Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced audio copy of In Every Life, in exchange for an honest review.

Rea Frey's latest novel, 'In Every Life,' is a tour de force of emotional storytelling that will leave capture you from beginning to end. The story follows Ben and Harper, a newly married couple whose world is shattered when Harper receives a devastating cancer diagnosis.

Facing the prospect of leaving Harper alone and heartbroken, Ben makes a selfless decision: to find her a new love while he is still alive. This sets the stage for a poignant and ultimately heartbreaking journey that explores the depths of love, loss, and the human spirit.

Frey's writing is deeply empathetic, perfectly capturing the complexities of Ben and Harper's emotions. She's an expert creating a world where the boundaries between reality and possibility blur.

As a reader/listener, I found myself deeply invested in Ben and Harper's love story. Frey's ability to evoke a range of emotions, from joy to despair, is truly remarkable. The book is not without its heavy moments, but it is ultimately a celebration of life and the enduring power of love.

The audiobook, narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya, is an exceptional complement to the written word. Araya's voice perfectly captures the emotional nuances of the story, amplifying the impact of Frey's words. I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator truly brought the characters to live.

'In Every Life' is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeply moving and thought-provoking book. It is a testament to the human spirit and the transformative power of love, even in the face of adversity. This book will undoubtedly stay with you long after they finish the last page.
This was a 4.75 Star read for me!

I chose In Every Life because I love magical realism within Romance, but got nervous when the book started to imply that it was going to break my heart. Life is hard enough and I want to escape into book, not have my heart broken. However, I am SO GLAD I did not give up on this book!

It is absolutely stunning!! Yes, I did cry for probably an hour straight at the end, but I would do it again. In Every Life is just the most touching, poetic, emotionally intelligent story I have read in a long time. I fell in love with all of the characters and was rooting for everyone. Even with all of the heartbreak, I walked away from this story feeling more hopefully than I have in a long time. The topic of art was a beautiful thread and actually encouraged me to start being more creative and open-hearted in my own life. This is one of those books that changes you a little. I absolutely loved it and will recommend it to all of my friends.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The main character had a lot going on. I believe she is meant to be with Liam even though she’s with Ben. The ritual I think helped her at the end to make that last decision of ending up where she did. I wouldn’t mind reading a part 2 if written .

This is exactly the type of magical realism I had been searching for.
Harper is newly married to Ben, however life throws her the biggest curveball when her husband is diagnosed with cancer. Now nearing the end she longs for a life that could never be. Enter Liam, a journalist doing a story about Ben, except Liam is no stranger, Harper and Liam have a secret history one clouded also in a life that could have been.
When an opportunity presents itself for a magic ritual that could give her the alternative life she craves, Harper finds herself in an alternative reality that is not what she imagined. Will Harper be happy in this new reality or will she long to go back to her old life where things were falling apart dramatically? Can Ben really recover or is his fate sealed and what about Liam, the spanner in the works, is he her happy ever after or a reminder of a path not taken.
An emotional read about the start reality of path taken and not taken, about life cut too short. This is a romance but not as you would expect it. An easy but difficult listen at times, this book will leave you guessing at how it's going to end...until the VERY end.

Many thanks to Harper Collins Focus for the audiocopy of this book provided via NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

Wow! Masterfully written and especially close of my heart as I lost a parent to a terminal illness. So full of love, the angst of decisions that don't come easily. Rea has a beautifully descriptive prose and pulls you into her characters world of art, and an artists world. It was completely absorbing and the characters will stay with me.

This book made me cry SO HARD. Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful and poignant and I can't say enough good things about it. It went in a different direction than I thought it would from the description, which ended up being much better than I could have dreamed up. So, yes.... cathartic tears were shed and everyone should read this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook in exchange for this review.

Imagine your husband receives a devastating cancer diagnosis, and as part of his final bucket list, he wishes to find you a new partner before he passes away. Then, the ultimate “what if” from your past shows up at your door to interview your husband. In “In Every Life”, Rea Frey delves into themes of love, grief, and the courage to embrace new beginnings, highlighting the strength one finds within themselves first before moving forward.

This was my first book by this author .I loved the characters and felt like I could relate to them .The banter was great .The book was fast paced and a great read .I could see myself as a character .Ben is one that will always stay with me .The audio was on point and entertaining. I most definitely will read more books by this author .

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC of In Every Life.

This was my first read by Rea Frey, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But it will certainly not be my last.

Right from the jump, this book tugs on your heartstrings and forces the question... Are you really living the life that you want to live?

Although at times I wanted to shake Harper and ask her what she's so afraid of, I really did enjoy reading about she was able to find herself among tragedy and start again.

I think the real winner here was the element of mystical realism. It came as a complete (pleasant) surprise, and really rounded the book out.

An easy 5 stars!

Thank you Harper Collins for the ALC!

I wanted to like this book so much, as I love a “hurts so good” kind of story. The premise (living with a dying husband) intrigued me and had me looking forward to diving in.

Unfortunately this one didn’t land with me. The main character was hard for me to root for and I found myself wanting to just finish the book for the sake of being done with it. I just couldn’t hang which is a bummer because I have loved other books with this story idea.

Overall this one just didn’t work for me, but I hope others can love it!

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book! I love a good "Sliding Doors" style story, doesn't everyone? There's always going to be one of those "What if I took this route?" questions in life, and I thoroughly enjoyed Rea Frey's take on the trope. She did a really amazing job of showing how much shifts as we go through our lives, and things that we want so badly at one point in our lives change. I thought this novel was extremely thoughtfully laid out and it was such an engaging story!

In Every Life is a romance about Ben, a thriving composer, who has less than a summer to live due to stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and Harper, his wife, is forced to come to terms with this. To make matters worse for Harper, Ben has made it his mission to make her realize there is more to life than just Ben and his diagnosis. From Ben’s perspective, it makes sense. From Harper’s it's everything but. Conquentidentally Liam, a hot reporter guy, who happens to have a history with Ben’s wife shows up on a trip to interview Ben and things get turned upside down. I liked this book. I am trying to branch out of my romantsy nook that I have going on and it had the right amount of drama and heartfelt “what ifs” that had me reading until the end.

My only complaint is that it felt like the meat of the plot was at the end. I would have loved more insight into the life with healthy Ben. I disliked how cut short it was. (maybe that was part of a lesson but still)

Thank you to NetGalley for being able to listen for my honest review.

I wanted to read this book because I remembered really liking “The Other Year” by the same author. I went back to that review after finishing this because I was curious about my thoughts. It seems the thing I didn’t like about that book was the thing I really didn’t like about this one - repetitive romantic tropes. Harper, the main character, said “NEVER in my ENTIRE life” a million time, which just feels like poor writing. The audio narration probably made that seem worse. At the halfway point, just when I was contemplating giving up, there was a plot twist that surprised me and changed the narrative a bit. I kept going but it didn’t change my opinion.

2.5 bumping to 3 because this book definitely has an audience, it’s just not me.

I loved this book. I couldn’t imagine watching my husband die while running into the “one that got away” I found myself rooting for both relationships. The way the story played out was perfect. I may have even cried a little in the end. I did enjoy the narration in the audiobook.

This wasn't your normal romance. Right off the bat, you find out that Harper's husband, Ben has cancer. So, you know what you're going into. It's a brutal and tear ridden story but it's full of so much hope and some beautiful moments.

Harper and Ben are newlyweds - - literally newly wed when he gets his cancer diagnosis. Their world is turned upside down and everything they had planned is suddenly out the window. But there is more to this story than the sadness. There is hope, triumph and determination. There is a little mysticism. And there is some drama when Harper's first love shows up.

I often enjoy a good tearjerker and I definitely got it with this one. But I also got a really good story and I highly recommend it. I thought it was a creative plot and it doesn't necessarily go the way you expect it to.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: This audio was well done with solid narration. I enjoyed listening to this and went between the book and audio as I was reading the story. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the audiobook and ebook.

After reading the author’s intro I was positive I was going to roll my eyes throughout this book. However, surprisingly, I loved this book! It’s not quite time travel nor sliding doors. It reminded me a little of Jenkins’ One True Loves. It’s about a woman loving two different men. There are triggers: cancer, death etc. The pace of the book was perfect! I couldn’t put it down. The audio was also very good.
Thank to Harper Collin’s Focus for the ARC copy.

𝗜𝗻 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 is a story where I became quite emotionally involved from the beginning. I could just feel the emotions from every character leap of the page and into my heart.

✔️𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:

Love and loss
Dying wish
Second chances
Growth and healing
What if?
Parallel Universe
First Love
Magical realism

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸?

Jennifer Jill Araya truly brought each character to life and even more life to the story.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲?

Engaging and steady

In Every Life follows Harper, 30-something high school art teacher living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She’s madly in love with her film score composer husband Ben. But during their honeymoon, the couple is unpleasantly surprised by the news that Ben has stage four pancreatic cancer. After rounds of torturous treatment, Ben decides to quit treatment and comes up with an interesting proposition for Harper… he wants her to fall in love with someone new basically to become his successor as her husband. Then the only other man Harper has been in love with turns up at their door as the journalist assigned to write about Ben’s life… and his idea of finding Harper another love. Harper’s emotions are all over the place which leads her to take a chance on a full moon ritual that throws time travel and alternate realities into the mix. There was one trope in this book that I usually hate but I kinda rooted for it in this one. I will say a comment one of Harper’s best friends makes about grief really rubbed me the wrong way. The whole book is about grief and she makes a comment that grief doesn’t last forever, which I very much disagree with. Grief is something you carry with you the rest of your life. You may “move on” but the grandness of loss doesn’t go away. Overall, I enjoyed the story and really wanted to keep listening to know what happened next. It made me think about the impact of our choices, and how different our lives may be in other universes. I always love books with creative MCs and the art descriptions in this one were intriguing. I’m also from Chattanooga so the imagery in that setting was very nostalgic. Narrator Jennifer Jill Araya portrayed Harper well and kept me engaged throughout. I would recommend this one to fans of One Italian Summer and Oona Out Of Order.

Than you Harper Muse for my gifted copy

A newly married couple's lives are upended when the husband is diagnosed with terminal cancer. His dying wish is to help his wife find her new love.

This was a heartbreaking yet uplifting mix of women's fiction, romance and magical realism. While the premise is unique and compelling, parts seemed a bit far fetched. That said, I was able to suspend disbelief and get lost in the story, and ended up enjoying it, overall. Narrator Jennifer Jill Araya, a fave, is outstanding in her performance and really breathes life into this story.

3.75 to 4 stars.

I went into this book blind and couldn’t stop listening. WOW! The author makes you wish this book never ends. No spoilers here. Just do yourself a favor and TBR it. One of my top 5 of the year. It will make you laugh, cry and live rent free in your head forever! Well done.



Thanks Netgalley & Harper Muse Audiobooks for this advanced copy of this audiobook. I wish I could listen to it over again and over again for the first time.