An emotional read on grief and healing. CeeCee was my favorite character; what a wonderful and wise woman to help a younger woman through her grief. Beautifully written; beautiful ending.

You will need plenty of tissues to assist with the reading of this book. The loss of Rachel and James son Oscar sets the story of loss, all emotions they could possibly feel and their journey towards recovery. The characters are so damaged emotionally as you would expect, however the days into years that follow make this story a heart breaker. Remember - plenty of tissues.......

This book feels like you are reading the account of a real life family and I suppose you could say it is. Thankfully I have never had to face the loss which this couple experience. The narrative is handled sensitively and makes me feel that I have a better understanding of those who go through such trials. I hope that I never have any friends who do but I think it would benefit us all to consider how experiences of life change others and offer understanding and compassion as a result.

At first it was so heart wrenching I thought I might not be able to read it, but once I got over the initial loss it was a lovely touching story. Much of it was seen through the eyes of the elderly housekeeper and was her story set in Bermuda.
A warming story of loss, anguish and recovery.

(4.5) This is a story about the worst thing imaginable: losing a child. Amanda Prowse has written such a heartfelt and emotional book about dealing with that tragedy. I was so immersed in this book that I could feel the anguish and grief that Rachel and James were feeling after the loss of their seven-year-old son, Oscar. A grief that they could not share together and would have them drift apart, each to deal with it separately. Would they be able to come together again and move forward without their beloved Oscar? I was really hoping that they would. I loved the characters, especially Rachel and James' housekeeper, Cee-Cee, whose wise words and storytelling in her letters to Rachel helped her with the darkness that had enveloped her. This book was so moving and beautifully written. It really tugged at my heartstrings. I highly recommend it, and tissues are required.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I felt this was a rather slow story, it delves into the complex feelings of love, loss, heartache and adjustments that need made after a catastrophic event happens in a family and a marriage. I didn’t quite agree with how Rachel handled the entire issue. I felt she was rather narcissistic and only cared about herself, not how anyone else was feeling or how they were affected by Oscar’s disappearance. The book goes into great detail on CeeCee’s past and we don’t really cover how James was holding up.
Not that this was a bad read, it just didn’t provide as much substance as I would have liked, and I felt it was shallow. If you like to read about drama and how the loss of a child has so many outlying consequences, then this is the book for you.
I give this one 4****’s.
I do thank Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read this book for my honest review.

Another heart-warming book, tackling ‘real’ issues from Amanda Prowse. A five star read!
This is an emotional rollercoaster of a book, an extremely sad and heart-warming read. I was hooked from page one on the story. I believed in the characters so much so that when I wasn’t reading the book I was thinking about Rachel and James and the tragic circumstances in which they found themselves. I read the book over a weekend and suffered from a ‘book hangover’ once I had finished the novel!
What starts out as a fun family holiday, with James and Rachel taking son Oscar out to sea on their family boat in the Bermuda sunshine ends in tragedy. This leaves husband and wife grief stricken and struggling to cope with their loss and the events surrounding Oscar’s disappearance. How Rachel and James deal with their grief and the differences in how they cope, takes a toll on their marriage.
Based both in the hot and sunny ‘paradise’ of Bermuda and in Rachel’s home town of Bristol, housekeeper Cee-Cee’s letters connect the two places and the grieving parents. Finding out what happens to Rachel and James will keep you reading avidly until the last page.
Although this is a sad read, and I recommend that you have a box of tissues handy when reading, it is such a good book and extremely well written that it is worth the tears.

Oh my word. This book will give you tears in your eyes and a lump in your throat....
Rachel and her husband James wake up on their family boat to find their 7 year old son Oscar is missing, seemingly vanished. And what follows is Rachel’s heartbreaking, gut wrenching devastating struggle to process, come to terms with or accept her loss. And it’s written with such humanity, such compassion, such honesty that you will feel Rachel’s fear, bewilderment, refusal to accept, heartbreak.
This book will knock your socks off. It’s feels so real.

Read in October 2018
I gave this book five stars but this is one of those reads that you cannot rate.. It is much much above that!
Such beautiful writing that evokes so many feelings.. You laugh, cry, feel happy, sad, everything the characters in the book feel.
It is a difficult topic to read about, particularly being a parent. The book deals with the unexpected disappearance and loss of a child and I didn't know if I could read it without feeling really depressed.
But the words that shape the story are so exquisite that this story of healing, coping with loss, learning to live again, was unputdownable and life affirming.
Rachel and James have it all, a wonderful life together on an island that's paradise on earth, a lovely relationship and most of all, their much loved 7 yo Oscar.
And then, one morning, they wake up on their boat while on holiday and Oscar is gone.. Without a trace!
Unable to believe they will never see him again, they clutch into every miniscule straw and every hope they can think of as to his whereabouts.
While James's practical side manages to overshadow his extreme grief, Rachel waits for news of Oscar for months.
Cocooned in her own grief, she blames herself and James for the tragedy and cannot reach out to him or open up to him or anyone. Until they realize they cannot go on like this and Rachel returns to Bristol to her parents and childhood home.
Some semblance of healing starts with the help of her parents support and friend's love. The most comfort she feels is when reading the long letters of Ceecee, her housekeeper back home in Bermuda.
As days turn into months, separated by thousands of miles though they love each other, Rachel and James have to relearn how to go on living.
There were so many heartbreaking moments in this book, tearjerking would be a better word I suppose..
The pain of a couple who are forced to second guess every choice they have ever made, wonder what they did wrong to deserve this grief, cast their minds back to every small incident leading up to the day when everything was destroyed... It is depicted so amazingly well that you feel you are with them.
The moments when they reminisce about the child and the laughter shines through the tears before reality strikes are so relatable and precious.
And the best part is, even if you don't agree with the actions of one or both of them, you understand why they react that way and wait for them to realize it themselves.
A very touching read, one that will stay with me for a long, long time.

Waking up to the motion of a boat rocking- sounds wonderful and relaxing. I could get into that feeling and then the rest of the book kicked in. Too sad is all I can say about the rest of it. I did not finish it as the sadness weighed me down too much.

thank you NetGalley for the chance to read an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to opportunity to read this book and give you a honest review.
I was saddened by the story of the parents losing their little son so tragically yet I have to wonder why? If they knew the boy was so fearless and such why didn't they lock up the doors to prevent him from going anywhere? There were so many disappointing twists in this story that left me disappointed and disgusted.
I know that we all grieve differently especially those who lose a child and I can not even begin to comprehend what that is like. However this book left alot to be desired. I was hoping for so much more.

It's apparent that Amanda Prowse, author of The Coordinates of Loss, has a big heart, as she was able to write about one of the saddest situations any parent could experience, and make the reader feel like she is accompanying Rachel and James on their journey.

The book was written beautifully and told through the mind of the character of Rachel, the mother whose young child, Oscar, has died. The book takes place in Bermuda, a tropical paradise. It also brings in the character of CeeCee, the housekeeper who loved Oscar and took care of him on a daily basis. I love how the story of Rachel and James is interspersed with letters that CeeCee has written to Rachel about her own life, while Rachel went home to stay with her parents in England to try to recover from her loss.

Very tender book, very well written, with what I consider to be a happy ending. I highly recommend it. I thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from NetGalley and I was very excited to stay reading. The beginning grabbed me right away! Unfortunately, I felt like the story did not continue that exciting tone.

This is a story about what it is like to lose a child. Something that I have never personally experienced, but have come close to losing a brother. The emotions within the story are there. You can feel the sadness and confusion going through the characters, but the plot and events are just not there. The beginning was the most exciting part. I felt like the hooked dragged on a bit and then there was no real conclusion to the ending. I’m glad that the epilogue was added, because I felt like that closed some of the doors to the story.

The beginning pages grabbed me and I thought this was going to be a book full of mystery and suspense. Alas, that wasnt to happen. The beginning was the best part of the book.
The book deals with the loss of a child and how this can effect everyone involved.
I found the book confusing. I felt it dragged on and on but never really going anywhere.
Thank you to NetGallery for the opportunity to review this book.

A gut wrenching tale of heartbreak and the long road to healing. It will take several boxes of tissues to get through the book. The first person point of view of the the emotional hurt being experienced makes the drama so much more personal. The anguish is just so palpable and riveting, you can’t take your eyes off the page. This is a masterful piece of writing.

This is the best novel I have read in a long time. It takes us into very dark place with the unexpected sudden death of a child. I actually cried at the hairdressers.whilst reading it.
Prowse writes so movingly that you feel the pain the parents go through. Living a rich exciting life meant nothing after the shocking death no one could have prepared for. You go through the pain they feel with them through the brilliantly written story.
Until the epilogue I wasn't sure if they could be together again after what they went through . Time doesn't heal but it does make life easier. There is a way forward, which was the more uplifting end.

I have a huge confession to make- yes yet another one. Although I have several of Amanda’s books on my ‘To Be Read’ mountain, I haven’t actually read one yet. Sorry Amanda. Needless to say that judging by how much I enjoyed reading ‘The Coordinates Of Loss’, the books I haven’t read yet will not be on that TBR mountain for much longer. I absolutely loved it but more about that in a bit.
I took to the characters of Rachel and James from the very start. Oh my days I really felt for Rachel. She wakes up one morning to find that her young son has disappeared. At first she thinks that he is playing a game of ‘Hide & Seek’ but the realisation that he has disappeared soon dawns on her. I found myself empathising with her and I wanted to jump inside the pages of the book to give her a hug. She goes through the stages of grief and she can’t help but feel that she has failed in her role as mother. I felt for James too. It’s different for him in a way because he didn’t carry the child for 9 months unlike Rachel but he is a doting father. He also feels that he has failed as a father because he has failed to protect his little family. I so wanted to jump inside the pages of the book to give him a hug too. The characters are very realistically written and they seem almost real. I kept crossing my fingers that they would get the help that they needed, that they would support each other and not drift apart and that they could begin to live their lives again.
I have to say that this book turned me into an emotional wreck. On more than one occasion I found myself welling up and tears did spring out occasionally. I had to make sure that I had a steady supply of tissues at hand. I empathised with the characters so much that I felt myself going through every emotion that Rachel and James went through. If they hurt, I hurt. If they got angry, I got angry and well you get the picture. The book is so realistic that I really did feel as though I was part of the story and another character in the story.
‘The Coordinates Of Loss’ is superbly written. Amanda writes about some difficult subjects with great sensitivity and empathy. She really gets to the heart of the matter and shows an insight into how the disappearance of a child affects those around them. The author grabs your attention from the first word on the first page and she doesn’t let it go until the moment you finish the book. I desperately wanted to ration how much of the book I read at once because I wanted to prolong the time it would take to read it. I would pick the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters but that intention soon flew out of the window and I was still there several chapters and hours later. I was so gripped by the story and so convinced by the characters that I simply had to keep reading to find out how the story ended. Reading ‘The Coordinates Of Loss’ became a serious addiction and I was unable to put the book down. The book wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because the book came everywhere with me.
In my opinion, ‘The Coordinates Of Loss’ is one hell of a fantastic read, which really affected me emotionally and mentally but not in a bad way. I would definitely recommend this book and this author to other readers but be prepared for an emotional and often heart breaking tale. I can’t wait to dive into Amanda’s other books and I look forward to reading what she comes up with next. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

This book was beautifully written with vivid descriptions of emotional pain all through the book. I think anyone who hasn't had someone they loved die will find it a good read, but for me, the grief from the first page to almost to the last was too much.

If you like realistic fiction, this is very real and raw and well paced. Also, reading it has given me a hankering to spend two weeks on an island beach with the use of a boat every day. Giving it four stars for the writing.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is about the loss of a child and how everyone deals with it in their own way. It took me a few days to read it as it holds a lot of thought provoking situations. Husband and wife each go their own way to deal with it and a housekeeper who has dealt with it herself and trying to help each through it.
. I would recommend this read to anyone.

Like most of the other reviewers I found myself in tears throughout the book, which proved quite embarrassing as I was reading it on holiday, laid on a sun bed! Where do I start to review it? The book starts with every parents nightmare, losing a child. Amanda’s writing brings her characters to life and you feel all the heartbreak, turmoil and guilt that Rachel, James and their housekeeper Cee Cee went through. With their idyllic life in Bermuda in tatters, Rachel returns home to her family, who all play a fantastic part in this story. The Coordinates of Loss is a powerful and emotional read that, as I became immersed in the story, had me in tears all the way through. It is a book that I will remember for a long time. I can’t recommend it enough.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.