For some reason, I'm having a hard time writing a review for this book. Not that it's not good because I loved this fantastic book! The author writes with such emotions I'm having a hard time conveying how this book made me feel. Loving the Dead and Gone is a 5-star southern fiction novel full of family dramas set in North Carolina during the 1960s. The story tells about how two women in a small town deal with love and loss; the secrets you must keep and the lifelong grief you carry after losing a loved one, especially one you can never speak of to anyone. I highly recommend this book, especially to southern fiction fans. Thanks to the author Judith Turner-Yamamoto, publisher Regal House Publishing, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this ebook for an honest opinion.

I enjoyed Loving the Dead and Gone. It’s a story that spans over a couple generations and I enjoyed each story equally. They were not all happy endings- all are stories of living and dealing with deaths (respective to each story of course). The book itself is not long but is long enough to understand and really feel for the characters.

What a wonderful read! Loving the Dead and Gone begins with the unfortunate accident of Donald Ray Spencer, leaving his beautiful wife an eighteen year old widow, and kicking the events of the story into motion. The novel shows us the pockets of a community and lets us into their secrets, with each new character adding a different dimension to the story. I read history repeating itself in the most subtle ways, especially when it came to the women of the story and getting to read about their lives unfolding. We primarily follow Darlene, Donald Spencer's widow, and Aurilla, mother-in-law of the man who found Spencer's body on that fateful day, and through the length and breadth of the book, the parallels that get drawn between these two really draw you in. Loving the Dead and Gone is a story of complexity, and Judith Turner-Yamamoto has done a most brilliant job writing it. My only complaint, perhaps, would be that the end of the book came too abruptly, and as I got around to it, I found myself scrambling to keep up, considering the pace of the book had been meandering before.

The book itself is extremely well-written; there is no need for extremely flowery, flourished writing, and I found myself getting increasingly lost in the story, even though I had no connection to the time or the place in which the story takes place. Every character I encountered had me musing to myself about how compelling they were, and the women I felt a kindred connection with. Aurilla I started off disliking, until the arc of the story almost forced me to give her a begrudging respect, Berta Mae became an easy favourite of mine and I felt my heart reach out to her multiple times in the book, and all the little girls had my heart and soul. The story is driven by clawing into the lives of these characters, and their thoughts and their past make it incredibly unique.

All in all, this is definitely a highly recommended book from my end! Loving the Dead and Gone by Judith Turner-Yamamoto comes out on September 6th, 2022, and I can't wait to have conversations about this story with you!

I was very intrigued by the summary of this book going into it, but from reading the first few chapters, I couldn’t for the life of me get invested in any of the characters or story. The book is driven by character chapters, but I feel it fell flat when coming together as a whole. I’d read one character’s story and then become completely off kilter going into another one. I felt like the whole book itself didn’t mesh well together. I did enjoy how the author wrote in depth characters with a lot of emotion and personality, but it just didn’t flow for me.

I loved this deeply felt story of two generations of women in the rural south. The tragic death of a young man gives seed to the story of love and loss in a small town, a place that becomes a women's prison once they marry and have children. I found the harshness of the older women difficult until their stories began to unravel and they can be seen as innocent young hearts hoping for the magic of love and even the chance to break free from the small-town life.

Breaking free is next to impossible for women with no education, working skills, and very little money. Finding a man who would take them away seemed the only solution. Some tried and most failed. The reality of a small life with no opportunity to leave is the core of the story for me. Most people didn't want to leave. They were content working at the mill or on the tobacco farm. Darlene was the young firebrand who seemed as if she would combust if not allowed to live the life she wanted with a man she loved, passionately. In this sense, the novel was exciting. Darlene saw herself as a character in the novel, Gone With the Wind. In many ways, she was the beautiful woman who left reality to deal with tomorrow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book had so many parallel, I thought, to the 1969 "Where the Lilies Bloom" by Vera and Bill Cleaver. It's a tale of the true human spirit and grief's mesmerizing effect on one's life. Turner-Yamamoto keeps the pages turning using an appeal to empathy in the most powerful sense.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This brief review is my opinion and is provided for no return.

This book was so incredible that I read it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. This book puts you through all the emotions under the sun and had me hating Aurilla and then feeling bad for her and almost liking her by the end of the book. Any book with character growth and depth like that is worth its weight in gold.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, I can't wait to read more from this author!

Turner-Yamamoto's writing is absolutely beautiful and captures that slow, rolling southern heat I love reading in books set in the past in south America. However, I found the pace too slow, the multitude of character's points of views confusing and overlapping, though I understand this was probably the point as everyone's histories are entwined with one another. The way history jumps back and forth too is excellently done, the whole world is fleshed out and whole, to the point you can probably smell every inch of the book. It is also a very, very white book and I am always aware of the absence of black characters in this post Jim Crow era south that focuses on a poor white community and grief as the main project, it felt like a glaring absence throughout.

Most of the descriptions were absolutely beautiful and unique and follows the tradition well for this kind of novel - it's hard not to compare it to 'Where the Crawdad Sing' - so would recommend it for fans of that novel.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a free copy in return for a review

I loved the way this book was written and how the book flowed. It had just enough information to make you want to keep reading to find out the stories of the characters.
It had a really good story line and different characters POV's, which helped to understand the character better.

It really showed also how generational habits can be passed down so easily and I felt a few times that a couple of characters at the beginning I did not like but by the end of the book I understood them much more and why they are this way.

A great novel...and I hope to read more by this author. Grief and loss. Secrets in families. Everything I want in a story and more.

Beautifully written and intelligent, this story concerns everyday people experiencing moments of suffering, grief, and grace. Highly recommended for those who love literary fiction. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC!

I requested this book through Netgalley as it was suggested and I thought the description was interesting enough to dedicate some time to such a story. The story itself is not the typical kind of story I usually like (not my cup of tea, I would say). However I have to say that this is one of the most well written and conceived books I have ever read. As it is not very long, also, definitely get it and read it in a fortnight.

Thank you to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for the ARC!

This novel pulled me in from the beginning! Starting with the tragic death of a young man, the story weaves in and out between families who are intertwined by loss, grief, and family secrets. The story exposes so much about generational love and loss and the characters each experience the suffering that goes along with both. I'll be honest and say that each of these characters has moments where you can't stand them, but there are also so many moments that you truly feel for them and their plight. As it is for all of us, we never know exactly how we will react to the suffering we experience in our lives. It never looks like we expect, and we all have those ugly moments that we regret. This novel dives deep into the internal thoughts of the characters and I think everyone will find at least one character they relate to. If you have experienced grief, family trauma or even had trouble with mothering, this novel might just speak to you.

A tragic accident leaves Darlene a teen bride, recently bereaved and her future turned on its head. Clayton the first to the scene begins to look back on his life and how he it has arrived to this point .
Multiple narrator stories are often difficult to do well but the story flows smoothly between each character and the stories pull together so well.
Grief is a powerful emotion and leads people to decisions that for others, are difficult to comprehend. A powerful study of the impact of grief in peoples lives and the decisions they make and the impact they have on their own lives and the ones they love. Highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC

This is the tragic tale of a young widow, Darlene, who wants to connect with Clayton, after discovering the wreck that claimed her husband, Donald's life.

Loving the Dead and Gone, is a beautifully written novel, of loss and how there is no right or wrong way to grieve.

Life is a funny thing, we all take for granted. Never thinking of losing the love of our lives, son, or loved one. We never think, how we will grieve, till it happens. Never knowing the true pain of death.

Coping is hard, especially by yourself. Sometimes, trying to find our loved ones, in others seems like saving grace.

Hmm. I didn’t really love this book. I think that the author does an incredible job of characterizing complex emotions, as grief is different for everyone and difficult to understand from an outsider’s perspective. However, I didn’t connect with any of the characters, so the whole message fell a bit flat for me. I think that Aurilla is the most interesting character, and I wish that she had one final “wrap up” at the end of the story like those of Berta Mae, Clayton, and Darlene. I think the novel is very well written, but there were spots that dragged for me and made my interest waver.

This book really didn’t hit the mark for me.

I found the actual story telling and imagery beautiful but the plot itself seemed to drag out a bit for my taste. As a result I struggled to keep my attention on the book itself

such a powerful story and mesmerizing way of writing. an amazing story about grief and secrets and the effects these things have on life. I could fell lots of different emotions with every chapter and every word. very powerful. highly recommended.
thanks to Netgallery for providing me a copy of this AMAZING book.

This book blew my mind in such a way that I read it in one sitting, physically unable to do anything other than devour all it had to offer.

I was caught of guard by the multiple narrators at first but as the story progressed their lives seamlessly intertwined. Judith Turner-Yamamoto has a knack for setting the scene in such a poetic and realistic way. Judith also has a talent for shocking me.

Aurilla's POV was shocking throughout. I absolutely hated her from the moment Berta Mae first described her mother. And yet, by the end of the book I was angry FOR Aurilla. It has been years since a book has brought out so many emotions in me.

Grief is woven into every page and every word. It is deeply ingrained into each of the main characters in subtle as well as obvious ways. There were frustrations I felt as the reader, feeling like a motionless bystander unable to shake some of the characters into growing a backbone. Grief can do strange things to your psyche and this portrays that quite realistically.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, I can't wait to read more of Judith Turner-Yamamoto. I highly recommend this to anyone that is looking for that one book to remind them of how powerful they can be.

I was initially drawn in by the title and the amazing cover art. This novel did not disappoint. LOVING THE DEAD AND GONE is a mesmerizing look at how tragedy unravels a small southern town. I particularly enjoyed seeing how every character (even across generations) was impacted and how each decision led to another in a very realistic and believable way. Far from depressing, the narrative invites the reader to an ultimately hopeful view of life as the characters break free from the bonds of the past.

Recommended for fans of character-driven literary fiction.