I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my review. Abigail Carson has reached her breaking point. After a year of mourning the unexpected loss of her husband, and a looming deadline of a finished novel that she has yet to start, she knows she must make a change. Reflecting back to a road trip vacation with her husband, she makes the decision to move from Manhattan to the small town of South Haven in Canada. While all she wants is to be left alone to write her novel, the town conspires to be included in every aspect of her life-from remodeling the fixer-upper she purchased to setting her up with the local handyman, Liam Wright. Abigail has to make the decision to bravely push forward and leave the past behind or push everyone away who wants to help her the most. This was a touching and beautiful story!

This book gave me all the feels. We had a rainy weekend and I did not put it down until I had completed it. I loved Abigail and Olive and how they loved each other. Liam is the handyman everyone wants to have. I adored prickly Abigail and her transition to a small town. I can't say more without spoilers, but this is very much worth reading.

What a truly inventive way to turn the romance story around. Abby is reeling when we first meet her,husband has died. We learn he was a professor who liked to talk about his adoring female students. We learn they lived in New York and a year after his death their home is a place she can not afford. We learn that she’s a romance writer of some repute. It is obvious she is all adrift. Finding strength through her editor / best friend Lauren, Abby sells everything she can and has purchased a home in Canada(a dream she shared with Isaac) in hopes of writing again. The fine people of New Haven are open and generous and set her teeth on edge in the beginning. The need to update the home and a new roof brings in the charming and funny Liam. So begins the dance between these two ,add to that an adorable daughter and it seems all the boxes for a fairy story are checked. Not so fast Abby has a vision for herself that never included children,a point made over and over until her sheer quirkiness wins over our Abby along with her equally attractive dad. I had assumed this tale would end as they all do , with a sunset and three linked figures watching from the bow(said hunk has a boat) . But the tender part of this story is that both Liam and Abby’s heartbreak is the loss of a spouse and the lives they are trying to rebuild. A near death experience leads to a reveal I did not see coming and you will want to read on your own. Happy reading

The After Wife is the story of a woman, Abigail Carson, who loses her husband and has to get on with life. At the beginning of the story, Abigail is still deeply depressed and hiding in her apartment. She misses her husband and has frequent dreams involving him, which she treasures. But she can't go on like that forever and she decides to move away and start a new life in a place where nobody knows her, but things don't go to plan and Abigail has to face her denial and has to learn how to let people into her life again.

While the book was an enjoyable read, it's not one of those stories that stayed with me well after finishing the book. The characters are somewhat one-dimensional and the plot is mostly predictable. I still recommend it as a light read for people who like romantic stories

With thanks to Netgalley and Indigo Group for the advanced reviewer's copy.

I loved this book so much!!! Just when I thought Liam and Abby would get together things changed! This book made me laugh, cry and really think about life. This book grabbed me at the first chapter and kept me hooked! Melanie Summers it's an excellent writer!! I thank you for giving me the chance to read The After Wife!!

Okay at first glance I figured it would be a quick beach read... wow, it swept me off my feet.

I started right before bed thinking I’d get a few chapters in and ended up staying up all night to finish it. It is definitely a serious book, not like many of her other books I’ve read, so I was a little thrown off by it at first, but that didn’t matter once the story grabbed me. Still made me laugh, just cried also.

It’s an awakening, a journey to realizing that no matter what life throws at you, there is still a story left to write!

Thank you to the author, Indigo Group, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first read by Melanie Summers, but it won't be my last! This book had me enthralled from the first page. I was way too emotionally involved, and I loved that feeling! I love a book that can draw me in and make me feel what the characters are feeling!

Thank you #NetGalley for an early copy to review!

When I received this book I did not read anything about it prior to starting. I liked the cover and the title and I love new to me authors. Melanie Summers did not disappoint! I opened to the first page and literally did not stop reading this book until I was finished. Abby’s journey made me cry, laugh and do both at the same time. I loved her journey yet at times I hated the journey she had to go through to emerge as her own person. Melanie takes the reader on an incredible roller coaster of emotions that are so real. I don’t know how to describe the story without spoilers so all I will say is this is a must read! What a fantastic book to start a new decade of reading.
This is truly my own and very honest opinion.

Melanie Summers is a new author to me, and after reading this book, I'm thinking I'll be reading more of her books. I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I don't know why I didn't think I'd love it, thought it'd be another okay Hallmark-ish type book. Yeah, it could possibly be a Hallmark movie and that's fine. Okay, I admit I do watch Hallmark movies and like most of them, predictable as most of them are, but putting that aside now, this book was heartwarming but bittersweet, and I just loved everything about it. It's about a woman dealing with the tragic loss of her husband, starting over in not only a different town but a different country, and learning to trust others and have the courage to find love again. I loved Ms. Summers' writing style. There's some witty and humorous dialogue that I really enjoyed, and the characters were lovely and so relatable. This is definitely a must read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a story of grief, love and loss and how it is dealt with. Well done! I highly recommend this book to anyone, but be warned there might be tears along the way, but it’s worth it.

Thank you to #Netflix and #The Indigo Group for allowing me to read this book. The after Wife by Melanie Summers is an excellent book. It is uplifting, sad and heartwarming all at one time. Writer Abigail Carson has been in a state of clinical depression in the year since her husband’s death. So she decides to sell her New York condo and buy a cottage in Canada to try to get over her devastation and regain her life. This is a wonderful book.

Abigail has to make some hard choices after she finds herself grieving the loss of her husband. She's not even forty yet. Will she be able to let go of her past and move forward again? Even if she knows it might be the biggest mistake of her life? I really enjoyed the simple act of reading this book. I hadn't read any of this author's books before, but I'm a fan now. The banter between characters was effortless and fun, but weighted and serious when it needed to be. You're never sure which direction Abby's story will take her because she's not sure what she wants or needs herself. I will say that before the book begins, the author has a warning for her readers. "...this is NOT a romantic comedy. In fact, the happily ever after is not guaranteed this time." I'm happy that she warned me. But it in no way took away from my enjoyment of this story, and in fact, it added a layer that you don't usually find in stories like this. I am so happy I read this and would recommend to anyone who can handle laughter and tears together on the same page. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reader's copy. This is my fair and honest review.

The After Wife is a profound story of love, loss, fear, what ifs and more. Melanie Summers does a good job in the character growth of Abby. We are first introduced to her reclusive self; one who repels human contact, doesn’t have the best relationship with her family especially her mom and also would rather bask in memories of her husband than live life. She is angry, sad, depressed and not honest with herself, especially when it comes to how she feels. I love how Abby grows to be better and stands on her own feet. It taught me being courageous is hard but either done with your eyes closed or wide open, at least you have done something to move forward.

I love that Melanie Summers did not rush things between Abby and Liam. She makes room for development on Abby’s part and realisation on Liam’s. It was not just the lets-feel-good-now. Their coming together, their love was that of a slow burn, we-need-to-relish-this-and-know-what-we-are-doing.
Part of Abby’s growth was that she realised she had lost herself and she saddled through the mud to find herself and she did. I also love how she slowly came on good terms with her mother and her family. There is no rush in this book, only growth and growth and more growth, enough to teach us it’s okay not to have all the answers.
This book taught me it’s okay not too feel good all the time. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay to feel and that courage is a step at a time.

Has all my five stars.

"The After Wife" by Melanie Summers was one of the best books I've read in some time and I did not want to put it down. It was a very emotional story, alternately heartbreaking and humorous, but ultimately uplifting in its depiction of the power of love. I've read books by Ms. Summers before so I already knew that she is very good at weaving humor into her stories, but even so, given the focus on two widowed main characters, I wasn't expecting this story to be as funny as it turned out to be. I love the way that Ms. Summers can always make me laugh even if I want to cry at the same time!

I particularly loved main character Abby's "writer's imagination" and the things she dreamed up when she first saw the cottage in Canada she'd purchased sight unseen. Abby's thoughts about the spiders, rats, and spider-rat hybrids that might already be living in the cottage were absolutely hilarious, and brought to mind the giant spiders from the "Harry Potter" movies. I could picture one of those creatures bursting out of the front door so vividly! I also admired Abby's bravery and willingness to change her life so completely, learn to be more honest with herself and others, and open up to love again. I'm not sure if I could be as brave as she was if faced with the same situation.

Abby's contractor, friend, and later love interest, Liam, was also a wonderful character. He was funny, charming, sweet, and a great dad to his young daughter, Olive. She was the sunniest, most adorable little girl, thanks mostly to her dad's unwavering love and support even when times were tough. Olive's belief in mermaids and how it kept her connected to her mom and baby brother was both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and the relationship she developed with Abby was quite lovely.

Abby's quirky, good-hearted new neighbors were also a highlight of the story. Her next door neighbors, bed and breakfast owners Nettie and Peter, were so kind and welcoming even if they were kind of nosy, and Gus the utilities guy was also a lot of fun.

Overall, I really can't recommend this book highly enough. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and above all, it made me want to read more books by Melanie Summers!

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

The After Wife by Melanie Summers
How does one deal with loss? With grief? For Abigail it was to shut herself off from the world in her Manhattan apartment. She decides to escape the big city and move to a small town in Nova Scotia, where she thinks she can “hide away”. But little did she realize that small towns can be less private than the anonymity of a big city. But it is here that she meets Liam and his daughter Olive. Can Abigail learn to live and love again?
Pick up this book and begin this emotional journey.
It is a great read.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book at my request. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There are some books that I really enjoy, but I forget almost as soon as I've read them, there are others, like this one, which seem to stay with me for a long time. Although I've only just finished it, I already know that this is one of the ones that will linger in my mind.

The other books that I've read by Melanie Summers have been her humorous books, written under the name of MJ Summers. The After Wife is a more serious read. It deals with love and loss, the way that the happily ever after that we crave in so many romance books is really just a happily until one of them dies. The what happens to the one who is left behind. That said, there is still a great deal of humour in this book. One minute you might be laughing, the next minute crying, at times both at once. It's been a long while since I cried real tears at a book, but this one had me sniffling more than once. (Not always when you'd expect, I had a crap 40th too.)
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I knew, more or less, where this one was going, but that didn't matter. this is a book about love, about families, about questioning who you are and your choices in life. It resonates on many levels, even if you haven't lost someone in the way that Abby has, there's much about her story that rings true.

This isn't a perfect read, nothing is and let's face it perfect is boring. But I think it's pretty much as close as you can get. I loved every second of it, raced to the end and felt lost when it was over. Highly recommended.

I received an ebook from Net Galley for this book. It is a great read. The story is one of trying to pick up the pieces after the loss of a loved one. I really loved the main character and watching her transform and learn to love again despite knowing what was to come. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves a good book with lots of heart. I will also put a review on Readers Coffeehoise where I first heard of this book.

This story will yank on your heart strings hard. If you're looking for a story with all the feels pick up this gem of a book. It will stay with you long after the last page. Happy reading!

The After Wife is not my normal genre - but I was offered this early copy by the author in exchange for an honest review. It sounded very interesting - so I dove right in!

Well. I loved it ! It was emotional - romantic - sad and thought provoking. I even found it super funny with witty writing all the way through. Abby is every woman - and I enjoyed the ride with her - I would definitely recommend this one and even go back and read some more by this author. Melanie Summers is top notch! Thanks for the opportunity - get reading!

The After Wife was a great read that dealt with the many faces of loss and how we deal with our grief, no two are the same. One woman has struggled immensely for the last year to deal with the loss of her husband, shutting her self away from the world until she realises that why she was there, her life completely fell apart. Now having decided to sell and flee her grief she moves to a little town in Canada hoping for a simpler life. Small towns however, even in Canada, have a way of changing you, from the persistent neighbors who just want to talk, to the truly nosy and the gossips, you can't escape them. Especially the new contractor she hires. A spark is there, wether she admits it or not. Time may not heal all wounds, but it has a way of making each day a little easier to bear. A charming little girl might also have a little something to do with it. I found it sweet and charming, even in the midst of a soul deep sorrow, and I simply could not put it down. A few curve balls thrown in to really pack that punch and all in all its a definite five star cry fest for me!