Book Review: This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page
A beautiful book following a woman’s grief after she loses her husband, check out my full book review for This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page below!
Book Information
Tilly Nightingale has just lost her husband. The only thing she knows how to do to move on is work. But when she gets a call from her local bookstore that she has a package, she finds out that her late husband has something else in mind. With twelve books, one book for each month of the year, Tilly is forced to get out of her comfort zone to receive her husband’s books and letters. What happens over the course of those twelve months, though, will reignite her life and teach her just how much there is to live for.
Review | Heidi Dischler
I honestly, truly, loved this book. It reminded me SO much of my YA novel, You Were Always There (my novel is basically the friendship version of this). Tilly is reeling from losing her husband and the grief is overwhelming her. He knew before he died, though, that Tilly would need something to bring her back to life. So, he’s left her twelve months’ worth of books that will make her try new things and get out of her shell. This trope (the someone who has died leaving behind letters/gifts) is probably my favorite trope of all time, not gonna lie.
The writing style for this is very melancholy in the beginning but slowly adds small hopeful elements as the book goes on. You can literally feel the tone change as Tilly progresses through her grief, which is honestly so amazing. 10 out of 10 for writing style.
With the characters, the main two that you’re following are Tilly and Alfie. I loved both of them and their quirky oddities. Tilly played herself down a lot about not being unique, but you could tell that she was a very unique person with an original personality. Alfie, while considerable less original, still was fun, charming, and kind.
This was obviously a pretty easy book to predict, but it was fun to follow along as Tilly learned to enjoy life again (especially with the books that her late husband chose because you could tell that he was thinking of every aspect of her life!). It had romance, grief, travel, triumph, and so many other emotions and plot points that made the book so easy to fall in love it.
Overall, definitely 4.5/5 stars. Heartwarming, funny, and beautiful in its portrayal of grief. A definite read if you love small scavenger hunts left behind by the people who pass away.
Source: Audiobook from Libby Public Library
(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)
