Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I picked up this book because I, like the protagonist, lost my husband to cancer at 55. I guess I was expecting a story I could relate to. Instead, I found an oddly sugar-coated fantasy that left me feeling inadequate rather than nourished. Within four months of her beloved husband's death, Betta had sold her Boston home for $1.9 million, serendipitously found and paid cash for another house she loved halfway across the country, been instantly befriended by people of all ages, summoned several long-neglected friends to her side, sailed with barely a ripple through her first holidays without her mate, whipped up countless elaborate meals, been interviewed on a radio program, started dating, and established the boutique of her dreams in the evidently WalMart-less town. By the same point in my own bereavement, I was still barely able to utter a coherent sentence, was subsisting on take-out food, and certainly was in no condition to purchase high-end real estate or start a business. In my experience, recovery from the loss of a spouse doesn't proceed so quickly or so sparklingly. I know widows' experiences vary greatly, but I've not yet heard the likes of this story in real life.