Armed about the characters. I was sorry for Andy who had grown up without stability and didn’t end up with a family to belong to. ( )

I left the office and hit play on this one. I grabbed a bike as Grace mentioned Henry cycling. I set off as Henry died in a cycling accident. Well, great. That made for a fun ride uptown.

This was good and I really enjoyed the characters, but I feel like it's been done before. ( )

Grace After Henry by Eithne Shortall is a poignant yet ultimately uplifting novel of healing from a heartrending loss.

Grace McDonnell and her fiancé Henry Walsh are moving on to the next stage of their lives when he dies in a tragic accident. After retreating from life for a few months at her parents' house, Grace is finally ready to move forward. She moves into the house they purchased before his death and she returns to work. Yet every day remains a struggle for Grace as she thinks she sees Henry everywhere and mourns not just his loss, but the future they planned together. However, when her plumber turns out to be Henry's long lost twin brother, Andy, is Grace finally ready to truly move on?

Grace and Henry are idyllically happy and eager to enter the next stage in their relationship. After Henry's death, Grace is mired in grief and guilt yet with the support of her parents and best friend, she faces her future without him. However, after she moves into their dream home, Grace still finds it difficult to carry on with her day to day tasks. She forces herself to go to work only to return to an empty house that leaves her depressed and missing Henry more than ever. Help arrives in a very unexpected man but is Grace fooling herself as she and Andy grow close?

Andy always knew he was adopted and after his mum passes away, he leaves Australia for Ireland in hopes of finding more information about his birth family. He is aware his birth mother and twin brother are deceased but he craves more details about his birthplace. Through sheer coincidence, he meets Grace and through her, he gets to experience the life he has always missed. But is Andy a little too ready to accept the vestiges of Henry's life?

Grace is comforted by Andy's presence and initially, it is difficult to understand whether she sees him as Andy or her lost fiancé. Their interactions soon have a bit of a familiar feel to them as they slip into easy camaraderie and quiet evenings together. But Grace is not eager to introduce Andy to her family or friends and in fact, she lives in fear that people who knew Henry will see her with Andy. Is their friendship fair to Andy? Is Grace doing to the right thing as becomes deeper enmeshed in his life? Are she and Andy making the right choice after an unexpected complication arises? And most importantly, is Andy settling for less than he deserves as he embraces a life he feels he was denied with his flighty mum?

Grace After Henry is a captivating novel that is deeply affecting and quite impossible to put down. Grace is a very empathetic character as she tries to overcome her grief over Henry's loss. Andy is an amiable, laid back man whose somewhat dysfunctional background leaves him uncomfortably eager to fill in for Henry. Eithne Shortall brings this thoughtful portrait of grief and starting over to a realistic conclusion. An engrossing novel that I absolutely loved and highly recommend to fans of the genre. ( )

Grace finds herself almost widowed in the very first pages of this book. Her relationship with her late fiance, Henry, is told in flashback - snippets here and there of both the lovely and the annoying. By a weird set of circumstances, Grace finds herself face to face with what looks like Henry (but she is sure she has been having hallucinations of him so she has no idea what is going on). Meet Henry's twin - someone Henry & Grace didn't even know about. This novel explores what makes someone themselves and how circumstances can have huge impacts on who someone becomes. I had a lot of empathy for both Grace and Andy and the longing they have for connection. ( )

This was a lovely and often heartbreaking book about love and loss. Grace and Henry have just bought a house together when he dies, leaving Grace bereft. She moves into their new home and one day Henry shows up to fix the faulty boiler. Only it isn’t Henry, of course; the look-alike man’s name is Andy, and suddenly Grace’s life is turned upside down.

This is a different sort of story—sometimes predictable but often not. It’s touching and sad and captures grief and love quite wonderfully. Grace is an excellent, real character, and her ache for Henry is so true and honest. There are plenty of funny moments, too; her parents’ battles with the moths in their home was my favorite. The supporting cast is simply wonderful, particularly Grace’s friends from the cemetery (you read that right) and her elderly neighbor, Betty.

This isn’t always the easiest book to read, as it so well portrays grief and heartache, but it’s very well-done, and I appreciated reading such a heartfelt and loving story. Definitely worth picking up.


I received my copy of this book through one of my favorite websites, Paperbackswap.com, where you can swap copies of all your favorite books (hardcover, paperback, and more).

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