Another one somewhere between 3.5 and 4. An interesting POV from a deceased Mom looking down on the grief of her daughter and husband and the people in their orbits. Her attempts to influence them are met with varying levels of success.

I think the whole novel is a little obvious and on the nose but i don't regret reading it. ( )

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martins Press for giving me the opportunity to read this great book!

You wouldn't expect a book where the main character dies to be an uplifting, humorous story, but it is.

The story is told through three viewpoints: Maddy (deceased mom), Eve (typical self-centered teenage daughter), and Brady (bereft and guilt-ridden husband). While the plot of the story is tragic (suicide and loss of loved ones) the writing is clever and heartfelt. We journey through the guilt and emptiness Eve and Brady experience after losing the glue that held them together: Maddy.

And we experience Maddy's tenacity as she tries to fix and guide her loves one's future from "beyond". It's a very thought-provoking novel with an ending I couldn't figure out ahead of time. A very enjoyable read! ( )

I didn't quite know what I was getting into when I started I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi. I knew it was about a mother (Maddy) who had killed herself and I knew it was about her family post death (Brady-husband and Eve-daughter). What I didn't know was the story was told from the three people's perspectives, including Maddy in her present form- dead.

Maddy watches as her family wrestles with her death, yet also continues to guide them in their lives of trying to put back the pieces. She can project thoughts into their heads to help them along their way. She has been trying to connect Brady to Rory too. Rory is Eve's tutor who is going through a loss herself and Maddy feels Rory would be perfect for Brady, so she does her thing. All the while, as Maddy begins to understand what it means to let go, she begins her ascending. As the family understands their role in her death, they begin to let go.

This was a great look at what suicide does to a family in that there are lots of questions more than answers, people can grow closer together, and there can be a lot of self blame. I also thought, if I am honest, the book took Maddy's death a little lightly at the same time. The family seems to move on rather quickly within the progression of the story. It was to move the narrative along more, but it just felt rushed a bit.

Critique aside, I did enjoy the different ways of exploring death. Rory is dealing with her own stuff, as her family is also separate and her mother's death was slower, but she also is overcoming the death of her child (not a spoiler) and continues to grieve. This was held in contrast to Maddy's family who never really were together, but are growing closer in Maddy's death, yet still have issues.

I wound up really enjoying this book and felt it had a few dragging parts, but nothing too distracting. I wound up giving this one 4 stars.

*I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin's press for this galley. I received it for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I'm going to confess to being biased against this book from the beginning; having a narrator speak from beyond the grave is the sort of suicidal ideation that I detest: once you are dead, its all over and you most certainly do not get to hang around and watch the show. That's not how it works.

But I can look past my own biases enough to say this is not a terrible book and its kinda cute really. However, multiple first person POV is a difficult thing to manage and the voices here were not distinct enough to make me feel like she really pulled it off.

I won a ARC of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. ( )

I received this book free from the publisher via netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Please see my full reviews available at www.coffeeandtrainspotting.com. ( )