I loved many elements of this unconventional story of loss, grief, and moving forward. However, there were also some very frustrating elements that kept it from being a 5-star read for me. Namely, the way that Tabby continued to excuse abusive and manipulative behaviors from certain people, including her would-be mother-in-law. As we watch Tabby work through her complex case of grief, and work through her resolutions towards a better future, she continues to hold back when it comes to standing up for herself/growing a spine. In some ways, she achieves this, and in others, she really never does- she just stumbles into her version of a happily ever after anyway. This left me with mixed feelings, as I wanted more for and from her- and I didn’t like the way the story seemed to let abusers more or less off the hook.

It was otherwise a lovely tale. I especially appreciated Avery, a strong female character who provided a great support system - and an example of how to stand up for oneself.

Amy McAllister did a lovely job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Brooke Harris, Dreamscape Media, Storm Publishing, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Happy New Year! Each year Tabitha Greenwood creates twelve New Year’s resolutions, one to focus on for each month of the year. This year, she got to January’s resolution a little early, and then her world turned upside down quite literally.

January 1: Tabitha wakes to find herself in a hospital bed struggling to breath after a car accident. Her sister, Avery, frantically paces nearby worried for not only her sister’s physical health, but her mental health as well. As the fog begins to clear, Tabby is told her fiancé has died. The previous night she, and Mark were supposed to going to a friend’s to celebrate the new year. Though a few of her resolutions were going to be difficult, this is certainly not how Tabby wanted her resolutions to go.

Avery, Tabitha’s biggest cheerleader, takes it upon herself to set up new resolutions for this year, one for each month like her sister plans to help her move forward from her grief. Initially, Tabitha finds the resolutions bizarre, but slowly she realizes her sister is helping her to find herself again—the Tabitha pre-Mark. Month by month, grief slowly releases her grip from Tabitha’s heart, and she begins to find herself again as well as a new future she never dreamed possible.

Tabitha is an easy character to like, as is most of those who surround her, with the exception of her almost mother in law, who is so cruel she seems like a caricature of a person. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I personally wasn’t a fan of the narrator, a few of the voices felt off.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and of course the author Brooke Harris for the advanced copy of the audiobook. Memories of You is out on July 27th. All opinions are my own.

Tabitha Greenwood gets excited about New Year's resolutions each year, and this year will be no different. She plans to set one major goal each month of the year to help her in her personal journey towards being a happier person. First up is January's resolution, to dump her toxic fiancé Mark. However, after a terrible accident on the way to a New Year's Eve party, Tabi's resolution plans come to a standstill leaver her grief stricken and haunted with guilt.

After healing and grieving during the month of January, Tabi's sister Avery, comes up with a plan to help her with her resolutions during the remainder of the first difficult year after losing a loved one. Abby, Avery's girlfriend, and new friend named Scott join efforts and adventures with Tabi. They help her plan and follow through on her resolutions.

Along the journey, Tabi comes to realize her relationship with her fiancé was not what she believed it was, especially after finding a beautiful gift from Mark that wasn't intended for her. She slowly comes to see that she had allowed herself to become stagnant in a toxic and emotionally abusive relationship. However, how can she admit he was a bully, when she feels guilty over his death? Especially when Mark's grieving mother, who has inherited his half of their mutual business, plants herself into Tabi's life in way that will have you seething with anger.

This book is marketed as an Irish fiction and the story telling was so wonderful. The Irish landscape plays a small role in the story. I listed to the audiobook version and truly loved the narrator. Her Irish accent really helped put me in the story so I felt I was right there with Tabi, Avery, Abby and Scott. I loved the relationship dynamics between Tabi and the other characters as well as the journey she took to get back to her true, happy self.

I would give this 4.5 stars if half stars were an option.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of the audiobook in exchange for a review.

SPOILER ALERT!!!










In a moving tale of grief and self-discovery, Memories of You by Brooke Harris opens the question of what happens in life after the loss of a loved one, especially if that loved one was carrying a life-altering secret.

Synopsis:

“One minute, pastry chef Tabitha Greenwood is driving through rain-soaked Dublin with her fiancé Mark, on their way to a New Year’s Eve party. The next, she is waking up in the hospital, the devastated face of her sister telling her everything she doesn’t want to know. Mark is gone. And Tabby knows that it’s her fault.
Lost in her grief and haunted by memories, Tabby can’t seem to return to the woman she was. Until one day, sorting through Mark’s belongings, she finds a delicate rose-gold bracelet with an engraving that changes everything. Because this heartfelt gift isn’t for her…
Should she follow the mystery? Find the girl this bracelet belongs to? Faced with the choice to step beyond the walls she’s built around herself, Tabby doesn’t realize how many lives will be affected by her decision, and how much the answers she finds will upend her world again…”


My rating: 3.75/5

This one was difficult to rate. I loved the characters, especially Tabitha’s sister in all her eccentricity, and I loved the concept and execution. The story was a beautiful, moving, emotional rollercoaster that had me laughing one minute, crying the next, then suddenly gasping out of shock. Anyone who has witnessed grief that came from the loss of a significant other can relate to stages of grief Tabitha goes through. However, just as the story is complex in the ups and downs of life after grief, breakups, and the discovery of secrets, my thoughts were equally as complicated.

I feel like the toxic relationship and verbal abuse Mark put Tabitha through wasn’t explored enough. There was a lot of talk of loving him and things not always being the best, but it seems like the grief became the excuse of why it was okay since Tabitha feels responsible for Mark’s death. There was so much self-discovery towards the end that didn’t include the full depth of what Mark put her through. She also seemed quick to have a “whatever makes him happy” attitude regarding Mark’s secrets and lies. I understand she was over their relationship, but it seemed too abrupt. On the other hand, I want to give the benefit of the doubt that maybe the author was going for the “denial felt by an abuse victim” as a reason for not digging in as deeply. I can totally see that and understand, but at that point it felt like it was more a “tell-not-show” scenario. My other conflict was how beautiful the prose was in the first half of the novel that seemed to have a steady decline as the story progressed up to the last 10% that seemed rushed. I just can’t get over how lovely the first half was written though.

All in all, I do highly recommend this book. It explores many heavy topics in a way I haven’t read before.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review tis book.

Tabby and Mark are engaged and together they own a bistro. Mark is the consummate gaslighter, always making Tabby feel bad about herself. She finally gets the gumption to break up with him on New Year’s Eve. But when Tabby wakes up next, she’s in the hospital and Mark is dead.

It was heartbreaking to watch Tabby work through her grief and guilt after Mark’s death. She didn’t feel she deserved to enjoy her life and live as she wanted. Thankfully, her sister and friends never gave up on her.
Mark’s mother was such an old battle ax! I don’t think I would’ve been able to show her the compassion Tabby did. It was rewarding to read as Tabby stood up for herself and worked toward her happy future.

I both listened to and read this book. I thought Amy McAllister did a good job with the narration. She had several characters to interpret. One small note, Tabby’s sister’s voice sounded a lot like the men’s voices in the narration and I sometimes had difficulty identifying her as the person talking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, Storm Publishing for this complimentary ARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What an absolutely brilliant book ,the narrator was perfect for this book and portrayed the characters individual personalities and really brought them to life.
This book is about Tabitha whose fiance Mark is tragically killed in a car crash,but it is the aftermath of what she is left to deal with is so hard.Her sister Avery helps her to get her life back on track with encouragement and support in making her step out of her comfort zone.Will definitely be reading more books from this author.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me with an ALC. This book had a great premise, but I found myself annoyed with the main character and others. If I don't like the characters, I'm not going to like the book.

Memories of You by Brooke Harris is normally my favorite type of book, one that focuses on relationships and characters evolving into better people in spite of life's difficulties. However, I never warmed to Tabby as she is too perfect and unrealistic with zero flaws. She is sympathetic to almost every person and excuses their treating her like their punching bag. It seems readers are to view her as the put upon martyr and feel endless sympathy for her. Also, and more importantly, we are never given an opportunity to see what brought her and Mark together. Every single memory Tabby has is Mark being verbally and emotionally abusive. It makes no sense why she stayed with him for so many years because we aren't shown a single healthy, heartfelt moment between them, even from their start (as most abusers start out charming and likeable).

(There's a review stating readers will like this book if they like Colleen Hoover and Jodi Picoult. I got more excited to read this since I regularly rate these two authors' books 4 or 5 stars. However, I found no similarities between these them and Brooke and disagree with this sentiment.)

Amy McAllister is a joy to listen to. Even though everyone is from Ireland, she is able to give each character their individual idiosyncrasies when speaking, making it quite easy to know who we're hearing from.

I rate Memories of You 2 stars. I really wanted to enjoy it but couldn't get there.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with an ALC.

I found this to be a very thoughtful story about the journey of finding one’s self and all the people and experiences that are encountered along the way.

Most of the characters were flawed in a wonderful way that made them all more endearing. Reading this was like chatting to an old friend who I hadn’t seen in ages and never wanting the catch-up to end. I liked this story quite a lot!

However, I struggled with the narrators bumpy transitions from Irish to Australian and back again. It was a lot of back and forth at times, which would be hard for anyone, but there were times they sounded almost exactly the same and it was very distracting, I just think I would’ve ended up connecting to the story more if I’d read it rather than listened to it.

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the alc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for an audio copy of Memories of You for an honest review.

It's New Years Eve, and Tabby is driving with her fiance Mike to a party. They are having an argument and get in a car wreck. Tabby wakes up to find her fiance had died. Tabby struggles to find herself again.

Tabitha loves making New Year’s resolutions, but an accident on the way to a party puts her in the hospital, kills her fiancé Mark, and upends her world. Her sister Avery decides to help her by scheduling a monthly email resolution to help Tabby live in this new reality. Returning to the bistro she co-owned with her Mark, Tabby will discover things about him and their relationship. Will the resolutions help her learn to live again?

Harris has created relatable characters and a heartwarming story. I found myself rooting for Tabby, enjoying the reveal of each resolution, and looking forward to seeing how it played out in the lives of Tabby and her circle of family and friends. McAllister’s accent and character voicing enhances the setting and feeling of the story. Recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance audio review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

A different read for me I normally read for relaxation but this book evoked so many different feelings in me that, at times I thought I wouldn’t be able to write a review. But working through my feelings made me realise that is what a good book should do. So be prepared for a roller coaster of emotions from sadness, to anger to laugher and the joys of sisterhood and romance.

Tabby has lost all desire to live. Her beloved fiancee Mark is dead, killed in a car crash that Tabby believes is her fault. The guilt she feels is overwhelming; until she finds a beautiful bracelet among Mark’s things. It was meant to be a gift, but not for Tabby. Suddenly, she has a reason to live, a mystery to solve. How well did she know the man she planned to marry?

Oh my goodness, this book was packed full of all the emotions. I can truthfully say I wasn’t expecting this to affect me so much. Truly an exceptional book!