“The Second Cup” is an emotional and thought-provoking debut novel about friendship, illness, suicide, depression and loss.

The story is being told from a viewpoint of the four main characters – Faye, Abbie, Olivia and Beth. They are all in a way connected to Jack and affected by his death.

Although this book is mainly about the impact Jack’s suicide had on the four women, it is about so much more than that.

Each of the girls in this novel deals with some struggles and seems to be missing something in life.

Abbie has a good job, but her second marriage is falling apart. Olivia hates being alone, so she keeps on falling into wrong relationships just for the company’s sake. Faye cannot get over her break up with Jack and is on a mission to find him, although years have passed since they last saw each other. Beth, the most “tangled” of all four deals with childhood nightmares that affect her adulthood.

The characters are well developed, and we do get to know them more and more with each chapter. We also slowly learn why each one became the person she is as an adult, and how their childhood and young years impacted the rest of their lives.

I really disliked Faye, and found her selfish and opportunistic, which she pretty much proved at the end of the book. The other girls were very easy to relate to and to connect with.

Almost all men in this novel were very disappointing, which made the book even better.

I think that the note from the author at the beginning of the book, explaining her own challenges but also giving heads up about the composition of this book advising not to expect thrilling action story, helped me to put my own expectations towards this novel in place. This story is steady-paced, filled with emotions, thought chains and different points of view on various issues. I am generally more driven towards fast-paced thrillers, but with clean conscience I can say that I enjoyed this book as well.

This book was an interesting one; it had grabbed me originally by not only the cover with the butterflies in the jar but also the tagline - "Can someone else steal your suicide"? Well if Ryan's Bed by Tijan is anything to go by, we know that it's true. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I have to admit it was a confusing read as felt in quite a few places disjointed and seemed to go off on tangents. We have four unlikely friends - Faye, Beth, Abbie, and Olivia. All of whom their lives are at a stagnant feel. For Faye she never got over who love of Jack - he was the "one who got away", Beth is a weird one and dreams of her suicide often and how she would do it, Abbie has been married a couple of times and has decided this marriage she is in is a loveless one and Olivia is a doormat with a relationship that is now miserable and not going anywhere. Faye decides one day to go on the search for Jack and the results of her journey set a domino effect between her friends as their lives start to collapse. I did find it interesting how the author connected the characters together from Ethan who had connections to Abbie and Faye , to Beth whose dream suicide mirrors Jack's , Olivia who when visiting Beth in hospital spots the girl who made her life hell and led her to the guy she is currently with and also Olivia's connections to both Abbie and her first ex-husband Paul.
If you are in the mood for a slower paced women's fiction with a bit of edge, then check out Sarah Marie Graye "The Second Cup” and like most Women Fiction novels, The Second Cup has a series of discussion questions at the end of the book for readers.

Wow, the blurbs were totally correct on this. It was definitely deep and dark, very dark.

The story is about suicide and is told from multiple view points. I found it interesting how differently everyone reacted to the news of Jack's suicide.

While yes, it was deep and dark, it was very well written. I definitely had to read a "feel good" book after this one. That doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a chance. It just means that I think the author did spot on with it in this book.

Thanks to the Disassociated Voice and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

First, I want to thank Sarah Marie Graye, and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

The Second Cup by Sarah Marie Graye’s own very personal story of batting mental illness for over 40 years. In her first novel she wanted to reach out to others whom may be going through this as well.

I absolutely fell in love with this cover of this book. It was absolutely beautiful and do perfect for this book I thought. Kudos to whom thought of this idea and for whom designed it.

My heart broke when Faye lost Jack. The description of how she felt when she lost him and what she was feeling you could feel the pain. I kept thinking as I was reading this Jack must have been someone very special. I wanted to give Faye a hug and tell her I was sorry for her loss.

I was so relieved for Abbie whom at 29 was not pregnant with Paul’s child. I was relieved because they were in a loveless marriage that was not really going anywhere. Divorce was on the horizon. Nobody wants to bring a child into that situation. Sad, but true.