A grieving widow and a disenchanted writer form an unexpected bond in a novel about second chances and finding the courage to let go of the past.
It’s been three years since Claire Kite lost her husband, David, an aspiring novelist, in a tragic car accident. Claire finally finds the courage to move on; then she discovers among the remnants of her shattered world her husband’s last manuscript. It’s intimate, stirring—and unfinished. An idea comes to her…What if she can find someone to give David’s novel the ending it deserves?
Whitaker Grant is famous for his one and only bestselling novel—a masterpiece that became a hit film. But after being crippled by the pressure of success and his failed marriage, Whitaker retreated from the public eye in his native St. Petersburg, Florida. Years later, he’s struggling through a deep midlife crisis. Until he receives an intriguing request from a lonely widow. To honor David’s story, Whitaker must understand, heart and soul, the man who wrote it and the woman he left behind.
There’s more to the novel than anyone dreamed. Something personal. Something true. Maybe, in bringing a chapter of David’s life to a close, Claire and Whitaker can find hope for a new beginning.
If Tomorrow Never Comes. This book could well be a sequel to the hit Garth Brooks song of many years ago, as it follows a widow as she finally tries to move on from her husband's sudden death three years ago. Based on my own interactions on social media with so many writers, the struggles Whitaker goes through seem to be all too real - and his stalking of neighborhood people who don't pick up their dog's poop is one of the most hilarious-because-it-is-so-tempting-to-actually-do things I've read in quite some time. And the video game Whitaker finds himself playing just trying to give his mind space to come up with The Next Big Idea is apparently fake, but sounds like it could be *awesome* in the right hands. (I'm a Fallout/ Mass Effect / Outer Worlds kind of gamer, and it sounds like it might be in that vein, or at least Halo.) Overall a very strong book, one that manages to sink new hooks every so often as it propels to an arguably blatantly obvious yet still satisfying finale. Very much recommended.
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28 July, 2020:
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28 July, 2020:
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