REVIEW: Pack Up the Moon by Kristan Higgins

In Pack Up the Moon by Kristan Higgins, Lauren and Joshua’s relationship didn’t get off to the most auspicious start the first time they met. Both were in college at the time, still finding their way. But neither of them had a clue that their future romance would endure daily ups and downs, arguments, and everything life would throw at them. Including Lauren’s diagnosis of having a terminal illness.

‘She truly was so lucky, the luckiest woman on earth, because she had been loved by Joshua Park.’

The second time Josh and Lauren met, talk about sparks! The couple knew in an instant that they were meant to be together for the rest of their lives. They just didn’t know how short that time would be for Lauren. But there was so much love between them. Every day was a wonder of laughter and joy on their adventures together and with family and friends. Even after Lauren’s diagnosis shattered their future hopes and plans, she and Josh were able to eke everything out of each precious day they had remaining together.

‘They’d made the most of her time. They really had. Their marriage had been so short, but so happy. Yawning terror combined with utter bliss. Their beautiful catastrophe.’

After Lauren’s passing, Josh is stunned when he begins to receive letters from his beloved wife. She knew he would be lost in his grief so she wrote him a letter to open each of the next twelve months. Josh is equally thrilled to have a part of his wife still with him but also worried it will make it more difficult to let her go. But through every adventure he’s sent on by her gentle–okay, not always gentle–prompting, he learns that he’s capable of carrying on. Josh’s life will look different without Lauren in it. Although maybe there is some goodness out there still left for him after all.

‘He was still alone, but he had a little piece of her in his hands. Her words. Her sense of humor. Her love, shining from the letter.’

Grab your Kleenex. Pack Up the Moon was Kristan Higgins at her finest. Tender and sweet. Gut wrenching and deeply moving. Lauren and Josh’s story was as bittersweet, romantic, and inspiring as women’s fiction gets.

‘In love wasn’t a phrase, it was how they lived.’

Gah! Talk about ugly crying! *sob* Pack Up the Moon was a journey. There isn’t really any other way to describe how it felt going from the first page to the last (and it’s close to five hundred pages, so it wasn’t a short journey either!). But oh what an incredible story it was. I think even just the way it was structured was a huge part of it. There were passages from Lauren’s POV starting close to present day, shortly before she passed away, going back to when she met Josh for the first time–all while we had Josh’s POV from when he had to start carrying on after Lauren’s passing, to then watching him take baby steps towards healing. The way the two POVs intersected really helped build a picture of an enduring love worthy of…well, everything.

I won’t get into the details of Lauren’s disease, treatments, setbacks, or what “missions” she sent Josh on after her death. That’s part of the journey. As someone who’s been a caregiver for, and lost a few family members, to terminal illness, the sections from her POV both wrecked me and captured my heart. Through it all, though, what struck me was the depth of the love Lauren and Josh had for each other. He had his own stumbling blocks personally that he’d dealt with all his life. And I adored how his wife just *got* him. Lauren knew what he’d need after she was gone, let alone how she was there for him while she was still alive.

Higgins captured the myriad emotions Lauren and Josh went through perfectly. It will likely be a tough book for readers to get through. In all honesty, I had to set my Kindle aside a few times to take a breather because it got very intense emotionally. But when I began reading again, Higgins would throw in an awkward or lighthearted scene, making me laugh outright; or a sentimental moment with family that would make my heart soar. Such was the beauty of this novel.

Kristan Higgins is a master at drawing out *all* the emotions with her books but Pack Up the Moon was truly epic. Everything from her flowing prose to the true feel of being there in the couple’s tragic situation–even how it feels to live in New England–it all added up to a remarkable reading experience.

QOTD: Pack Up the Moon was a tearjerker but an important, heartfelt story. Have you read any novels that brought out such strong emotional reactions before? If so, let us know!

Book Info:

Publication: Published June 8, 2021 | by Berkley |

Every month, a letter. That’s what Lauren decides to leave her husband when she finds out she’s dying. Each month, she gives Josh a letter containing a task to help him face this first year without her, leading him on a heartrending, beautiful, often humorous journey to find happiness again in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins.

Joshua and Lauren are the perfect couple. Newly married, they’re wildly in love, each on a successful and rewarding career path. Then Lauren is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

As Lauren’s disease progresses, Joshua struggles to make the most of the time he has left with his wife and to come to terms with his future–a future without the only woman he’s ever loved. He’s so consumed with finding a way to avoid the inevitable ending that he never imagines his life after Lauren.

But Lauren has a plan to keep her husband moving forward. A plan hidden in the letters she leaves him. In those letters, one for every month in the year after her death, Lauren leads Joshua on a journey through pain, anger, and denial. It’s a journey that will take Joshua from his attempt at a dinner party for family and friends to getting rid of their bed…from a visit with a psychic medium to a kiss with a woman who isn’t Lauren. As his grief makes room for laughter and new relationships, Joshua learns Lauren’s most valuable lesson: The path to happiness doesn’t follow a straight line.

Sometimes heartbreaking, often funny, and always uplifting, this novel from New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins illuminates how life’s greatest joys are often hiding in plain sight.