This was difficult book to read! and sad. The writing is good but slow. It took some timer to finish the book due to it also being depressing. Thank you to St., Martin's Press for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a high emotion read.

I thought learning about an end of life doula was interesting. It's a piece of care that I didn't know a lot about and I found the interesting plot unique. I found the struggles within the story heartbreaking and the drama high. But this was definitely a romantic read, but not the "happily ever after" kind of story. It was a bit distracting, the bouncing back and force timelines and so many POV but I did liked it. I would recommend if you're looking for a high emotion read but definitely double check the trigger warnings!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The Next Thing You Know by Jessica Strawser has tear-jerker written all over it. From the synopsis you know you are getting into a death doula meeting a musician coming to terms with a deteriorating medical condition and very likely falling in love. And, those inevitable tears come. Along the way, Strawser creates a poignant story of love, grief, and life.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

An end of life doula meets a has been musician who doesn’t want to live. They fall in love and Meg tries her best to save him. Mason and Meg form this connection even though they are so different. I shed some tears in this story especially the ending and enjoyed the storyline.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝘼 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙧. 𝘼𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙙-𝙤𝙛-𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙖 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚. 𝘼 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙄𝙨 𝘽𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙈𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝘼 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙮.

I am super surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book. It’s been on my NetGalley shelf for months now - I had requested it so long ago that I forgot what it was about. I was expecting to not have been as interested as I was before, but I knew I had to eventually read it. I actually ended up really annoying it.

Nova Huston’s job is to help terminally ill people make peace with her upcoming death. She will accept to help any of her clients - young, prickly, and even those who are desperate for a caregiver/companion.

Mason Shaylor is an indie-favorite singer-songwriter who has recently vanished from the public eye. When he shows up at Nova’s door she doesn't recognize him. All she knows is his story: his deteriorating condition that is making it physically impossible to play his guitar. He knows he can’t move on that way, but doesn't know how to say goodbye.

Little do they both know that it’s going to be a challenge for both of them as they begin to feel a connection towards each other.

I wasn’t aware of what this book was about, but I surely was not expecting it to be as emotional as it was. I felt so touched by the story and I felt horrible for Mason. I also was not expecting to have felt emotionally attached to their romantic connection.

This is a book I haven’t heard many talk about, but it was so emotional and I was not prepared for it to affect me the way it did. It was so beautifully written and these characters felt so real. I would highly recommend this!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy - all thoughts are my own!

I can’t believe I forgot to review this book.
I love the cover for The Next Thing You Know. It’s comparisons to A Star is Born & Me Before You had been intrigued. While I liked it, I did feel it as a bit slow and there were a lot of different POVs that made it confusing at times.

A gripping and emotionally poignant novel that highlights the turmoil of end of life decisions and the hard job of being the one to help usher someone out of this life.

Did this book break me? Yes, it absolutely did. Strawser grabs you by the feels at page one and just. Keeps. Going. I mean, seriously. Until the end. You want a good cry? The Next Thing You Know is the book for you.

Hurts so good.

Loved this beautiful compelling novel. Filled with love, hope, letting go and death this book shattered my heart at times and then gave me a sense of piece. Nova an end of life doula meets Mason an up and coming musician. Their lives collide and. things will never be the same. Filled with raw emotion this story unfolds easily and you will fall deeply for the characters! Love it!

Thank you to St. Martin’s press and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

I've read all of Jessica Strawser's novels, and while they are very thoughtful and well-written, The Next Thing You Know is her best so far. I like how she's gone from thrillers to more contemporary dramas over time and this novel shows exactly what she is capable of.

The story had such a compelling plot with interesting characters to carry it along. I loved getting to know Mason and Nova, and it was nice getting Kelly and Willow's perspectives too. I really didn't know what to expect throughout this novel and was pleasantly surprised. I got a Jodi Picoult feel from this story, and not just because one of the main characters was a death doula (like in The Book of Two Ways). Jessica handled the topic of death sensitively and I liked her thoughts about it as reflected through her characters. I also liked how music was woven throughout.

Overall, it was just really captivating and thought provoking. If you missed this one earlier in the year, don't hesitate to pick it up!

Movie casting suggestions:
Nova: Renée Felice Smith
Mason: Peter Mooney
Kelly: Sarah Paulson
Willow: Olivia Edward
Bonnie: Wendie Malick

This was an emotional tale about a musician a death doula similar to Me Before You. I really liked it and would definitely read more by this author ... eventually. Once my heart recovers.

Strawser has become a go to author for me. This latest novel proves it again. An end of life doula, a musician. A very special and thought provoking novel. I loved it!

The Next Thing You Know by Jessica Strawser is an emotional, relevant, thought provoking and unique story. It focuses on Nova, a death doula, and immerses the reader into her life as she deals with emotionally complex repercussions resulting from taking on a client (Mason) who is dealing with a serious medical condition that threatens the untimely end of his career. She breaks the rules of her profession by becoming personally involved with Mason. Throughout the novel, Nova’s backstory slowly unfolds, as well as her relationship with Mason. Although this is primarily Nova’s story, there are multiple narrators and the story moves between the present and the past. At times I felt that there were too many points of view, and I wasn’t always sure why some of those characters’ narratives were included. The timelines also jumped around quite a bit.

All of the characters were well-written and complex, particularly the free-spirited Nova. Although I enjoyed the story, I wasn’t consistently able to connect with the characters, and wasn’t completely invested in the relationship between Nova and Mason. I was fascinated with the subject matter of the book and the themes that were dealt with. The author did a wonderful job highlighting the profession of a death doula, which is relatively a new field that many people are not familiar with. I really admire and appreciate Ms. Strawser’s ability to tackle difficult and timely subject matter. The story went into great detail to explain what a death doula does. It explored end of life choices and how death doulas provide mental, spiritual, and comfort and assistance to people who are terminally ill, and raises moral and ethical questions about what the job should not entail.

Some themes of the story included: loss, grief, family, friendship, romance, and the complexities of end-of-life care. I loved this author’s previous novel. She can always be counted on tackling very unique and current issues that cause the reader to analyze various perspectives and ethical dilemmas. For this reason, this book would lend itself to great book club discussions. While I really liked this book, I wished I could have felt slightly more emotionally invested in the storyline and characters. I recommend this book for the subject matter and definitely am looking forward to all of the author’s future books.

I don't think I was in the right headspace for this book. It's very heavy for me right now, would reccomend for fans of Me Before You

This started out great. I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading. After about 40% I was so bored. This book is about 100 pages too long. There are too many POV, and the POV have multiple timelines woven together which make it confusing. Some of the POV aren’t even necessary.

Unfortunately this one was not for me. I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NG and St Martin's Press for the ARC. A beautifully told story. So many emotions with this book. Loved reading about Nova and Mason. Highly recommend. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This newest book by Jessica Strawser did not disappoint me compared to her previous books! There is always an emotional element to her books that seems to stay with me. And this one had that for sure. There were parts of the story that were unexpected. And it was full of emotional interactions and situations.

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my honest review.*

I think I have read each of Strawser's novels and this one was by far my favorite! If you need a tear jerker, look no further. She really knows how to pull at your heart strings!

The description of the book can be overwhelming at first glance - what on earth is an end of life doula? - but after Kelly explains her process in the first couple of chapters, I was hooked. I can see how this process could have made things much easier for loved ones that I have lost.

Strawser is an amazing writer and when reading this novel, I was in awe of her story telling abilities. Definitely a must read!

This is a story about the many forms of love and death. It takes the form of the story of Mason, a musician, and Nova, the end-of-life doula whose help he enlists. I don't usually like to include information from a book's cover information when writing a review, but in this case that info is just too accurate to skip: this is a book about "the power of human connection, love when you least expect it, hope against the odds, and what it really takes to live life with no regrets."
It isn't just about romantic love - there's the love between parent and child (Nova's partner and her adolescent daughter, as well as Nova and her mother). There's love between siblings and love between friends. And there's also the love of one's life and career. And types of death? There's physical death, of course - that's what an end-of-life doula deals with. But there's also the death of a beloved career, the death of the life one always planned for, essentially the idea that life is what's happening while we're making plans and how much of life is making adjustments to the changes that inevitably arise. Like life itself, this book is both heartbreaking and hopeful, and it's left me wanting to try some of Jessica's Strawser's other books.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

The Next Thing You Know is about Nova Huston, an end-of-life doula who helps terminal clients prepare for a “peaceful transition” on their own terms. Her new client is Mason Shaylor, a singer-songwriter who has a deteriorating condition that now makes performing his music impossible.

At first prickly and resistant to Nova’s attempts to learn about his life and his disease, Mason and Nova eventually connect. Soon their bond deepens, but a shocking turn of events has Nova under scrutiny for her relationship with a client, and Nova questioning herself. Strawser has written a poignant tale about love, friendship, and redemption.