" While I've certainly come to expect the unexpected from Hart, I have to say a ghost story still threw me for a loop. I kept waiting for the twist, the explanation, but nope...it's a ghost story. That's not a complaint, though I couldn't keep from frequent flashes of The Lake House mashed with Ghost. The emotional complexity I do expect was certainly there, but contrary to the title, I have to say it felt more shallow than that of her other books. Basically, we have a forty year old woman on the brink of divorce (from a man she obviously never should have married in the first place, so it's hard to feel sorry for her) reliving her summer fling from 20 years before. Sure, it would be nice if we could all go back and revisit our great "what if", but other than the revelation of what really happened to Nick (also not particularly shocking), I can't see what we were supposed to learn from it. I guess it was basically a big exercise in letting go and getting ready to move on to a relationship that really is mature and healthy. The emotions presented were great--Bess's descriptions of her feelings toward her sons were spot on, and Nick's frustration with being stuck were perfectly understandable. The ray of hope at the end was nice, but I just think I would have liked it better if we got to it a bit sooner, and had seen her let go because of that, not because Nick was ready to go.
*One blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot of fun was a cameo appearance by Joe and Sadie of Broken. Maybe I should scoff at Hart connecting her various books together when it doesn't really contribute to the story, but I found myself tickled instead. "
— Stacy, 2/11/2014