REVIEW: The Five Stages of Falling in Love by Rachel Higginson

In The Five Stages of Falling in Love by Rachel Higginson, Elizabeth Carlson’s beloved husband Grady was the constant in her chaotic life. So how could he have been taken away by cancer and left her alone with their four beautiful children, to pick up the pieces? Every single day Liz must face the facts that she will never hold Grady again. She will never sleep next to him or watch him walk in the door after work again. She can barely make it through the day and take care of the kids without losing control of her emotions. Six months after his death, she’s still wondering when it will all become easier.

‘The truth was I didn’t want it to get better. I didn’t want to stop missing Grady. I didn’t want this pain to recede because that would mean I would be over this. Over him. And I never wanted to be.’

An awkward meeting with Liz’s new neighbor Ben Tyler brings some unexpected calm into her life. He becomes someone she can turn to in a pinch, to help with a random chore or to grab a few groceries. And then Ben becomes a good friend. Someone Liz can talk to and relax with for the first time in months. But as her feelings begin to subtly change into more than friendship, she becomes more confused. Can Liz still hold on to memories and love for Grady while experiencing new feelings for Ben as well? Or is it a betrayal to the man who was her entire life?

“Yes, Grady was your great love, but you are mine. And if you would let me, I would be yours too. There isn’t a limit on how much we can love, Liz. You had Grady. Now you have me.”

Have your tissues ready for this one, ladies. There won’t be a dry eye left after reading about Liz–a mother of four and new widow–as she struggles to fight her way out of the all-consuming grief over losing her husband, and reconcile her feelings of unexpectedly finding new love.

‘One part would forever stay with Grady, loyal to my first love and my husband. The other part ran to Ben, to this new love.’

Breathtaking. The Five Stages of Falling in Love was simply a breathtaking novel. Author Rachel Higginson did a fabulous job describing the myriad of emotions someone goes through after the loss of a loved one. There was such honesty in how she presented Liz’s feelings and thoughts. The emotions were raw, oftentimes painful, but with some moments of happiness and joy. But regardless of the emotion, we readers were right there with Liz, digging in with her while she traversed each part of her tough journey. At least that’s what it felt like to me. Each scene was so perfectly detailed that I felt all of the same emotions Liz and her children did as they went through each stage of their grief.

Speaking of which, I thought it was quite clever that as Ms. Higginson presented us with each of the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance, they also applied to Liz’s new relationship with Ben. She denied that her husband Grady was really gone, just as she later denied that she had feelings for Ben. She was angry that Grady was taken away, and angry that she felt guilt over having romantic thoughts of Ben. And so on. Tying those two huge life changing events together, loss of a spouse and new found love, by breaking down the process in such a way was unexpected but worked so incredibly well.

And Ben. What a sweetheart of a guy. *dreamy sigh* Now Ben is definitely book boyfriend material. Talk about a patient, caring, stand-up guy with a huge heart. Ben was exactly what Liz and her four rambunctious children needed after their devastating loss. From their initial awkward meeting, to Ben saving the day with groceries, to their first tender kisses, he turned out to be the calm in the storm that was Liz’s life. He had a way of finding the exact right thing to say to ground her and help her deal with her emotions while pushing her gently to move forward, even when she thought she couldn’t. Their relationship obviously didn’t happen overnight. Instead, over the course of the story Liz and Ben formed a friendship and a bond that allowed them to trust each other and build things from there. You’ll have to find out the details as you read, but I will say that there were many scenes where I personally wanted to give Ben a big hug for helping out such a deserving lady and her wonderful kids.

Okay, I’ll stop gushing now about how incredible The Five Stages of Falling in Love is. But seriously…I encourage any reader who loves heartfelt stories to pick this one up. I can’t recommend it enough.

Book Info:

Published January 27th 2015 by Reckless Siren Publishing

The Five Stages of Falling in Love is a Contemporary Romance.
Elizabeth Carlson is living in the pits of hell- also known as grief.

Her husband of eight years, the father of her four children and the love of her life, died from cancer. Grady’s prognosis was grim, even from the start, but Liz never gave up hope he would survive. How could she, when he was everything to her?

Six months later, she is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and get the kids to school on time. Both seem impossible. Everything seems impossible these days.

When Ben Tyler moves in next door, she is drowning in sorrow and pain, her children are acting out, and the house is falling apart. She has no time for curious new friends or unwanted help, but Ben gives her both. And he doesn’t just want to help her with yard work or cleaning the gutters. Ben wants more from Liz. More than she’s capable of ever giving again.

As Liz mourns her dead husband and works her way through the five stages of grief, she finds there’s more of her heart to give than she thought possible. And as new love takes hold, she peels away the guilt and heartache, and discovers there’s more to life than death.