When the link that ties this family together is gone, they must learn a new way to communicate. Rich is the center of the extended family. He's husband, father, son, brother, friend and the one who brings the family together. He also has brain cancer. Ollie, his 11 yr old autistic son, loves logic puzzles. So Rich decides that he will leave each of his loved ones a gift that is a puzzle piece for Ollie to solve. This is his last gift, to bring them back together and learn that the family is the center that will always hold the pieces they need.

This Shining Life is a beautiful, funny, yet sad book about Rich, Ruth and their eleven year old son, Ollie, when Rich is diagnosed and dies from an inoperable brain tumor. Ollie works to understand the puzzle of life through the gifts Rich has purchased and sent to his closest relatives prior to his death. The well-drawn characters experience the stress and the grief of Rich's death, while trying to other personal manage issues. Readers will remember these characters and and their differing points of view. Although the topic of the novel is grief, readers will come away knowing everyone will be okay.

First off, this cover gives me all the feelings. The colors, the flowers, the bird and the appearance of a child.

This Shining Light tells a story of a group of individuals who are linked together by one common person, Rich. Rich has just been given a terminal cancer diagnosis. Kline then builds a story around Rich that shows how all the characters react to this diagnosis and loss in different ways. The cast of characters include Rich's wife, Ruth. Ollie (their son), Nessa, (Ruth's sister and Rich's friend who introduced the couple), Rich's parents, and Ruth & Nessa's mom.

Often throughout the book I wanted to take various individuals, sit them down, and explain to them how each was viewing the situation and how the differences in their perspectives were not wrong. Many of these misunderstandings or perceptions, if explained to the other person, could have eased some of the tension, hurt, anger etc that was present among the group.

Harriet Kline has delivered a book that at times is not easy to read especially for those who are empathetic or who have experienced a death from cancer, a parental death, a spousal death, or an out of order death.

The audiobook production is fantastic with the cast of narrators.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

While this book totally drew me in with it's stunning cover, it ended up being a book that I started multiple times but could just not get into. I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book, it was just not a good fit for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.

Kline's poignant, lovely book explores a family's emotional missteps and enduring love after a painful loss, and their hard-fought resolutions and tentative steps forward.

Young Ollie finds people confusing. They don't always say what they mean, and lately they're often crying.

Harriet Kline's This Shining Life tracks Ollie's attempts to make sense of things after his father Rich's death from cancer; it follows his mother Ruth's adjustment to life without her free-spirited, joy-filled partner; and it tracks the grief and the resulting shifts within their close-knit extended family.

Rich left small gifts to his loved ones, and Ollie becomes convinced that if he searches hard enough for meaning in these items, he'll uncover essential clues about the meaning of life and be able to understand what happened to his father.

It's heartbreaking to witness various family members' attempts to do what they think is best for themselves and for others, often misreading what's needed or wanted. The examinations of mortality and of love and of living life fully are poignant and lovely, and the last ten percent of this book is so beautiful, it brought me to tears.

I received a prepublication digital copy of this book courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley.

This is Harriet Kline's first book.

This story of a family and centrally a young boy dealing with the unexpected loss of his father. At the opening of this book, Rich is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He decides to live with what time he has left, making the most of his time with his family. He is told that he will progressively get worse overtime. However for Rich, he remains healthy until one day he gets so ill he goes to the hospital he never returns. The family is left to deal with the aftermath of his death.

His son Ollie has a mission, to find out what it means to be alive, as that was Rich’s own mission after his diagnosis. His wife left alone, cannot even get out of bed, while her son continues to miss school. Rich’s parents, who’s father especially, cannot comprehend what just happened. And the sister-in-law and mother-in-law who loved Rich and are dealing with their own loss, are left to help pick up the pieces of this family.

This book is told from multiple points of views along with multiple timelines. We see Rich get his diagnosis and the weeks that follow until his death, interwoven with the aftermath after his gone. At times this was an emotional read, with a lot of sentimentality. My one complaint is that there were so many characters POV’s and timelines, it felt disjointed and did not flow easily.

I do recommend this story as it has a lot of feels, but just go into knowing there is quite a bit to follow and remember as you go through this. The one positive of the short chapters that if you feel you need to take a break, there are many places to stop and come back to it when you are emotionally ready.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet redemptive story. I loved the characters and the setting. Feel good stories are such fun! I received the book from the publisher via NetGalley and was under no obligation to post a positive review. All comments are solely my own.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and really drew me in, the second thing that drew me in was the stunning writing. I loved everything about the writing style. Unfortunately, for me, the storyline just didn’t hold me as much as the writing did. It fell flat, and as much as I wanted to dive in deep I found myself struggling to immerse myself. There’s still beautiful themes within, and for someone else they may connect more. 3 stars

Young nurse Emily endures a baptism of fire through the end of wwI and into the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Well developed characters and enough romance and action to make this an outstanding historical fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for letting me read this!
This story is so touching and will resonate with those who have suffered loss or are dealing with grief, I felt it is such a special story & absolutely loved it.

This Shining Life centers of Rich, Ruth, and their neurodiverse 11 year old Ollie. When Rich passes away from brain cancer, Ruth has to face raising Ollie alone. Along the way are gifts Rich has left the family, each with special meanings.

This Shining Life, by Harriet Kline, is the beautiful, heartbreaking story of a loving, joyous dad coming to terms with a terminal diagnosis and a family struggling with anger, bewilderment, and grief. Kline gently and carefully pulls back the curtains from each family member, lovingly exposing the emotional confusion and chaos each feels for the man they are losing and each other. While the story is told through multiple points of view, Ollie, the eleven-year-old son, is the most compelling character. Apparently somewhere on the autism spectrum, Ollie adored his dad and tries to figure out the puzzle of the meaning of life. Ollie will make you laugh, cry, and wonder yourself about the meaning of life.

This is not an easy book to read. It is a book that grew on me, that I found truly worthwhile. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

This is a good book for those who like to read sad stories and aren’t affected by the triggers of cancer or death. I didn’t love how often the POV changed in this book. I particularly don’t enjoy reading from a child’s perspective, so Ollie’s chapters weren’t my favorite. This is a heartfelt story though.

This Shining Life by Harriet Kline is a strong debut novel with a stunning cover. It's a book about parental death and coping with that loss. We know from the start that father Rich will die, and then we are left with the fallout and how those around him, especially autistic son Ollie, deal with that loss.

Rich leaves a set of gifts behind for those he loves, and Ollie, a lover of puzzles, feels that he's been left one last mystery to solve. It's a bittersweet and poignant tale for sure.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

This is a family drama focusing the grief and struggles of a family after the death of the person who linked them all together. Each adult tends to squash or deflect feelings so the majority of the book focuses on dealing with the past along with facing a future without Rich.

Along the way, delightful, brutally honest, logical Ollie is focused on solving the puzzle of the gifts his father left. He is convinced that the solution will explain what it means to be alive.

I loved this book. The characters in this book are very real and flawed; this isn't a sitcom solve it all in 30 minute kind of plot. They are all dealing with big hard things and trying to do it solo so as not to burden any other family member. It's heartbreaking and encouraging and hopeful.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.*

This is such a quirky book, and the characters are very unusual! There are usually "strange" members in any family, but these people, (some in-laws included) are varying degrees of damaged, and/or dysfunctional! In spite of, or more probably because of this, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! There are so many things I'm still thinking about and will for a while. I won't go into details as many others have done that, but just say this one is worth the read!
Thank you to #NetGalley, author, Harriet Klune, and Random House for the pre-publication copy in return for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this special book. Ollie was such a sweet boy and I loved how he was portrayed so uniquely. This book explores grief in a thoughtful way, and it’s interspersed with light-heartedness. Also the cover is just fabulous! Really loved this one.

This Shining Life
By Harriet Kline

This story is about grief and loss. But there is so much more – it is a story about Ruth, Rich, and Ollie.

Rich has passed away from brain cancer and Ruth is left to navigate the rest of their lives alone with her eleven year old eccentric neurodiverse son Ollie. Rich leaves the surviving family with special gifts and with the help of Ollie, each learns to understand their gift – what it means to live and live their life fully.

This touching story will resonate with many who has suffered loss and are dealing with grief of a loved one. This was such a special story with many life lessons to teach us.

With brain tumors, alzheimers, surviving, and caring for those who are walking the ends of their life, there has been a lot of life that has been lived. A story of putting the pieces of life together, it’s meanings for individuals and the art of leaving behind something meaningful, Kline gives us one family’s experiences.
The plot is detailed and the writing is worthy, but the storyline didn’t enthrall me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth's husband Rich is dying of a brain tumor. They have a young son, Ollie, who is a bit...different.

Rich plans to give gifts to each of his family members when he dies, and when they do so, it seems that there has been a mistake. Each person received a gift that just doesn't quite make sense.

Ollie feels this is a puzzle that his dad has left for him and he is determined to solve it so he can truly feel what it really means to be alive (something his dad told him).

This is a story about love and loss, being different and that's ok....I had a tough time focusing on this one at times.

Trigger warnings: cancer death, autism, mental health, and dysfunctional families.

Rich loves laughter and fun; the kind of guy who always sees the glass as half full, filled with good stuff, and more on the way! When he dies far too young of a brain tumor, he leaves behind his wife, Ruth; 11 year old son, Ollie; his parents Marjorie and Gerald; his sister-in-law, Nessie; and his mother-in-law, Angram.

The story is told from the POV of all of the above characters, told in three time frames - before Rich's prognosis is received, after his prognosis is given to his loved ones (he didn't want to know it), and following his death.

For me, Ollie, is the stand-out character. So at sea in the world because he's on the autism spectrum and doesn't understand much of the talk, feelings, and happenings going on around him, he nevertheless struggles mightily throughout the book to figure out the answer to the puzzle he is sure his dad meant for him to solve: what does it mean to be alive?

As Ollie is focused on that, we come to know Ruth, her sister, Nessa, and their mother, Angram. The girls have always been close to each other, and emotionally distant from their mother. The reasons for this are disclosed throughout the story.

Rich's parents, Marjorie and Gerald, loved their son deeply and he returned that love, but they had limited contact with his family at Rich's request. Now that their son is gone, they struggle with their grief and whether they can find a place again in his family.

Ms. Kline's characters are all flawed, and all grieving, each in his/her own way. As they work through their grief, they have the chance to come to terms with past events, and possibly grow as they heal. Can they put the past behind them and move forward? Will Ollie ever solve his puzzle?

This was an ok read, but a bit uneven for me. I found myself looking forward to Ollie's chapters much more than those of the other characters.

My thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for allowing me to read a review copy of this novel, which was published on 6/22/21. All opinions (and any errors) expressed in this review are my own.