Proper Goodbye is a poignant story of love and loss. A mother mysteriously disappears and the family left behind spends years wondering what happened. Resolution comes from an unlikely source.

Abigail Walker is mother to a nine-year old daughter, Beebe. Her husband works in a cemetery. Abigail becomes injured in an accident and becomes addicted to painkillers. Working as a nurse in the nearby hospital, she becomes the subject of a scandal when she is caught stealing drugs. She leaves town, never to be seen again by anyone. Beebe and her father go on with their lives. Beebe becomes a pastor in a church in Kansas, and her father keeps his same job. Due to a complicated situation, Beebe ends up quitting her job and moving to Maryland, where she takes a job as a grief counselor.

Meanwhile, a man named Yates Strand transports a homeless woman named Terri Miller to a town called Larkspur, Michigan. She is dying of AIDS. Yates drops her off at a senior center, where she insists he leave her. Yates has known Terri for many years. He grew up learning many things from her. She saved his father’s life after a car accident. She was a wanderer, but she would end up in his town each summer. But Terri was there for his family during the loss of his mother too. Terri is taken in by the senior center, but dies soon after. Her last wishes are carried out by the man in charge of the center, Vincent Bostick. Eventually, Yates ends up working at the center as well.

The story involves how Terri’s last wishes become important to Beebe and her father and how they deal with this. Yates and Vincent help and so do others who knew Terri. It’s a very emotional story and readers should be prepared for lots of tears. But, it’s also a story of redemption and how people get closure. It’s complicated, but flows very well and is incredibly well-written. It explores the things that deeply motivate people and the way we have of hiding our secrets and burying them under the deepest emotions.

The book is very good and I enjoyed how well the author weaved the plot together by the end. It took a lot of work and it was done extremely well. The characters are all very realistic and have plenty of emotional depth to them, as well as thorough backstories. Dialog and flow of the story are excellent. The writing is top notch.

I give this book a very high rating. It was one of the best books I read all year.

An interesting book especially if you have read the first book, 'Wild Raspberries'. In think I enjoyed this book better as it focused on the most interesting character from the first one. I would not buy this book for my library as it is a school library and not really suitable for the students, however, I enjoyed reading it.

This is the second book I have read by this author and I have enjoyed them both. 

What I enjoyed the most about this book was the realism.  The characters and plot were realistic and I found myself sensing the emotions as I travelled through the pages.  As Bebee lost her position in the church and went though her own religious trials, I could feel her grief and the questioning of her choice of employment in the first instance.  Then she found out about the loss of her mother, whom had many issues and had made lots of bad choices which had effected Bebee, I quikcly became drawn to Bebee's character.  She wanted to fix her father, but had things to fix within herself and the writing of this novel portrayed all this in such a way that it was real and more than a plot line.

Cliff, Bebee's father, was a brilliant peice of artistry in Connie Chappell's writing.  Every emotion he had seem raw.  Although he hid behind the past, trapped in the past, he was angry yet gentle all ta the same time.  He seemed to deal with the loss of his wife, and the past, as any man would. 

The other characters seemed to drift in and out of the story, all fitting in to bring the plot to a closure as questions were answered and things brought together in final chapters.  There were twists that kept me turning the pages, even at times becoming tempted to skip read to find where the story was leading me.

I like Connie Chappell's writing.  She writes with realism and innocence both of which draws me to her novels and the characters within.

Great book about love, grieving and life decisions. Makes a compelling story about the stages of grief and the decisions we ultimately make during the process. Thought provoking and realistic story telling.

I enjoyed the book. I wish that the characters would have been fleshed out a little more.

First response: This was excellent! I never know what to expect from books that are women's lit rather than romance or mystery or such. I'm never sure what direction it will take. Or if I'll like it. Well, I sure liked this one. I'll have to write a full review in the morning. I always seem to finish a book at bedtime...

My Review:

This is a sequel to Wild Raspberries, though it is a standalone as well. If you read Wild Raspberries, you may remember the grief counselor, Beebe Walker. This book, Proper Goodbye, is her story. It was just released a month ago.

This is a wonderful book. It's full of the emotional messes that we all love to read in women's lit and the untangling of the stories to get to the truth that lies at the heart of the matter. And what lies at the heart of this mess is worth 300 pages! This is very well written. I really think Ms. Chappell has a knack for this genre. She knows how to convey all those twists and turns life takes when we're not watching. She brings out the best and worst in her characters just when they want to be wallflowers. She puts the right words in their mouths when they are really needed. Then sometimes they're the wrong words. She makes her characters real. They get caught listening at doors and are embarrassed. People are talking behind their backs, and there's a good reason for it.

This is such a great book, I think it needs to end up on my favorites list. I will definitely read it again. I highly recommend this to you and to anyone who likes a good puzzle of emotions and family messes. Keep this book in mind when they start looking for the best books written in 2016. Proper Goodbye needs to be on all the lists of bests.

This book was provided in ebook format by Black Rose Writing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not being compensated in any way. All opinions are fully my own.
~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review