Heartbreaking story of loss and self discovery. Beautiful writing. As a violinist I loved the musical component. Highly recommend.

What a wonderful story about grief, motherhood, love, religion, regrets, redemption and the power of music to connect us all.

It has been a year since her husband Teo, and her twins Blaise and Talia, were killed after the twins performed in a music competition. Before they died, the twins put together a Flip a Coin Road trip and Miriam believes if she takes their trip, it might help her heal. She sets off and soon runs into a pregnant girl, Dicey, who ends up accompanying her. The road trip is fun with interesting places and people along the way, but the real story is so much deeper. This book is about the power of music, relationships and love between family, friends, and people we meet along the way. It deals with family expectations and secrets, and the struggles with death. Wonderful story and great characters.

A well-written tale with interesting premise. Twists and turns along the way kept me guessing. Miriam's situation is so sad, that it's hard to 'love' this book, but plenty to recommend it.

Miriam, a church musician a year into grieving the loss of her husband and twin children, goes on a road trip through middle America. Meeting up with a pregnant young woman, she confronts her past, with its long-held secrets, and begins to take the first steps into her post-grief future.

Musical metaphors and a road trip -- two of my favorite things, as a musician myself who has visited all seven continents. OK, so an old white guy like me is not the primary target audience for a character like Miriam, but that's not really the problem here -- the things I couldn't connect with were the very things I came for, the music and travel.

I don't want to dissect all the details, but just as an example, if there was any symbolism in visiting a radar telescope, Indian mound, or railway trestle, it was lost on me. Why not send Miriam to some of the musical meccas in Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, and Missouri along the same route? Music is an integral part of her personal journey, who not make music an integral part of her actual journey?

But more than that, there was just too much melodrama -- a personal journey like this would have worked better for me as a character study, without the tragedies, unwanted pregnancies, broken homes, etc. It's counterproductive, in my opinion, for a character to develop transformatively when so much is hitting her from without -- I want to see it come from within. Especially when there is music and travel to catalyze that development and represent it metaphorically.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this forthcoming novel in exchange for an honest review. Sorry to have been so honest in my review.

This book was received as an ARC from Alcove Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This pulled at my heart strings so hard that I could not stop reading this book. The bond Miriam had with her family was so untouchable that it was a sign that she found her daughter's computer and her parent's country road trip planned out. It felt like it was destined for Miriam to go out on this road trip, finish her son's sonata, and meet Dicey who she immediately connects with because she reminds her of her daughter. This is such a heartwarming story that everyone in some way shape or form can relate to and develop a connection with Miriam and be a part of her journey.

We will consider adding this title to our Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Miriam Tedesco is living in a fog, going through the motions after losing her husband and teenage children in a car accident a year ago. When she discovers that her kids planned a cross country trip for her and her husband to take that they never knew about, she decides to do it, Packing her cello and guitar into a borrowed car, she heads cross country on a life hanging mission, leaving her job as church musician.

Miriam is a sympathetic, complicated interesting woman. Flawed, but full of heart, we travel west with her and witness her growing realizations about her family, how well she knew them, her passion for music, and meet the interesting people she meets along the way, like her travel companion Dicey. Miriam’s coming to terms with a secret, which I won’t reveal, also adds to the poignancy of the trip and kept me turning the pages. It’s a journey not just of miles, but one of personal growth and coming to terms with the choices we’ve made in life.

I'm writing this post a week after a man who was very dear to my girls when they were babies was buried, a few days after the mom of a high school classmate--the mom who allowed homecoming floats to be built at her house for six years straight (which meant that she had 50+ teens there every night for a week)--was buried and the day after I heard that my pastor's mom died. Despite the fact that we are in the holiday season, despite the fact that we are no longer close to that man, that the classmate was never a close friend of mine and that I'd best characterize my pastor as an acquaintance, having three deaths touch me during this supposedly joyful time of year has got me tearful.

How awful must it be to lose your whole family is one split second? That's what happened to Miriam a year ago, and though she has buried much of her grief for the last year, something happens and now she knows she has to deal with it--and, as noted above, finds a program her daughter designed with the idea of sending her and her husband on a road trip.

As Miriam travels across the country we learn about her family history and why things were not exactly how they appeared to outsiders. We "see" some attractions that are not at the top of most people's "must see" list but which are interesting and charming in their own way (I've been to one of them several times, guess which one).

The author, Kathleen Basi, is a composer and musician, along with being a writer, and she has made music a part of the story. Miriam's son was a composer and left an unfinished piece, and she, who has spent her adult life as a church musician, is trying to finish it. Basi uses terms known to musicians and which brought back memories of the piano class I took one semester in college, though I hadn't a clue what they meant--I just translated those passages as "she's writing fancy music now" and let it go at that. Hopefully the words would mean more to a musician. Her son's music wasn't the only unfinished business in the book, and Miriam's journey leads her to confront and deal with at least two big unfinished things. I loved watching her journey not only through the country but through her grief and into the lives of others.

I'll be the first to admit that my opinion of the book may be affected by the fact that the author, Kathleen Basi, is someone I've gotten to know via the internet. I've watched her kids grow up and discussed the challenges of parenting special needs kids. I've followed the Facebook page on which she has shared her progress with this book and now I'm glad to give this book an A, because it was an engaging read that touched my heart.

I'd like to thank her publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley. Click on the title in the labels below to see other things I've written about this book.

To be published May 1

This is my first book from this author and I plan to read more. It was beautifully written, full of raw emotion with real life responses. I was worried that the book would be too heavy for me, given the heartbreaking storyline, but the author did a perfect job telling this story.

I really loved this book. From the opening chapters, right through to the end I was drawn in by this lovely, poignant story.

Miriam is grieving the death of her family in a tragic accident. When she finds an app her children had been working on, sending her on a road trip, she decides to go. On the way she meets Dicey, a pregnant teen with troubles of her own. Can Miriam forgive herself? And why does Dicey keep coughing? The story twists and turns it’s way beautifully to the conclusion.

I really loved these characters. They were flawed, but real. Miriam’s grief was tangible and I enjoyed her story very much. I did guess the main twist, but it felt like I was helping Miriam keep her secret until she was ready to share it. The passion for music really spoke to me and I enjoyed the imagery throughout.

This is a fabulous book and I look forward to reading more offerings from this talented author. Another one featuring these characters would be the icing on the cake! I would love to know what happens next...

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

Miriam Tedesco’s husband and teenage children were killed by a drunk driver who crossed the median. A year later, she’s still in a tailspin, dealing with regrets and loss of faith. The arrival of a bouquet of flowers—one like those her husband always sent on their anniversary—she becomes completely unwound. She, at the urging of her best friend, starts to move on. When she opens her daughter’s computer, she finds an app that her kids made, detailing a cross-country trip for Miriam and her husband to take while their children were at band camp. On hearing and seeing the videos of her children, she determines to make the trip solo for their sakes. Thus, armed with a cello and a guitar, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage from their home to the beach in California near the site where they were killed. She picks up an unlikely companion, a pregnant young woman, along the way.

This book was funny and sad—enough that I sniffled through most of it. But as a woman of a certain age, I enjoyed reading about another woman of a certain age pulling her life together. That Miriam faces flat tires, tornados, rainstorms, and the near-death of her companion and survives is empowering.

I like the cover. Miriam recieves flowers from a ghost for her bday. That is the only interesting thing that happens. I didn't care for the descriptions and dialogue. The characters are okay.