The Joy of Falling

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: This book hit home for me in a lot of ways, since we lost my sister in law to cancer almost 2 years ago. So, while I haven't lost a spouse, I do know what it is like to lose someone who is way to young to death and how the grief can affect people in different ways, as well as hit you out of no where. Lindsay does an amazing job of capturing how we grieve differently with this book. I feel like I could relate to both of Evan and Angela at different points, and can only imagine what it would of been like in their shoes! I loved their journey of healing that they took! I hadn't read much before hand about races like the one in this story. While I am by no means a runner, it almost tempts me to become one if it means traveling to beautiful places like New Zealand.
This is a wonderful, tug on the heartstrings read!
I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

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About the Author:
Lindsay Harrel is a lifelong book nerd who lives in Arizona with her young family and two golden retrievers in serious need of training. She’s held a variety of writing and editing jobs over the years and now juggles stay-at-home mommyhood with writing novels. When she’s not writing or chasing after her children, Lindsay enjoys making a fool of herself at Zumba, curling up with anything by Jane Austen, and savoring sour candy one piece at a time. Connect with her at LindsayHarrel.com.

Read an Excerpt
Click here to read the first four chapters.