The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go is heartbreaking and uplifting, sad and yet hopeful. The story is about a family who needs to move past more than one tragedy and discover a way forward from the secrets that have kept them at arm’s length. The story is beautifully written and pulled me in until the very last page. While I found my heart aching for all that was happening I also had to admire the ways in which the characters were able to pull themselves together as a family and still have hope for a bright future.
The book’s main character operates a food truck where she makes grilled cheese and the food descriptions had my mouth watering. I literally had to go make myself a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, though it did not equal the ones in the book!
I felt like the book was paced really well and did a great job of jumping between past and present to show how the family had gotten where they are. I honestly had to skim read a few times because it was too sad, but I think that is more because of where my mood was than anything else. Overall it was a really great book and I look forward to reading her other books soon!

Such a beautiful story told by one of my favorites. I had literal tears at the end. This story touched really close to home for me having lost both my mom and brother by the time I was 30. The grieving process is such an interesting occurrence. It's not the same for everyone. And can hit you when you least expect it to.

I enjoyed the generation and family aspect to the book. Three generations and their own stories, plus secrets made a story that made me feel so many emotions. I enjoyed the character May and her struggles of being a teenager, losing her father, and juggling her mother in the mix. The book was relatable, funny, emotional, and made me look inward as a mother. Thank you Gallery Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book as an e-copy in an exchange for an honest review. It was a lovely book.

"The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go" by Amy E. Reichert
I was gifted an ARC copy of this book via NetGalley by the publisher. Now for my honest review. If you, like myself, get emotionally involved in a story. You will want to have your tissues at the ready. You will feel lots of emotions.. sad tears, happy tears, laughter and anger. You will probably see something of yourself and maybe gain just a bit of understanding of parents, siblings, & children. By the way I loved this story and I am ever so grateful that I requested this read and my request was granted. I am sure it would make for some good discussions at any book club.

Summary:
Gina lost her husband and best friend, Drew, two years ago. Her sister Victoria has been a great help with trying to heal and being a sounding board; with the help of Grilled G’s- the food truck Drew fixed up for her- she might just look normal. Looks can be deceiving. She’s broken to the point of keeping his shirt in a zip lock baggie, keeping his old cell active so that she can hear him. She knows she has to be strong, that May needs her…. and so she won’t allow herself to grieve in front of her daughter, instead giving space.
May lost her best friend too- her father. The man that taught her how to take apart an engine and put it back together. The level head of the family. Her support system. Regina won’t even talk about him! She has lists upon list to get through the day, but as far as May can see her daughter’s name isn’t on any of them.
Victoria was always the good daughter- the one that did as expected. She married Jeff, as her parents wanted and had four children that she loves, even as they exhaust her. She keeps the peace and keeps her head down- isn’t that what one does in exchange for security? She can’t help thinking about what she missed though, a deep and crazy love like Gina had with her Drew. When secrets come out, she has to decide what’s most important.
Lorraine has spent a lifetime covering up her secrets. When she and Floyd married she knew there would be certain expectations. She would bring him into the Milwaukee society, give him a perfect family, act as his hostess, never rock the boat. Even after his death, she was too terrified of the fall out to give up her secrets. A stroke brings to the forefront what she’s done. Watching her daughters, unable to talk to them- to explain…. she finally understands that she needs to come clean; but how? As these women’s lives come together, a story comes together of love, joy, grief and the different ways to let go.
My thoughts:
This book broke me. Each character is a well developed disaster. You can’t help but be pulled into their drama, dreams and regrets. Each one is multifaceted and oddly easy to love. I know I say this in a lot of my reviews- it’s honestly one of the top things I look for in a book- can I identify with these characters? Are they well developed? These things are important to me as I read to fall into a different world- escaping work, stress and boredom to give myself to a set of characters for however long I have. I also read to learn about new places or ideas… but mostly it’s been my escape since I was an overly-angsty pre teen.
But I digress. The story is told in three points of view- Gina, Lorraine and May with gorgeous flash backs and memories. Now, I have a bit of issue here. The transition between POV’s is flawless. The story flows smoothly from one very different voice to another. I was disappointed that Victoria didn’t have a chapter though. She is pivotal to the story, a support system for May and Regina as well as loving (if crazed) daughter of Lorraine. The secret touches her just as deeply as the others. Plus, she has her own things going down, but we never get to see into her mind. I cannot help but feel like this is a missed opportunity… unless of course she’s getting her own story? Unlikely, but a girl can dream.
Still, this is a beautifully written, sweet story that shows the strength of family, and the art of forgiveness and letting go. I loved it. I am most likely buying it for my own library as well as several copies for friends and family. Five stars!!!
On the adult content scale there’s language, drinking and some very mild sexual content. I would still let my niece read it, so I would give it a four.
I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Gallery books in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

I have now officially read 75% off all of Amy E. Reichert books now (I'm looking at you, Luck, Love & Lemon Pie!)...and I have loved and enjoyed them all, but this one really takes the cake as the most special one I've read yet.

I am always drawn to "food fiction" since I first read Delicious! by Ruth Reichl, which is how I first came to find Reichert's The Coincidence of Coconut Cake. However, in Optimist, we also get an important multi-generational story of women and family that settled into my heart and will remain there for time to come, the food aspect is just "the cheese on the grilled cheese"!

Thank you to Gallery Books for providing an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Amy Reichert never disappoints when you need a sweet tale of living life through heartbreak and coming out stronger on the other end. Life's trials and tribulations never seem as bad when you have family and friends who love you.

Great story! I loved reading about the three generations of women and their secrets which were all so similar. Thank you very much

Lorraine fell in love and married Joe against her parents wishes in a time where everyone did as their parents wishes. Vietnam took Joe from Lorraine leaving her a single mother to Regina and at the time, unborn Victoria. As a means to give her children stability and a more certain future, she follows her father's choice and marries Floyd. It was a successful business transaction. Joe's daughters grow up not knowing Floyd isn't their biological father until their prim and proper mother has a stroke leaving her - and her important, yet hidden documents vulnerable. With papers in hand, Regina, recently a widow herself, starts looking for answers. This story had me laughing and crying all the way through.
A great reminder that even though all families have their secrets and obstacles to overcome, there is a way for us to all be okay.

Reichert has always been one of my favorite authors, and I enjoyed this book, but it really wasn't what I expected. It's not a foodie romance. The book is about the relationship between mothers and daughters. The relationship with Gina and one of her customers feels more like an afterthought than a main plot point. The overall tone of the book is also more serious than her other works.

The characters are well-drawn, and I was drooling at the idea of a food truck serving only gourmet grilled cheese. But I also thought the book had too many flashbacks. The concept of showing the parallels between Gina's relationship and Lorraine's makes sense, but there were a couple of times when I just wanted to watch the story unfold in the present. Overall, a good, solid book, but I'm more likely to re-read Love, Luck, and Lemon Pie than this one.

**Netgalley provided with me a free review copy of this book.**

@aereichert has hit it out of the park with this one! Although it doesn’t release until next month, I was grateful to get my hands on an early copy (thank you Net Galley)!
Reichert has an ability to draw you into the story as if you are part of it, not just a reader. My eyes may have leaked a few times 😢 It was such a heartfelt, realistic read. My family drives me absolutely nuts, but I love them to pieces- this novel just reminds you of that.
Go pre-order this- you won’t regret it! #theoptimistsguidetolettinggo #netgalleyread #earlycopy #may15release #midwestauthor #preorderthisbook #amyreichert #familydrama #3generationsofstrongwomen #mwladiesrecommend #beautifulcover

I enjoyed this, though not my favorite book by Reichert. Things seemed a little too tidy in the end, but it made for a pleasant read.

I have loved each of Amy Reichert's previous books and have been anxiously awaiting this one. She did not disappoint - although this book had a different feel than the rest, and I couldn't put my finger on what it was. (I couldn't put it down, either.)

The story and emotions (and oh my goodness, the teen drama) was all very relatable. Mother-daughter relationships are tricky beasts, and when you mix in loss and family secrets, it doesn't take much for things to get messier. Reichert continues to create believable, complex characters and food once again almost becomes a character itself. (It took me three days but I finally got a gorgeous, perfect grilled cheese sandwich that this book made me crave.)

The storylines and the emotions were authentic and, yes, she made me cry. This book won't disappoint.

The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go is one of those stories about family dynamics that are awry and how they succeed or fail at working through the secrets, lies, and conflicts that divide them. We have four women from three generations whose emotional connections are messier than a plate of spaghetti.

The oldest is Lorraine, the grande dame who blithely sends an email to her daughters informing them they failed yet again to give her proper Christmas presents. Those daughters are Gina (the disappointment) and Vicky (the lesser disappointment). Gina, who is the axis around whom the story rotates is in mourning for her husband who died less than two years ago, she copes by list-making and presenting a bright-side approach to life that hides her grief. Vicky did all the right things, marrying well and unhappily. The last major character is May, Gina’s daughter who is sinking in a sea of grief, feeling abandoned by her friends who are bored with grief and her mother who can’t or won’t talk about her pain, giving May the impression Gina’s moved on.

When Lorraine has a stroke, though, secrets are reveals, secrets that rewrite their family’s history and their relationship with their mother.



I liked The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go even though it leaves nothing for the reader to think about. Everything is explained, what people think and feel is told to us, so we never once get to engage fully in trying to understand what motivates people. Even when their motives are explained from their point of view, they can get explained again from the point of view of another, just in case we missed it the first time around. That sort of writing that leaves readers in a passive role, receiving, never interacting annoys me, but I did like the characters as people and wanted things to work out for them.

My favorite moment in the book was when Vicky mocked Gina’s perpetual optimism, saying that maybe life was like a box of chocolates, but sometimes they were all the awful ones with orange cream filling. As a fellow hater of orange cream filling, that made me laugh out loud. And of course, Gina being Gina, said orange cream filling isn’t that bad. So yeah, it is a book that has enjoyable characters who love each other even when they are screwing up. I wish, though, that Reichert trusted readers to think for ourselves.

The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go will be released on May 15th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go at Gallery Books | Simon & Schuster
Amy E. Reichert author page

This was a really good book - it has all the necessary elements! Hardworking widowed mom with a secret, hurting teenage daughter, and problems in communication.

Gina, who operates a grilled cheese food truck, is a widow with a challenging teen daughter, May, and an overly critical mother, Lorraine. Gina and her sister learn that Lorraine has been keeping a huge secret from them when their mom has a stroke. I found it difficult to believe that Lorraine would be so cruel to her daughter, snobbishly rejecting her choice of husbands, after receiving (and resenting) the same treatment from her own parents.

great mother daughter story that can be read in one sitting! Light and interesting.

What a great story about moving on in life. This book had a lot of moving parts but they moved seamlessly together and worked to make this a pretty great story. I loved the different points of view. Everyone had their own views on life and it was fun comparing and seeing each of them grow from learning from each other. I would definitely recommend this one to friends.

Read my 5-star review of The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go by Amy E. Reichert