Carole's Saturday review: Life after Joe - Ann Benjamin

Author: Ann Benjamin

Title: Life After Joe

Genre: Chick Lit

Pages: ebook

First Published: July 2015

Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon freebie)

When the love of your life leaves, where do you go? 

When thirty-something Liz McNeil is unexpectedly widowed, she has no idea what to do with her life. After the initial shock of her husband's death wears off, she packs up her car and sets off on a tour of the country with Joe's urn in the passenger seat. Using social media to connect with a variety of friends and family, Liz works through her grief in a number of unpredictable methods. As she shares her experience via blog posts, on a road trip full of surprises, Liz takes what life has given her and makes the best of her situation. 

Liz just lost her husband and she is trying to move on and grieve. She decides to go on a roadtrip with her dog and her husbands urn. It is no normal roadtrip...shes on a mission to make a stop to key figures in both her and her late husband's life. 

Feelings. Lots and lots of feelings. Lots of sad moments, lots of funny moments, lots of angry moments, and so forth. This made me feel. I was worried it would just be full of sadness, but there is hope in this and it made me happy. I had many moments of blurting out exclamations and questions. "What would I do?" "You go girl." "So sad!" "Really? Weird!" And so forth. Poor Boyfriend had to deal with that and me asking what he would do if I died. hahaha. Gotta love when a book makes you think like that and can't help but blurt out emotions. 

I had a love-hate relationship with the way the story was told. Liz has a blog about her journey. It was certainly unique and a way to really get into the mind of the character. However, some posts seemed overly long and ranty. I would skim from time-to-time. I understand that the blog is acting as a personal diary and all that, but some of the long rants didn't really help progress the story. But yes - I loved it, but then at points I didn't.

I hated Joe's father....buttface. That is all.

Adrian?? I'm not sure how I feel about him and that whole situation. I had hopes elsewhere personally. Like maybe Will. Hmmm. Sorry to be vague...I can't explain much further....just not sure my feelings on that.

This certainly was a refresher for me especially in the Chick Lit arena. It made me think and feel. I read this in only a couple of sittings. I highly recommend it. Is it book of the year? No, but it was good. Some of Liz's choices surprised me especially in regards to Adrian. I liked the blog post set-up, but sometimes it annoyed me. 

In the end, I shall stamp this with 3 stars.