Thank you Net Galley for this arc, in exchange for my honest review.

This was a slow book for me overall. I was very interested in the premise of two heartbroken people who are being guided toward each other by their dead lovers. The difficulty in the journey back to some sense of normalcy, is felt throughout the book.

There were a few things that took me a while to get through this book though.

The different perspectives were a bit jumbled at times. Locations bounced back and forth, as well as perspectives, with much of the book lost in a sea of email exchanges. The email dialogue became really long at times and I found myself wanting to skim over those sections. Their similar names of Roisin and Rasmus also took a while to get used to.

Not all was lost though. It was a deeply moving perspective of what happens when you die, and how influential you can be in your loved ones lives, once you’re gone. Decent read.

TWELVE MONTHS AND A DAY is a beautifully heartbreaking yet hopeful love story. I was on the verge of either laughing or crying, and sometimes both at the same time. I laughed while I cried, and cried while I laughed. I've never read a book quite like this one and enjoyed it immensely. I also appreciated how real, honest, and believable it all was, even when some of the characters are spirits! The ghosts Nico and Jay were still just as real and three-dimensional as their loved ones, Rasmus and Róisín. What an enchanting story about love and grief, life and death. Will recommend this to everyone.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Son and NetGalley for this ARC.

In Twelve Months and a Day, two people are brought together by the ghosts of their dead partners.

As you could guess, this is for fans of sad romances. I always feel comforted by books that include younger people dealing with grief over the loss of a loved one. Louisa Young's writing is wonderful and the story was unique enough to keep me engaged. The characters are loveable and relatable. There wasn't a ton of romance in the book, so if you're looking for romance specifically, this might not be the book for you. I thought the way the romance was written made the book more realistic.

Twelve Months and a Day is a beautiful, romance about two couples, Rasmus and Jay, and Roisin and Nico. Both very much in love; they each have a terrible thing in common. They have experienced death much too early- both Jay and Nico pass away tragically young.

They leave behind Rasmus and Roisin, both strangers to each other. But (stay with me here) the ghosts of Jay and Nico have a plan to get their former loves together. Rasmus and Roisin are brought together through music and Rasmus’s musical career. Their friendship is so sweet and a lot of the story is told though emails to each other. They really open up to each other as they really understand the grieving process.

This is absolutely a book you will need to read with a box of tissues nearby and I would also really encourage the audiobook for this novel. The author’s daughter is the narrator and she sings so many of the songs so beautifully. It really made the book even more special. I also loved that the couples were so multicultural. Roisin was an Irish woman, Jay was a Ghanaian woman who lived in rural Scotland, Nico is Greek and they all blended so well.

Thank you so much to @putnambooks and @prhaudio for my gifted book and audiobook. I also read this along with @aotmbookclub and it was a fun book to read together. Twelve Months and a Day is out January 31!

Thank you to GP Putnam's Sons for an advanced copy of Twelve Months and a Day in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Star Rating: 4⭐️
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Pub Date: January 31, 2023

It is safe to say that Twelve Months and a Day is a unique book, and I've never read anything quite like it. The closest thing from my past reads would be The Dead Romantics (and that's not a direct comparison, truly). This paranormal romance/fantasy romance is at turns intriguing, engaging, and beguiling! There's a bittersweet romance to the story that really pulls you in from the beginning.

If death and loss is a trigger for you, then be cautious of this story (and this review). But, there is something hauntingly romantic about a lost partner feeling such a love that they try to push their loved one towards happiness, even if they are not longer part of that happiness. And, that is what stuck with me the most from this story.

The prose and story presented in this book is really pretty. The story is well-written, and I think it is a story that will stick with you, especially if you're a hopeless romantic like me.

This was a beautiful story and one that will stay with me for some time.

“I don’t know what to do, I don't know what to do. One goodbye too many. One hello too few. Not enough I’m sorry’s, and missing one I love you. Missing one I love you.”

This is a story about death and also about love. Stories like this are so impactful to me. Grief is so individual and so is love and I loved the way Young explored how both can be happening and true at the exact same time. There is so much hope in this story. Rasmus and Roisin are brave and tender characters trying their best to heal and I loved the way they found comfort in one another.
If you liked The Two Lives of Lydia Bird you will love this book. I highly recommend.

Thank you @netgalley and @putnambooks for the early copy

5

Grab your copy out 1/31!

Two couples, four lives, and love that never dies. Rasmus and Jay, Roisin and Nico, are two couples who are strangers to each other. Roisin and Rasmus are both in their thirties and too young to be widowed, yet they are. Rasmus feels like Jay is still there and Roisin swears she can still feel Nico next to her in bed. Little do they know that Jay and Nico are still with them, just as ghosts. Jay and Nico decide to play matchmaker and bring Roisin and Rasmus together.
This was a great and different kind of love story. It was sad that Jay and Nico both died, but at the same time very moving. I liked that the ghosts of Nico and Jay decided to set up their loved ones with one another. I highly recommend this book and I definitely loved it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

The story of Rasmus and Jay, Róisín and Nico. Two of them dead too early and the other two left to piece their lives together. This book was a slow, incredibly beautiful read for me. The two ghosts trying to come to terms with their deaths and help their partners find each other was both heartbreaking and uplifting. I also loved reading through emails the growing relationship between Róisín and Rasmus. I look forward revisiting this book on audio.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC.

Thanks to Putnam for the copy of this ARC.

What a unique and lovely story from Louisa Young. Two couples, Rasmus & Jay and Róisín & Nico, are brought together when both Jay and Nico pass away. Rasmus and Róisín are left in their grief after losing their partners, and Jay and Nico are both left hanging in the balance as ghosts, invisible to all others except each other. The balance of these stories is beautiful - both melancholic and promising. I absolutely loved this one - consider picking it up!

Read if you like:
- The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, The People We Keep, or The Dead Romantics
- Sad romances
- Stories of people coming together through grief
- The healing power of music
- The stories behind tattoos

Oh, my heart. I adored this one.

Short Synopsis:
Rasmus and Jay. Róisín and Nico. Two couples that are madly in love. But sadly two of these characters die. Their ghosts are back and become friends. The ghosts push their loved ones towards each other.

My Thoughts:
This one is a hard one to describe, but it’s like if The Dead Romantics and Two Lives of Lydia Bird came together and had a baby, that’s this book.

It swelled my heart so much.

It’s grief. But it’s also about friendship, and love and moving on. And I just adored it.

Read if You Life:
👻 Tattoos on Men
👻 Supportive Partners
👻 Musicians
👻 Ghost stories
👻 Books about grief but will mend your heart back up

Twelve Months and a Day is the story of Nico & Roisin and Rasmus & Jay.

When Roisin and Rasmus partners both die, Jay and Nico meet up in the afterlife, It was a unique story partially told by the ghosts. The other part is told by the two remaining alive and grieving people.

I have read other books with ghosts, but never one quite like this one. It was quite interesting to hear the ghosts thoughts and feelings. We normally only think of the living as grieving.

Jay and Nico come up with a plan to put their spouses together, if only for them to have someone who truly understands.

I enjoyed the story and loved the concept but found it a hard to read at times. It took quite a bit of concentration to keep it all making sense.

Thanks to netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the arc

I have found that British contemporary isn't for me. I'm bored by the people and the pacing. Reminded me a tad of PS I Love You, but I only read a little bit before concluding that I was not interested in this story for the long haul

This book was incredibly beautiful. I've read a ton of widow/widower fiction in the last year and I think the perspective this one took in including the "ghosts" of the deceased loved ones really gave a sense of comfort to our 2 main characters. While I did not necessarily feel connected to the need for the pregnancy, I did love the sort of push and pull development of the relationship and how you can love someone from your past while still pushing your future forward.

What a book! For me, it had a slow start, and I almost did not pick it back up- but I’m glad I did!

This book has such a fascinating story. A man and woman die and leave behind their widows, they meet in spirit and decide to get their widows together if only to have each other. There is so much depth throughout the story, though, and I was surprised by it! So many well said thoughts on grief and love.

I thought the ending was lovely too!

This was such a different kind of story and I really enjoyed it! I love books with magical realism elements and the premise of this love after loss romance in which two widows are matched up by the ghosts of their dead partners was fantastic!

Great on audio narrated by the author's daughter and filled with original songs. I highly recommend the audio experience for this one and think it would be perfect for fans of books like Ashley Poston's The dead romantics or The invisible husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley.

Much thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and @prhaudio for early complimentary copies in exchange for my honest review!

This was a very sweet and different love story.

Rasmus loses his wife, Jay; while Róisín loses her partner, Nico. Jay and Nico meet on the other side. They decide to push their partners to meet. What happens next is Rasmus and Róisín developing a friendship that moves into more.

So I enjoyed this one, though I feel like it would have been better read not listened to. There are chunks that are letters between the characters and I had a hard time staying connected.

I liked seeing Rasmus and Róisín work through their grief. And work to move forward with their lives. I liked (though that feels like a weird word) seeing two young people dealing with grief and loss and having to deal with all the accompanying feelings/emotions.

Overall an enjoyable story but would recommend reading (3.5/3.75)

I like the plot and the story but i wish it was different. I need more from the characters. But mean the author did grab my attention

Such a great romance novel! I really enjoy Louisa Young's writing, and Twelve Months and a Day is a perfect representation of just what she can do. A phenomenally quick read!

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

“Twelve months and a day” is the idea not to do anything permanent for twelve months and a day after you experience a big loss. The main characters, Róisín and Rasmus, both lose their partners (Nico and Jay respectively) and are experiencing their grief. The story walks through the months of the next year with them as they work through their grief, individually and together, and become friends along the way. I absolutely loved reading this book, it was beautifully written and deep which I wasn’t expecting. I loved the chapters in Nico and Jay’s POVs because they experience their own grief as they try to help their partners who are still alive. There were parts that made me laugh and parts that made me cry.

I would absolutely recommend this book. However, if you are looking for a light and fluffy romance, this book is not that.

More of a narrative with romantic elements, Twelve Months and a Day tells the story of two recently widowed people — and their recently deceased partners, who come together in their confusion and sorrow and develop friendships. The living one between musician Rasmas and videographer Roisin is gently and strategically nudged along by the ghostly Nico and Jay, whose presences are felt so strongly because they are literally still there, calling on help when Rasmas falls into a depressive episode, holding Roisin close in bed as she grieves. As someone open to the idea of spirit lingering, I completely bought into life after death as Young presented it.

The writing is so gorgeous–evocative, emotional, sensory. The pacing is slow in a deliberate and unhurried sense, giving plenty of space for character and plot to develop. Roisin and Rasmas share their thoughts and lives in ways they have not been able to in grief groups or with friends, mostly through email. When Rasmas makes a comeback with his band to share music he wrote for Jay, it is Roisin who is hired to be the interviewer and then documentarian.

There are few surprises but this is a highly compelling story. Fans of Josie Silver will devour this beautiful and poignant tale of what happens to love after loss, and rejoice in how love changes and goes on and clears the way for future love.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TwelveMonthsAndADay from #NetGalley.