I didn’t love “The River is Waiting”. I was disappointed in the writing, unfortunately.

I loved THe Correspondent, but while yes grief was at its heart, there was also a lot of redemption, growth, caring, and love throughout. I felt very positively about it when i finished - I found it poignant and inspiring, but not sad.

I liked The River is Waiting. I found Corby flawed but likeable. Not a captivating story, but I was interested to see it through. I will wait awhile & then read The Correspondent.

Was just going to add Broken Country to this list, and not recent but I wanted to read Hamnet before seeing the movie and I'm struggling with multiple of these books because of it.

I thought The Correspondent was excellent. I was surprised at how much I liked the style of the book being all letters and emails. Yes the grief aspect is horrible but the overall story is so captivating. Similar to Broken Country for me. Have not read The River is Waiting.

I wasn’t a huge fan of The River is Waiting. I did love The Correspondent and consider it a top read (for me) in 2025.

I just finished reading The Correspondent and started listening to The River is Waiting. I knew nothing about The Correspondent and overall thought it was well done. The grief/horror at the heart of the story is somewhat muted IMO by the author's manner and what's going on with her. I should have realized what the tragic thing was in River is Waiting, but I didn't and now I'm thinking I need to table it for a bit. Oy.

Shoot. Both in my stack of books to be read soon. Maybe I will wait until January.

I cannot with two books of this nature in the same year.
So good but so sad. Imperfect main characters who grasp at redemption in grief.