This wasn’t quite what I expected going into it- so I was temporarily confused but then ended up really enjoying it. Less of a mystery and more of a reflection on grief and loss. I found my heart breaking for the whole family as they struggled to process the death of their daughter/sister. Definitely a heavy read, but I’d recommend it!

“Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance” is an achingly realistic portrait of deep grief; grief that leaves you breathless and motionless. It’s a commentary on how although grief is an intensely personal experience, societal expectations of the appropriate way to grieve crush your already diminished spirit. Even amongst those grieving together, we judge this process - too long, too loud, too crazy, too stoic, and on and on. In reality though, there is no manual for how to grieve and no way to move forward except any way that forces you to keep breathing in and out. This book is sad but in a beautiful way and never overdramatic. The characters and their choices are rich, well developed and intimately realistic. Even though I knew these characters would never be removed from their grief, I wanted to be a part of their journey. It was raw and lovely and quirky and true. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is a lovely and poignant coming of age story that is centered around the grief of a family. Sally, the narrator of the story, was in the car with her older sister Kathy and her boyfriend, Billy when he accidentally crashes the car into a tree killing Kathy. This one moment changes the course of many lives and time becomes bisected into the before and after Kathy's death. What follows is a moving and poignant portrait of the grief and suffered by Sally, her parents and Billy over the course of twenty years.

This novel serves as a character study of a family dealing, or in some cases, not dealing with grief. The small hairline fractures that were already present become wide cracks and crevices as each person tries to copy with Kathy's death in their own way. Told through Sally's eyes, she tries to find a way to navigate through life without her older sister. She and Billy latch onto one another as the last tangible link they both have to Kathy. As Billy circles in and out of her life over the years their relationship morphs and changes but is always cemented by their grief.

This is a lovely yet melancholy story that I could not p down. The characters seemed real and honest- flawed and sympathetic. As time marches on, as we see through the different changes in technology, their grief remains constant. I connected this story in a myriad of ways. As a daughter, as a parent, as a sister and as anyone who has ever lost someone they loved. This story has an honesty and a rawness that is touching, beautiful and devastating. One of my favorite books of the year.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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This was such a great book. I loved the character development and the plot kept you guessing. Very well written!

Loved this one so much I bought a hard copy for myself. This novel explores the growth of a teenage girl as she grapples with the sudden death of her sister. The writing was beautiful, it was nostalgic, and I was invested in the characters.

Thank you Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was immediately drawn to this book once I saw it was marketed for fans of Tell the Wolves I’m home. I’m always a sucker who falls prey for books that are compared to other books that have captured my heart without really giving it a second thought.

This book was good — raw and honest and I felt as though the author captured the loss of a sibling really well. But I’ll admit, it took me a while to get into this. I’m not sure why, but something about the authors style really made it difficult for me to get into this. I don’t regret reading this, but I don’t think this will be a very memorable book for me. The concept itself was great and the emotions felt by the characters was well done but the book was too drawn out for my liking.

I loved this book. Grief, love, the relationship between sisters. The fact that the story is so tragic, but written so funny is really an ode to the author’s writing skills. While reading you can really empathize with the characters’ pain and coping mechanisms, but also relate to having a younger or older sibling who totally grinds your gears! I appreciated the portrayal of grief in the years after loss of a loved one. This is definitely one of my top reads of 2022 so far - highly recommend!

Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance
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Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook (also bought the Physical Copy)
Date Published: 5/17/22
Author: Alison Espach
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 352
Goodreads Rating: 3.88

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: The summer before Sally Holt starts the eighth grade begins as a gloriously uneventful one. It's full of family trips to the beach and long afternoons at the local pool with her older sister Kathy, which they mostly use as an excuse to ogle Billy Barnes, who works the concession stand there. By summer’s end Billy and Kathy are an item—an unthinkable stroke of luck that ends in an even more unthinkable tragedy. The story is a journal of Sally’s life, before and after Kathy’s disappearance, through school, tragedy, and love, a coming of age story that looks at the ways people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they’re gone.

My Thoughts: The story is narrated by Sally, from her perspective. It seems more like a diary of her life, with her sister, Kathy, being a huge part of it. Originally, with this title, I thought it was something else, but it turned out to be completely different,in a very good way. The characters are well developed, with depth, passion, establishing relationship connections, and just well written. Our MC, Sally, goes on a life journey through her sister, school, then parting into the world on her own, with a love so strong, it carries her through life. The author’s writing style was unique, in a good way, had layers of complexity, and using a diary style method really worked extremely well for this book. This is a story of self-discovery, love, and Sally coming into herself. This book is already out and I highly recommend picking up. I really enjoyed reading this book.

Synopsis: When a terrible tragedy shakes one family. The sister of the family member writes to the family member and explains everything that is going on.


Thoughts: This book was totally different than what I expected and I found it to be a little anti climatic after what you learned what the tragedy was. This book does show how life altering the lives of others are affected by one tragic accident and decision. I wish either that part would have been left towards the end or there would have been more twists and turns. Also the cover makes it feel like this is a summer mystery and that is not what the book was about but the cover still attracted me in.

When a book isn't what you expect...⁣
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And you still enjoy it! 🙌⁣
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This book isn't about the sister that dies, this is the story about the sister that watched it happen.⁣
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This isn't a mystery, this is a book about how people handle traumatic events differently.⁣
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This book would make an awesome book club book. This was a book I couldn't resist giving my husband the entire play by play while reading it and having a lot of discussions about the incident (don't want to give away too much) and all the issues that arise as a result. Even though only the living sister narrates we are still able to see how the mother, father, and the boyfriend feel/heal/move on from the other sister's disappearance and let me tell you it makes this book unputdownable. The ending bugged me but overall great read!⁣
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Thank you @netgalley and @henryholtbooks for this copy!

Unfortunately this book did not work for me. Between the misleading cover and misleading cover, I thought this book was going to be a beach read. Or a mystery. It was neither. As a fan of Ask Again Yes, I think I would have enjoyed this book it was sold to me better.

This was not my cup of tea. I wish I would have DNF'ed it. It was dark, depressing, and a bit odd I felt. It was definitely not the story that I thought I would get when I picked this one up.

This book was so different than what I was expecting. I’m not sure if I thought I was going into a mystery or thriller, but it turned out to be a really powerful story about the relationship between two sisters, Sally and Kathy, and how everyone is settles back into their lives after Kathy’s death.

I really enjoyed the POV and how the book was Sally writing to Kathy. In certain moments, I felt like I couldn’t fully relate to Sally and she felt a bit cold, but since the book focuses so heavily on everyone experiencing grief in their own separate ways, I did appreciated how real she was.

I felt like the book was a bit slow to start, but by the end I couldn’t put it down and was genuinely intrigued to see where everyone ended up.

Thank you to Alison Espach, NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my review.

A compelling and emotionally honest tale of losing a sister and struggling to find a place in a broken family. Sally is defined by her relationship to her sister, even years after her tragic death.

To be perfectly honest, I had no expectations of this. I hadn't heard anything about aside from the briefest synopsis. But I really, really enjoyed this novel.

First, the second person POV of Sally writing to her dead sister worked SO well. It felt immersive and real; we didn't get a sanitized version of Sally's grief. Sally wasn't always a super likeable character, but I think she is a very real display of grief.

Her relationship with Billy was complicated and layered. It wasn't straightforward, which I appreciated a lot. I also appreciated seeing how grief affected the parents as well. They also felt quite real to me.

My only qualm was the last section felt a bit unnecessary or drawn out. The author clearly wanted to end the novel at a specific time (and the reasoning makes total sense). But getting to that time meant we had more space to fill with just that: filler.

Truly, this was a surprising read that I thoroughly enjoyed and connected with!

Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance – Alison Espach

Sally Holt was a young 13-year-old girl, just starting the 8th grade, when she loses her older sister very suddenly. As this novel begins, an adult Sally seems to be talking to her long gone sister and is reminiscing of long past days – their relationship, the luminescent stars they had on the ceiling of their bedroom, the late-night random conversations they would have, and of course about Billy Barnes, the boy that Kathy secretly adored, and therefore, Sally loved too. As we learn from Sally, they lived an idyllic life with loving parents, Over time, Kathy & Billy became a couple, while Sally struggled with the ever-widening gap between she and her sister, as Kathy entered high school. Then, everything changed.

Sally continues to talk to her now deceased sister, describing the events that would change her entire world and of those that they loved. How bereft she felt, alone in the bedroom they shared, struggling to come to terms with the unfathomable loss, and the finality of the moment. She describes the changes to her own life and those of her parents, and of Billy, whom she secretly reaches out to, as she knows only he can understand her great loss.

As the years go by, we learn of the long-term impacts on Sally and her family, borne of such a shattering loss and how Sally’s present remains ever shaped by the events of that long ago morning. All in all, a very real, painful, sometimes funny, yet heart-breaking look into a devastating loss and growing up with the grief, as it becomes an indelible part of who we are.

This was a big change from my usual genre, but I always like to give new authors a look, and this novel gives a lot of feels – love, humor, loss, despair & hope. My only complaint was the ending – because it just ends – and yet it was time. But this one will resonate long after the final page is turned…

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley & Henry Holt & Company in exchange for an objective review. Do you love to read?? Visit netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!

"Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is a dreamy, funny, and dark novel. The story is told from the perspective of Sally, who we are introduced to as an awkward, prepubescent girl, and who mostly narrates in the second person as if she was addressing her sister Kathy. A third of the way into the novel, something happens to Kathy, and the rest of the novel is Sally, her family, and Kathy's boyfriend dealing with the impacts of that event.

This novel does a great job of exploring the impact of tragedy on the characters' lives, and how trauma can bond people together. If you have ever undergone a major loss, you will find solace in these pages, and recognize the character's nonsensical and flailing attempts at peace. However, I was surprised that the majority of this novel is set in the main character's high school years, and therefore much of the subject material and tone is quite juvenile, covering sexual exploration, picking a college, leaving home, etc. At many points, I thought, I'm too old for this. And yet because much of the subject material is quite dark and foreboding, it is appropriately marketed as an adult novel. I wasn't quite sure what to do with this conundrum.

Thanks to NetGalley + Henry Holt for the ARC!

This one is introspective and contemplative, but the slow pace really killed the story for me. I didn't have expectations going in because I knew nothing about it, and while I love books about grief and can handle slow burns, this one didn't really seem to have a point. I kept thinking it would all come together by the end to explain some profound thoughts, but it fell very flat and definitely left me wanting so much more!

I loved the author's previous book, The Adults, and was excited to read this one. While it's totally different, the author's ability to capture the restlessness, confusion, and longing of being a young girl is on full display once again.
While about the sad subject of a sibling's death, this book is full of beauty, hope, and wonderful moments including a funny and touching scene with a psychic, and lots of nostalgia for summer days.
Espach is a great writer; some of the dialogue and narration is hilarious and the relationship between Kathy and Sally feels so real and made me wish I had a sister.

Maybe this is a case of, "it's me, not you" but this is just way too slow of a burn for me. I'm DNFing at 35% because we've barely gone anywhere in this story and I have no attachment to the characters.