Jodie Boyd is a shy with no real direction while her older sister, Bree, is a glamourous globe trotter.

But when Bree dies from Leukaemia, leaving her family with a crippling medical debt, Jodie is forced to step into the light.

Bree has left her Instagram account with its million followers to Jodie, along with the items left on her bucket list. For every item Jodie ticks off, some of the Boyd's debt will be paid off by Bree's sponsors.

Now Jodie just has to be brave enough to go on Broadway and replica the orgasm scene from when Harry met Sally - and somehow fulfil Bree's last wish, to fall in love.

This was an excellent book. The author's decision to let the reader get to know Bree made a huge difference to the emotional impact of the book, and the journey through the bucket list was entertaining.

I wondered if a story about Instagram and influencing would be more cringeworthy than cute, but the way this novel is written, the focus is very much on the characters not the gram.

This is a story than can make you both laugh and cry

This book begins with the illness and eventual death of Bree, an influencer and social media star and the Bucket List that she passes on to her sister, Jodie to complete (WHY wasn't the book called My Sister's Bucket List? that would have been more accurate... I thought that a stranger was going to do the list based on the title). The book is filled with grief, humor, love, friendship and family. It also portrays issues dealing with medical debt (don't all citizens deserve health care?), the costs of celebrity and also social media audiences/commentary, capitalism vs respecting humanity and immensely wealthy vs average/poverty. Jodie is stuck in ALL areas of her life--her education, her career, her social life and Bree's list pushes her to not only complete what her sister could not, but to move beyond the grief to find a better future for herself and her family. This is a heartwarming book that encourages all of us to live our lives with love, laughter and hope.

Jodie Boyd’s sister Bree was an adventurous instagram influencer who had a lot of followers. When she passes away Jodie and her family are devastated and overwhelmed with medical debt. Bree has recorded a challenge for Jodie to complete her bucket list and a corporate sponsor will pay off the medical debt. Jodie reluctantly accepts the challenge and in the process her sisters bucket list will bring her out of her shell and teach her to live and enjoy life!



Thanks to Amy T. Matthews and Kensington Books for the book!

Drowning in debt after helping her sister with a bone marrow transplant Jody is now left trying to fulfill her sisters bucket list. Jody’s sister was an social media influencer that asked for help on her bucket list knowing her sister would not have the funds to complete it all. Throughout the story Jody grew frustrated by having everyone tell her how to check things off the bucket list and how to do them. She kept doing it for the money and when she was done with the list, she started living for herself.

When you think of a book that begins with a young woman dying from cancer and leaving her family with a mountain of medical bills the last thing you would think it that is is a joyful story, yet that's just what this is. When Bree passes away without finishing the last few items on her bucket list, she arranges to have all of her medical expenses paid if her sister Jodie completes the list while it all is posted to Bree's Instagram account. The transformation of Jodie from fearful to fearless is a joy to experience and the gift that Bree leaves her with is a true expression of her love for her sister. I loved it.

Someone Else's Bucket List by Amy T. Matthews
This is about grief but also about accepting grief and learning to navigate through it. This follows the journey of a sibling, who lost her sister to cancer. And just when she thought, the grief was overwhelming and on top of that medical bills were gonna crush their family, a bucket list miracle happens. No spoilers. You can guess this from the title and the blurb itself. Now coming to the story, it's a mixture of sadness and hope, as it should be. The book doesn't just try to be hopelessly optimistic, it tries to show you the reality and then make you learn how to hope in that situation. Not only just the way a person grieves but it also shows the medical bill reality, the worldly things one has to deal with on top of the grief. I think it was done very well to show all aspects of this grieving process and its aftermath and reality. I think the way it catches up to the hope part and intertwined it with the grief part, it was done well. The characters were someone you'd grow to care about. Maybe it'll take a little time for the actual bucket list plot to kick in, but worry not the previous part is equally important as to why the plot needed to be worked out that way. This book is grounded into reality but also reminds you that even in reality it isn't all about loss, it's about living, it's about memories, it's about cherishing moments. So overall, it was a nice engaging read, that will break your heart and mend it too.

Matthews is a great writer. This will be a difficult story for some to read, so please pay attention to trigger warnings. I thought she was very sensitive when dealing with cancer in her storyline, and it felt very realistic. The only critique I have is that I think the story could have moved quicker. Perhaps the first section could have been a 1-2 chapter prologue. We get to starting the bucket list at the 20% mark, when I would have liked to see that at 10%.

Thanks to Matthews, the publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC!

I'm sorry but I don't want to read a book that begins with the main character's sister dying of cancer. Too depressing. And what happened after very predictable: the dead woman leaves a to-do list, a bucket list, to her sister. And weird Instagram videos pre-filmed, and the romantic sub-plot was very cheesy. Basically it's the movie "P.S. I love you" with a dead sister instead of a dead husband. I don't recommend this book except if you like tear-jerking lifetime movies.

When I read the description for this book I was instantly intrigued. It sounded so thought provoking. Would I be able to finish my loved one’s bucket list? Could I continue on in my grief? Beyond the influencer aspect and consumerism of the thing, I was touched by it. There’s so much emotion written into these pages, and it’s not all grief. I laughed out loud so many times. A very cathartic read for sure. #TeamKelly 
Brenda Scott Wazlo conveyed the grief and the humor deftly. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to Amy T. Matthews, Kensington Books, Highbridge Audio, and NetGalley for the gifted copies.

What a good book. Would you ever do someone else's bucket list. It was the type of book that has you thinking.
I enjoyed this one very much.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book.

This story of Jodie and Bree enveloped me right away. What others found depressing, I found honest and real. Death and grief are tough subjects, but I went into it with hope.

Parts of this story were interesting. I enjoyed the concept, Bree’s communications to her family, Jodie’s growth, and particularly, the first and last chapter.

However, the book was a miss for me. It was so drawn out that it missed the opportunity to be meaningful. There was a lot of unnecessary conversation. I typically read a book in less than a week, but this one took me more than six weeks.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Someone Else's Bucket List caught my attention for what I hoped would be a ‘live life to the full’ story. It was and it wasn’t. When Jodie’s outgoing Instagram influencer sister Bree dies of leukaemia, she is given the task of completing her bucket list in order to not only fulfil it but also to help the family pay medical bills. For me, it took some time to actually get to the bucket list and the focus on medical debt played too much of a role from what I was hoping to read about. Still, with themes of sisterly love, grief, and finding oneself Someone Else's Bucket List comes together to make this a book sure to appeal to readers of this family type genre.

So hard to articulate a review from me.

Grief-packed. Hopeful. Life-affirming. The kindness of others. Chosen family. Sweet story.

I've never read anything from this author before and hope there's more goodness from her to come. I'll be looking out for more from her.

It took me a few days to really get into this book, because once I realized how much I was going to cry I had to find quiet time to really read and absorb the book. Lord help if they make it into a movie, being a box of Kleenex!

Title: Someone Else's Bucket List
Author: Amy T. Matthews
Genre: Women's Fiction
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: May 23, 2023

I received complimentary eARC of this book from Kensington Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Bittersweet • Uplifting • Unsurprising

📖 S Y N O P S I S

When outgoing social media influencer, Bree, leaves crippling medical debt behind after her death from leukemia, her final wish is for her introverted younger sister, Jodie, to take over her accounts and complete her bucket list.

Jodie is shocked by a new post on her sister's Instagram feed. The post challenges Jodie to complete Bree's very public bucket list. From “Fly over Antarctica," to “Perform a walk-on cameo in a Broadway musical," if Jodie does it—and keeps all Bree's followers—a corporate sponsor will pay off the staggering medical debt.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Someone Else's Bucket List is another 2023 release that caught my interest mostly for the grief aspect. The premise really sounded like something that would make a good story, however, there were a few key problems for me.

I absolutely loved Claude! Bree's best friend is a secondary character, but to me she plays such a pivotal role throughout the story - and at times I was much more interested in her story than the bucket list. I do wish there'd been a bit more of her perspective and grief from a friend perspective intertwined.

And while I appreciated the idea of Jodie venturing out of her comfort zone to complete Bree's bucket list; a part of me also felt uncomfortable with the idea of forcing a grieving person to undertake someone else's 'dreams'. Yes, Jodie learns a lot along the way, but she's clearly very uncomfortable in many of the situations.

In my opinion, the romance just wasn't necessary - feeling more like fluff to me than anything else. In fact, it drew away from the main story, and because of this the writing became highly repetitive and drawn out. Add in rehashing Jodie and Kelly's past, and there just felt like a lot could have easily been edited out to make the story flow better.

Overall, Someone Else's Bucket List is an uplifting story of finding oneself and allowing joy and grief to co-exist. It's certainly nothing extraordinary but worth reading by anyone who has been touched by the loss of a loved one (although I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone in early grief as I doubt it would sit very well).

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• anyone looking for something uplifting
• readers who like stories about sisters

⚠️ CW: cancer, grief, death, sibling death, death of parent, death of child, vomit, suicide

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Grief was like weather: it had seasons and moods, and it could always take a turn for the worse."

"That was the thing about death, it put someone out of reach forever. You could never ever ask them a questions, ever again."

"Things pass, Jodie. But love stays. Nothing disappears, things just transform."

A story about a sister who is roped into finishing her sister's bucket after her death. Although the premise could be sad and there were moments for sure, this was a sweet story about a a woman who is forced out of her comfort zone and starts to live a little. Her sister, an influencer, also required her to do all this through social media. So many things mentioned made me cringe with the reality of social media and the life of an influencer (and in fact the author even states the "grossness" of it all). A great read for anytime.

When Jodie's successful, beautiful, social media influencer sister Bree gets cancer, everyone rallies around. As it becomes apparent chemo and then a bone marrow transplant aren't working, time runs out. We skip ahead a bit to the next year's Thanksgiving, and Bree's best friend Claudia rallying the family to celebrate in the way Bree wanted them too. The dinner ends with a scheduled Instagram post from Bree. She wants her sister Jodie to finish the last few items on her bucket list, and has arranged for a sponsor who will finish paying off the heavy load of debt the family has incurred with Bree's treatments. It's a heartwarming story, really, even though parts of it seem beyond Jodie's control and seem circus like until she takes a stand with Iris Air's assistant, Cheryl. There's a lot of grief, a lot of hope and story I just had to keep reading without wanting to stop.

Thank you to NetGalley for this beautiful and powerful story of life and grief.
Jodie is an anxious and quiet person who loses her vibrate and successful globe-trotting influencer sister to leukemia. Their family is drowning in grief and medical debt. Then discovered her sister had prerecorded a challenge asking her sister to complete her life bucket list. Jodie decides to embark on this adventure to honor his sister and have the debt paid off by a sponsor.
The story was beautiful, inspiring, and heartwarming as well as heartbreaking.

I started reading SOMEONE ELSE'S BUCKET LIST while travelling a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I love @amytmatthews_author other books (if you haven't checked out Kit McBride Gets a Wife or the newly released Marrying Off Morgan McBride written under her Amy Barry pen name, run, don't walk) but this concept sounded heavier than what I usually go for in my escapist reading.

However!

It was an emotional delight.

Did I cry? Absolutely. A couple of times. Did I laugh? Often. Did I fall in love with Bree and Jodie and Kelly and Claude and does Claude need her own book ASAP and did my heart break for the entire Boyd family? Yes to all of the above.

Thanks to Kensington Books, Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a beautifully written, emotional romance that pulled all my heart strings. When a young influencer dies leaving an incomplete bucket list, it's up to her sister to see it completed. Jodie is nothing like her sister was - she's shy, awkward and feels inferior to almost everyone.

But through the bucket list she meets (and re-meets) the people that will not only help her come to terms with the loss of her beloved sister, but help her find her own place in the world.

All the characters sparkled on the page for me. There were no 'bad people' , just people. I could understand their motivations and characters because they were so real. I loved Kelly of course, who is such a cream puff. Bless Jodie and her obliviousness to her own strengths and attractiveness.

I found Jodie's developing relationship with Claude so beautiful to read. I read the whole book in one sitting. Absolutely gorgeous. Chefs kiss.