The Lost Husband: A Novel by Katherine Center

The Lost Husband: A Novel by Katherine Center
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description: Fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin are sure to fall in love with Katherine Center's most heartwarming and engaging novel yet-about how even losing the most important thing in your life can help you find yourself again.

After the sudden loss of her husband in a car crash, Libby Moran falls on hard times-so hard, in fact, that she's forced to move in with her hyper-critical mother. There, sleeping on the pull-out sofa so her two children can share the guest room, she can't stop longing for the life she had. So when a letter arrives from Libby's estranged aunt offering her a job and a place to live on her goat farm, Libby jumps at the opportunity. But starting over is never easy. With an aunt who is nothing like she imagined, a shaggy farm manager with a tragic past, a psychic at the feed store who claims to be able to contact the dead, and a bully at her daughter's school, country life isn't at all what Libby expected. But it also offers her what no other place can: A chance to define the good life for herself. A chance to piece together the mysteries of her own past. A chance, even, at love. And, finally, a chance to bring herself, and her family, back to life.

My thoughts: I liked it more than I thought I would. Certainly, I like a cute story of finding love. Nothing too cheesy or easy, though. There's the attraction portion of the story but more poignant is the life lessons about doing what's right because it's the right thing to do. Even though it's hard. And not fun. The book is about human resiliency and knowing when it's time to move on. There's a time to mourn, a time to cry but there always comes a time to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, reflect on how you have grown, count your blessings, and turn your face toward the sunshine again.

The story centers around a woman who loses her husband in an accident that her daughter barely survived. She finds her savings depleted, broke and tired of her mother's company and victimized personality when she receives the invitation to stay with her aunt. It is here that a childhood is revealed, duty is fulfilled, forgiveness is granted, and new friendships forged.