REVIEW
cw: death, grief, survivor guilt, dementia, Parkinson's, infertility, mentions of 9/11, drug use, and suicide

Evelyn and Joseph fell in love as teens in 1941, on the shores of Stonybrook, New England. Sixty years later, they've gathered their adult children to deliver the hardest news. Evelyn has received a devastating diagnosis, and Joseph cannot live without her. So they've made a pact. In exactly a year, they'll end their lives on their own terms. The Days I Loved You Most spans sixty years, and several notable historical events, retracing all the highs and lows of their lives as they endeavour to celebrate their family and live out their greatest dreams.

Within the first few pages, I knew this book would absolutely wreck me, and it didn't disappoint me. It was so incredibly moving that I was in tears on almost every page, even when they were sharing happy moments. But it was also so beautifully told, and ultimately uplifting.
Told in a mixture of flashbacks and the present day, Amy Neff slowly revealed the loves and losses that Evelyn, Joseph, and their three children Jane, Thomas, and Violet have encountered over the years.
My favourite (but also most painful) chapters belonged to Joseph. I adored how much he loved Evelyn, and his gifts of violets were so beautifully interwoven throughout. The description of the garden that Joseph created later on was perfect. His recollection of his early life was beautiful, but, even though I had a feeling it was coming, chapter 6 broke my heart. But I ADORED the celebration they planned for Thomas's tenth birthday.
Evelyn's chapters were so raw and often relatable, especially when she spoke of how exhausting and thankless motherhood could be, but also how joyous. The author perfectly described those early years of motherhood when you’re constantly exhausted and on a merry-go-round of repeated chores. Evelyn's conflict between her dreams and her one true love was just as well-written and incredibly moving, but chapter 17 was SO beautifully written, and made me cry happy tears. The fraught generational maternal relationships were equally relatable and particularly well-written. But the most painfully accurate parts were the paragraphs devoted to her developing Parkinson's, and the associated dementia, both from her own POV and that of her family's. Having watched these changes myself, I felt the emotions of her family viscerally.
I don't tend to like more than two POVs, but it worked perfectly here, and I LOVED that we got all of the children's thoughts and feelings at different points in the story. Still, I was incredibly moved by Thomas's POV, especially the visceral gut-punch memories of that day in 2001. My heart broke for the losses and trials he went through in his life, but I adored his love for Amy. Meanwhile, I completely empathised with Violet and Jane as they tried to make sense of love and relationships for themselves, especially given how daunting it was to even try to live up to a seemingly perfect love story like that of their parents. That said, this was always Evelyn and Joseph's story first and foremost, and no relationship is ever perfect. Their tougher moments were interwoven with care and sensitivity, and the spectre of grief and loss (both past and present) was never far away. Chapter 27 left me shocked, and utterly bereft. But the ending was perfect, and ultimately uplifting.
An amazing debut and a truly beautiful story.

Overall Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Heat Rating: 0.5

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own*

Favourite Quotes:

"We don’t want a half-life. We don’t want a life without each other,”

“I’ve spent too many days without you.”

“I will never stop wishing for more time with you.”

Our entire life like a series of shorter marriages to each other, linked in their similarities, but distinct. Familiar, but changed. Even in marriage she has never been mine, even now as we face our end together. She has never belonged to anyone but herself, and I have never belonged to anyone but her.

"Our lives—” I gesture at Evelyn “— have always contained each other. I’ve only known this world with your mother in it. A world without her, frankly, isn’t one I want to wake up in."

Losing Evelyn, outliving the person who is the source of my heartbeat, or watching her wither into a rag doll version of herself, a pianist who could no longer use her hands to create the music she loves, or to wait until she doesn’t recognize me, until she ceases to be Evelyn at all, to walk through the halls of our home alone… that would be impossible to endure.

“I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Real commitment requires cultivation. It’s not about the tingle in your belly and a rush of adrenaline. It’s not magic, or fairy dust, that sustains a spark. Steadiness over time is what makes it beautiful.

“All those people… they had no warning, no final year to live out their dreams. No time to call their families, to say goodbye. And here we are, dying at will. It’s not fair.”
“Nothing about this is fair,”

"I’m more scared of staying, of being alone at the end in my own head.”

My wife, my love, her dreams scribbled in ink, her eyes always on the clouds. She is my symphony.

This life, together. It was enough. It was everything.

“I don’t want to live as less than I am.”

Look at the beautiful garden we have made, Evelyn. Together.

Wow!
This absolutely broke me. What an incredible novel. Make sure you have lots of tissues handy.

Oh my goodness…..I loved this book so much! It tells the beautifully written life stories of Evelyn and Joseph who decide that they cannot be apart, even in death. Their adult children think that their parents have the perfect marriage but, as their story unfolds throughout the story, we find that they have had their share of life’s ups and downs. Now both in their 70s, their marriage is stronger than ever and their story is beautiful, poignant and extremely touching. I cannot recommend this book enough as I will remember it for a long time to come.

I absolutely loved this book, but I never want to read it again. It emotionally wrecked me and made me cry at the end, and it’s pretty rare for a book to have that effect on me. I knew from the first page that it was going to be that kind of book, but I carried on reading anyway. I’m a glutton for punishment, it seems!

The Days I Loved You Most spans a lifetime between Joseph and Evelyn, from their friendship as teenagers in the early 40s, to their life as an elderly couple at the turn of the millennium. It covers major world events like WWII, the assassination of JFK, and 9/11, and seamlessly weaves a fictional story through every real life tragedy. It never stops tugging on the heartstrings, and I had tears in my eyes more than once.

Joseph and Evelyn are some of the most memorable fictional characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting within the pages of a book, and I was devastated by the time I finished it. Nothing played out like I thought it would, and the final few chapters caught me so off guard. I’d prepared myself for the conclusion I thought I was going to get, and that all changed in an instant.

The Days I Loved You Most is the very definition of a family saga, and I could write so much more about every facet of it. At its core, it’s simply the story of two young people and the paths they decide to take. It’s about life, love, and all the many ups and downs along the way, and how one choice can shape a future. Amy Neff’s beautiful writing makes it a debut novel to remember, and I’m declaring it now as one of the best books of 2024.

I was asked to review this tear jerker book by NetGalley, I have not come across this author before. This is beautifully written sad story.
his is a sweet and poignant story that encapsulates all the good but also all the not so good aspects of love, marriage, family and illness. As I get older I can totally relate to this story.

Joseph and Evelyn have known each other their whole lives and fell in love when they were young ( I suppose in the days when people had one partnerEvelyn is diagnosed with a life changing illness and Joseph cannot live without her and so they make a pact to live one perfect year, wnjoy everything including their family.. The author has been clever and we see the story from both of them and makes the reader understand the situation and the decisions to be made.

Totally recommended read

Evelyn and Joseph have the perfect love story. Childhood friends, married for 60 years. They have the perfect marriage and can’t bear the idea of living without each other.

As their family comes to terms with their decision to live one last year, we discover their true story. Truss novel covers some of the major global events of the 20th and 21st century and the effects they have on the family in their corner of New England.
Beautifully written, heartbreaking a brilliant read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy to review.

Evelyn and Joseph have been married for nearly 60yrs when Evelyn is diagnosed with a life changing illness and she wants to end her life before she can`t control her life or illness. Joseph can`t live without her so they make a pact to end life together in a years time, so they get the family together to tell them.
The story is set in the present and past and is very emotional for everyone to try and accept the future plans while Evelyn and Joseph live life to the full before the year is up.
You definitely need tissues for the ending.
Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review

I knew what I was getting into with this book and I wasnt disappointed, but god it hurt. It was a beautiful journey of Evelyn and joseph’s life. We get to read the ups, downs, the turmoil, sickness and health, we get to experience first love, the first child born our of that love and how it grows and divides throughout the story.

The flashbacks to the past and the current were done so well, this book will stay with me a long long time.

A true relationship, flaws and imperfections. The good bad and the pain. Childhood to terminal illness and a pact.
This book made me cry and smile. Absolutely loved this book

Three generations of a family are thrown into turmoil when the elderly parents throw something unexpected into the works. We are shown the reactions of the family members and also via flashbacks how the parents came to be the family they now are. I really expected this book to be right up my street. However, I really didn't take to any of the characters. They all seemed very selfish and self centred. I also found the constant jumping about the timeline and narrator a little confusing. This said I did finish the book which got easier to negotiate as it moved on and the ending was amazing! I had the tissues out and needed them. If like me you're not sure at first, persevere and this book will come together for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This book starts with Joseph and Evelyn telling their grown up children that due to Evelyn's illness in a year's time both will end their lives together. The book then swings back to when they first met as children, got married and the events that formed their marriage and their lives. It follows them through the ups and downs of a 60 year relationship. I absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend it.

"Well, if you're so smart, what do you want to be?"
"Yours."

A love story that spans over 60 years and deals with the ups and downs of all that comes from being imperfectly in love.

This novel deals with love, family, and loss and the process of grieving someone still alive. It also poses the interesting question - one that my wife and I have discussed at length before - what would you do if you knew you'd forget everyone you love? Would you want to live like that? Would you take matters into your own hands? And how would your family feel about your decision?

I really enjoyed the realism of the relationships in this book. Whether that be romantic, familial or platonic, I found them to be incredibly gripping and the author managed to convey the hard times as effectively as the good ones.

One thing that didn't quite hit home with me was that at times Evelyn in the past didn't seem to feel as strongly as Joseph and when she planned to leave him and never told him the truth about it... it just seemed odd, especially for her to leave her babies behind as well.

But, all in all this was a solid read. I enjoyed almost all aspects and especially liked that Maelynn had a female partner. Gotta love the LGBT representation, especially based in history.

It has been an incredible, beautiful life together. I couldn't have asked for more."

The Days I Loved You Most is a powerful family drama rotating around the most beautiful Tale of enduring romantic love. I just didn't want it to end. I think it would make a fabulous film in the way The Notebook is, just wonderful.
My thanks to Netgalle and the publishers for my early copy in return for an honest review, I thoroughly recommend this book.

The Days I Loved You most is a heartbreakingly beautifully written book that had me in tears. Amy Neff captures the lifetimes love story between Evelyn and Josephs’ life just perfectly and shows us the beauty in even the mundane moments of life and building a family, This book will have you thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading it.

This is a story of true love which spans 60 years.
Evelyn and Joseph have been soul mates all their adult lives and when Evelyn receives a terminal illness diagnosis, they make a pact to leave this life at the same time.
We are then told the story of their love and their family in flashback chapters.
A beautiful story.

This book is a testament to a love that has lasted 60 years - when one of the couple receives a terminal diagnosis the oher decides he cannot live without her and so they will take their own lives on a prescribed day. a year in the future. The book then describes the reactions from their children and how the relationships play out over the course of the next year. It was beautifully written and the love between the two main characters is almost palpable. A great love story for the ages.

I'm not sure if I read this book at the right time or if it just wasn't for me.

On paper, this is my perfect kind of book.

This book spans from World War II all the way through to 2002 and is about enduring love and family. Evelyn and Joseph have been married for more than sixty years, and following Evelyn's diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, they decide to live out their final year before ending their lives together. This book is about their relationship through the decades, the lives of their children, and how they are dealing with this decision.

The premise was perfect, and the writing was beautiful, with some really lovely lines written by Neff, and I loved that we had an interchanging timeline that explored numerous historical events from the war to the moon landing, and 9/11.

But the characters fell a little flat to me. This has all the potential to be a heart-wrenching story, but connection to the characters was sadly just surface level, with some plotlines and character feelings remaining unresolved by the end of the story. I felt like a lot of time things were told rather than shown, and I just wished I felt more for both Evelyn, Joseph and their children, and I just didn't which for me, was so important given the subject matter and the promise of the story.

Maybe my review is a little unreliable as I was in a reading slump while trying to get through this book, but it just didn't live up to what I thought it was going to deliver. This book was simply just okay for me.

3 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC copy of this book.

The Days I’d Love You Most by Amy Neff is a really enjoyable read that I would recommend as a great summer read. It follows the lives of Joseph and Evelyn from their shared childhood and teenage years to the present day when they are in their 70s.
I really enjoyed the structure of the story and the use the flashback chapters to build the past of the couple. I also liked all of the characters - their children and grandchildren.
A must read for anyone who loves a family saga!

What a stunning debut novel! I have to say that for the first few pages I was doubtful; but I persevered and was soon absorbed. In fact, I was quickly hooked and found the characters and their situation filling my mind on and off during the days of my reading. And they have continued to do so, with the emotions and deep questions the book raises.
An elderly married couple decide that after many years of marriage, the terminal illness of the wife means that they have decided to end their lives together, after one final year of celebrations. They call the family together to tell them, and the impact upon their adult children and young grandchildren is shocking and strong.
The book tells the story of the many years of being together, from childhood through the war and into adulthood and marriage. This is interspersed with moments of updates as to how the year of celebration is progressing, and how the decision to end their lives together is impacting both their marriage and their individual thoughts. As a reader, I was constantly wondering whether they will go ahead with the plan - or not. I won't spoil the ending, but it had me in tears.
This is a beautifully written book, with excellent plot and well crafted. It's a reflection on grief, on family life, above all on death and mortality. Set on the shores of Connecticut, it pulls the reader into the glories of the countryside, into the deep emotions of love, death and family life, and asks how we will each prepare for our own deaths, whether we know the date or not. And it asks the big question: how to be content with the life you have, not the life you thought you wanted. Read with hankie to hand.

Thanks to NEtgalley and the publishers for the ARC copy of the book.

This has to be one of the most beautiful and emotional debuts I have ever read. From the title of the book you know what you are letting yourself in for but it doesn’t prepare you for the wonderful insight into the characters.

Evelyn and Joseph are teenage sweethearts and have always loved each other. This books gives a wonderful insight into their lives which are far from perfect but they love each other throughout despite deep loss, the hardship of early parenthood and to the present day and a debilitating diagnosis and beyond. The book flips forwards and backwards and is split with some chapters being from Evelyn’s point of view and some from Joseph’s.

I cannot write any more as I don’t want to ruin the emotions that even the readers with hearts of stone (and I am usually one) will melt and soften a little at the authors descriptions of this love story.