P.S. I LOVE YOU BY CECELIA AHERN

Synopsis (from GoodReads):  

A novel about holding on, letting go, and learning to love again.
Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed.

My Review:  I continue to be amazed that Cecelia Ahern was only 21 when she wrote this book.  Her understanding of Holly's grief at losing Gerry seems so developed for someone only 21 years old.

For anyone who has lost someone close to them or has stood by someone who has, I think the most poignant part of the story is when Holly questions how to move forward when she doesn't know how to classify her past life with Gerry:

"I don't know whether to say 'Gerry was' or 'Gerry is'.  I don't know whether to be sad or happy when I talk about him to other people.  It's like if I'm happy when I talk about him, certain people judge and expect me to be crying my eyes out.  When I'm upset when talking about him, it makes people feel uncomfortable.... I can't tease him in a conversation like I used to because it feels wrong.  I can't talk about things he told me in confidence because I don't want to give his secrets away, because they're his secrets.  I just don't quite know how to remember him in conversation.  It doesn't mean I don't remember him up here, she tapped the side of her temples."

The story opens after the death of Gerry but Ahern not only allows us into Holly's life as she moves away from her grief but she lets us in, on one or two occasions, into Gerry's life as we flashback to his last days.  With this, the reader can cheer Holly on as she finds her new life because we have Gerry's blessing to do so. 

A word must also be said for the whole cast of characters.  They were so real that even after the last page I feel like I know them and could pick right up with them where we left off.  I love that kind of reading!

This was a delightful read.