This book was a real surprise to me though ultimately very enjoyable. I had not realised it would be a book about end of life care. It did have some very amusing moments but was very gut wrenching at times. The main character was quite unsympathetic in her behaviour and her children didn’t feel entirely real with their endless understanding.

Ash’s world is falling apart, her best friend of over forty years is dying from terminal cancer. How do you cope with such news? Well for Ash, there’s only one thing to do, reshape her world around Edi’s care and squeeze out every single second of joy before the awful inevitable happens.

I’m very torn about this book. There was a lot I enjoyed; their friendship between Ash and Edi was well constructed and felt authentic. However, it took me a while to warm to Ash and sometimes I found her frustrating as she was quite destructive with her choices. Although I understand this was her way of navigating the situation, it came across a little self-indulgent and over the top.

I also found the premise a little unusual, that Edi’s care was take away from her family and moved to a care home near her best friend three hours away. I just couldn’t get my head around her loving husband being okay with this.

That being said, I enjoyed the cast of characters and I was engaged throughout. What felt real to me was the emotions involved, the painful, messy, erratic, unexplainable sides of grief.

However, the book could have just been heartbreakingly sad, but what we get is a book that is heartbreakingly sad, but is also funny, poignant and memorable; unexpectedly, I found myself thinking about Ash and Edi long after I’ve finished the book.

A good read, but not without its flaws.

This book made me think, it opened my eyes to the pain of someone who is dying from cancer. There was so much about the detail that I did not know.

But I did not understand how Edi’s husband would just hand over the support to Ash, his wife’s best friend rather than spending the last precious few weeks with his wife. I struggled with his and it affected how I then enjoyed the book.

All in all, a good read, I would rate it 3 stars.

Not too sure how I feel about this book. I thoroughly disliked the way it was set up and I would hate if Ash was a friend of mine. I tend to like most books I read, so it is unusual for me to take a strong reaction to one, but still appreciate it is well written and a lot of it was quite enjoyable.
It is Ash's story really and her life. Her friend is dying in a hospice and she's back and forth to Edi. We see and learn a lot about hospice activity and I loved the detail (eg on what was in the fridge, that there was a laundry room). What I found hard to believe was that Edi's husband left Ash to look after Edi, rather than spend time with his wife. And in the space of 3 weeks, Ash slept with 3 different people, including Edi's hospice doctor! I would like to read this story from Edi's perspective, and perhaps Jude too.
Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the ARC.

What can I say? It’s a joy from start to finish. So warm, compassionate, moving and very very funny. I wanted to be friends with both of them and learn from them how to live like they did.

Unfortunately I really didn’t enjoy this book and gave up half way through. Sorry if this means someone who would have enjoyed it missed out

There was quite a lot going on here, but it was handled well. There's much to say here about loss, about joy and about relationships, and it's said well. It's really funny, it has excellent cultural references that resonated with me, and it will make you hug your friends really tight.

Oh my. What a book. I absolutely loved this. Here, Newman manages to tell a story laced with humour and pathos, which is no mean feat. Ash is looking after best friend Edi who is in a hospice receiving palliative care for terminal cancer. The premise is grim - but Newman executes this story in such a beautiful way, it is a perfect example of a tragi-comic novel that should be read by everyone. The only criticism I have is the choice of names: Jonah, Jules, Honey etc. There are too many gender-neutral names (and more beginning with 'J'!) which, in a short-ish novel, makes it tricky to follow, at times. This, however, is a minor point - the story, the plot, the succinct and skilled writing style makes up for such little weaknesses.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this novel.

I, unfortunately, missed the archive date so was unable to download this before being archived. I would happily review it if it became available again. I have given stars due to the book cover being eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a more beautiful friendship. The relationship between them was so pure, and I really felt like I was grieving for their friendship along with ash, before it was over. This is a true reflection of love and loss and all that comes with it. The mother daughter relationship was also really fun and I loved belle as a character. I did feel like the ending with ash and honey, although nice, was maybe a bit forced.

Edi and Ash have been best friends for over 40 years but everything is about to come crashing down, as Edi enters her final stages of terminal cancer. She spends her last days in a hospice with a colourful cast of characters, reminiscing about the life that she and Ash have built together and remembering the best things about living.

I was moved by the final chapters of this book but I couldn't get past my intense dislike of Ash. I understand that her erratic, strange behaviour in this book was a direct result of her grief but I couldn't grasp her motivations at all. I also couldn't understand why Edi chose to spend her final weeks in a hospice away from her husband and son. Was this supposed to illustrate the strength of her friendship with Ash? Does it really surpass everything that she has built with her very lovely husband Jude and only son Dash?

There were also three different characters with not very dissimilar J names (Jude, Jules and Jonah) names and I kept getting them confused. This may also have been in part to there being many characters and not a lot of difference in their voices.

There was also some dismissal of eating disorders as something that was experimented with (what?) and I detected a hint of judgement for Ash's younger daughter Belle's non-binary friend Scriv, referred to by Ash as Belle's 'theyfriend'.

It's a shame because I liked the sentiment of the book and I thought it had a lot to say about intense grief and heartbreak. However, Ash was horrendous and some lines made me curl up and cringe.

Really enjoyable book.
It tells the story of Edi and Ash who have been best friends since childhood. When Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer and moves to hospice care we follow them and their families as they come to terms with what is happening to Edi. It’s both poignant but also funny.
Highly recommended.

A quirky and joyful novel about the saddest moment. And yet it is full of love and happiness. Highly recommended.

The story centers around two lifelong best friends - Ash and Edi. Edi has terminal cancer, and is spending her final days in a hospice close to Ash. I still can't quite grasp choosing to leave your husband and child behind to move to a hospice miles away, closer to your best friend, but each to their own. It's a emotional story of death and bereavement, but I didn't warm to Ash, which made this a difficult read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

The main character Ashley is caring for her lifelong friend Edie, who is in a hospice dying from ovarian cancer.
I expected a heartwarming book about care, love and friendship instead it was a book all about Ashley who the more I read about the more I disliked her. She spends most of her time sleeping with different men, including her best friends cancer doctor and her best friends brother whilst at the same time trying to sleep with her ex husband. She is often having sex at home when her teenage daughter walks in on her.
I also couldn't believe that Edie would choose to leave her husband and child to go to a hospice miles away from them but close to Ashley.
In summary this book definitely wasn't for me.
Thanks to netgalley for this advance read.

A fantastically moving, quirky story of what its like to lose your best friend and making the most of the time you have together. Edi has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and Ash has taken to caring for her whilst she is in hospice. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine', which made me pick up this book and I'm so glad I did. It is within this very close-knit group of friends and family that you experience the multi-facets of grief through the eyes of Ash, from the grieving for the person they were, enjoying the person they are now and savouring that time together, to that eventual loss.

Deep breaths. “Hospice is a complicated place to pass the time because you are kind of officially dying,” says food writer Ash: she finds herself passing time in her local hospice with her very best and dearest friend, Edi, who is the one officially dying from ovarian cancer, having been given weeks to live by her doctors in Manhattan. Unable to find hospice care in the city for Edi, Ash – based in Western Massachusetts, the country mouse to Edi’s town mouse – suggests the nearby Graceful Shepherd Hospice, so Edi says a final goodbye to her husband Jude and young son Dash, and moves into the ‘Shapely’ for her final days. Having grown up together in New York, the two women share a lifetime of experiences: one’s memory is the ‘back up hard drive’ for the other, and the tragedy of losing that is just one of the unbearable cruelties dealt out by Edi’s cancer. Ash leans on her own support network, containing Edi’s older brother Jonah, who Ash is finally sleeping with after a life-long crush: Ash’s own beautiful daughters Jules and Belle, her good and kind husband Honey, from whom Ash is separated-but-not-quite, plus cats Jelly and Thumper: together the group enter that surreal otherworldly state you slip into when you know someone is about to leave, for good, and all the noise and clutter just falls by the wayside: “between the Twilight Zone and some other fuckery”, as Edi’s other friend Alice puts it. Their days revolve around visits to the Shapely and Edi’s rhythms: they buy watermelon and magazines, and track down elusive cakes from Edi’s past, all the while preparing themselves for their dear friend’s evental death, and an unbelievable future that they must move into without her. But at no point does the book tip into overly-sugared sentimentality: like the process of dying, it’s bluntly hilarious – we learn about Ash and Edi’s past escapades, and the slowly expanding cast of characters who Ash is (potentially inappropriately) sleeping with, and more everyday comedy as the tale draws nearer to the inevitable conclusion which hangs over this stunning book: there will be no miracle cure, Edi will not rise from the bed with rosy cheeks and the doctors won’t marvel: it is terrible and awful and yet the most simple and real, everyday occurrence “... the most basic fact about human life – tied with birth, I guess,” Ash says, “but it’s so startling. Everyone dies, and yet it’s unendurable. There is so much love inside of us.” The women’s friendship is depicted in such beautiful and real prose that you hold your breath while reading for fear you’ll be noticed in the room while they talk, and hold hands, and love each other so fiercely – and yet a paragraph on from a tiny moment of unbearable grief, you’ll be laughing at a side observation from one of Edi’s brilliant friends. This is an extraordinary, stunning, truly heartbreaking book, which will make you cry ugly tears, laugh with your whole heart, and hug your most precious friends.

Edi and Ash are lifelong friends who have witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly about each other. When Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Ash pledges to be there for Edi. A very moving portrayal of unconditional love, living with cancer and facing life without your soul mate. Beautifully written, straight from the heart.

This was a great read. It was also an emotional story as it is set in a hospice. It was a heartwarming story about all the things she did for the residents. It was well written and interesting. The characters were quirky and realistic. I enjoyed the storyline, but it didn't fully hold my attention throughout. I rated this book 3.5 stars rounded up as it was better than an average book. It is quite a short story at less than 200 pages. So great for a quick read. I personally think that it might have been better as a longer book. The start and ending were very good, but the middle just went a bit astray. This book brought out some emotions from me, which is always good. If you are unsure if you would like it, just read a sample to see if it is the perfect fit for you.

Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating an emotional and heartwarming book.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/we-all-want-impossible-things-by-catherine-newman-random-house-3-5-stars under ladyreading365

Liked the concept but sadly this wasn't a book for me - don't know if too close to current life events or just me generally. Liked the writing style but did not finish the book.