Tag: #Grief

Indie Spotlight and Review: The Empty Side Of Our Bed by Bill Beckett

BonnieReadsAndWrites16 Comments

**Indie Spotlight is my effort to help Indie authors share their books with others. You can help too by sharing this post with all of your social media followers. Together we can help Indie books succeed. Below is my review of an honest and very personal story of loss and grief by author Bill Beckett.

BOOK REVIEW

The Empty Side of Our Bed is Bill Beckett’s story of the loss of his beloved wife Bonnie to cancer, and his painful journey forward. Beckett makes it clear that there are no easy answers and no step-by-step guidelines to cope with losing the love of your life. Instead he shares his emotions from the beginning of his journey until the present. His description of heartache as an actual, physical pain is so real, and he describes the darker times when he was overwhelmed with the physical agony of it, along with the mental anguish. At the same time, he shares happy memories with Bonnie and stresses the simple moments that we should all embrace to the fullest, because they are the ones he misses the most. He shares how he has learned to live with grief, and he honors his late wife and his love for her.

This is a wonderful tribute to the author’s wife, and at the same time, a deeply honest story of experiencing grief and moving slowly forward.

I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bill Beckett is a former IT and digital forensics professional who turned to writing after the loss of his wife, Bonnie. He is the author of Love, Family, Cancer, a heartfelt account of their journey through illness. His current project, The Empty Side of Our Bed, is a deeply personal memoir about grief, healing, and rediscovering identity. Bill writes with raw honesty, offering comfort to fellow widowers and anyone navigating profound loss. He is a father, grandfather, and storyteller who believes in the quiet power of words to help us carry on.

PURCHASE LINK

Click on the cover to purchase on Amazon

BEFORE YOU GO

**If you read the book, please be sure to leave a review on Amazon. It helps Indie authors so much. A review does not have to be a masterpiece. Just a sentence or two about how the book made you feel will make an author’s day and help their books succeed.

Indie Weekend – That Day and What Came After

BonnieReadsAndWrites6 Comments

Indie Weekend is back! For those who don’t know, this is my effort to share Indie Books with as many readers as possible. I had to pause it for a while in June due to major life events, but I’m ready to start it up again. Below is a review, book description, and buy links for THAT DAY AND WHAT CAME AFTER, Rebecca Daniels’ memoir about her life with her husband Skip.

BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM AMAZON)

What if you came home one day and found your husband dead in his favorite chair? This grief memoir explores the author’s experience of the unexpected death of her husband from sudden cardiac arrest a mere three months after his doctors had pronounced him hale and healthy. The author shares her experiences in the immediate aftermath of the abrupt shock of discovery, reminisces about the details of the couple’s late-in-life courtship and marriage, and imparts other experiences she has had along the grieving road in the years since becoming a widow.

In our society, we often don’t want to talk or even think about death, so stereotypes about widows exist. However, each person’s grief journey is unique, and sharing tales of those experiences can be helpful and useful for those who find themselves in a similar situation. Though not a self-help book, this memoir is the story of a widow who defied the stereotype that widows are expected to “get over it” and move on with their quiet lives. Instead, this widow “got through it” and is now sharing her journey in hopes of helping others in comparable circumstances.

BOOK REVIEW

In this touching memoir, Rebecca Daniels begins with the terrible day that she lost her husband, Skip. She also takes the reader on a journey back to their first meeting and allows us a window into their courtship, commitment ceremony, and marriage. She tells us about her grief journey and building a new life without her beloved husband by her side.

This is a moving story of a terrible loss and how the author found the ways of coping that worked the best for her. She shares parts of her journal and essays she wrote on being a widow, which I’m sure will be helpful for others. She also opens up about her fears, such as worrying that her stepdaughter wouldn’t want her around anymore. The book includes warm and loving stories about Skip that really give the reader a picture of who he was, and also who the author is. This is an open and honest memoir that may help others who have lost someone. Highly recommend.

I downloaded this book on Amazon via Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.

BUY LINKS

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE

BEFORE YOU GO

*If you read the book(s), please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.

*Please click on the WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!

SPOTLIGHT: Great Books on Kindle Unlimited

BonnieReadsAndWrites1 Comment

This is a Saturday series I’ve started where I recommend great books I’ve read on Kindle Unlimited. Kindle Unlimited members can read these books at no additional charge for a monthly fee, and there are gems out there, this book being one of them, that make it an even greater value.

FRAN, THE SECOND TIME AROUND

“Fran, the Second Time Around” by Amy L. Bernstein is the story of a young girl, just starting high school, who has switched to a new school. There are hints around the reason that Fran switched schools, and it is clear that something traumatic and horrible has happened to her. The first half of the book speaks of Fran’s new life and how she is adjusting to her new school, new friends, and “the second time around.” The second half of the book begins to peel away the layers of what happened to her and slowly reveals the devastating event.

This book was extremely well written by Amy L. Bernstein. I could see inside Fran’s world and literally feel the heartache she was experiencing. It was so real that her grief became my grief. The picture that is painted of a young girl desperately trying to stumble forward in a world that is moving along without her is so genuine and raw that I want to applaud the author for her efforts. I highly recommend this book to anyone, young adults or older, who has dealt with heartache, devastating loss, guilt, or grief, or anyone who just wants to discover a very talented author.

I picked this book up on Kindle Unlimited, where it is free for all KU members. I definitely recommend you check it out.

Link to the book on Amazon

Link to the Amy L. Bernstein’s website

Link to My Goodreads Review