with her sixteen-year-old twins, Luna knew it was for the best. Ever since Annika’s husband, Peter, died suddenly, the family has been floundering. Luna, too, is guilt-ridden, sure she could have done more to save her favorite person. Luna also knows something the others don’t know. Peter’s spirit is still with them, and Luna believes there is something he needs her help to do . . .
Annika has been struggling to move on. It doesn’t help that her son, Donovan, blames her for his father’s death. Peter always told Annika that they had the best love story going, yet the fact is that much of their story has been hidden away, even from their children. When Annika’s first love, Sam, arrives to plow them out during an intensifying storm, the truth begins to emerge at last. And Luna—watchful and unwavering in her affection—may be her family’s best hope of learning how to forgive and to heal . . .

Stevie‘s review of What Holds Us Together by Sandi Ward
Contemporary Women’s Fiction published by Kensington Books 01 Jan 20

I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the idea of a story partly narrated by the main character’s cat. For the most part, that conceit worked. It was the humans I struggled to get my head around. Annika’s husband Peter died suddenly and unexpectedly almost a year and a half before our story starts. Still grieving, Annika has moved back to the town where they grew up – and the house where she lived with her parents – along with their sixteen-year-old twins, and their cat, Luna. The twins are keen to know more about their parents’ earlier lives and have managed to get hold of Peter’s diary, much to Annika’s annoyance, since she suspects there are truths in it that she has yet to discuss with her offspring. When a winter storm strands the family indoors, they are visited by one of her and Peter’s former classmates – Annika’s high school boyfriend, Sam – along with his older brother and Annika’s younger sister. Cooped up together, secrets are revealed while Luna keeps a watchful eye on her humans.


The parts of the story told from Luna’s point of view are naively charming. Peter had been a great storyteller, and she finds it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction, particularly where his tales are concerned. She is perceptive enough to see that his spirit is watching over Annika and the kids, while the living humans are unaware of this presence. At first suspicious of the male intruders, Luna soon warms to Sam and tries to encourage Annika to pay more attention to him. She is privy to a number of conversations between different pairs of humans, which don’t always make sense to her, but which are very revealing to the reader. I liked this method of showing the different backstories and underlying motivations for the characters, but it is frustrating at times that they couldn’t just communicate directly with each other about their regrets over the past and worries for the future. I also feel at times that I was too aware of the twists that were coming, while the different characters continued on their own paths, blissfully unaware of what the others are hiding from them.

I guessed the big reveal about the event that had torn friendships apart and split Sam and Annika up long before she got together with Peter, well before it actually happened. The lead-up to the event, told in a series of flashbacks from Annika’s point of view, was enlightening, but did little to endear the adult characters to me. I would have liked to get to know the modern-day teenagers better, but they seemed to be mostly there to cause angst for their mother and her peers.

Overall, I kind of liked the story, but don’t feel I need to read any others by the author that use the same trope of a helpful cat pushing a bunch of humans into facing up to their loves, losses, and responsibilities.

Grade: C

Princess Fuzzypants here; In the aftermath of Peter’s death, Luna’s family moves back to the town where her woman grew up and met her future husband in senior year of high school. That was the same year Peter lost his leg and Annika fell in love with him. But there are secrets and guilt and confusing emotions that return to haunt Annika. Thankfully, Peter’s ghost returns with them and with the aid of Luna, cat extraordinaire, all the characters involved in that fraught time come together and finally can move on.
Peter enlists Luna’s help, as she is the only one who sees him and with whom he can communicate. She is troubled by the state of her family after his unexpected death by sleep apnea. His son, Donovan, blames his mother for his father’s death. She did not see the signs. But he is also dealing with his own guilt and lashes out. His twin sister, Deli,lah, is a mostly steadying influence but this is a truly dysfunctional family in crisis.
IIt is going to take a blizzard, a ghost, a cat and a diary to help everyone deal with their grief, their guilt and learn forgiveness and acceptance of their own foibles and the foibles of others. It is a moving story that sometimes leaves the reader grinding his or her teeth but it all works out as the characters learn not what keeps them apart but what holds them together.. And the glue is Luna.
Five purrs and two paws up.

I have read the prior books by the author and highly recommend this new release for all who love cats and stories of family and love. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. .My review opinion is my own.

This is a charming heartfelt story of family loss after the death of a husband. The charming cat Luna helps the family through their loss and bind them together. Luna tells the story of his death through her eyes and how it affects the family and her as she also has guilt over his death. It is told with reverence to Grief and with thoughtful care for what a family of young children go through after a parental death. This was a charming lovely read..
I recommend this book for all who love cats as a featured charcter and those who appreciate loving family stories told with heartfelt love and care .

I fell in love with the cover and really liked this book.
It's heartwarming and poignant, engrossing and enjoyable.
I liked Luna, a great character, and the well thought cast of characters. The plot flows and it kept me hooked.
Recommended.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The first thing that attracted me to WHAT HOLDS US TOGETHER was the cover featuring a gorgeous feline, so I was certainly on board when I found out that the family cat, Luna, was one of the narrators of the story. I would recommend this book to cat-loving readers who are looking for a heartfelt family story.

What Holds Us Together was such a different read for me. As a cat person, I was instantly drawn in by the cover. And was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the book. The book is told from two different perspectives: Luna, the cat; and Annika, the cat's owner. They are all struggling after Annika's husband dies and they move, hoping that the move will help them move on.

I will most definitely be looking for more books by Sandi Ward to read!

"What Holds Us Together" by Sandi Ward is a touching story about a family coping with the grief of Peter's death, their husband and father from sleep apnea. Coping with this loss, the family moves back into Annika's (mother, and wife of the family) parent's cottage. Hoping a change of scenery will help with the grieving process. Annika is trying to keep it together but the challenges with raising teenage twins during this time is proving difficult. Soon after, a snowstorm strands them in the cottage, along with the men plowing the snow and their driveway. Coincidentally, one of the men is Annika's high school boyfriend. Memories and old feelings of their time together as well as what broke up the relationship soon resurfaces. Being stranded forces everyone to deal with their grief, face their guilt, sadness, blame and helps them to forgive and start the healing process.

What makes this story different is that the story is told through many character's point of view, especially, their cat, Luna. Because we have Luna's point of view, we see things that only she can see and that Peter's spirit is still with them, lingering, and needing Luna's help to move the family toward healing. I love that the cat is given a voice and shown how the death has also impacted her, while showing how a fur-baby can help with the healing process. This was a good, easy read and provides a different perspective on what really holds us together. Memories, guilt, family, pets are just some of the themes raised in this story of what holds people together through life, and difficult, challenging times.

This was such a cute story. I really kind of wished that the entire thing would have been in Luna's POV but alas that wasn't the case. At the start it wasn't as good as I was hoping and I was kind of bored. But once the chapters with Luna came in I was hooked. I loved those parts so much and it made the story have a new kind of flare. I hope to find another story like this all in an animal POV because it makes it freaking cute.

I have enjoyed two other series that are "narrated" (at least in part) by cats so the idea behind this book didn't phase me. Luna the cat will be telling us some of the story. Unfortunately despite liking Luna, I couldn't believe these were supposed to be the thoughts of a cat.

Which left me with the people in the story. At first I liked Annika's chapters until she started acting weird around her old boyfriend and refusing to tell her children the truth of what their grandmother was foisting on them. Were I her children, I would have been annoyed at her, too. Okay so does she grow as a character? Not by much. Not enough for me.

The writing style - short sentences and lots of repetition - didn't help the story either.

I REALLY like Sandi Ward's books. I maybe didn't like this one as well as I liked her previous two novels, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. These are just enough cat for cat lovers without being TOO cat (if that makes any sense at all?)

Know up front that part of this lovely novel is narrated by Luna the cat. Luna the cat who can communicate with the ghost of Peter, Annika's husband and father of Donovan and Delilah. Peter died in his sleep while Annika was away on business and now she's moved the kids (who are twins) back home, which seemed like a good idea when she did it but now....Luna's chapters alternate with the story of Peter and Annika's relationship, which also includes her sister Lisa. Then there's Sam, who Annika adored as a teen. This is about family and grief, and if the teens (especially Donovan) seem a bit much at times, remember how their lives have been turned upside down. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I admit to being a fan of Ward's books and the fact that she gives the perspective of the family pet. This one has a good dose of ups, downs, and emotions.

I’d like to thank Kensington Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘What Holds Us Together’ by Sandi Ward in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Annika and sixteen-year-old twins Delilah and Donovan temporarily move back to her family’s home in Manchester, Massachusetts, to recover from the death of Peter her much-loved husband and the twins’ father. Donovan blames Annika for not being there when Peter died and has taken his diary to read without permission, and it doesn’t help when they’re snowed in and Annika’s first boyfriend Sam turns up to dig them out. Luna their cat watches as the family comes to terms with their grief but only she knows that the spirit of Peter is with them and can see his ghost following them around.

‘What Holds Us Together’ is a story told from the perspectives of Annika and also Luna the cat who sees things invisible to humans. It’s an engaging story about how a family copes with grief, and how a cat can sense illness and death and has the ability to understand the feelings of humans. It’s a gentle story written with empathy and compassion that can’t help but pull at the heartstrings.

Two of my favorite things are books and cats. When I saw the cover of What Holds Us Together, the cat immediately grabbed by attention.

Annika has been struggling to move on since the death of her husband Peter. Along with her sixteen-year-old twins and their cat Luna, the family moves to Annika’s New England hometown. From the families cabin we learn more about our cast of characters.

The cat on the cover convinced me that I needed to give this book a try. But I was also hesitant to do so. I have read only one other book by Ward and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. What would have held this book together better for me was more Luna. However, she felt like the least visible character in the entire book. The humans seemed more of the focus to this reader and since I did not care for them much, that left me feeling a sense of loss and disappointment.

The human characters were annoying! Ugh! Their actions didn’t feel right. There is this illusion of mystery surrounding Peter’s accident as a teenager. This was probably the point that kept me reading, kept me intrigued. But I was really let down by the reveal.

The more I think about this book, the more let down I feel  Next time I must walk away from the cute cat on the cover!

If you have read any of Sandi Ward’s books in the past, you don’t want to miss this one. As the others, it features a beautiful cat on the cover and a heartfelt family story.

After Annika’s husband, Peter, suddenly dies in his sleep, she moves back to her family home with her twin teenagers and their cat, Luna. Only Luna knows Peter is still with them. She can see and communicate his ghost. While trapped at home during a snow storm, along with Annika’s high school boyfriend and his brother, Luna helps her family heal from their loss. Annika also learns to trust in love again.

This was an enjoyable, and emotional, book and I liked how it was told from different points of views, including Luna’s. The story switches from the present to the past, telling Annika’s story about her life with Peter, Sam and the troubled relationship with her sister, Lisa. The author fully uses her imagination to weave a tale that is unexpected and highly memorable. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.