This one came highly recommended. I heard great things and it lived up to it!

Thank you, Loretta Nyhan, Lake Union, & Netgalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

Paige’s husband died two years ago. They had the kind of marriage that people dream about but rarely succeed at. He’d been her only love since eighth grade. She’s been at her job for years, so, except for taking care of her teenage son, she doesn’t have to work very hard to go through the motions of living until there’s a shakeup at work, layoffs look imminent, and Paige has to figure out a way to hold on to her job. Feeling that she’s not in control of anything, she looks at her neglected lawn. She begins by thinking she’ll just clean it up. Instead, she decides to make her entire backyard into a garden.

Beginning by digging up the entire backyard alarms her neighbors who site all manner of home association violations. But when she starts to plant, new friends appear to help out, and Paige finds healing in the soil.

This was a little hard for me to connect with at first, but I really enjoyed how things came together in the end. the story revolves around a woman who lost her husband to a car accident, leaving her to raise her teenage son on her own. Top that with her beloved boss also dying, and the advertising firm she works for being taken over by his son, who has very different ideas for the company for which she has comfortably worked for many years. With her job in peril and her son obviously not coping well with the loss of his father...she's about to implode. So, much to her neighbor's dismay, she starts digging up her yard. I guess to do something when you have no idea what to do! Overall, this is a little quirky, and maybe not necessarily all that believable, but it does develop into a heart-warming narrative. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

This was an ok read that never really pulled me into the story. This is the tale of what a wife does after the loss of her husband. Paige starts digging in her yard that interests her neighbors.

Stories about grief can go in so many directions and they all hinge on how the bereaved person is coping when the novel begins. Paige has been surviving since her husband died two years prior but convening circumstances show her that's no longer enough. But how do you process and heal after the death of not only your husband but lifelong best friend? How can you do anything more than go through the motions?

If you're Paige, you wind up digging up your backyard. Even if the grumpy neighbor threatens to call the police and the neighborhood association threatens fines. Even if your teenage son looks at you as if you've lost your mind. Paige doesn't know why she's digging but it becomes her path toward a fresh start. This was the strongest aspect of the novel. I loved watching Paige try gardening for the first time and how a random conversation at a farmers market turns into a friendship. Gardening and grief go hand in hand when it comes to metaphors and I really liked how this was explored.

Paige was an absolute mess and it was hard to read about at times. But that's the reality of grief. It can't be contained and people don't always move forward with their lives the way we would want them to or on our timeline. Paige's house is falling apart (just call the plumber already!), she's showing up to work in dirty clothes, she's letting her teenager get away with treating her disrespectfully. But then along comes new friends and a potential new relationship and as Paige digs and gardens, things start to turn around elsewhere. This felt so true to life.

The workplace storyline was over the top for me and I was definitely less engaged in those parts, which really hampered my enjoyment of the story. I wanted more time in her garden! But the workplace storyline did pave the way for an important exchange when Paige meets Petra, who wrote a bestseller about creative workplaces. Petra gave sound advice for dealing with someone who's bereaved: share a memory of the deceased if you knew them or if you didn’t know them, ask the grieving person to share a good memory that best describes them. This is a good word.

While my reading experience was uneven, I'm really glad I read this one. I'm always drawn to books that explore grief well and this one did exactly that. In the Author's Note at the end, I learned the author had written the first quarter of this book when her own husband died unexpectedly. I can only imagine how this impacted her writing experience and I hope it was part of the healing process and that she, like Paige, found a way to move forward.

This was an excellent audio book that I listened to on Audible.
The emotions are raw and real, especially for Paige as she moves through the new normal of grief. While this novel deals with the hard issues of losing a spouse and father, there are moments of delight, funny and hopeful! I so thoroughly enjoyed this book!

This reader was enthralled with the prose at the beginning of this book. I felt Paige’s emotions of losing a husband who passed away in a car accident. Paige is left alone to support and raise a teenage son Trey who is suffering the loss of his Dad.

I felt the author did a great job showing Paige’s struggle with grief, dealing with a teenager on her own, and Paige’s struggle to reinvent herself. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.

Digging In by Loretta Nyhan tells the story of Paige who after losing her husband when he died in a car accident must dig herself out of her grief and learn to continue to live her life. This was a quick read and I liked the look into grief that a wife feels when she loses her husband and how she must learn to continue living. None of the characters really drew me into the story though. So it was a good read but not great.

A very poignant story that had me laughing in parts and crying in others. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I look forward to more by this author

I love the cover of this book. I love the story and was happily surprised with it all the way. It’s a very good book. A bit sad at times but well worth reading.
#NetGalley #Lake Union

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy, quick, enjoyable read about the struggles of a recently widowed female trying to find her place ina world that no longer included her husband, and love of her life. I found the characters well developed and enjoyed the way they played out in the plot. There were a number of laugh out loud moments for me as well as a pull to curl up and read more at any opportunity. A great read for the poolside, a wet weekend or when you just need to feel the value of having your people with you.

I have to admit, I chose this book for the cover. This was a surprisingly uplifting, sweet book about moving on after the loss of a spouse, with a little workplace drama thrown in.

My review can be found on my GoodReads page at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1335387-kelly. Thanks!

Diggin In is my first Loretta Nyhan novel.

It's about a 42-year-old, Paige Moresco, who had lost her husband in a car accident. The two of them and their son, Trey, had a settled, rule-filled, predictable life. Paige finds herself not caring, aimless, and about to lose her job. She takes her frustrations on her garden, which she digs out and starts to rebuild.

This was a good story, albeit one I read before. The characters were well drawn, it's just that the writing felt flat at times, so my engagement peeked and waned and occasionally flat-lined.

What struck me about this book first is that women have been growing gardens for centuries. its quite a natural flow of providing food for families and connecting with nature. Gardening is healthy and a great past time. Yet in this book our Heroine. is considered "crazy" by people in her life when she beings to build a garden while grieving ! That made me furious . If it were a man that was gardening the opposite would have been said! That being said one does not have to like the supporting characters in every book. That aside I loved the book.
I loved Paige and as one who has been through immense grief I sympathized with her that she had little support in life. She lost her husband and has a teen son who is not supportive of her. She is not coping well at work and on the verge of losing her job. As she moves through the grief she finds herself attending a farmers market with her friends and fascinated with the idea of connecting with nature through digging a garden. At first she faces harassment from her neighbors, her co workers and her friends which I found awful. I wanted to kick them all to the curb. As I said one does not have to like the supporting characters!.
She finds her way back through her grief while gardening. She learns about the plants educating herself on the process with flowers and vegetables as she goes and learns much about herself as well. Soon she has a successful beautiful garden and is finding that she found healing through planting.
I loved the premise of a women finding her way through grief in a natural healthy manner of connecting with the earth through gardening. It is the perfect way to wind through the tunnels of grief. The writing is very pleasing to read and Paige is a brave, independent smart center of this book. Well done to the author.

This is a charming, fun story. I love Paige and all the things that come her way, we’ve all been there. Make sure you read this book!

I really enjoyed this book! Paige has known Jesse since middle school, they are married with a son, and have a great life. He is killed in a car crash and Paige is lost trying to find a way to live life without him. With some of her co-workers and a friend she meets at the local farmer's market, she decides to plant a garden in her yard. Her son and neighbor think maybe she's gone crazy, but she pushes on and finds that this is what she needed to heal. This book was heartbreaking, uplifting, and funny.

Big thanks to NetGalley for letting me finally pick this one up.

The cover on this one kept taunting me. I'd see it on NetGalley, here on Goodreads, and even on Amazon. So, when I saw it for the 20th time, I asked for it. And I am really glad I did.

This story opened up like a warm fuzzy blanket. You can't help but like Paige, and your heart breaks a little for her. She lost her husband, and he was her anchor. She has a teenage son, and that's about it for a support system. Until one night she goes a little crazy and starts digging in her yard.

Her life ends up opening up to all sorts of characters who liven up her life, and offer her a support system she didn't even know she needed.

I just loved Loretta's writing here, and the characters really developed and it became it's own world for me. I can't remember the last time I finished a book this fast. I couldn't put it down.

Thank you, Loretta! Please, keep writing, and I will keep reading.

Paige Moresco has been at odds in the two years since she lost her husband Jesse. They had a very happy life together, their difficult childhoods merging into a very controlled life of comfort and peace. They worked very hard to create and maintain an adulthood where they could feel safe and make a good future for their son Trey. But Jesse's death sent Paige reeling, her carefully ordered world now just an empty shell. 

To make matters worse, Paige feels like her job is being threatened. After working for 17 years at Giacomo Advertising and Design, owner Frank Giacomo suffered a massive heart attack and now his son has taken over. Lukas has ideas to remake the agency in a hipster way, under the expertise of the New York Times bestselling author Petra Polly. Her book, The Petra Principles for the New, New Creative Workplace: A Primer for More Than Success, is the cornerstone that Lukas was using to re-create the agency, now named G, pronounced "guh," and his ideas may not leave enough space for all the employees that Frank Sr. had on his payroll. Paige, as one of the oldest, is concerned about how she fits in to this new idea of a company. 

Trey, her teenaged son, is also struggling. He's wanting to study art after high school, but Paige is trying to encourage him to be more practical. But he won't graduate unless he takes driver's ed, which he's refusing to do, his father's deadly car accident too much on his mind. So when he starts spending a lot of time at his friend Colin's house, Paige worries that she's losing him too. 

One night, with the help of a bottle of wine, Paige gets fed up with it all and can't think of anything to do. So she starts digging. She realizes how good it feels, so she keeps digging. After a week of looking at the big hole in her backyard, she realizes what she wants is a garden in her backyard. Planting the seeds for change and growth in her own life, she plants tomatoes in her backyard, discovering that there is lots of help around her when she needs it. 

With lots of heart and soul, Loretta Nyhan brings to life a story of hope and healing, of family and love and grief. Digging In is a charming novel that reminds us what's truly important in life and what's manure. With lots of insight into human nature and nurture, Nyhan reminds us that pain doesn't have to be permanent, that change can be a good thing, and that what looks at first like a mistake could just be a first step to a new beginning.  

I loved Digging In. It's a lovely novel filled with honesty, humor, genuineness, and heart. With interesting characters and lots of charm, I got sucked in early and just kept going. I especially enjoyed the dichotomy between the traditional workplace and the idea of work that this new generation is bringing to the table. But the real soul of this book comes from Paige and her relationships, and how those relationships help her find her new equilibrium and open up to a new life. 



Galleys for Digging In were provided by Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Digging In by Loretta Nyhan is the story of a widow struggling to hold her life together. Her teenage son is angry. She may be losing her job. Her neighborhood HOA is less than thrilled with her yard. Everyone thinks she has gone off the deep end when she starts digging in her backyard. Her new friend from the farmer's market helps her put in a garden. This book was excellent. I could have easily read it in one night if not for the need to sleep. It has something to which everyone can relate. I am not always a fan of the women's fiction genre, but I loved this book.