Young Widows Club

by Alexandra Coutts

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
This is a hard one, because there were quite a few things I quite liked about it, but there were also a few things that nagged me through the book.

Tam (short for Tamsen, which sounds like some kind of spice, not a girl's name) has just lost her husband, at seventeen. This is where I first was a little unsure of the story, of course. Because why is she married at seventeen? At first I'd assumed he would be in the military, or maybe even one of those A Walk to Remember situations where she knew he was dying, so they got married.

But alas, no. They just... did. Which kind of bugged me through the whole book. Noah (the husband) was nineteen and he died in his sleep of some heart thing that no one knew he had or whatever. Okay, that stuff happens. Obviously, Tam is devastated. She isn't in school because um... reasons? Noah is was in a band, and I guess she planned on being with them. This makes me sad for Tam on an entirely different level, because who drops out of high school at seventeen and plans to follow a local band around? I digress.

So Tam's plans for her life are basically derailed with Noah's death. She doesn't have a great relationship with her dad or stepmother, and pretty much clings to her old life with Noah. She stays in the house they were fixing up on his parents' property, she spends countless hours with the band, and wants so much for nothing else to change. In this respect, I felt that while it was sad, it was incredibly accurate. I can't imagine a widow, especially one as young and lost as Tam, just leaving everything behind and starting over. The problem was, Noah's band was moving on, and Tam wasn't really part of things anymore.
Eventually, Tam is forced (yes, forced, this isn't her choice) to return to school and to attend a widow support group. The widows aren't all young, as the title suggests. Tam is by far the youngest widow. But the group is a great mix of people with different experiences, and I think it added a lot to Tam's story. School does also, as Tam starts to realize that she can have friends and interests outside of Noah.

There's a bit of an additional romance too. It's another widow, though he is nine years Tam's senior. That didn't really bug me, because they obviously share a lot in common that most people of either of their ages would not understand. So at times, it was a little weird, but it was also not a fast moving romance, so it didn't seem wildly inappropriate, given the situation.

Tam's dad and stepmother seemed so unfeeling and unsympathetic. Though I guess for people who okayed their daughter's marriage at seventeen for no legitimate reason, it fit. Noah's parents were amazing. I loved them, and their love for Tam was evident. Even through their suffering, they looked out for Tam. Here's the problem I had: I didn't care about Noah. I mean, sad that a young person died, of course, but other than that? Eh. I didn't get any sense of who he was, honestly. And because of that, I felt like his death actually did Tam a huge favor. She'd never have gone to school, met new people, or really even had a chance to find out who she was.

Bottom Line: I enjoyed Tam's story and evolution. I wish I'd had more insight into why she'd given up her identity for Noah to begin with, but I enjoyed watching her grow without him all the same. I probably would have felt more if I hadn't been as apathetic about the loss.