Interesting approach to this story about the someone dealing with loss. Through support and the need to reconnect with her son, Willa was able to shake off her sadness to begin living again after the loss of her husband. I enjoyed the book.

I went with 4 stars because I appreciate Beth Harbison as a talented writer. The premise of this novel intrigued me. I guess I wasnt prepared for the amount of paranormal that would be present. I found it entertaining, just a bit disconcerting. I would say that now I know it's not my cup of tea. What I DID appreciate is the layered complex characters - both primary and secondary. The story itself is well woven and paced evenly.

It’s been a long time since the sudden death of Willa’s husband Ben, who died at their beach house in Ocean City, Md., while doing some work there.
Ben was only 36, so the news was shocking for both his wife, Willa, and son Jamie. Willa has decided that it’s best to put the place up for sale, and she knows she has to go down and face the house because it will need work.
Her memories assail her at every turn, and she even sees Ben (or his spirit) on the beach, in the house and even on the boardwalk. He begins to talk with Willa, and she finally answers, knowing she must have lost her mind.
Willa convinces Jamie, who has just finished up a summer school class, her best friend Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey to come down and help. Jamie and Kelsey, who had always been good friends when their families spent time together, rekindle their friendship, and Willa comes to terms with her loss and realizes that Ben wants her to move on.
This is a delightful read. I can see a Hallmark movie here.

Beth Harbison writes a book that connects to the reader. This one is no exception. Her description of love and friendships blew me away especially as I continued to read. If you haven't had a chance, please read her other books as well.

The book tells the story of a young widow who must learn to cope with her devastating loss. Three years after the death of her 36-year old husband, she returns to her family's vacation home to ready it for sale. Here she learns about letting go and moving on and eventually establishes a closer relationship with her teenaged son. Like other books I've read by Beth Harbison, this is an easy read yet a book that'll stay with me for some time.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a fan of Beth Harbison's ever since her first novel came out, so I'm always excited to read a new story from her. Every Time You Go Away is one Beth's better novels. The novel is deals with grief, so it's a little bit heavier than some of her previous novels. I really liked Willa and her story arc.

I would definitely recommend this novel to readers.

Perfect summer Chick Lit book!
Willa (love the name) and Ben meet at "Senior Week" at a rented beach house in Ocean City, Maryland.
They marry young and she has a child at age 19. He becomes a professional something and she becomes a school teacher. They buy the beach house where they fell in love and restore the home to It's original beauty. Then tragedy strikes - Ben is struck down suddenly by congenital heart failure when he is alone, fixing up the beach house for the coming summer season.
These are not spoilers, as the reader is aware of the setting and context by the first few pages.
The house sits unused for three years.
Willa and their son decide to prep the house to sell it over the summer, when sad and wonderful things happen. I won't say more, except there is a ghost involved - or is It?
What saves this book, full of fortunate coincidences, is the good writing and that it is a fun, easy beach read.
The characters are relatable, although the protagonist does go off the deep end a little. (Haha, some pool humor there)
I liked the strong females in this book and the funny and supportive way Willa's son and her best friend's daughter get along.
Really makes you wish you could spend all summer at the beach.

First off, big thanks to the author and publisher for giving me a digital copy of this novel via netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars if following the goodreads rating scale. I liked it, I enjoyed it, I didn't love it because of a few little things, but overall I liked the book. It wasn't what I was expecting at all, but in a pleasant way. I was immediately drawn in to the ghost story and wasn't sure where it was going to go. I did not like the son's girlfriend at all and was put off by their "relationship" and found it to take away from the book. Later, however, I did see how it explained the son's feelings over his family situation and helped to show the changes and growth that he makes throughout the novel. There was a little language in the book, but not overwhelming. I'd recommend this as a great summer beach read.

I really enjoyed this book and how the author ended up changing the story a bit from the original summary. Would make a fabulous book club read given the aspect of the paranormal and grief.

Willa is finally able to face the beach house where her husband,Ben died. It’s been years since she and her son Jamie have been to Ocean City, Maryland and the house needs a lot of repair before it can sell. While there Bens ghost want to talk about Willa moving on and fixing her relationship with son Jamie. Emotional and intense this is a book about family and love. Received a copy of this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If you are looking for next poignant page-turner, look no further. Add in a smattering of humor, alternative points-of-view, and (especially if you are a lifelong Marylander like me) a good dose of beachside nostalgia and you have a winning combination. I was a bit hesitant at first as I am not usually a reader of much that contains strands of the supernatural. But do not let that deter you in the least. The sweet love story of a young widow and the husband she lost too early is more than enough to appease non-believers of the other-worldly-ness. Hearing the alternative voice of the couple’s teenage son and how he is coping with the loss of his father adds a bittersweet edge. This was my first book by (local-to-me) author Beth Harbison and I assure you, it certainly will not be the last. Five heart-wrenching stars and a huge thank you to NetGalley, Beth Harbison, and St. Martin’s Press for supplying be with this uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.

The material is a little heavy but it read very lightly. Willa's charm and sarcasm drew me to her immediately and reminded me of myself. I also was connected to the book because I too vacationed in OCMD many times starting at a drunk teenager like she had. It really helped me imagine everything. Losing someone is never easy and I can't imagine losing a husband. Although Willa is down on herself for her disconnect with her son, Jamie, after her husband's death, I felt her to be rather strong. Jamie and Kelsey are ideal teens and they're side story is cute and Kristin is an amazing friend to Willa that I can only hope to have someone like that in my life one day.

This is a beautiful story about finding peace, making things right, and strengthening family bonds. I cried a couple times but it was worth it. Even though this isn't a genre I usually enjoy, I LOVED it. I was always interested in reading, didn't find it wordy or having too much unnecessary information, and it really pulled at my heart strings. Beautiful! I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

This is not my normal genre of reading material, and honestly, I'm not sure why I asked to review it. I could be brutally honest and eviscerate this lightweight boo-hoo fest, but since I am aware there are those out there who adore this kind of story, I will try to be objectively dispassionate.

It starts quite nicely, with a first person account by Willa of her life after the sudden unexpected death of her young husband. She goes to their beach house three years later, to clean it up and get it ready to be sold. She has been so wallowed in her own grief, she hasn't been able to help her teenage son cope with his. When she arrives at the beach, she immediately sees visions of the past, of her husband as a boy, as a teen courting her, as young marrieds raising their baby boy. So I thought, ok, this is a nice little perspective of how someone copes with the loss of a true love. Not quite.

She has plumbing issues as soon as she arrives and we are introduced to a plumber who may or may not be an integral part of the story. Is he sinister? A possible love interest? A wise new friend who helps Willa cope? No, nope and not at all. After fixing her plumbing, he is never seen again (in this book anyway).

Then we are introduced to her son Jamie, written in third person. I found that odd. Why the mother in first and the son in third? No idea, didn't serve any purpose to the drama or the characters. And I found it very jarring, going back and forth between the two. Not a fan. His story starts with his anger at both his Dad for dying so young, and Willa for leaving him to his own devices for the past three years. He acquired a girlfriend that he knows his mother doesn't approve of, a stalker-ish, crazy, clingy nut-job that I wouldn't approve of as a mother either. So I thought Oooo! Here's some excitement! He's trying halfheartedly to break up with her, she keeps coming back; perfect set up for a tragic incident of some sort later! Nah. He finally breaks it off and that's the last we see of her character. Too bad, she was slightly interesting.


Then we are back to Willa at the beach house. We have segued from seeing ghosts of her dead husband in the past, to her actually seeing him now. He knows he's dead, he's just here to comfort her because she needs him. She, of course, is rife with questions: how long are you here, how did you get here, have you been watching me all this time, why now and not three years ago, why were we seeing visions of a past before he even met Willa?!?! The answer to all of these was I don't know. Helpful.

Willa's best friend shows up to help her get the house cleaned up. Now here is a fascinating person finally! Sadly, she doesn't get a lot of book time either. 80% of this novel is taken up with reflections on death, dying, loss, loneliness, coping (or not, as in this case), how to move on (or not, as in this case), sadness, unending grief, and on and on. The best friends daughter shows up and reconnects with Jamie; for a second I thought we'd get a real young romance type story. Goody! Again, sadly, not really. And again, the daughter is a much more interesting character than the son. Shame we didn't get her until over half way through.

If you are already sad, depressed or in anyway grieving a loss and hoping to find comfort in a story of hope, move along. Nothing to see here. This was right up there with the most depressing, downer stories I have ever read. But it may be just what you are looking for. No telling a persons taste...

Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison

Brief Summary: For the past three years, Willa has mourned the sudden death of her husband Ben. In an attempt to move on, she decides to clean out their beach house where he died. Ben’s memory is everywhere at the beach house and his ghost resurfaces to talk to her. Her son Jamie, best friend Kristen, and her daughter Kelsey join her at the beach house for one last summer together. This novel is for anyone who lost someone before they were ready to say goodbye and struggle with the grief of loss and moving on.

Highlights: Willa’s character as a grief stricken widow who died along with her husband. Ben’s ghost is a creative way to facilitate the grieving and moving on process. I loved his comments about death (I didn’t have a choice. This is not the kind of thing you have control over) and his encouragement of Willa to move on and find love again. Her feelings of abandonment at this encouraging were raw. This novel contains a handful of lessons about traumatic loss and how to cope with grief.

What makes this book unique?: Many books have dealt with moving on after the death of a loved one. I can’t remember another one which contains the return of a loved one in the form of a ghost.

Explanation of Rating: 4/5: I loved the lessons about grief and moving on. This was an easy to read and heartwarming novel.

Psychology Factors: the difficulty of letting go, grieving, and moving on. Willa had essentially died along with Ben.

Favorite Quotes: “But I’m here to make sure you’re going to be happy for the rest of your life! How? I’m going to make sure you stop mourning and move on with your life.” As hard as sudden loss is; those left behind have to move on and keep living.

This is a perfect book for anyone who has ever experienced the grief of sudden and traumatic loss and struggled to make sense and move on.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Willa has decided to sell the beach house. She has not been able to go there since Ben died there but the time has come. She finds work needs to be done and as she works at it she sees Ben's ghost. He keeps coming back to her. She needs to get this settled to move on with her life. Can that happen? For me the book did not flow welll and maybe just not my kind of story.

Thank to NetGalley for furnishing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Willa, a widow of three years, finally returns to the beach house where her husband, Ben, died suddenly at age 36. She was undergoing a very rough adjustment and having a 17 yr old son created a lot of drama. From the first, she sensed the presence of Ben in the house. Then she actually saw and heard him. Her friend Kristin decided to come to help get the house ready for sale. Willa's son Jamie came next and finally Kristin's daughter as well. This is an easy book, not much of a climax, and the characters are all pretty bland. Interesting beach read.

Every Time You Go Away… I Know You’ll Be Back Over and Over Again.
I love a good ghost story however this silly, overly sentimental story about a grieving young widow who is unable to move on three years after her husband died of a sudden cardiac event is not one I could relate to. The themes of love, loss, and grief were overplayed as to have lost their meaning and the message was literally crammed down our throats.
Willa lost her thirty-six year old husband suddenly. He died while working in their beach vacation home, a place of fond summertime memories. Willa’s grief is all consuming and though there doesn’t seem to be much of an example of how she shirked her mothering duties apparently she hasn’t been there for her teenage son or readily acknowledged his grief though she does feel the guilt of that.
Now, three years after Ben died, her seventeen year old son Jamie spends his time with his psycho girlfriend and just getting by in school. Willa decides it’s time to visit the beach house and get it ready to list for sale. While there, she comes upon a young boy who eerily looks the way her dead husband looked as a boy. As Willa contends with a house that needs some real work in order to sell, an overzealous real estate agent hungry for a big commission and a plumber who delivers bad news about her pipes, Willa starts to see Ben’s ghost, first as nothing more than an observer of scenes in his life that occurred but in which she cannot interact then later as a active participant in conversations between the two of them as well as the ability to see him as if he is really there.
The problem is that no one else can see him but Willa so Willa just seems alone in her craziness.
Ben is on a mission, though he has no idea how he has gotten “permission” to hang out in Willa’s world, to get his perpetually grieving wife to move on without him, even fall in love again and get married. Ben tells her that once he has achieved his goal, he will be forever gone.
Ben keeps appearing over and over and just when you think it’s the last time, it isn’t. The scenes play out ad-nauseum and the storyline drags on as Willa, surrounded by family and friends seems content to keep up a permanent relationship with a ghost. I do believe in ghost sightings but could not relate to this story at all. It was so farfetched as to almost seem disrespectful of real sightings. For those very strong skeptics, this book is a simpering pile of ridiculous notions.
Memory lane is revisited again and again to the point of no longer caring. The author could have balanced out the silliness with juicy scenes involving that textbook psycho girlfriend coming into contact with a potential new girlfriend or a final showdown with a pushy real estate agent consumed by dollar signs but the reader couldn’t even get that much.
Don’t waste your time.
BRB Rating: Skip It.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an ARC copy of this book.

This was a very emotional book. Good from start to the very tearful ending. It pulled at my heartstrings so many times. The struggles of letting go and raising a teen all by yourself when you lose your spouse so unexpectedly. That is what happened to Willa and her son Jamie. Together they will be ok but first Willa has to learn to let go of Ben. After years of grieving she goes to sell their vacation home. It was where they first met and fell in love. His ghost is there and only she can see him. He is able to come back to help her move on. Of course she does not want him to go away again but he can’t stay.

This book has every emotion you can think of. Love, loss, laughter, tears, friendship, motherhood, childhood, saying goodbye. It’s a very emotional book and you will need plenty of Kleenex at some points. It’s well worth the read and will keep you turning the pages. I loved it.

Another 5 star book for me.

I have read books by the author Beth Harbison before and enjoyed her writing. This book was very different from her past stories but I really enjoyed it. I found it to be a very touching and emotional story as we follow Willa, preparing to put her beach house on the market, the one that her husband passed away in unexpectantly. The focus of being able to move forward while letting go of a deep loss hit close to home for me and I found myself tearing through the chapters to see how it would all resolve. I thought the characters were very well developed and I could envision what they looked like throughout- even the ghost of Ben. This was great read and will look forward to more from the author to come!

This book was a very emotional read for me. While I haven’t been through what Willa has, the journey felt very real while reading it. It made me cry at points. This is definitely a good book when you need to have a good cry. It took me a few days after finishing to put it all into perspective. I wish I could come up with enough words to express just how much I enjoyed this read.
Thank you to the author., publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.