Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing, and author David B. Seaburn for the advanced reader copy of this book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

I was surprised how quickly and thoroughly Until It Was Gone drew me in. Perhaps being the same age as the main protagonist, Laney, I could relate to the life she’d lived and arriving at this point in time with misgivings.

Franklin and Laney Stafford have been married for forty years. The night they are out celebrating at their favorite restaurant, Laney ends their celebration by telling Franklin she’s leaving him. He’s stunned and asks if she ever loved him. She answers, “Yes, until it was gone.” Laney takes an Uber home, packs a couple of bags, and disappears in her lavender Mercedes.

Franklin returns to the empty house and is at a loss. Laney has done this before but always returned in a few days. Something feels different this time. He struggles to cope with her leaving him and then collapses in the throes of COVID-19. His sister, Gretchen, moves in. Gretchen lost her husband a few years earlier in a mass shooting, and the sentencing of the killer is coming up. She tries to nurse Franklin through the loss of Laney as well as long COVID.

Laney, meanwhile, has headed to Oklahoma to try and forge a relationship with their daughter, Roz, who left home at 16, and granddaughter Maggie, who they have never met. Roz became pregnant after leaving home and raised Maggie as a single mother. They live in a desolate area without much chance of escaping. Roz manages a convenience store, while Maggie cleans rooms at a small motel. It’s a dead-end for both of them. That might not matter to Roz, who is comforted by the isolated atmosphere, but Maggie is stagnating. Laney arrives to a fristy reception from Roz, while Maggie wants to get to know her grandmother.

Until It Was Gone details generational trauma and how it continually affects those who experience it. Roz’s anger at her parents is justified in her mind only. She blames them for losing the first love of her life, but her perspective on that situation is still that of a 15-year-old who seemingly watched The Little Mermaid too many times. Much like that movie, when you watch that as a child, you sympathize with Ariel, but as you grow older, you realize her father was right about everything. Roz never moved into looking at her past from the perspective of an adult and parent. She holds on to her anger and resentment because she doesn’t want to admit she was wrong and her parents were right.

Laney is a product of the time she was raised in, which I could identify with. We were the tail-end of an era where a woman was judged based on who she married, how she kept a house, and how she raised her children. It was drilled in her head that if a man didn’t hit her and provided for her, he was a “good catch.” Forty years later, she’s seeing the newer generations with much more available to them in terms of life and yearns for what she missed. At the same time, she has valid complaints about her husband. Franklin loves Laney more than life itself, but he doesn’t know her as a person. Their love is superficial.

Until It Was Gone shows a family at a crossroads, where Laney is making what is likely a last-chance grasp to get to know her daughter and granddaughter. In the throes of depression over Laney leaving and COVID, Franklin confronts the ghosts of his past. Gretchen comes to terms with her husband’s murderer. The bonds of family are strong as they all come together when it’s a matter of life and death.

I wasn’t expecting to be drawn into this as thoroughly as I was. I read Until It Was Gone in just two days, and it resonated deeply with the world as I know it. I highly recommend it.

Thanks NetGalley for my copy. Although I don’t like giving bad reviews I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy this book. It was weak, too long and I got bored. I only finished it because I feel obliged to

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love this novel about family and heartbreak and redemption. The ending was so great. It will stay with me.

I think this was a pretty good book. It was about a time of life I am not yet in. It was pretty entertaining, sad, but happy at the same time. It made me think and feel introspective to what the character was going through

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

“Until It Was Gone” by David Seaburn is a complex, and sometimes heartbreaking, family saga that highlights how messy families can be and how life in the contemporary United States is filled with dangerous uncertainties. Laney leaves her husband Franklin on their 40th anniversary, saying that their marriage is over, and heads for Oklahoma to connect with her daughter Roz, whom she hasn’t seen since Roz ran away from home at the age of 15. Franklin contracts COVID and is unable to recover from its aftereffects. His sister, still grieving over her husband’s death in a mass shooting, moves in to help him out. Laney’s granddaughter Maggie becomes pregnant, but the pregnancy isn’t viable, and she is in desperate need of surgery, which cannot be performed in the state of Oklahoma. How will this family come together to survive when all this has been thrown at them?

Seaburn writes sensitively about these issues and it’s hard not to feel strong compassion for these people. But at the same time, I am grateful to NOT be living in their world--a place that easily puts guns in the hands of mentally disturbed people, a place where women, regardless of the reason, cannot chose to terminate a pregnancy (even under life-threatening conditions), and a place where someone in dire need of emergency care is not provided for immediately. These people’s world seemed so bleak and hopeless to me, but I’m hoping the characters find happiness as they rediscover their relationships with each other.

I’m grateful for Net Galley for an ARC of this book and my opinions are my own.

This book was fantastic! I really enjoyed all the characters. The family drama was really interesting. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but it was still a 5-star read. Maybe it was closer to a 4.5-star read. Thanks a bunch to NetGalley for sending me an advance copy!

This is a fascinating book about families, hardships, and the bonds we make and break. Franklin and Laney separate after the 40th wedding anniversary and Franklin gets Covid. His sister, Gretchen comes to care for him as he's old and can't do many things for himself anymore. We also meet Roz, Laney's daughter and Roz's daughter, Maggie--whose relationships are also "messy"! It's a great family drama that covers many topics that all marriages go through and leaves the reader with hope.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Rounded up from 3.5 stars. A beautiful story about the messy dynamics of family exasperated by the long term effects of the COVID-19 virus and the pro-life policies of the state of Oklahoma. No matter how many horrible things happened to this estranged family of 5, I'm glad I held on to my optimism. If you let Franklin, Laney, Roz, Maggie and Gretchen into your life, they will show you that it's never too late to blow up your life and that nothing is ever too broken to be fixed.

Thank you Netgalley, David B. Seaburn, and Black Rose Writing for the ARC.

I loved the idea of this book. However the writing style ruined it. I don’t think it captured the entire depth and weight of what was going on and seemed a little YA at some points. The characters were doing things that made little to no sense and borderline just not believable. Again, loved the idea but was not executed.

This title hits on timely issues and I enjoyed reading the author's story about characters dealing with things like abortion, Covid, and more. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I thought it was a well-written story.

Until It Was Gone by David B Seaburn is a broken story. A broken family, marriage, mother-daughter relationship, legal system, and society. Laney and Franklin are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary when she announces she's done. She's done with the marriage and her current life. She needs something greater.

Franklin immediately deteriorated, catching COVID-19 and becoming a victim of Long COVID-19, something that is still affecting people today. His sister, Gretchen, moves in to take care of him. She's suffering the deep pains of grief after her husband was a victim of a mass shooting.

Laney and her lavender Mercedes zoom to Oklahoma, where Laney hopes to reconnect with her estranged daughter. This, of course, is not without it's own problems as Roz (daughter) is dealing with her own failed relationship with HER daughter.
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Seaburn was able to write a very contemporary novel. While it seems like it covers a lot of hot-button issues (Covid, masking, mass shooting, small-town hospitals and their services, child abuse, abortion.....), he's able to tie everything together. These multiple things can and do affect families. This is a particular American problem, so I'm not entirely sure that international readers will understand small-town Oklahoma, but this is a universal story about family.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A well constructed, well written novel that will stay with you long after you have read the last page. I loved every word of it,