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Sometimes events in our life can be so traumatic that we’re never really able to get beyond them. And in Till Death Do Us Part by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, a young widow makes a discovery that brings her own trauma right back to the forefront.
The story follows Brooklyn wine bar owner June as she struggles to move on from her tragic past. Ten years ago, June’s husband, Josh, drowned on their honeymoon. June was always convinced that it wasn’t just an accident—that there was more to the story. Just as she’s finally moving on and is about to remarry, she’s convinced that she sees Josh. And when she sees a website for a winery in Napa where the owner looks identical to her late husband, she boards a plane to get the answers she so desperately needs.
Once she arrives in Napa, June uncovers all kinds of troubling information about the man she once loved—from the family she knew little about to the questions and the tragedies and scandals that haunted them. As she talks to neighbors and family members and employees at the winery, it just gets messier and more troubling—and the suspense only grows. June learns that she hasn’t just been crazy and irrational all these years—that there’s something more going on here—and readers will be eager to see how it all comes together.
As June’s story unfolds, though, the novel weaves it together with a story about Josh’s mom, Bev, who found herself struggling with her feelings for her husband and her sons while dealing with a growing number of conflicts and scandals surrounding them. While parts of Bev’s storyline help to explain Josh’s past, not all of it feels relevant—and I often found myself feeling annoyed when one of June’s chapters ended and I had to get through Bev’s chapter before picking the story back up again. These chapters often seem more like a distraction from the more interesting parts—a separate and loosely connected story that heads in a strange and frustrating direction in the end.
With its layers of mysteries and revelations, Till Death Do Us Part can be a tense and gripping thriller, though one half is definitely more interesting than the other. The setup is strong—but the distractions and unanswered questions and strange coincidences make it all feel too messy and maddening.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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