How to Grieve Like a Victorian by Amy Carol Reeves (2025): A Review
Author: Amy Carol Reeves
Publication Year: 2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pages: 320
Source: audiobook @storytel.tr
Genre: Romance
The title of this book is basically the world’s worst spoiler. Our heroine? She’s an English Professor, a Brontë scholar, and a bestselling author who’s made a career riffing on Wuthering Heights. When her beloved husband suddenly passes away, she’s left to puzzle her way through grief—and winds up doing things no respectable Victorian would ever put in a letter. Naturally, this being a romance-mystery mashup, there’s a dashing author in the wings just waiting to complicate matters (because, of course).
This book was pure fun—a four-star read, but don’t compare it to my four stars for, say, War and Peace. The real scene-stealer? Heathcliff. No, not that Heathcliff. Not the brooding antihero from the moors, not the fictional heartthrob from the protagonist’s own bestseller, but her actual son, named after the original and blessed with a sense of humor even Emily Brontë would envy. Every time he popped up, I laughed.
The book delivers a much-needed reality check: there’s no set recipe for grief—no five, six, or seven tidy steps to put you back together again. You just muddle through, even if your coping mechanisms are a little…Victorian. Think handwritten letters only, wearing black from head to toe, and toting your husband’s ashes in your purse (with a lock of his hair for good measure). Who says mourning can’t be a little theatrical?
No, this isn’t Wuthering Heights (and thank goodness—there are only so many doomed lovers one reader can take). Still, it’s a fun, easy listen, even if the romance sometimes makes you want to hide behind a curtain. At least the main character is cringing right along with you. Honestly, I wish my priest would recommend trashy novels instead of penance for my next existential crisis.
Comments
Post a Comment