4 stars
As someone who is very close to my siblings, this book was an emotional gut punch. I couldn’t imagine a life without them before I read this book. The author depicted the pain of loss and how it affected every aspect of the main character’s life so well it felt as if I was living it.

From the first chapter I was engrossed in the story and didn’t want to stop. I read the book in two days, sneaking in pages every chance I got.

I loved the variety of the letters the brother had written, each one so different than the last but meaning so much to it’s recipient and how each person she met brought Alice closer to the brother she lost.

I figured out the ending around halfway through reading but the book was so well written that I didn’t mind.

All in all a great read!!

(Review posted on good reads)

A tad of a slow story but enjoyable nonetheless
.Thank you Netgalley and publishers for.providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to #netgalley for sending me the ARC of How to Bury Your Brother by Lindsey Rogers Cook. Overall I thought it was a good - but not great - read. The story moved along at a slower pace than I anticipated. I did like the relationship between Alice and her brother Rob. The author did a great job of detailing their childhood so that you could easily imagine what their relationship had been like, and understand the pain Alice was going through. The book definitely kept my attention and I was anxious to find out how everything would all tie together, I just unfortunately spent a lot of my time reading it wishing that it would tie together faster so I could be done. However, the ending helped redeem the book in my eyes. I give it 3.5 stars. I appreciate NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Alice idolized her older brother Rob. Wherever she went, whatever she did, she always knew that Rob was looking out for her. When he runs away at age 15, she’s devastated and desperately tries to find him. Eventually she comes to grips with his disappearance yet knows that one day she’ll see him again. Decades later, Rob's death puts an end to those hopes. And now her desire for closure, to understand why he left and where he’s been, is gone forever. Until she comes across a box of letters as she’s cleaning out the family home. These letters were written by Rob, addressed to various people. Some of them Alice knows, others she doesn’t. And so begins her journey to put the pieces of Rob's life together as she delivers these final messages. Along the way she realizes that her life has been defined by his disappearance all those years ago.

Thank you to NetGalley on letting me read and review “How to Bury Your Brother” by Lindsey Rogers Cook. This was such a great book! Very well written and emotional and bittersweet. I couldn’t put it down and stayed up reading past my bedtime several nights in a row. Would highly recommend!

Alice has spent her life forcing her missing then deceased brother, Rob, so deep inside her that she hasn't allowed herself to truly live. When she discovers a box of his possessions hidden in her mother's house years after his funeral, she starts on a quest to find out who Rob was and why he chose to leave her behind when he ran from their family as a teen. With each new glimpse into the life he lead, Alice wonders more and more why he hovered on the periphery of her life but never reached out to her even after his death. As she delivers letters to several people of some import or another to Rob, Alice wonders why no letter awaited her at his death. But when she finds the truth of Rob and his departure, it sends her running back to her own family determined to live the life she knows she deserves.

In HOW TO BURY YOUR BROTHER, middle-aged Alice goes on a quest to discover what really happened to her brother when he disappeared from her life when she was eleven. Her brother Robinson had been her whole world and his disappearance cast a shadow so long and dark that Alice was unable was never able to escape from it. Even now, as a grown woman with children of her own, Alice is unable to get past the damage her brother's disappearance wrought. But investigating his disappearance brings old truths to light and forces Alice to confront who she really is and who she would like to become. Interesting read.

This book was so good. I didn't to put it down! The characters were well rounded, and the storyline sucked you into it and made you feel like you were really there. The author did an great job telling this story.

I had trouble getting into this book. The character development is okay; the story is okay. There is just a lot of rich material I felt the author could have capitalized on and didn’t.

This was an interesting read from this first time writer. Somewhat of a slow read but also an enjoyable read. I will be looking forward to the authors next book.

After the death of her brother, Rob, whom Alice hasn’t seen since he ran away at age fifteen, Alice is tasked with cleaning out their childhood home. Among the clothing, books, dishes and other disposables, Alice comes across letters written and addressed by Rob but never delivered and an autopsy report that opens up an ugly can of worms. Alice decides to deliver the letters herself, hoping to find answers, even if each letter brings her closer to a truth she may not want to know. This book is an examination into the dynamics of a modern, messed-up family with an intelligent and dynamic heroine.