This was a very powerful story. It was told from the POV of three people, first from Amy, who has cancer and is recovering from the surgery and from chemotherapy. Secondly from her husband Paul who has his own trauma to deal with. Thirdly, from their daughter Carly who is angry at the world because of her mother’s diagnosis. A sad story but there was also hope  that the family might be whole again.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was provided a free copy of this book from @netgalley and @stmartinspress in exchange for my honest review. 
I really liked this books. I loved its messiness, I loved its realness, I loved its dealing with tough topics so well! It follows a mother dealing with rediscovering herself after cancer, a father dealing with PTSD as a Police officer and first responder to the Oklahoma City bombing (even many years later), and their teenage daughter dealing with growing up as well as the above mentioned issues! While the topics are big and tough, I felt like they were dealt with very well (although I won't pretend to know what might trigger those who have experienced these type of situations). I thought the characters' development and growth was believable and we'll written. If you want a fun light-hearted read right now, maybe choose something else. But definitely put this on your TBR for later (its scheduled publication date is 19 Jan 21)! 
#NetGalley #WhatsWorthKeeping

"What's Worth Keeping" shows the realities of a cancer diagnosis. In this book, we see how cancer effects not only the patient, but their spouse and child. Amy may have survived cancer but each family member is struggling with the diagnosis and aftermath. Each character have to find their own ways to cope and come to terms before they can connect again as a family. 

While I thought this book was a bit too long at times, I felt McLaren did a wonderful job sharing Amy, Paul and Carly's journey to find happiness. Shout out to Great-Aunt Rae for being a bright light in this heavier read.

WHAT'S WORTH KEEPING
BY KAYA MCLAREN

This beautiful novel is about a family of three that after going through a devastating period in their lives, get the chance at a sort of re-birth. They all go through a life changing transformation and find their way back to each other. Not everybody is always so lucky so I loved the many philosophical quotes that gave the language and observations that there were so life affirming that there were just too many to quote. This is really a meditation on life and family and what is most important to lead a meaningful life. The title of "What's Worth Keeping," is such a perfect choice as it encompasses the main theme of this novel of gratitude.

Amy Bergstrom has just suffered many surgeries and going through chemotherapy to survive breast cancer. Her husband Paul is a seasoned police officer in Oklahoma City that sees the worst of humanity in his job. Carly is an angry senior in high school that has directed it towards both of her parents. Most people understand that anger is a form of underlying fear.

Amy found out at the same time that she had her diagnosis and was looking in both of her and her husband's filing cabinet that her husband, Paul has filled out divorce papers. She kept her discovery of the divorce papers to herself knowing she would need her families help if she stood the slightest chance of beating her cancer. After she is cancer free she knows in her heart that she wants to find hope by being among the giant trees and mountains and decides to take a road trip back to the nature of her childhood alone.

Paul drops Carly off at her Great-Aunt Rae's horse ranch in New Mexico to have her work and hopefully Rae can influence Carly by Rae's wisdom about life. Carly had been making bad life choices and perhaps working with the horses and her Great-Aunt Rae Carly will grow up. Meanwhile Paul is fixing up a property when he is not working in the same town as Rae. Amy is very introspective while she seeks the solitude of hiking and she has one goal only and that is to heal and grow her inner strength in order to find true acceptance of herself and accept what she views her new body as being okay. She avoids mirrors because she grieves the amputated breasts and the parts of her she gave up by having a hysterectomy. She is grateful to be alive and she doesn't feel sorry for herself.

Paul goes through a transformation as he ponders the flashbacks and memories of being a first respondor who looked for human life as he and his colleagues dug through the wreckage of the Oklahoma bombing by Timothy McVeigh. He realizes that he wants to retire from the police force and repair his marriage. Carly, Amy and Paul all are on a path to healing but there is not one ounce of pity. What could have been a depressing novel was the opposite. The character's felt so real and the setting was vivid. I have a feeling that the author was an evolved and a person of great maturity as she painted a canvas of inner retrospection and acceptance rather than despair. This was a remarkable novel with so much to take away about how our circumstances don't define us no matter how bad they are rather it is the way we choose to move forward. I didn't think that I would like this book at the beginning but the more I read from each of the three character's point of view, the more I knew that I was richer inwardly from experiencing the positive growth that takes place. I am so grateful for reading this and thank you Kaya McLaren for your insights about how our outlook can have such a life affirming impact.

Publication Date: January 19, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Kaya McLaren and St. Martin's Press for gifting me with such an incredibly uplifting. inspiring novel in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#What'sWorthKeeping #KayaMcLaren #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for gifting me a digital ARC of this touching book by Kaya McLaren - 4.5 stars!

The day Amy found out she had cancer, she also found out that her husband was contemplating divorce.  Nine months later, Amy has undergone a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and a subsequent hysterectomy.  She is understandably lost, scared and reevaluating her entire life.  Husband Paul is dealing with his own trauma after being one of the police officers on the scene of the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing.  Their daughter, Carly, always tried to do the right things and had her path planned out.  Amy's cancer changed her as well and she started acting out.  Paul takes Carly to Amy's great aunt's house who runs a horse ranch to spend the summer away from her friends to hopefully straighten her out.  Meanwhile, Amy seeks solace in nature, having grown up visiting the national parks and monuments with her dad and sister.  

Told in alternating viewpoints of each of these three family members, this is a very moving, real story about how trauma affects everyone in a family.  It's also about facing and moving forward from trauma in real, positive ways.  The author herself had breast cancer and you feel the true emotions come through Amy's experiences.  You also feel her strength and resolve.  It's also a love letter to our country's national parks and monuments.

What's Worth Keeping is the story of a family on the edges of falling apart. Amy, the mother, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, completed treatment and multiple surgeries; Paul, the father, a police officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department, is haunted by the OKC Federal Building bombing; and their daughter, Carly, is just plain angry. Amy, Paul and Carly take some time apart for the summer...is the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" really true? Can they find their way back to each other amidst the pain and trials of the past?

I really enjoyed this book and it brought tears to my eyes multiple times. It hit a little close to home for me. Great-Aunt Rae was my favorite character, after losing her one true love she has great insight and really helps Carly through a rough time. 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

A heartbreaking story....a story of surviving breast cancer.
Overall, I think it just was too long and too wordy for me.  It seemed to drag on and on in parts.
Though I enjoyed some of the nature descriptions, it got to be too much.
The storyline was emotionally charged  from the start. 
 Dealing and learning to cope with your unknown future....surviving....finding oneself.....self discovery....
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion.  All opinions expressed are my own.

At its root this is a tale about a family working through the trauma of one member surviving cancer. 
I enjoyed  parts of this story. I especially connected to the daughter, Carly and her Great-Aunt Rae. I also appreciated the perspective of the husband Paul, who is also coping with being a first responder after the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. 
All the characters are grieving in different ways, but instead of coming together they push each other away.  The main character, and cancer survivor, Amy is pulled to return to the nature she grew up in. McLaren gives many descriptions of the beauty of the nature Amy visits. While I wanted to connect to Amy, there was something about this specific character I simply didn't like. I almost feel as though the author tried to include too many dynamics and experiences in this tale so it grazed the surface, without getting deep. While well written, ultimately the story-arc had a busy and disconnected feel. This story had a ton of potential, but overall fell short for me.

This book was a gut wrenching, well written novel of a family all facing their own tragic situations in life. Told from three different perspectives, mom, dad and daughter, we see them deal and try to cope with their lives as they face these situations. It was a good read.

This was such a heavy read for me, having dealt with parental cancer in the past. Heart-wrenching, emotional, and well written.

"What's Worth Keeping" isn't just about initial survival during bad times, it's about rediscovering life after trauma. 

Amy understands that she is 'fortunate' to have survived breast cancer. Yet, she struggles with connecting with her daughter and husband. The family has pulled away from each other as each character tries to deal with how life will move forward. 

Amy's husband is a police officer that is haunted by his memories of pulling people out of the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. He doesn't feel like the "hero" that others have labeled him, instead he thinks about the ones he couldn't save.

Knowing that the cancer is genetic, Amy's daughter is scared for her own future. 

This was an eye-opener kind of book for me. The situations that happened to the characters are ones that I have not experienced first-hand. The main character, Amy, was partially based on the author's life and I can imagine that many of the thoughts and conversations are ones that the author has felt or said herself. There is a lot going on in this book, but the lives of the three family members are believable and the way that the story comes together is nicely done. There are a lot of beautiful quotes about life and living, and many references to places in the Pacific Northwest (as someone who lived in Oregon for a few years, I enjoyed 'revisiting' the area).

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was not a book I would normally pick up, but I'm very happy to have experienced this story.

When I read the synopsis of this book, I had a feeling it’s going to be a tear jerker type of read. But, it turned out not just tears that I shred. It is also beautifully written, full of hopes, tolerance, spreading positivity, crossing paths with strangers who happen to affect our choice of life no matter how small or big the effect is.

The book has multiple POVs, each character shares their struggles with how to deal with “a big change” in their life, related to breast cancer. How the story goes is not asking the readers to fall apart from the beginning, instead asking us to keep supporting every character in here, how to tell them that “everything is going to be okay, and we are in this together”. Was the book emotional? Yes, I admit I had the emotional odd feelings when I read this book, it's like there was a butterfly in my stomach and it refused to leave until I stopped reading the book. Happens again when I continue reading it. This book is so realistic and touching.

Other than that, prepare to make a bucket list for visiting National Parks that's being written in this book. The author did a great job to describe those places with their beauty, their fresh air,  their power of healing, silenceness..everything!! 

Huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for providing a complimentary ARC of this book through NetGalley. This book will be published on January 19, 2021, do add this beautiful book on your 2021 TBR

5 stars

Amy is a 40+ yo breast cancer survivor, and that is what the book is centered on. Her journey through it, both physically and mentally and her road to recovery, both physically and mentally. Told in alternating chapters, Amy, her husband Paul and her teenage daughter Carly are open and honest about how they are dealing with the aftermath and fears/hopes for the future. 

Paul, an OK police officer, also suffers with PTSD from his recovery efforts 
following the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. Carly is struggling with fears of a possible future cancer diagnosis and how to move ahead. 

This story does a good job of showing the realities of dealing with cancer for ALL family members (the author is also a breast cancer survivor). They each must find their own ways to cope and come to terms before they can connect again as a family. 

My only con was the length of the book. I felt some of it was rehashed, and the story could have been told a bit more succinctly. Otherwise, a well-written, unflinching survival story.

Many thanks to #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for providing me the free ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

I enjoyed this book. It is a sad story told from three different viewpoints...the mom, dad, and daughter. Everyone has their own problems and demons. This book brought up a lot of memories from the past and made me emotional, but it also is hopeful. Definitely worth the read!

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This is such a sweet story of a family struggling to make peace with the mother's breast cancer. Amy is happy to finally complete chemo but then she finds her husband may be planning to divorce her which sends her into another tailspin. Daughter Carly is dealing with her own teenage issues and is sent to her Great Aunt Rae's horse farm for the summer. Told from the perspectives of Amy, Carly, and Paul, we see a family in crisis--each trying to make peace with the situation, each hoping for clarity. Told with a poignant voice, this novel had me quietly weeping through it; but ultimately it's a story of resilience and redemption that gives us hope in this difficult time.

Title:  What's Worth Keeping
Author:  Kaya McLaren
Genre:  Fiction
Rating:  4 out of 5

The day her doctor says the one word that no one wants to hear, Amy Bergstrom discovers a secret that her husband of 25 years has been keeping from her. Now that the months of treatment and surgeries are behind her, she escapes her claustrophobic life seeking healing, peace and clarity in an ancient forest in Washington State, a forest that holds memories of her childhood summers.

After dropping off his daughter at Amy's Aunt Rae's horse ranch in the mountains of New Mexico, Officer Paul Bergstrom visits the fixer-upper he had bought years ago as a place to retire with his family. Although it appears fine on the outside, the inside is a disaster--just like his marriage. When he finds himself with more off-duty time than he expected, he lovingly repairs his dream home, building the future he so desperately wants.

Witnessing her mother's health crisis had been terrifying enough, but learning the cause was genetic leaves Carly with the sense that all of her dreams are pointless. With the help of her eccentric great aunt and a Clydesdale named T. Rex, Carly just may find her faith in her future again.

Kayla McLaren has been blessed with gorgeous book covers for her novels, and this is no exception. Her writing brings the beauty and magic of her settings to vibrant life and etches them in the reader’s mind—whether or not they’ve ever visited these places themselves. Each of these three characters are distinct and struggling with their own demons, but their stories twine together in this tale of a family facing their battles alone—and together. A lovely read!

Kayla McLaren is from Washington State. What’s Worth keeping is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 1/12).

What's Worth Keeping was a touching book. If you've had someone close to you that has been effected by either cancer or PTSD, it's a wonderful book about healing and dealing with the situations that come along with both of those. The book has great detail and the scenes are easily imagined in my head. I loved that there was perspective from the mother, father, and child. The author does a great job of explaining how they each are handling the same situations, differently. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this gifted kindle copy.

I feel bad for not liking this more because I knew that Amy's story was possibly the authors story of surviving breast cancer. My biggest issue with it was the lack of dialogue, particularly surrounding Amy and I found her sections tedious and like listening to a broken record. I'm afraid to say I skipped most of her parts. I did love the Carly and Aunt Rae sections. I loved the ranch, the healing horses and Great-Aunt Rae's wisdom and sadness at never moving forward in love. The husband Paul's sections were also worth reading. It was predictable and could have been much shorter. I hope it proved cathartic for the author to write.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing the ARC, this is my honest review.

This is a beautiful story of the process of moving through grief, finding what speaks to one’s soul, and figuring out what is worth holding onto in this life. 

Each character feels adrift from some trauma in their life, but they aren’t able to relate to each other even though their feelings and symptoms are similar. 

Paul and Amy had a loving relationship and a beautiful baby girl, Carly, when there was a bombing that Paul was a first responder for. Sixteen years later, Amy had breast cancer and undergoes a mastectomy and hysterectomy due to her BRAC2 gene. Carly, a young adult filled with hope for the future, starts to act out after learning that she could also be genetically “doomed”. Through misunderstanding and lack of communication, they all take time apart to try to spend time reconnecting to their true selves. This is their family”s story of moving through grief and learning to reconnect with their emotions, the world, and most importantly, each other. 

“She wanted to be able to say that... she was glad to be who she was.” This quote, which could change by the time of publishing, is an incredible summary of each characters journey towards their self-loving, authentic self. 

I loved this story. It was beautifully written. Be prepared for tears, joy and every emotion in between. 

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book and embrace the lessons learned.

Strong Look At Often Unexplored Topics. Glancing through the other reviews (as I generally do before writing my own, fwiw), it seems that so many people miss what I happen to see as the overall point of the book: Exploring how individuals can find themselves again and discover what they feel is worth keeping in the face of overwhelming tragedy. Here, McLaren uses three primary characters: A mother who has "survived" cancer, including a mastectomy and radical hysterectomy, only to have to piece back together her sense of self and whether she is still attractive. (A battle, it seems, that the author herself went through in real life.) A father who began working as a cop in order to provide for his then-young family, and who was one of the first responders shifting through the rubble behind Timothy McVeigh trying to save as many people as possible after the bombing of the Alfred P Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City - a tragedy that still haunts him all these decades later, at the end of his career. And a daughter who learns that her mother's cancer is to some degree hereditary, causing her to question any future she may have even as she graduates high school.

In these situations, McLaren points to tragedies and situations that are relatable to many of us, and paints a story that even across roughly 500 books read in under three years, I've rarely if ever seen. A story of survival (which is common, in and of itself) and of finding love (also common), but these particular wrinkles of the overall story have often been overshadowed in the stories by other, "flashier" topics. 

While I am genuinely sorry that the author lived through at least some of this, I am exceedingly happy that she was able to use those real life experiences to craft this tale in this way. It is a story that needed to be told, and it is a story that needs to be read by far too many. And for that reason, it is a story that is very much recommended.