By: Rea Frey
Narrator: Jennifer Araya
HarperCollins Focus
ISBN: 978-1400243136
Publisher: HarperMuse
Publication Date: 08/06/2024
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
AUG Featured #AuthorElevatorSeries
Aug 7th
What happens when a husband's dying wish is for his wife to find a new love . . . before he's even gone?
Ben and Harper have had a rough start to their marriage. After a surprise late-stage cancer diagnosis, Ben comes up with one final wish for his wife: he wants Harper to find a new partner before he dies. Harper is resistant to this wacky plan. If she can't have Ben, then she doesn't want anyone.
Finally, he lets it drop, but not before the New York Times sends a journalist to do a feature story about Ben's life . . . and his idea. When Harper opens the door, she is stunned to find the one man who got away. Or, the man she spent one perfect week with a decade ago and never saw again: Liam Hale.
Suddenly, Harper is faced with her ultimate what-if:
What if Harper had ended up with Liam instead of Ben?
What if she'd pursued life as an artist instead of teaching?
What if it had all turned out differently?
After making a wish, Harper wakes up to find herself in a parallel universe . . . where her what-ifs become a reality.
Is the grass really greener, or is she standing right where she should be, even as she inevitably faces the pain of losing the one she loves?
About the Author
Photo Credit: Kate Gallaher
World-Altering Women's Fiction
Rea Frey is the award-winning author of several domestic suspense, women’s fiction, and nonfiction books. Her most recent novels explore what-if themes.
Known as a Book Doula, she helps other authors birth their books into the world.
To learn more, visit www.reafrey.com
Exceptional Authors. Standout Books. Elevator Talk.
INTRIGUING QUESTIONS. INQUIRING READERS WANT TO KNOW.
"Behind the Book & The Author"
With Bestselling Author Rea Frey
Welcome to the second August 2024 #AuthorElevatorSeries! Joining us for the fourth time is a personal and fan favorite— special guest, bestselling author, and Book Doula, Rea Frey, with her seventh highly anticipated novel, IN EVERY LIFE.
Join us as Rea shares some fascinating behind-the-scenes exclusives from the book and up-close and personal fun moments from this talented author!
Welcome, Rea!
Behind the Book
Q. Give us your best ELEVATOR PITCH for IN EVERY LIFE?
What happens when a newlywed couple is faced with an unexpected diagnosis… and gets a second chance to do it all over again?
Q. DESCRIBE your novel in three words or less.
Heartbreaking. Hopeful. Magical.
Q. INSPIRATION: The spark that ignited IN EVERY LIFE. Where were you when the idea came to you?
I love writing about what ifs and second chances. (And I’ve had a few of my own in my life.) For this book, the idea was born when I witnessed two friends who were newlyweds get the devastating news that the wife had leukemia. It was a shock. She was the picture of health. I watched their battle from afar (she survived!), but it really left an impression on me. For my two characters, Harper and Ben, I wanted to put them in a similar situation but have Ben make a dying wish to his bride… and then have her face some impossible decisions along the way.
Q. RESEARCH: Any fascinating research for the novel, or anything you learned along the way?
Yes! I am a big believer in quantum healing. After I had brain surgery at 19, I started looking at all the different ways we can actually heal our bodies. I started to research spontaneous remissions and how we can actually liberate our own energy and heal common ailments. I wanted to explore those paths in this book too, as well as the idea of parallel universes… I think it’s so fun to play with possibility and time!
Q. ADAPTATION: For fun, do you have any cast of stars in mind for any of your leading roles for movie or TV series?
I make mention of it in the novel, but I think Rachel McAdams or Blake Lively would play a great Harper. Anyone could play Ben and Liam, though my celebrity crush is Jake Gyllenhaal, so I’d love to see him in Liam’s shoes.
Q. WHAT IF? Could you see yourself finding a date and future wife for your husband if he were terminally ill or vice versa?
Um, I’d like to think I’m that evolved, but I don’t think I could!!! It’s hard to say unless you’re in that exact situation though. I would definitely want him to find love again… just maybe not while I’m there to witness it!
Q. TAKEAWAY: What important message, theme, or takeaway would you like readers to be left with when reading your book?
Appreciate the life you have. BUT if you are harboring a secret dream, go after it. If you’re sick, find a path to healing. It’s all possible when we start thinking in unlimited terms.
Q. GENRE: What continues to draw you to this genre?
I think it’s so fun to play with time travel. What would you do if you woke up in your true “what if” world? What would you do if you could do it all over again? What choices would you make? How would you act differently? I think, for most of us, we don’t realize that we do have the ability to get up every day and have a clean slate. To create anything. To live your dream life. But most of us think the same thoughts and continue to do the same things over and over again. We get stuck in a loop. (In fact, about 95% of our thoughts are the same as the day before.) It takes work to make new choices, and becoming aware is step number one. So that’s what draws me to stories like this… the infinite possibilities of how it could all turn out.
Q. UPCOMING: Can you share what you are currently working on or what is next in ten words or less (or more)?
I currently write in two different genres, so my next release is a thriller called When She’s Gone, which is about an Olympic gymnast hopeful who is kidnapped from a haunted house in 1995, but escapes, though her kidnappers are never caught. Thirty years later, her four-year-old is kidnapped on Halloween… and in order to get her back, she has to take someone else’s child.
Thanks, Rea! Wow, fascinating. Continue reading below for more up close and personal from the Book Doula!
Behind the Author
ZODIAC SIGN?
Scorpio
FAVORITE THING ABOUT WHERE YOU RESIDE?
I live in Nashville. We have beautiful lakes to have fun on and endless hiking trails.
ONE QUESTION YOU NEVER GET ASKED AT INTERVIEWS, BUT WISH YOU DID?
Have you ever thought about taking a break? I’ve released 8 books in 6 years, and I AM taking a break after these next two releases to create some space and refill my own cup a bit! I think, as creatives, we often feel we don’t have the liberty to slow down, especially in today’s fast-paced world. But creativity should be built on seasons of output and seasons of rest, so I am creating that space for myself to invite in some new things…
MORNING/NIGHT PERSON?
Morning!
DOG/CAT LOVER?
Dog, though I also have two cats!
FAVORITE HOLIDAY OR SEASON?
Fall, all the way!
MOST MEMORABLE PLACE YOU HAVE TRAVELED?
Paris! I know it sounds like a cliche, but years ago, I went to Paris for 6 weeks for writing and had the time of my life.
A CHARACTER YOU HAVE WRITTEN THAT IS YOUR FAVORITE AND WHY?
Sarah from my debut, Not Her Daughter. It was so amazing to put myself in her shoes and ask: Can you ever do the wrong thing for the right reasons? I skated the moral line the whole time with that character, and I still think about her as if she were real!
NAME A BOOK TITLE ON YOUR BOOKSHELF OR NIGHTSTAND THAT WOULD SURPRISE YOUR READERS?
Pussy: A Reclamation (Every woman should read this book.)
WHICH OF YOUR BOOKS IS YOUR FAVORITE? WHY?
Not Her Daughter. That book came to me in a rush. I wrote it in four weeks and it literally changed my life. In hindsight, I wish I had spent years promoting that book instead of signing a four-book deal and rushing to write the others.
IF YOU COULD ELIMINATE ONE THING FROM YOUR DAILY LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Social media. There was a recent study that proves social media isn’t correlated to mental illness in young women; it causes it. I think it’s the biggest addiction of our lifetime and no one is regulating it. I am working to eliminate it from my life entirely.
HOW DO YOU RELAX?
I hike, I read, I swim, I spend time in nature, I walk my dog, I nap, I do yoga… I really try to downregulate my nervous system whenever I can!
DESCRIBE ONE THING ON YOUR DESK, CURRENTLY?
I actually don’t write at a desk!
HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU WRITTEN?
I have actually written 12 books, though people really only know me for my fiction.
YOU WOULDN'T BE CAUGHT DEAD, WHERE?
On TikTok.
NAME SOMETHING YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE VERY GOOD AT?
Helping people solve their problems.
NAME ONE THING YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE BAD AT?
Reading lengthy directions.
DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREE WORDS OR LESS?
Hungry. Present. Excited.
YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE TIME OF THE DAY?
Morning!
YOUR FAVORITE APP?
My Healy app, which hooks to a bioenergetic healing device that I use almost daily!
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?
Talking!
A FAVORITE INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE?
Inkfish Books in Warren, Rhode Island. If every author was treated the way Lisa treats her authors, the world would be a very happy place.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO CHILDREN?
Never stop playing. Don’t worry about memorizing facts in a classroom. Don’t sit still. Don’t be quiet. Everything you need in life can’t be learned from a textbook. You need to learn about how your body works, how your mind works, how your emotions work. What YOU think and feel. How to heal. How to find what you love. That’s what we need to be teaching in schools.
IF YOU COULD CURE ONE DISEASE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Mental illness (much of which is caused from all the tech we use)
FAVORITE SPORT?
Gymnastics
BEST PART OF BEING AN AUTHOR?
For me, it will always be the writing.
GO TO A PARTY, OR A QUIET EVENING AT HOME?
Quiet evening, every single time
WHAT AREA WOULD YOU LIKE ONE OF FUTURE BOOKS TO BE SET?
Paris
IF YOU COULD WRITE ANOTHER GENRE IN ADDITION TO THE CURRENT ONE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Nonfiction! I started in nonfiction and am actually working on a book idea…
YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO AS A CHILD?
PLAY!
THANK YOU, Rea, for spending time with us today! It is always a pleasure to host you.
Thank YOU, Judy for always being so incredible to all of us authors!
Praise
'A perfect tale of 'what if.' Frey broke my heart into a million pieces then tenderly put it back together with her deeply moving message that sometimes the truest way we can love someone is by letting them go.'
— Kate Robb, author of THIS SPELLS LOVE
'Devastating, thought-provoking, and hopeful, Rea Frey plays deftly in the tantalizing world of 'what if . . . ' IN EVERY LIFE is a gem!' -
—Emma Grey, author of THE LAST LOVE NOTE
'In this heartfelt, poignant novel, Rea Frey has crafted a stirring narrative that grips the heart, uplifts the spirit, and takes the reader on a journey of life-changing events that shape the characters while dabbling in the idea of how their worlds would shift if they altered one moment in their past. One single decision can change our entire lives, and this novel asks the reader, Would you? IN EVERY LIFE is genuine, overflowing with soul, and weaved together with the kind of love we spend our whole lives searching for.'
— Jennifer Moorman, Bestselling Author of THE MAGIC ALL AROUND
'Seamlessly weaving together three timelines of 'What is,' 'What was' and 'What if,' Rea Frey's IN EVERY LIFE is an incredibly relatable story for every woman who has ever faced an impossible situation and wondered what if she had made a different choice. Perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE and the film Sliding Doors, Harper's journey is an exquisite reminder that there are no coincidences and that life unfolds exactly as it is meant to.'
— Sara Goodman Confino, bestselling author of DON'T FORGET TO WRITE
My Review
Book Doula, a favorite author and master storyteller, Rea Frey returns following The Other Year with her latest emotionally charged 'what if' story, IN EVERY LIFE.
Beautiful, compelling, and inspiring —exploring dual realities —the what ifs—what happens when a husband's dying wish is for his wife to find a new love... before he's even gone?
About...
Harper and Ben are happily married, and she is an art teacher in Tennessee excited about her new life and their plans for a family.
Then, the devastating news. Ben has late-stage cancer. However, Ben has a final wish before he dies. He wants to help Harper find a new partner.
That is the last thing Harper wants. She wants no one but Ben and wants to spend precious limited time with him, not talking about a new love to replace him.
When the New York Times sends a journalist for a feature story about Ben's life, Harper is front and center with Liam, her former lover who she never saw again—the man before Ben.
Faced with the what-ifs. In a different universe, what if she had married Liam and never met Ben? Would her life have turned out differently?
After making a wish, Harper wakes up to find herself in a parallel universe of what-ifs.
My thoughts...
Rea is a pro, and no one can spin a heartfelt intense story like the master storyteller. IN EVERY LIFE IS hopeful, magical, and heartbreaking with time travel.
Her well-developed characters are faced with two profoundly different paths in this emotionally charged story of what ifs— infused with art, love, loss, grief, magic, forgiveness, healing, marriage, parenthood, loyalty, and second chances.
Have you ever wondered about the what if? If you had taken a different path, where you would be?
Thought-provoking, moving, and intriguing, I can't wait for you to meet Ben and Harper. Have some Kleenex handy. This is an ideal book club pick for further discussions.
I have read all of Rea's books and have been a fan since her debut. Each one is unique, moving, and thoughtful.
Audiobook...
I read the e-book and listened to the audiobook narrated by the talented Jennifer Jill Araya who delivers an outstanding performance, making the characters come alive.
Recs...
This book is for readers who enjoyed Rea's previous book, The Other Year, Sarah Addison Allen, and Eileen Goudge's The Replacement Wife. It is for those who enjoy women's fiction, domestic suspense, love and emotional stories, time travel, and a touch of magical realism.
Upcoming Interview...
Stay tuned for my upcoming #AuthorElevatorSeries Ride (Aug 7) with Rea and behind the scenes of IN EVERY LIFE and this fascinating author!
Thanks to Harper Muse and HarperCollins Focus for a gifted digital ARC and ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. #CoverLove
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Aug 6, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
