The First Time

This book is surprisingly good. It is well-written, the characters are well-developed and the plot is very real and believable. The ending reflects reality in that it isn't all flowers and sunshine. There are many hearstring moments so keep your tissues handy. Worth reading.

What will you do upon hearing that you have only have a year to live? How will you tell your child/children? Will you take back and forgive your spouse knowing he is having an affair?

Will he end his affair and stay by his wife's side and keep his family together?
Will he help fulfill his wife's last wish by taking a trip to Paris?
Will her mother fulfill her daughter's last wish?

Fielding explores these feelings and emotions of Mattie and her family who just heard that she has Lou Gehrig's disease. Her husband is a lawyer about to become partner in his law firm. Their 16 year old daughter is trying to accept her mother's disease and ultimately her death. Can this family survive all this pain?

This is about the 5th or 6th book that I've show more read by Fielding. Her others that I've read were about murder and were very suspenseful. This book was a nice change of pace for me. show less

A wonderfully emotional book about a woman who finds love with her husband of sixteen years just as her life is ending. Mattie Hart is diagnosed with ALS and begins the last year of her life trying to find love and understanding with her husband, Jake Hart, and her teenage daughter, Kim Hart. I've read it quite a few times by now and I always cry at the end!

This book was just OK. It uses the disease-du-jour theme, but not as well as Jodi Picoult. Mattie and Jake were married because Mattie was pregnant, and neither felt loved throughout their nearly sixteen year marriage. And in case you forget just how long they've been married, we are reminded ad nauseum: "their nearly sixteen year marriage," his wife of nearly sixteen years," her husband of nearly sixteen years," etc., etc. Really, I get it already. Jake has spent most of their marriage having affairs with numerous women, of which Mattie is aware, and she has a couple of one-night-stands just to prove she can. Then, just when they decide to end the charade, Mattie is diagnosed with ALS, and Jake decides to do the decent thing and stay show more with her to care for her during her final illness. Lo and behold, they discover that they actually do love each other, after all. Mattie's estranged mother is suddenly back in her life after giving her daughter a puppy for her 16th birthday, so much so that Mom is willing to help Mattie end her life when the disease becomes more than she can endure. And Jake can finally stand up (in his dreams, at least) to his abusive mother. show less

Jake, lawyer, Mattie his wife, Kim, daughter. Relationship between husband and wife. Wife gets ill, and husband discovers how much he loves her.

Beautifully written story. That's all I can say.