Story for the Week
As the world made its way into 2026, I found myself thinking about life moving forward. A little less than a month into the New Year, holiday decorations have finally come down, workers are back in their normal routines, kids are back in school. Life moves on…but moving forward means something so much more.
Christmas 2025 marked our sixth Christmas without Dennis. One of his biggest fears after his cancer diagnosis was that Corinne and I would mourn him for a couple of months and then “move on with our lives” in his words. He worried we would forget about him (completely not possible, for the record).
We have a number of traditions that Dennis started. He loved Hess toy trucks and collected them for years before we met. Hess releases a mini collectible in summer each year and a holiday toy in time for Christmas. When Corinne was young and actually wanted to play with the trucks, we bought four at a time—one for each of my nephews, one for us as a collectible that stayed in the box, and one for Corinne to play with. Once she stopped playing with them, we dropped back down to just three.
Dennis also obsessed over Barbie because he loved having daughters. My step-daughter Tenielle told me once that she had a bunch of Barbies when she was young, and Dennis started buying Barbies for Corinne before we even knew she was a girl. Several months into our pregnancy, he saw a teacher Barbie and insisted on buying it. I asked him what he would do if we didn’t have a girl, and he said he would find someone to give it to.
A couple weeks before Corinne was born, he saw a Libra Barbie at Walmart. Knowing that the baby would be a Libra, he wanted to buy it right then and there…especially since it was the only one in the store. I insisted he wait, so he used what he called the Dennis layaway method. He hid the box behind everything else on the top shelf.
Fast forward to the day Corinne was born—and confirmed a girl—at 8:30 p.m., and he asked to go to Walmart that night to buy the Barbie. I told him absolutely not, so he at least waited until the next morning. The moment I woke up, he asked if he could go to Walmart…and go home to shower and get something to eat. At least he waited until I woke up. 🤷🏼♀️ That was also the first year he bought Corinne the annual Holiday Barbie…and every year after that. The following year, after my niece was born, my nephews and Corinne received their Hess trucks, and my niece and Corinne received Holiday Barbies.
Those gifts were always to the kids from Dennis alone. Shortly after Dennis passed in 2020, I asked if they still wanted the trucks and Barbies. All of them said yes. And even though they’re over 18, they still receive them…labeled from Dad or Uncle Dennis. That’s a tradition that won’t go away until they don’t want them anymore.
This year, Corinne’s friend Aly (who is basically family), received Star Wars-themed gifts from “Bud,” which is what she called Dennis. He treated her like a daughter. We bought her a bike one year so she could go riding with us. She went on multiple vacations with us. She was at our house nearly every day. Recently, she mentioned to me that she wishes she had learned to love Star Wars before he passed, which is what prompted the gifts. Dennis loved Star Wars. She cried when she opened them and even saved the tag “To Aly, From Bud.”
Another holiday tradition we have is a customized family ornament that includes all of our names and the year. We started buying those the year we got married and haven’t missed one since. Some years we bought more than one if we had houseguests for Christmas. One would include everyone who spent Christmas with us, and the other would be just us.
After Dennis passed, we started marking the anniversary by ordering that year’s ornament. For the first five holidays, I included his name on the ornament—Dennis, Nancy, Corinne, Rodolfo (my brother-in-law). This year, I ordered it with just Corinne, me, and Rodolfo. I had Corinne help choose which ornament we purchased, but I didn’t mention to anyone that I left Dennis off this year before I placed the order. When I mentioned it to Corinne, she said “ok.” When Rodolfo asked me why I did it, I didn’t have a reason. I told him I didn’t know why…except that it just felt like the right time.
We still hang Dennis’s stocking every year. The Hess trucks and the Barbies still make their way under the tree. Corinne still receives gifts from Dad if I buy something that I think Dennis would have given her. We’re not moving on without him. We’re moving forward, knowing he’s with us every step of the way.
Don’t get me wrong…the grief still hits, sometimes at the oddest moments. But around the Christmas holiday especially, when I think about the reason for the season, I know that Dennis is still with us.
The book reviewed below focuses on the idea of moving forward through grief and mentions the poem “Immortality,” which also sums up the idea that our loved ones are always with us.
Do not stand by my grave, and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand by my grave, and cry—
I am not there, I did not die.
— Clare Harner, The Gypsy, December 1934
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page
411 pages
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley
Publication Date: February 3, 2026
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley.
Publisher’s Description
Twelve books. Twelve months. One chance to heal her heart…
When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago….
When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the bookshop owner with kind eyes, explains the gift—twelve carefully chosen books with handwritten letters from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.
At first Tilly can’t imagine sinking into a fictional world, but Joe’s tender words convince her to try, and something remarkable happens—Tilly becomes immersed in the pages, and a new chapter begins to unfold in her own life. Monthly trips to the bookstore—and heartfelt conversations with Alfie—give Tilly the comfort she craves and the courage to set out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to share her journey with others, her story—like a book—becomes more than her own.
************
Main Characters:
- Tilly (Matilda) Nightingale – works as an editor of celebrity memoirs, recently widowed nine months after marrying Joe Carter, she was the introverted bookworm to Joe’s extroverted adventurer
- Alfie Lane – owner of Book Lane, a bookstore started by his father that Alfie took over after his father died
- Harper Nightingale – Tilly’s sister, works for a luxury online travel magazine
- Rachel Harding – a ghost writer who has worked with Tilly in the past and became good friends, became distant after Joe’s diagnosis
- Prudence and Blue – work for Alfie at Book Lane
Trigger warning: cancer, death of a spouse, grief
Based on just the title, I expected to like this book. Any reader can identify with the idea of a book reminding them of someone or something. But the more I read, the more I loved this book.
Tilly lost her husband to cancer six months ago, and for her birthday in January, she receives a call from Alfie, the owner of Book Lane. Joe left a gift for Tilly…a year of books that were selected for her. Alfie received specific instructions. If Joe didn’t return before Christmas, Alfie was instructed to call Tilly to begin the twelve months of books. He could not give Tilly all twelve books at once. Joe’s instructions. She asked. She has to return to the bookstore every month to receive each book, which also includes a letter from Joe.
In the first letter, Joe tells Tilly that he noticed she seemed to lose her love of reading during his battle with cancer. (Having been there myself, I can relate.) He wanted to leave her with this gift to remind her how much reading means to her…and to remind her that life would go on after him. Her first book is her namesake, Matilda. She can’t bring herself to read it at first, but eventually she decides that maybe a children’s book is the easiest way back to reading.
I loved the structure of this story. The book is divided into sections by month. Each month starts with what is presumed to be a sign in the bookstore of recommendations based on a theme. The theme (not surprisingly) coincides with the theme of Tilly’s book for the month. And it also includes actual books, so the novel itself is chock-full of book recommendations!
- January: Books to Read When You Don’t Feel Like Reading
- February: Books to Make You Hungry
- March: Books to Fall in Love With
- April: Paris Je T’aime
- May: Books That Will Inspire You to Take Up a New Hobby
- June: Books for When Life Feels Like a Mess
- July: Poetry Books for Every Feeling
- August: Dear Reader, Some Epistolary Novels You Must Read, Yours Truly, Book Lane
- September: Books to Take You on an Adventure (Without Having to Leave Home)
- October: Tired of London? Tired of Life
- November: Books About Bookshops
- December: The Best Festive Fiction
As Tilly navigates her first year without Joe, he seems to be guiding her through the books. It may very well be that I remember navigating the first year of grief as a cancer widow. But I believe this book takes every reader on an amazing journey of grief and love and growth and learning to move forward after a devastating loss.
Tilly also develops friendships with Alfie, Prudence, and Blue as she spends increasingly more time at the bookstore. Alfie is the the only person who knows what the books are, so Prudence and Blue seem just as excited for the book reveal each month. As those friendships develop, Tilly is forced to figure out how to move forward without Joe. She needs to decide what to do with the rest of her life, which she put on hold to take care of Joe.
Mixed in with Tilly’s grief journey is Alfie’s own struggle with the bookstore. He never set out to own a bookstore but felt an obligation to take over when his father passed away. Financially, the bookstore is at risk, so he has to figure out how to keep the store open…if that’s even what he wants.
I don’t want to give away the books Joe selected for Tilly or too much else of the story. I enjoyed this journey with her so much. It almost felt like an adult coming of age because Tilly really did have to get back to being Tilly…or even a better Tilly. And as a reader, I just love the idea of books being the path to happiness.
In Joe’s first letter to Tilly, he tells her: “I remember asking you once why you loved reading so much and you said that books can change lives. I am determined that these will change yours. I’ve started with a book that always makes me think of you. How could your first book not be this one? I hope that reading the book that is your namesake might remind you of how and why you became a reader. And that Roald Dahl’s Matilda might make mine smile again.”
I think every reader has an origin story (Welcome to the Adventure is mine). And I love that Tilly ended up with a reader rebirth. For her, as for most readers, books are a constant, a North Star…and this will be a book I remember for a very long time.
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