Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read Listening still by Anne Griffin. Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the last words of the dead. These words made me want to read this book. I found the story to be beautiful and sad, even though it was slow paced at times, and maybe it was supposed to be that way. Jeanie gave up so much of her young life to stay home and work with her father who had the same gift she did, a gift passed down from generation to generation to give the dead once last chance to speak, right wrongs, send messages of unspoken love or dying regrets; but was Jeanie truly happy? She had a chance at true love, and a life in London with her childhood sweetheart, but in the end stayed home and married her friend who became part of the family business. Years later, everything seems to fall apart.. Jeanie listens to dead, but can she listen to her own heart? While the book seemed to be slow at times, the story kept me reading, and I often stopped and pictured myself back in Ireland when I was there a few years ago. I found the last part of the book so sad, but riveting. While this may not be for everyone, I totally recommend it.

This was a good book with a paranormal side since the main character speaks with the dead. There are some relatable life themes, but the story moved slow at times. However, the message and tone of the book was nice. Overall, I liked this one fine. 3 star rating.

i loved when all is said, so i jumped at the chance to read this one. unfortunately, it didn't hit me quite the same way. perhaps it's one of those expectations were too high disappointments.

People from miles around prefer Masterson’s Funeral Home in Kilcross because of the family’s unique talent – Jeanie, and her father, can hear the final words of the dead, and are able to offer comfort to the living by relaying the deceased’s final thoughts. Her Aunt Harry and husband Niall are master embalmers, and the deceased always look perfect. Once Jeanie’s father decided to retire and leave the business to Jeanie and Niall, things started to go sideways in their marriage. Jeanie felt an obligation to the dead, feeling that her ability was both helpful and comforting, while Niall wanted a more conventional life by the sea, with children and a wire-haired dachshund running around. As the family struggles with the many impending changes, Jeanie is unsure of where she belongs.

I could understand Jeanie feeling torn between the responsibilities of work and marriage, and of the expectations of both. Is she a good wife if she steps away from the business? Is she a good employee if she focuses on the funeral home? I eagerly followed Jeanie’s journey as she discovers what is right for her, as the truth is revealed over time. This is an interesting story with a fascinating premise, and I enjoyed reading it.

Listening Still, by Anne Griffin, focuses on a protagonist with an appropriate occupation and an intriguing ability. She is undertaker who can hear the dead speak. While this aspect of the story is a bit unsettling and odd, it is never creepy. It is background, however, for the main story which is a coming-of-age tale with all the usual components of discovery. What do you want to do? Where do you want to do it? Who do you want to be with? Set in Ireland, this is a good story which kept my attention. It was somewhat marred by the main character whose self-involvement and quiet whining became annoying.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

When All is Said by Anne Griffin is one of my all time favorite books, and it was wonderful to read more by her. Hearing the last words of the dead is such a fascinating premise! There is a lot of beauty in this book and I wouldn't describe it as fantasy even though the gifts of the main character are unrealistic. I will read everything she continues to write.

This has a very interesting idea and all with Jeanie having the ability to hear the recently dead. She gets this gift from her Dad, which has helped them as family undertakers to succeed in their small little Irish town. When her parents unexpectedly decide and tell her that they're going to retire from the undertaker business, she has to make some decisions. This is about what we give up and what we gain when we choose to follow our hearts.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for letting me read and review this thoughtful read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m going to start off by saying that this book will definitely be making my list of favorite books of 2022! As a reader, I’m always looking for books that have a certain something special and different from what I have read in the past, and I can happily say that Listening Still did just that.

I was immediately intrigued by the story of a woman who could hear and talk with the recently deceased. For the Mastersons, death was not eerie or creepy. They were the local undertakers in their community, providing a needed service to bid a final farewell to people’s loved ones.

Jeanie Masterson had grown up around the dead, for her, it was a normal part of life. While she enjoyed her time with the dead, she also felt it was a great burden to hear their final thoughts. Some wanted to come clean about something, some wanted her to relay messages of love to their families, others didn’t always have the nicest things to express. While Jeanie felt that it was her duty to offer this service, she often wondered what her life would’ve been like if she had been brave and ventured off to London after graduation. How would her life have turned out if she had left the family business and followed her high school sweetheart instead of staying and marrying someone who worked alongside of her. Her responsibility to help run the family business, and her responsibility to the deceased were always of utmost priority, but to what detriment to her own personal life?

I thoroughly enjoyed Jeanie’s story. Communicating with the dead and discovering their final wishes and thoughts was intriguing, but what really drew me into this novel was that it was so much more than just that. As a reader who enjoys a good helping of angst in her books, this novel gave me just what I wanted. Jeanie was faced with feelings of doubt in her life: about her profession, and about her marriage. She had a few regrets, wondered what could have been, and felt a world of personal obligation.

Listening Still was a beautifully written book about finding your own happiness, following the path that’s best for you, about living your best life and being true to yourself. As soon as I started reading it, I knew that it was going to be special. I felt a multitude of emotions while reading it. I was completely captivated by Jeanie’s story and was sad when I reached the final page and had to say goodbye.

*5 Stars

Listening Still shifts between the past and present as we learn about Jeanie's youth, her friends, first love and how she came to be married to Niall. The reader also learns that Jeanie is blessed or cursed, depending on how you view it, with the ability to talk to the dead.

She, and her parents, operate the local funeral home and she has found the dead have a lot to say before going in the ground. Often times, this puts her in precarious situations where death bed confessions are revealed and she was expected to convey it to their loved ones. After her parents announce their retirement, Jeanie literally has a mental meltdown. All things in her life are in question, including her marriage.

Jeanie's character was challenging to like as she was emotionally absent from the sensations of life and love. The story was interesting and charming, but in the end is was just an ok read.

Thank you St. Martins Press for the advance reader copy.

Having a little talk with the dead

Masterson Funeral Directors in Kilcross, a midlands town in Ireland, really is full-service. Not only will they embalming your loved ones and prepare them for burial but Jeanie Masterson and her father can both speak to the dead (at least some of them) for a brief time after they've died and pass on messages to family and friends.

But now Jeanie's father and mother have told her and her husband they're retiring and Jeanie is having a midlife crisis at 32 years old, wondering if she's really doing what she wants to be doing with her life and whether she made the right life decisions years ago.

I enjoyed Jeanie's story, even filled with angst and secrets as it was. I liked the supernatural aspect of it and I liked Jeanie's confused character. I recommend it highly.

I received this book from St. Martin's Press through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Listening Still by Anne Griffin is a story of a young woman who has inherited the family gift…or is it a curse? Jeannie Masterson can hear the recently dead and give a voice to their final wishes and revelations. Inherited from her father, their gift has helped the family funeral business thrive in their small Irish town of Kilcross. Jeannie made the decision to stay and help with the family business instead of following her teenage sweetheart to London. When her parents announce their plans to retire, Jeannie is jolted awake to the life she has been living. She finds herself at a crossroads once again. Does she stay in Kilcross with her comfortable marriage and the family business or does she take this chance to finally break free from a calling she loves and hates?
Listening Still is billed as “a heartachingly honest look at what we give up and what we gain when we choose to follow our heart.” I was intrigued by the premise. It’s not every day that you hear about a book with the main character having the ability to talk to the dead. Unfortunately, Listening Still did not live up to its premise. From the very beginning, Jeannie is unlikeable. She whines like a child when she learns about her parents' retirement. Jeannie is very wishy-washy as she never really understands a question, leaving the other person with the assumed answer and gets upset when they push the issue. It seems even the most mundane decisions trip her up and she acts as if every decision is a life-altering decision. I found Listening Still hard to read.

Listening Still is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook.

The premise of this book sounded fascinating, those that could talk to the dead even only for a short time before they moved on to the other world or wherever someone goes when they die. But this book is a bit more than that, it is how it impacts those that can hear the dead and their family. It is also about finding love and setting it free and then losing it when you least expect it to happen.

Jeanie has had the ability to hear the dead since she was a young girl and this is a blessing and a curse because she finds herself tied to her small town in Ireland despite wanting to see the world. Is it duty that holds her back or her own fears? Her mother encourages her to go off to the University and find a passion, and the love of her life moves to London and wants her to join him. Essentially, it is fear of the unknown that holds her back and turns her life in a direction that maybe isn't the best choice for her. She does marry a childhood friend, but is it the same love she feels for the one she lost to London?

I was hoping to hear more stories from the dead, but the ones that are shared are intriguing and it explains so much when other facts are revealed down the road regarding her father and her aunt.

The road is bumpy for all of the characters as they endure life from childhood forward. Jeanie has to deal with bullying from classmates, a business thrust upon her without consulting her, and a rocky relationship with her husband, Niall. Jeanie's brother, Mikey, is on the spectrum and has his quirks about him and he reminds me of some others that I know that are focused on a few things in life and are steadfast in their dislikes. I don't feel like all of the characters were fully developed and felt somewhat shallow.

This book has some witty moments and others that you might relate to in your own life. I think the biggest turning point for Jeanie was with an event regarding the childhood sweetheart. This was the pivotal point for her and she did step up and make some big decisions.

The ending isn't quite wrapped up but you can surmise what happens and it really isn't a huge surprise as you read about the struggles of some of the characters.

Overall, we give this 3 1/2 paws.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this wonderful book by Anne Griffin - 4.5 stars!

Jeanie Masterson can hear the last words of the dead, a trait passed down to her by her father who runs the family funeral home in their small Ireland hometown. But her father doesn't always pass down the true words spoken by the dead, instead giving the grieving family platitudes. Jeanie struggles with her gift, alternately feeling that it is a curse, holding her to stay stuck in her life. When her parents let her know that they are retiring and moving away, leaving Jeanie and her husband, embalmer Niall, to run the business, Jeanie starts reflecting on her life, her choices and her future.

I started out reading the digital copy but totally got sucked into the beautiful narration by Nicola Coughlan on the audiobook. I loved imagining Jeanie's gift - that the dead had but a brief time to impart any last wishes to someone left behind. This really is a book that lets you think about dying, grief, but also living your best life. Jeanie felt stuck in her life and into her family style of not really communicating truthfully, so much so that she was paralyzed in moving forward or knowing what she wanted. Lots of life lessons here with a touch of magical realism.

Jeanie Masterson can hear the last words of the dead and they can hear her. It's a gift and a curse because she feels this obligation to listen to the dead, to pass on their messages to the living. The only other person who can do this is her father and he doesn't always pass on what the dead want to pass on. He'll sugar coat the message or change it entirely because he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Jeanie feels conflicted about what her father does but then she feels conflicted about everything.

Coming from a family where it always feels like everyone is holding back from saying what they really think and feel, Jeanie has adapted to this way of not communicating. She is such a frustrating person to me. She spends years not answering the questions of people who love her, leaving herself and them hanging, with no end in sight. It's as if she craves this hanging on of her never to be reached hopes and wishes and of men whose lives are put on hold waiting for her to give answers to questions. What is most frustrating is when she knows the answer but still won't say it out loud, It's a cruel way of living and a cruel way to treat the people in her life.

But family is where she learned a lot of what she does. Not that it's spoken about or addressed. This family doesn't address anything important and seems to revolve around not dealing with the most important issues of their lives. So I felt sad while reading this story, for this woman who is so removed from life that she is really only living it in her head. She communicates better with the dead than she does with the living. I will say though, that I still enjoyed the book and the narration of the story. I could tell, early on, not to get invested in Jeanie's actions or inactions because nothing much was going to happen if she had her way.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC

Listening Still is the story of a woman who can speak to the dead. Jeanie Masterson is an undertaker in a small Irish town. Her family has owned a funeral home going back to her father’s father. She and her father have a gift. They are able to hear the last requests or words of those customers who choose to speak. Some of the dead just want their family members to know they loved them, while others need to relay information or secrets they have kept hidden for years. Others just ask for forgiveness.

Although Jeanie wanted to go to college in London and explore different career options, she always knew there was a family obligation for her to stay in their small town and keep the family business going. It was important to her that the gift she was given was used the way it had been intended. She owed that to the people who needed to speak through her.

She even married her childhood friend, Niall who became an embalmer and had loved her since they were very young. He was not the love of her life though. He moved to London for college and even though he begged her to join him, the obligation to her family was too overwhelming. Just another regret.

But Jeanie is now at a crossroads in her life. Her parents have just informed her that they are retiring and moving away leaving the business to her and her husband and her aunt. It is just expected Jeanie will take over. But Jeanie feels the itch of trying something different. Niall has begun to pressure Jeanie to have children, something she was never too keen on for fear she would pass her gift along and have the cycle of feeling trapped continue.

Intertwined through the story are some of the problems of the dead which Jeanie has helped resolve through the years, some good, some shocking and some which helped the living to move on.

But suddenly she begins to see that while everyone else seems to be putting their needs first, she on the other hand has never done that for herself. All through her life she has always done what was expected of her, not what she has really wanted to do. But what is it that she really wants? How on earth could she tell all the people in her life that she wants something more? Something which may not include some of them?

Jeanie needs to not only speak for the dead, but she needs to have the courage to finally speak up for herself in this incredibly unique heartfelt story about love and loss.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #ListeningStill #AnneGriffin for the advanced copy.

I expected a book focused on Jeanie and her genetic gift of being able to communicate with the newly deceased and what happens with those exposed secrets. That is the book I wanted to read. Instead, I felt like the story focused much more on Jeanie's own internal struggle and dissatisfaction with her life. That wasn't the book I wanted to read. I felt like her long held torch was a bit ridiculous and didn't like going back in time to relive her first love. I would have much more enjoyed seeing how the whisperings of the dead voices impacted Jeanie and her decisions. So while this was a good story and had interesting characters, it could have been told without including the part I wanted to read more about and sometimes felt like it was. I was disappointed that it wasn't the story I was looking forward to reading.

Listening Still by Anne Griffin is a compelling tale about Jeanie Masterson Longley, a woman with the power to talk to the dead soon after they pass and her fitting career at the family's funeral home. She tells the story of her obligation-filled life through a very personal first-person narration that surprisingly flowed rather slowly for my taste. She meanders through her life's journey and doesn't reflect as much on her gift as I imagined she would. I did, however, love the central theme of the story, which is that living a life of fear means facing a lot of closed doors, whereas if you are brave and face down your fears, then your world will be full of possibilities. This is such excellent insight and so true of many people in this world. Jeanie lives a life full of fear and obligation. She works with the dead but never really lives life by taking chances and facing her fears. Jeanie is delicately developed with fragile layers, each exposed as the story proceeds. The support characters are all somewhat unique and intriguing. My biggest wish for Listening Still is that it had moved a bit faster by sharing more experiences of Jeannie as she talks to the dead. There is a story behind what led to the decisions about which things should be shared and what should be buried with them. I can envision an even more compelling tale containing the experiences that led to or reinforced their decisions in this regard. If you are looking for a compelling story with an insightful theme, Listening Still should be the next book that you pick up.

REVIEW:

I loved this read!!! Still Listening has a premise that I think can give everyone a little something to enjoy throughout this book. Our main character struggles with, essentially an identity, as she has a power few people have. There is relationship struggles between family members and romantic partners, and I think the core of this story is really about finding oneself in the sea of other people's opinions. Not to mention this story also has a paranormal aspect to it as well!

This is a book that I would recommend to those who enjoy magical realism to the likes of Isabel Allende, though some might find Still Listening to be a bit more accessible. I think that those who enjoy general fiction/women's fiction would also be a huge fan of this novel. And, of course, this is a story that revolves around speaking with the dead so if that is something that would be triggering definitely look up some trigger warnings before diving in.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Anne Griffith, and St. Martin's Press. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I love Anne Griffith's work - following her since her debut novel, "When All is Said" in 2019. I am happy to recommend both of her novels to friends and family. She brings her stories alive with her heartfelt prose. I wish I could give her ten stars!

In another Irish tale, Jeanie Masterson has always worked in her family's funereal home in the small country town of Drumsnough and carries a rare hereditary link that allows her to hear the final thoughts of the dead, a natural link inherited from her father. Shortly after death, she has an ability to briefly hear and converse with the dead, passing on their final thoughts and the answers to questions from those left behind. We see her through years of teasing and ostracism with her peers, measured against the closure and satisfaction she experiences sharing answers with those left behind who take advantage of her gift.

In Listening Still, she has to make choice between marriage with her childhood friend and current love Niall, or continuing the family business when her parents choose to retire early, leaving her and her Aunt Harry tied to the care of the local dead.

An awesome tale told with heart and soul. You can't go wrong with Anne Griffith