I mistakenly requested this and while I gave it to 10% I could not continue further and have DNF'd for now.

First of all, this cover. So good. This was an unsung book of summer 2021. It was unique and heartfelt and incredibly lovely!

The story was okay. A lukewarm romance, which given that Piper lost her husband recently isn't a bad thing, but the rest of the story didn't really knock my socks off either. It was a slow moving plot and I think the thing I enjoyed most about the story was the setting.

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to read and review this book! It was absolutely adorable! I wish I had been able to complete it before the pub date, but the school year was just too crazy to spend time reading. I'm glad I got to read it this summer though, because it is a great summer read! The characters are lovable and the island itself is so charming! It had just enough mystery to keep me wondering what was happening, and I was pleasantly surprised at the end! I would love to read another book about another resident on Frick Island someday!

Despite the mixed reviews I’ve seen for this book, I decided to pick it up and oh, I am so very glad that I did! By golly, I loved it!!! Here’s your reminder that regardless of reviews, if a book sounds intriguing to you, give it a try! What can you lose... yes, you may DNF or find it a flop, but you also may fall in love with a new favorite.

While the writing was wonderful here and stood out to me in and of itself, I especially loved this book for the quirky group of characters I came to feel so connected to, the close-knit community of Frick Island, and the fun mystery element to it that always had me questioning in the back of my mind. I thought about the story constantly when it wasn’t in my hands, and when it was, I couldn’t devour the pages fast enough.

That all said, my best advice is to expect having to be just a bit patient as the story develops as it can be a little slow at times. If you’ve read this author’s books before, you know that you just need to journey along and trust where it’s going, because the payoff will be worth it. This story was unique, charming, and heartfelt, and one of those books I believe is best gone into “blind” so that you can simply soak up the story and discover all it has to offer for yourself.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the gifted e-copy in exchange for my honest review!

I have a tendency to hug great books after I read them.

I squeezed this one so hard I was afraid I may have damaged it, but thankfully it is safe, and sound, and happily added to my favorites shelf.

This huggable book follows Piper, who is also huggable, and your heart breaks for her as she loses her husband, yet continues to speak to him as if he is right next to her. And everyone else who lives on the tiny island where she lives? Well, they go along with it. Huggable island inhabitants.

When Anders stumbles upon this quirky island, he centers his little podcast on Piper and the story of her invisible husband... and the podcast grows and grows. But his feelings for Piper and the island grow as well, and he must decide if the fame and notoriety is worth more than these special people and their special home.

I loved every minute. The eccentric and charming cast of characters and found family. The community that comes together when one of their own is so consumed by grief, that you even start to believe Tom is still alive. Even the island itself was such a beautiful and uniquely fun character with an aura of beautifully crafted simplicity, with a subtle nod to protecting the environment and the importance of being kind to it. An island that's a bit mysterious, a lot beautiful, and a wonderful story of home.

Can I hug an island? I shall try.

Piper Parish lives on a tiny little island, where they don’t even have internet or cell service. She goes about her daily routines, meeting her husband at the docks after work, going out for a meal etc. There’s just one thing that’s peculiar with all of that. Her husband died in a boating accident a while ago, but everyone on the island, including Piper, just carries on as if he’s still there next to her.

Anders Caldwell gets sent over from the mainland to cover a small story for the paper he works at, but upon returning home he gets an anonymous email saying that he’s missed the real story. He goes back to investigate and ends up spending all his free time out on the island.

The premise of this book is just so interesting and it definitely hooked me right away. The book deals with grief, loss, community, and mental health, which are all quite heavy topics but the author also makes us laugh and parts of the story are just so heartwarming you’ll want to hug the book. It is a bit of a slow burn but I was pretty hooked and didn’t want to put it down once I started. I loved all of the characters on the island, and the author painted such a vivid picture I really felt like I was there.

There’s also a healthy dose of mystery throughout the story, and some romance as well, so it’s hard to classify it into just one genre. It was refreshing to read something so different to anything else I’ve read lately. I definitely recommend you check this one out if you haven’t already!

This book was such a disappointment! I saw so many really positive reviews for this, but I just didn't care for it. I enjoy the small town vibes in this story. But felt it jumped around a lot, was not invested in the main characters, the husband, or the secrets. The twists were predictable and disappointing. The author is usually a go to for me as well in the genre.

It was nice, sweet, and I like thought Anders’ coming into his own was well done. Would be a good summer book club pick, especially if it featured a well-made Frick Cake.

Want to get swept away in the island life? Well, I have got the perfect book for you. You will love heading to the fictional Frick Island, a remote town nestled in the Chesapeake Bay that embraces living in the moment and not getting too wrapped up in technology.

The town is relatively unknown until Anders Caldwell is assigned the annual Cake Walk fundraiser to cover a journalism piece. While there, he realizes a much bigger story happening that is just the kind of material he needs to be a breakout success in the podcast world.

You see, the entire town has been pretending that a resident's husband, who died at sea, is still alive and that they all can see him. Everyone deals with grief differently, and Piper has chosen to embrace not letting her husband go.

Anders becomes captivated by Piper and her story, but the town doesn't know that his podcast has become about Piper. As the two begin to find deep companionship with one another, Anders must make a difficult decision- fame or love.

This is a sweetly satisfying read that does a great job making each townsperson its great standalone character that adds to the charm of Frick Island. I loved this unique concept for a story and found it to be just the kind of summer book you can escape with.

Colleen Oakley gives us a fantastic premise in The Invisible Husband of Frick Island: woman cannot accept that her husband has died, so she simply keeps living as if he is there. The entire small island goes along with this delusion because this is a place where people love their neighbors and possibly turn a blind eye to the modern world as it changes.

Oakley writes fun and flawed characters who we root for. The main male protagonist is Anders, a young reporter and podcaster trying to make a name for himself. This here is a man written by a woman— a viable love interest with nary a muscle to his name, only his caring for others and his beautiful writing win us over! There are some great twists and turns in this book, and the side characters remind me of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls.

Highly recommend for a fun summer read!

When Tom’s boat capsized as the days passed, Piper became more frustrated at the rescue efforts and couldn’t imagine her life with Tom. She doesn’t like it when people start to refer to Tom in the past tense and one day she knows he’s returned even if no one else can see him.

When Anders Caldwell, a newspaper journalist, travels to Frick Island to cover the local cakewalk, he can’t imagine how doing writing pieces like these will help his career but when he hears about Piper’s husband, he thinks he may finally have the scoop he needs to get that breakthrough. Now all he has to do is get back to Frick Island.

So Anders comes up with a cover story of why he needs to return to Frick Island and starts to gain the residents’ trust. He tells them that he is doing a story about climate change but he finds that as soon as he asks about Piper, the residents shut down. And, why is that when he is with Piper he gets flustered and can’t seem to talk to her.

As the story unfolds, Anders’ finds that his podcast is gaining a lot of recognition and his listeners are hooked to find out more about Piper. Now, Anders’ needs to come clean to Piper but will risk disappointing her and the residents of Frick Island.

This was such a charming story filled with a lot of humor and affection. I couldn’t help but think how nice that the community rallied around Piper to support her and how they slowly came around to Anders. There were some funny scenes, usually because Anders was getting into scrapes and overall this ended up being a perfect summer read.

3.5 Stars

For most of the book it felt very ambling. I just wasn’t sure where the story was going or what the emotional baseline was supposed to be. Anders wasn’t particularly likable and the plot was lost.

The unique situation and cast of characters is what kept the book going, though I wish we had had even more from those characters. It wasn’t until the last 50 or so pages that anything really happened. And then it was as if the entire plot/point/purpose of the story was explored and resolved.

There were silly moments, sweet moments, and rumination on loss and grief that held decent weight. And the ending, once we got there, was nice. But overall, I wasn’t totally sold on this book.

The setting made this one for me. Colleen Oakley's The Invisible Husband of Frick Island was okay on the characters and plot fronts, but the setting of the book made it an "I love this" book for me. I wasn't particularly enamored of any of the characters, but I did find most of them at least mildly entertaining. As others have commented, there wasn't the depth to the characters or the complexity that I usually look for. But I loved this book. I could almost smell the salt in the air, feel the wet sand under my feet, hear the waves. I also appreciated Oakley's admission that global climate change is real and I appreciated the way she gently showed that the islanders' belief that it is just part of a natural cycle and not man-made is going to completely destroy the way of life that they know.

The newest Colleen Oakley novel is another unique, completely enchanting story. Frick Island is a tiny island off the coast of Maryland. Anders Caldwell is a reporter for the Telegraph trying to make it big, not so much with print, but with his blog. Anders's latest assignment is to cover the Frick Island Cake Walk. After he takes the ferry to the Island he discovers a very small population of "watermen" and their families living in rickety old houses in a place with no alcohol or internet . Anders encounters the most beautiful, intriguing woman in the local (only) pub. Using his reporter skills he learns she is Piper Parrish, newly wed and newly widowed. Her husband, Tom, one true love since middle school, was killed in a storm while he was crabbing. What makes her situation unique, is that Tom comes back to her - sort of. Only she can see him, but the islanders love her so much they all pretend to see him too. Anders senses a story here and the rising numbers viewing his new "What the Frick?" blog agree. He finds there is much more to Frick Island then he thought (being just a little judgey) and as Piper befriends him , learns more about her. Since Frick Island has no internet service and a cell tower is just being constructed Anders doesn't have to worry about the islanders discovering his blog but his conscience and growing interest in Piper and Tom might get the better of him. There are so many facets to this story, I think you could read it many times and get something new out of it each time. Oakley has a knack for developing unique, lovable characters and fascinating settings. The stories are entertaining and unexpected and Frick Island continues the streak. I've read her other novels and really appreciate the chance to read this ARC . Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity. This is a great read for anyone, anytime, but especially if you want a relaxing, enjoyable book. Enjoy!!

I was expecting more out of this one! Possibly could just be that I enjoy books. with more character and relationship depth. It was very quirky and charming. I really wanted to love this book, but I only liked it. The book’s premise — a town pretending that a widow’s husband is still alive — was not nearly as fleshed out as I expected it to be. It was more like a tiny plot covered by the story of Anders’ podcast. The characterization of Anders and the people on Frick Island was too shallow, and I felt like I didn’t know enough about the main characters to form any kind of attachment to them. I also found the story behind his podcast’s success to be pretty unbelievable.

Nevertheless, the book wasn’t bad at all! The story was sweet, the town was quirky and interesting, and the hint of mystery kept me reading. I just really wish I liked it more!

This is a light, sweet story but also a slow read. Meant for lazy days on a porch somewhere, you could pick this up after days and be in no hurry to finish it.

Ugh, this one was a struggle. The idea for this book was original and unique but the execution wasn't there. I thought it was pretty cut and dry but I actually didn't have it figured out at all the all the twists and turns along the way really surprised me.

My biggest problem was that the characters were very hit and miss for me. One minute I was obsessed with Piper and the next moment I despised her. And don't even get me started on Anders, that guy was painful to read about. A grown man truly can't make it through this life with that little confidence. Overall, the characters were hard to root for and I would have loved a bit more of the backstory with Tom!! Like that's where all the magic would have been for me!!

Overall, the book starts slow and it felt slightly repetitive.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Colleen Oakley and the premise of this book sounded so intriguing! (Yes, it does borrow a little from 'Lars and the Real Girl', the quirky 2007 indie movie starring Ryan Gosling.) A young, beloved woman named Piper has lost her husband Tom to a boating accident. But she acts as though he is still present, and the small village of Frick Island goes along with her.

If you are looking for a whimsical, rather breezy read, then you will like this book. The author deftly works in discussions of grief and throws in quirky characters so the whole story has somewhat of a magical feel.

Anders, the journalist sent to cover the annual Frick Island Cake Walk, is at first puzzled by Frick Island, its remoteness, Piper, the townspeople...he just doesn't get the appeal of the remote island. He is intrigued by Piper and their initial encounters are very sweet and add a rom-com vibe to the book. For me the plot took a little too long to develop and sweet, cozy stories just don't hold my interest right now.

I enjoyed the narrator Sara Sheckells, and her voice gave just the right amount of whimsy and wonderment to the characters. I also loved the description of life on the fictional Frick Island, and felt like it was actually a real place instead of a fictional creation. This book is just the ticket if you are looking for a fictional escape with a guaranteed happy ending and a cast of quirky, loving supporting characters. All in all, a captivating read if you are intrigued by the premise of this book.

Piper Parrish lost her husband in a tragic boat accident. But...she doesn't seem to realize it. When Anders Caldwell is sent to Frick Island for their annual Cake Walk, he thinks it's a boring bit of reporting. That is, until he discovers that the entire town is pretending that Tom Parrish is still alive. I have to say that this book did not turn out the way I expected it to and I'm so glad. It could easily have been corny or macabre, but it was lovely and sweet. This was my first Colleen Oakley book and it won't be my last.