Eva and Angela must learn to live again. One step at a time.

It has been fifteen months since Eva and Angela lost their thrill-seeking husbands in a scuba diving accident. Both women are trying to navigate their way through the grief, but neither one is making much progress. Angela is barely making ends meet, angry at her husband for leaving her to raise three children on her own. Meanwhile, Eva is stuck, unable to move forward after losing the love of her life and her source of inspiration.

But then Eva gets a life-changing phone call. Before Brent and Wes died, they had signed up for a race of a lifetime—an ultra-marathon in beautiful New Zealand. Eva begs Angela to run the race with her in their husbands’ place, and Angela finally agrees, hoping to finally understand her husband’s choices.

Training is exhausting, and the race is even more demanding. Their journey grows more complicated by the presence of two men—Marc is Brent’s best friend who is running the race with Eva and Angela, and Simon King is a writer who is covering their inspiring story. With every step, Eva and Angela must ask themselves questions that they haven’t had the courage to ask before. As the women literally put one foot in front of the other, they wonder: Is it possible to find their way forward in hope?

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In My Opinion

Lindsay Harrel takes a difficult and emotional look at grief in The Joy of Falling. As two sisters-in-law take on the challenge of training for an ultra-marathon in beautiful New Zealand, not only are their bodies pushed to the breaking point, their emotions, fears, and doubts are exposed.

Angela and Eva had very different relationships with the brothers they were married to, yet they both lost. And they are both moving on in extremely different ways (which is the way grief works). I loved watching Angela’s strained relationship with her teenage daughter shift to something deeper through this book and the way Eva and Angela draw closer to each other.

As someone who has trained for endurance races in the past, I identified with the complete physical exhaustion and the way that tears down the walls we tend to build around our emotions. When you are depleted physically, those emotions and feelings come pouring out like water from a pitcher.

Harrel’s portrayal of Angela and Eva’s healing, their doubts and questions about their second chances at love, their relationships with family and friends, and so much more are real, raw, and make this book one I recommend.

Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

About the Author

Lindsay Harrel is a lifelong book nerd who lives in Arizona with her young family and two golden retrievers in serious need of training. She’s held a variety of writing and editing jobs over the years and now juggles stay-at-home mommyhood with writing novels. When she’s not writing or chasing after her children, Lindsay enjoys making a fool of herself at Zumba, curling up with anything by Jane Austen, and savoring sour candy one piece at a time. Connect with her at LindsayHarrel.com.

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