Review: The Joy of Falling by Lindsay Harrel

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About:

Eva and Angela must learn to live again. One step at a time.

It has been fifteen months since Eva and Angela lost their thrill-seeking husbands in a scuba diving accident. Both women are trying to navigate their way through the grief, but neither one is making much progress. Angela is barely making ends meet, angry at her husband for leaving her to raise three children on her own. Meanwhile, Eva is stuck, unable to move forward after losing the love of her life and her source of inspiration.

But then Eva gets a life-changing phone call. Before Brent and Wes died, they had signed up for a race of a lifetime—an ultra-marathon in beautiful New Zealand. Eva begs Angela to run the race with her in their husbands’ place, and Angela finally agrees, hoping to finally understand her husband's choices.

Training is exhausting, and the race is even more demanding. Their journey grows more complicated by the presence of two men—Marc is Brent’s best friend who is running the race with Eva and Angela, and Simon King is a writer who is covering their inspiring story. With every step, Eva and Angela must ask themselves questions that they haven’t had the courage to ask before. As the women literally put one foot in front of the other, they wonder: Is it possible to find their way forward in hope?

My Thoughts:

The Joy of Falling was about two sisters-in-law who have lost their husbands in an accident. A year later both are still reeling from the grief and the consequences of that fateful day.

Brent had left Eva better prepared in the financial department. Much better than his older brother, Wes, did for Angela and their three kids. Eva has basically made Brent a hero in her mind. Yes, he was her husband, her knight in shining armor, but he became so much more than he was in her mind's eye than when he was alive.

On the flipside of that Angela is having trouble forgiving Wes for leaving and their marriage was not the happiest when he died. 

Both women are grieving in their own ways. Not only that but we have their mother-in-law, Sherry, who lost both of her sons and who had lost her husband a few years before. Than we have Angela's three kids, who are going through a tough time after losing their father. Especially Kylee who is fifteen and hers and Angela's relationship is certainly on rocky ground.

When the chance to remember and honor their loved ones in a race in New Zealand presents itself, Eva is gung ho, while Angela is less than thrilled. But this turns out to be an adventure of a lifetime. A chance for this family to grieve and cry and cheer together. A chance for relationships to grow deeper and for new promises of romance to come true.

I really enjoyed this tale of family and love. I wasn't sure how depressing it might be, but it wasn't. Author Harrel handled her characters and their grief process well. This was a lovely story.

I was provided a copy of this novel from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.