One Month Of You by Suzanne Ewart: Book Review

One Month Of You is the emotional story of Jess who learns she has inherited her mother’s Huntington’s disease. Can she spend just one month with the man she’s attracted to before breaking it off?

Acknowledgments:

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

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From The Publisher:

When Alec asks Jess out, she knows it won’t work. Is Alec charming? Of course. Attractive? Definitely. Can she not stop thinking about him…yes, but that’s also the problem. Because Jess has rules. And the first? Don’t fall in love.

What no one knows is that Jess has inherited Huntington’s disease from the mother that she cares for. And while witnessing her own future play out, Jess has learnt to keep everyone and everything at arm’s length. But Alec is determined to break down those barriers. When she finally tells him why they have no future, he proposes a different option—just one month together.

One month to date. One month to live. One month to fall in love.

But as Jess grows closer to Alec, she knows she has to end it. It’s better that he is hurt now rather than heartbroken later, isn’t it?

My Thoughts:

Can you imagine what it would be like to learn that you had a terminal disease – the same one that is slowly killing your mother? Would it change the relationships you would form? Would you want to enter into a romantic relationship knowing you would break someone’s heart by dying slowly and prematurely? These are all the questions that Jess needs to work through when she meets and is attracted to Alec. I appreciate the author taking on this difficult, but real, subject.

One Month of You is an emotional read yet one of hope and moving forward despite adversity. Jess is a young woman who is helping to care for her mother at home. She witnesses first-hand her own future – how the disease progresses and robs those stricken of their independence and ability to perform activities of daily living. Luckily she has the support and friendship of several of her mother’s caregivers who look after the needs of her mother while Jess is out of the home.

Jess’s mother has done her best to plan for her deterioration in health while encouraging Jess to have a life of her own – particularly given that Jess has inherited the disease. This is evidenced throughout the book and shows the love in this mother-daughter relationship. While not giving anything away, there are key moments in the book that reflect the depth of this bond.

It was a joy to watch the romance develop between Alec and Jess. Jess is adamant that they date for Alec’s proposed one month only to allow Alec to walk away without looking back at the end of the month. The author does a wonderful job of describing Jess’ inner conflict as she begins falling in love but knows she needs to walk away.

I enjoyed this debut novel by Suzanne Ewart. It is an emotional book which may not be for everyone given the subject matter. I look forward to reading more from this author.

What I Liked:

• The relationship between Jess and her mother
• The romance that develops between Jess and Alec
• The challenge taken on by the author to write a story around a terminal, inherited illness