When We Had Forever by Shaylin Gandhi (December 10, 2024) – Thank you to Net Galley and HTP Hive, for the gifted advanced listening copy of this twisty yet hopeful romance!
Mina is still struggling with grief six months after her husband, Michael, died in a car accident. She’s grieving not just for the loss of him in that moment but for the slow disappearance of their marriage over the last decade. She spent so much time wanting him to return to the carefree man of their first month together or their magical trip to Hawaii a few years ago, but he never did. As she tries to come to terms with his death, she turns to someone she’s never met but feels like she knows – Michael’s brother. The brothers had been estranged as long as she’d known Michael, but Grayson had known the same kind of loss. But when she meets him, she’s unexpectedly drawn to him but the more time they spend together, the more she realizes that her husband was keeping shocking secrets from her that will rock Mina’s understanding of their years together.
I enjoyed this one – Mina’s grief, compounded by her regret about her failing marriage, was very compelling. Throughout the story, there is an undercurrent of something about their marriage being very off and a general feeling of unease. The dual timeline (framed as “before” and “after” Michael’s death) is highly effective in guiding us through the story. You get a sense of the secrets, but as the pieces fall into place, it is utterly shocking for Mina. I can’t even process it. The author has a bonus epilogue from Grayson’s POV on her website, and I cannot wait to read it. Seeing his perspective on the events in the book would be fascinating! This was my first book by the author, and I plan to read more by her.
🎧 About the Audiobook 🎧 The audiobook is a solo narration by Carly Robins, who is a prolific narrator but new to me with this performance. I really enjoyed her narration; she gave a lot of depth and complexity to this emotional story, which runs 12 hours and 51 minutes.
Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Audiobook performance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Book Smart Kate 