I received an ARC from Bookouture through NetGalley and this is my honest review.  Alex lost his wife and Connor lost his mother in an accident.  Alex learned that his wife Lisa had chosen to be an organ donor.  He learned that she helped four people, Molly, Mac, Jamie, and Barbara. They started by writing letters and then they met. 
The story will take us from Alex and Connor learning to live without Lisa, and it will also show us how a donor-recipient feels after receiving the organ that could save their lives or let them see.  There are times you feel like Lisa is there in some form, in some ways each one has feelings and intuition that were different, for them, and they couldn't quite figure it out. They built a friendship that helped each other through all that they were dealing with.

Alex & Lisa were the almost perfect couple. They had a son Connor who was attached to his mom and loved astronomy as she did. Lisa was an expert speaker on astronomy and was on the train to go give a speech. The train had a wreck and Lisa was injured.
Alex had to make choices no family person would want to make in regards to their loved ones life. There are other complex decisions that Alex was faced with that would have repercussions not only for him, but his son and his own immediate family,but the ones that will be affected directly as well. 

The book was written so expressive and handled with kindness and genuine emotions. The characters are strong and believable. The storyline flows and grows from start to finish! 

I loved the book and would recommend this to my friends.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

A beautifully told emotional tale. Dani Atkins definitely tugged on my heartstrings with this evocative story. The story begins with Alex saying goodbye to his beautiful wife for what turns out to be the last time. Lisa a devoted wife and mother with a passion for astronomy who was gone too soon. As Alex begins the process of grief he is informed that Lisa signed up to be an organ donor. Knowing his wife would always want to help out those in need Alex agrees to this. Lisa‘s organs save/improve the lives of four random people. And Alex is left picking up the pieces not knowing how he’s going to manage this, much less his six-year-old son Connor. Driven by his grief and need to understand Alex connects with the four people who benefited from Lisa’s organ donation. What follows is a lovely story filled with hope, encouragement, strength, grief, and second chances.

   The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Alex and Molly. Molly is a 32-year-old elementary teacher who received leases heart. I really liked Molly she had such a kind spirit about her. Alex was a good guy who was so shattered, my heart broke for both him and his young son. What I loved most about this book was the found family that these organ beneficiaries found with one another as well as Alex. It’s kind of funny that there was so much feel goodness in this book about grief.

   Now on a personal note I need to address something about the book that did not sit well with me. I myself suffer from a degenerative I disease like one of the characters in the story who received a cornea transplant. First of all I want to point out that you cannot get an eye transplant or a retina transplant, so most people who are blind would not benefit at this point in time from any kind of transplant. And as much as I liked this particular character in the story, I really wish he was not included. The thing is getting a cornea transplant is not life-saving it is life enhancing. Being blind is not a death sentence it is a disability that many people live with daily. It was unfortunate and truthfully  a little hurtful every time it was mentioned that this man’s life was pretty much over with because of his disease that caused his blindness. I don’t believe that this was the intent of the book or the author and I debated whether or not to mention it in my review. I decided that I needed to be true to myself and I needed to say something.  And I need to mention one more thing, I really don’t mean to nitpick, but... blind people are more tactile than sighted people, however they don’t actually invade peoples personal space and touch them “as seen on TV“. Now this is not an indictment of this book that I will reiterate was very good it is just a little reminder for all of us to be a little more mindful.

This book in emojis  🌕 🫀 🪐 🫁 💫 

*** Big thank you to Bookouture for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Thank you, Bookouture, for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for this book which was a very emotional read for me!

Find my full review here:

https://www.healthybodymindandsoul.net/healthy-mind-blog/gone-too-soon-bookouture-blog-tour

This is the third book I have read by this author and definitely will not be the last! This was such a moving and beautiful story, with wonderful and amazing characters. I absolutely can see this as a movie, one that would make you grab for your tissues and have a good cry over, one  that pulls you in and holds you captive from beginning to end. The premise of the story and the characters were what made this book so strong and so profound. Be prepared for a very emotional read, one that will stay with you for a long long time... Absolutely beautiful.

It is devastating to families and friends when they lose someone they love before we think it's their time to go. But I'm sure you've heard the saying that everything happens for a reason. (SPOILER ALERT) One thing that will carry on a person's memory is organ donation. There are many, many people in need of organs and usually the only way to get them is with someone's death. There are very few live organ transplants available at this time. Organ donation will not bring your loved one back but it will carry their memory on for years and save another persons life.

This book has done an excellent job of relaying the sadness and difficulties those left behind have to deal with but if organs are donated to others it leaves a silver lining.

I received an ebook ARC from Netgalley and this is my voluntary, honest review.

I really enjoyed this story.  It’s full of characters with great depth living lives that definitely are not boring.  I’ll be honest, the beginning of the book had me so sad.  But as I watched each character overcome their hardships and move on from horrible tragedy, I really enjoyed the journey.  Grief is such a crazy thing and seeing how some of the characters survived it was very uplifting.

Alex, Lisa and Connor were a happy family till Lisa takes a train and ends of dying from massive brain damage. Alex doesn't know how he will go on especially to be a good father to his 7 year old boy Connor that has gone mute and wont let out anything he's feeling. Then Alex finds out Lisa was an organ donor and she saves 4 people's lives. Alex begins to write to them and surprisingly they all write back. He is drawn in even though it is not something that the hospital agrees with he forms bonds with each of these people.
What happens when the relationships become complicated? Is Alex able to heal with these people in his life?
I just finished this book late last night and it gave me all the feels. I understood the connections, the confusion and the heartbreak. This story was so unique and I'd definitely recommend you check it out for yourself

This was so good and full of a lot of emotions.
Lisa and Alex are married with a young son named Connor. One morning they get up and get ready for the day as they always do. Lisa leaves for work. Then there is a train crash and Alex is crushed because he can't get Lisa to answer her phone and he knew she was on the train. Getting the phone call to come to the hospital was a nightmare.
Lisa was an organ donor. Because of that it changed the lives of 4 people. When Alex contacts them a relationship forms between all of them. Even Connor comes to enjoy them.
So the question is if your spouse/partner was a donor, would you want to know who received the organs? Or if you received organs would you want to say thank you to the family?
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGlley for the ARC to review.

I finished this book last night, and my heart was broken, it was healed, it grieved, it celebrated. Gone Too Soon is about love: finding love, losing love, love of friends, love of family. The characters in this book felt like my family and friends, and each moment that I was reading I longed for them to find peace and hope. We read about true heroes in this book—organ donors who save countless lives, restore sight—giving people a chance to love and live again. I haven’t read other books by this author, but I hope to go back and read her other books. I fell in love with her writing and the heart she poured into this story and its characters.

First, I want to thank Dani Atkins, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

Dani Atkins Gone Too Soon is such a beautifully written emotionally charged story that will have you reaching for your tissues. On many occasions I shed a tear for a character or situation. This is one story you will be wanting to put on your must read pile. 

I know the saying don’t judge a book by its cover. However if it grabs your attention you will want to see what the synopsis is about. For me I was hooked line and sinker with the beautiful cover of the mother and son. It pulled on my heart strings seeing the picture and then the title. The colors they chose for the graphic cover were so pretty. Oh and then you have the title that indicated this would be a good tearjerker of a book-one of my favorite kinds. This was the perfect cover for this Gone Too Soon. 

In Gone Too Soon Dani Atkins brings awareness to Organ Donation and Cellular Memory. The Cellular Memory I found very interesting as I didn't know much about this topic. With everything going on in the world today Organ Donation is a topic that needs to be addressed. Nobody wants to lose a loved one but this is a way to preserve their memory and give someone a second chance at life. 

The beginning of this book was written like something ripped from the headlines. Incredibly intense scenes that had me on pins and needles to find out what happened. My heart ached for all of those involved. 

You could just feel the passion Dani had for each of her characters she had written. Each of them had their own incredible story that linked them all together that needed to be told. 

One of my favorite characters was sweet Connor! Oh he pulled on my heartstrings hard and many times I teared up during his scenes. He was too young to understand all that was happening. I wanted to give him a big hug. 

There was a surprise love connection that I didn't really see coming. Infact, I was actually rooting for someone else to steal her heart.

one too Soon is an emotional journey through grief for a small tight knit family. Lisa is married to Alex and they have a six year old son named Connor. Alex feels that Lisa saved him by seeing the person he was under his rough exterior and they had a happy and fulfilling marriage. Connor and his mom have a very close relationship and they deeply connect over astronomy - she is an astronomer and is teaching him about the stars. One normal morning, she has to take the train to present a paper the Astronomy Fair. She promises Connor that the two of them will go to the museum very soon. Then she kisses her husband and son and leaves the catch the train. But the train never gets to its destination because there is an accident and Lisa is critically injured. When Alex finally finds the hospital that she's been taken to, the doctors inform him that Lisa is brain dead and will not recover. The doctors also tell him that she wanted to be an organ donor and wanted to help other people regain their lives. He agrees and her heart, eyes, lungs and kidney are donated to four people. In his grief, he feels that he has to meet the four people because part of Lisa lived on in them. As he and Connor struggle with their grief, he eventually meets the four people who were able to have their lives back thanks to Lisa's gift. This story is also told from Molly's point of view. She is the woman who received Lisa's heart. As she struggles to come to terms with her new life, she begins to feel very strongly for Alex and Connor. Will continuing to be friends with the four organ recipients prolong Alex's grief or will he begin to heal? Can he and Connor become close again and become a family of two?

This is an emotional book about a very sensitive topic. The author lets us feel the family's grief and the characters are so well written that you understand their struggles. I can guarantee some tears as you read this book. This is my first book by this author and I plan to read some of her earlier books now. She tells a beautiful story that is full of grief but ends on a note of hopefulness for the future.

Even just from the description, you can tell that this book is such an emotional role coaster. Obviously, it’s a book that deals with a young mother’s death and her husband and son recovering from that, but it’s also SO MUCH more than that, and that’s what makes this book so good. I (obviously) teared up a lot throughout the book, but I left it with an overall really positive feeling. It’s overall tone is one of hope.

The characters - Alex, and family, and Molly and the recipients of Lisa’s organs - are so well-drawn that I became very invested in their stories and I was really rooting for them. Their stories were all really well developed and I felt like I was there with them as they each worked to overcome their own struggles and adjust to their new lives. The author did a great job of interweaving all of the characters and stories to create a tapestry of characters and a very deep, moving story.

The ending was also right where it should have been, in my opinion,  I think at first, the instinct is for it to go in another direction, but reading to the end, the author really nailed it. I don’t want to give anything away, but everyone really ended up exactly where they should have been.

Overall, this book was the perfect read for a cozy weekend. It will make you cry, smile, feel joy, sadness, hopeful, etc. all at the same time. If you’re a fan of Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult and the like, this is definitely a book you would enjoy - pick it up!

Gone Too Soon by Dani Atkins is an excellent, emotional novel about a widowed husband becoming friends with the organ donor recipients from his late wife.

Gone Too Soon starts out with Lisa dying in a train accident. She donates her organs to four people. Molly, a teacher in her thirties, receives Lisa’s heart. Mac, an architect that had to give up his job and lost the life he knew when going blind, received Lisa’s corneas. Jamie, a young man that fabricates stories, receives Lisa’s lungs. Barbara, a lonely woman that loves her cats, receives Lisa’s kidney. Alex, Lisa’s husband, keeps in contact with all of the organ recipients. Alex is also trying to figure out how to raise his son, Connor.

I really enjoyed Gone Too Soon. I was instantly invested in all of the characters.  This made it very emotional when Lisa passes away. Gone Too Soon is an interesting and unique story. I thought I wanted something to happen in the book, but Atkins had other plans that I liked much better. Alex develops a friendship with the organ recipients. This is unusual and difficult for everyone at times. Alex is looking for characteristics from his wife but has to figure out how to seem the recipients as their own people. All of the characters are very unique, so I really enjoyed reading about their interactions and how they fit into each other’s lives. The book takes place over the year after Lisa’s death. All of the characters had a difficult year and have to figure out how to move on with their changed life. The book is told from Alex and Molly’s perspectives which makes this great story even more interesting. Molly receives Lisa’s heart and Alex feels the biggest connection to Molly. 

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for Gone Too Soon.

Lisa, a wife and mother, is killed on a train while on her way to a conference. She has a wish to donate her organs and her husband, Alex, honors that wish. In an effort to help himself heal and stay connected to Lisa he contacts the people who were saved by Lisa’s organs. What follows is a heart tugging story.

I loved this book and has trouble putting it down. It’s a story of healing after suddenly losing the most important person in your life. I highly recommend this book!

Alex's life takes a major turn when his wife suddenly dies in a large train accident, but when he discovers that she made a decision about her body after she died, he realizes that this could change his life.  Told through Alex and one of the people who's life is impacted by Lisa's death, Molly, this story takes twists and turns as Alex deals with grief and tries to figure out a new path in life.

There is no spoiling the fact that Alex's wife Lisa dies in the first or second chapter and that is the early catalyst that sets this story in motion.  For me, it was interesting reading those early chapters and seeing the affects of a large scale accident on a family member trying to get answers.  You see those events take place and you see the catastrophe on tv and I often think of the first responders and the investigation, but have never thought about the family members who want answers and how difficult that can be, even with the technology that we currently have.

The other thing that intrigued me was the potential hurdles if/when a donor patient interacts with a donor family.  The way the author handled the interactions from my point of view felt honest full of a real mix of emotions.  From covering a scar to the awkward questions about the deceased, I would love to know the accuracy of this piece of fiction, but also hope that it is pretty close to real life!

This was a great book that tackles a topic - organ donation - that I don't know that I have ever read about.  I love reading books about human topics that I don't have experience with and feel could be taboo and this one was well done.

I made it about half way through this one and completely lost interest. I struggled for another chapter or two before closing it out. I'll puck it up at a later date and see how it goes then. Different books for different moods and all that.

I found this to be a skillfully written book about a difficult topic indeed - death of a spouse. 

This is a work of fiction, but nevertheless it showed the path that grief can take e.g. not linear. Alex was a nice guy, completely in love with his wife and trying to be a great dad to his sensitive son, Connor. Next thing he knows, his brilliant wife was dead and he had to deal with a myriad of emotions and situations. 

I like that Molly, Mac, Barbara and Jamie come into Alex's life - all of them enhance his life in some way and in a funny way, I think they were put there to help him through. There are tiny bits of supernatural speculation here but I think that is understandable when a loved one dies - you are looking for signs from a departed loved one. 

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

This is a story about love, loss, friendship and family. Alex and Connor are on a journey neither wanted to take, the sudden loss of Lisa, Alex’s wife and seven year old Connors mother.

They are comforted by family and new friends, 4 people who received organ donations from Lisa. 
This story reminds us that family is the people who come around to help you through the journey of loss. 

Thank you Netgalley for complimentary copy Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Dani has done it again, this is a beautiful emotive book following a group of people who have been brought together following the tragic death of Lisa, wife of Alex and mother to Connor.
Following Alex, Molly, Mac , Jamie and Barbara we learn about the events that bring them together and the way they handle this,
Dani writes so well that you are instantly drawn in and feel a huge connection to each and every character. I cried (big, fat, ugly tears), I laughed and at times my heart was in my mouth as I worried about how things would turn out.
Little things like the tattooed man in the lift( when you read it you will know), and the going home to tell Connor what has happened rip into you as you imagine you are there with Alex.
The way Dani transitions  from the very emotional scenes following Lisa’s death to the time after as all those affected rebuild their lives. I went from crying, to feeling hope and even laughing out loud at the scene in the department store (again when you read it you will know).
I highly recommend this book (and maybe a box of tissues)

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book