I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This is a beautifully written book on dealing with grief. The author, Clare Mackintosh, who is a successful novelist, lost her son, a twin, at the age of five weeks. She writes with courage and honesty, delving into her own deep experience with grief with the sole intention to help the reader deal with their grief.

There is much hope in the book, organized as a list of promises to the reader. There is also practical advice and the acknowledgement that some of these ideas may work for the reader and some may not, as we all process differently. And the end of the book offers a list of additional things that may help. It is obvious that the author’s goal is to ease pain and let the reader know that this burden will ease. Her willingness to relive her memories to achieve this is extraordinary.

Thanks to the author, NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read this book.

This one hurts...My sorrow for anyone that has lost a child goes deep. I love this author and have read a lot of inspirational pieces, but this one hurt deeply for her. It is a journey like being dropped off in the middle of nowhere with no one around to help you. You must find your way back. There are different levels to experience and build on the last one to heal. This is excellent for anyone that has felt the loss of a life no matter what age or the connection to them.
Great memoir of grief, Clare and my thoughts are with you. Well-written and heartfelt.

"It is a gift to be reminded of the ones we love. It is through these moments that they live on."

Having recently lost a dear friend of mine, this book found me at exactly the right time. I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This is a raw, moving account of the author's own journey through grief and healing. Mackintosh navigated a difficult subject with compassion and grace, all while offering hope for the future. While I wish the pain of loss on no one, we all will experience it in this lifetime. How beautiful that amidst the ashes of grief blossoms deeper compassion and a greater realization of our collective humanity. Thank you, Ms. Mackintosh, for passing along your daffodils of hope to me.

I hope that many people will find this when they need it most.

Thank you to NetGalley, Clare Mackintosh and Sourcebooks for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this book! Honestly, I’m in the process of healing from the loss of a parent, and every assurance is just what I needed to hear. Specifically the assurance that I will not always be angry. I’ve never read anything so raw & laid bare! I felt as though this author voiced the world I’ve been living in & made me feel seen. This will be the first book I recommend to people struggling with grief! I will now go check out her other works :)

Thank you for this book Clare Mackintosh 💖

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I hope many people can find and read this right when they need it the mosr.
This hit me right where it hurt. I have no words for it.

This is a different type of read from Clare Mackintosh. This beautiful book was inspired by a viral Twitter thread written by the author on the anniversary of her son's death. At a certain point in life, particularly as we age, loss becomes an increasingly familiar, yet unwanted fact of our continued existence. Grief can be difficult to characterize and process, often feeling like an abyss from which there is no return. While this memoir lays bare the author’s grief, it also speaks to solace, hope and the enormity of love. “I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This “ is a book we all should read.

Release March 1st I think I was supposed to read it early.

Grief, loss and everything in between. I cant imagine losing a child. Clare has a way of writing it with ease. It was something I needed and dint even know it.
Let me tell you while reading this a country star died that I have followed forever like from day one> Everyone has a home town anthem and he was one of them. Any how I found myself crying uncontrollably over someone I have never met, didn't know and when I picked up this book that night it made me feel at peace while reading.
If you are struggle with aloss give this a try


If you liked any of her other books your gonna love this one more.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a tremendous book. While I had not read a Mackintosh novel, I was familiar with her as a writer of crime fiction, but was curious to see where the book would go. I am so glad I picked it up. I'm not normally a self-help reader, but after a number of repeated deaths in the past several years I felt like I needed to find something that would resonate - and this book was it. She does a wonderful job offering insight and a sense of being there with you, and I found it tremendously comforting even though it was a difficult and emotional read. I will definitely be recommending this one - and looking to see how she turns her empathy toward fiction writing.

A thoughtful and necessary book. Easy to read either as a whole or in small chunks, and covers a wide range of topics for people who have experienced extraordinary grief. The vulnerability here is exceptional, and rare. It's as helpful to read about the messy, contradictory, unflattering parts of grief and self-management, as it is to read the 'you will get through it' messages. It ends hopefully and helpfully.

I received a free copy of, I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This, by Clare Mackintosh, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Almost everybody has had some significant loss in their life, whether it would be loss of parent, spouse, child, friend, etc. Loss effects everybody differently. In this book Clare describes her loss of her child, how it affected her, and what helped her get through it. This was a good read on a tough subject.

This book found me at exactly the right time after losing my mom. It’s so real and relatable and perfectly captures how you feel when grieving and more importantly gives you the hope that you will one day feel better. I loved her stories and her practical advice and her soothing words. Reading the 18 promises was a soothing balm, just the words I needed to hear when I needed to hear them. This book is going to be a comfort and help so many people. They mean so much more coming from someone whose lived the days you are experiencing. Thank you to Claire Mackintosh for opening up her most painful and intimate thoughts.

4.5/5 stars

This was a very insightful and honest treatise on a favorite author's own experience with grief. I connected (and think that many will) with her pain and loss and found that her 18 assurances of light at the end of the tunnel were both enlightening and well-chosen. As she is revisiting her own 18 years of bereavement, while giving compassionate and first-hand knowledge, she is also emphasizing that no two persons will travel the exact same journey while battling through the stages of grief and loss...but there are similarities in their experiences.

As a caregiver for elderly parents, I found this a moving reading experience and appreciate and value Ms. Mackintosh's caring and sharing of her own very personal journey.

I'm glad to have come across this straightforward, helpful and compassionate book.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing the free early arc of I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

A gorgeous, honest, heartfelt book that I could endlessly relate to. I would never say, "I know how you feel" to Clare Mackintosh, because I don't. After my five miscarriages, I was in a different situation and had experienced different types of grief and loss than Mackintosh and her husband endured, having lost their son Alex when he was five weeks old. What we do share is simply this: we were grieving, we needed to heal, it would take a long time, and we needed the promises of others who had walked this path before us.

Claire Mackintosh's hopeful promises will help anyone who's grieving to continue the walk, one step at a time.

4 heartbreaking stars

I am a huge fan of Clare Mackintosh’s fiction, and I knew she used to be a police officer. Her personal experiences with grief (losing her 5-week-old son and father) led her to write this nonfiction book.

She offers 18 assurances/promises on grief, and each chapter elaborates. For example, I promise the waves of grief that knock you off your feet won’t drown you, and I promise you’ll find someone who understands.

Mackintosh is so open and soul-baring with her journey with grief that I know that this book will help others who are searching for a way to cope. While everyone has a solo journey with grief, sometimes a road map can be helpful.

I don’t rate memoirs; it doesn’t seem right to ‘judge’ someone’s life. What I will say about this book is…it is raw, authentic, cathartic and helpful to those who have lost a loved one. Mackintosh walks the reader through her own journey of grief, after losing her infant son. I will leave you with just some of the many many quotes I wrote down:

“It is a gift to be reminded of the ones we love. It is through these moments that they live on.”

“Grief is a river that never stops moving and can swell from a trickle to a torrent overnight.”

“The morphine for grief is time. Time does not in itself heal, but it shows us we can keep going.”

Mackintosh offers her readers compassionate advice to help them through the process of grief. It helps to know you're not alone, that the things you're feeling don't make you a terrible person, and gives the reader hope that there is light at the end of the grief tunnel. She is empathetic and kind; I would have loved a book like this when I was going through the loss of my mama. It's a beautiful book that can lend a helpful hand to those in depths of despair.

I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This is a collection of essays about grief and dealing with loss. Mackintosh suffered the loss of her baby and was overwhelmed by a dark cloud of seemingly unending grief. Readers will find comfort in being understood.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Who better to write a book about the journey of grief than an author who can share her own personal experience due to the loss of her 5-week old infant son 18 years ago. This book appeared at the perfect time for me as I recently embarked on my own journey of grief. How true that everyone's experience is unique and cannot be rushed. Reading this book was like sitting down with a trusted friend who has already walked in my shoes. I am sure I will refer back to it in the months and years to come. Thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks and the author for an advance copy to read and review.

WOW! Just WOW! I'm going to be honest. I am fortunate so far to have never experienced such a devastating loss as Clare Mackintosh has. This is not a book that I would have just picked up on my own. I am however, a huge fan of this author and this ARC came to me along with my request for another title by her. I am not sure happy is the right word, but I am all the better for reading this, I guess is what I mean. When or if I do suffer something this catastrophic. I know I will have her words to look back on and this book to reread. Now, my stepdaughter lost her husband a couple years ago and is still being told things like she should be over it by now. I am buying this book for her when it comes out for publication. I love how the author explains grief in such detail and that everyone grieves in different ways. I cannot imagine the pain involved in writing such a thing down and putting it out there, but I sincerely hope it was as helpful in healing for her as I'm sure it will be for so many others. I feel honored to have been let into something so personal.
And if you are not already a fan, like me, I highly encourage reading all of Clare Mackintosh's books.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Clare Mackintosh and Sourcebooks for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and various other retail and social media sites upon publication.

When I read Hostage by Clare Mackintosh, I knew I was reading an incredibly gifted writer. However, I had no idea how gifted she was until reading/listening I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This. I now have an even greater admiration for how she puts pen to paper.

I am fairly certain I will never forget how I felt while reading this book. My heart is in two pieces and I want to rewind time for Clare.

I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This, is a survival guide for those who are walking through the shadows of grief. Grief, is such a raw emotion that never goes away, instead you adjust and learn to live with a hole in your heart that can never be filled.

This book is personal, its touching, its angry, its sad.... its everything those of us who have lost someone, can relate to. I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to listen to Mackintosh's memoir. Her words will remain with me. The fact that Clare is the narrator here just adds to my pride in being able to listen to her words and her journey.

Here's a bit of the synopsis :
New York Times and international bestselling mystery author Clare Mackintosh makes her nonfiction debut with this deeply felt memoir of unfathomable loss, and infinite hope.

When Clare Mackintosh lost her five-week-old son, she soon discovered there are no neat, labeled stages of grief like so many books insist. The shape of each loss is different; when a parent, relative, or friend passes, we grieve the person in all their beauty, their humanity, their imperfections. For Clare, there was no preparing for the anger and excruciating ache of knowing her child's life would remain unlived. This is the book she needed then.

Inspired by a viral Twitter thread Clare wrote on the anniversary of her son's death, this deeply honest, compassionate memoir will bring solace and encouragement to anyone who finds themselves walking with grief, whether for a season or for several years. It is for those who need a little voice saying: I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This, for the people who love them, and those who understand that great loss can be a window through to the soul.

This book releases on March 7. 2024. Thank you to NetGalley andSourceBooks for the opportunity to listen and share my review.