Evelyn and Joseph have the perfect love story. Childhood friends, married for 60 years. They have the perfect marriage and can’t bear the idea of living without each other.

As their family comes to terms with their decision to live one last year, we discover their true story. Truss novel covers some of the major global events of the 20th and 21st century and the effects they have on the family in their corner of New England.
Beautifully written, heartbreaking a brilliant read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy to review.

Evelyn and Joseph have been married for nearly 60yrs when Evelyn is diagnosed with a life changing illness and she wants to end her life before she can`t control her life or illness. Joseph can`t live without her so they make a pact to end life together in a years time, so they get the family together to tell them.
The story is set in the present and past and is very emotional for everyone to try and accept the future plans while Evelyn and Joseph live life to the full before the year is up.
You definitely need tissues for the ending.
Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review

I knew what I was getting into with this book and I wasnt disappointed, but god it hurt. It was a beautiful journey of Evelyn and joseph’s life. We get to read the ups, downs, the turmoil, sickness and health, we get to experience first love, the first child born our of that love and how it grows and divides throughout the story.

The flashbacks to the past and the current were done so well, this book will stay with me a long long time.

A true relationship, flaws and imperfections. The good bad and the pain. Childhood to terminal illness and a pact.
This book made me cry and smile. Absolutely loved this book

Three generations of a family are thrown into turmoil when the elderly parents throw something unexpected into the works. We are shown the reactions of the family members and also via flashbacks how the parents came to be the family they now are. I really expected this book to be right up my street. However, I really didn't take to any of the characters. They all seemed very selfish and self centred. I also found the constant jumping about the timeline and narrator a little confusing. This said I did finish the book which got easier to negotiate as it moved on and the ending was amazing! I had the tissues out and needed them. If like me you're not sure at first, persevere and this book will come together for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This book starts with Joseph and Evelyn telling their grown up children that due to Evelyn's illness in a year's time both will end their lives together. The book then swings back to when they first met as children, got married and the events that formed their marriage and their lives. It follows them through the ups and downs of a 60 year relationship. I absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend it.

"Well, if you're so smart, what do you want to be?"
"Yours."

A love story that spans over 60 years and deals with the ups and downs of all that comes from being imperfectly in love.

This novel deals with love, family, and loss and the process of grieving someone still alive. It also poses the interesting question - one that my wife and I have discussed at length before - what would you do if you knew you'd forget everyone you love? Would you want to live like that? Would you take matters into your own hands? And how would your family feel about your decision?

I really enjoyed the realism of the relationships in this book. Whether that be romantic, familial or platonic, I found them to be incredibly gripping and the author managed to convey the hard times as effectively as the good ones.

One thing that didn't quite hit home with me was that at times Evelyn in the past didn't seem to feel as strongly as Joseph and when she planned to leave him and never told him the truth about it... it just seemed odd, especially for her to leave her babies behind as well.

But, all in all this was a solid read. I enjoyed almost all aspects and especially liked that Maelynn had a female partner. Gotta love the LGBT representation, especially based in history.

It has been an incredible, beautiful life together. I couldn't have asked for more."

The Days I Loved You Most is a powerful family drama rotating around the most beautiful Tale of enduring romantic love. I just didn't want it to end. I think it would make a fabulous film in the way The Notebook is, just wonderful.
My thanks to Netgalle and the publishers for my early copy in return for an honest review, I thoroughly recommend this book.

The Days I Loved You most is a heartbreakingly beautifully written book that had me in tears. Amy Neff captures the lifetimes love story between Evelyn and Josephs’ life just perfectly and shows us the beauty in even the mundane moments of life and building a family, This book will have you thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading it.

This is a story of true love which spans 60 years.
Evelyn and Joseph have been soul mates all their adult lives and when Evelyn receives a terminal illness diagnosis, they make a pact to leave this life at the same time.
We are then told the story of their love and their family in flashback chapters.
A beautiful story.

This book is a testament to a love that has lasted 60 years - when one of the couple receives a terminal diagnosis the oher decides he cannot live without her and so they will take their own lives on a prescribed day. a year in the future. The book then describes the reactions from their children and how the relationships play out over the course of the next year. It was beautifully written and the love between the two main characters is almost palpable. A great love story for the ages.

I'm not sure if I read this book at the right time or if it just wasn't for me.

On paper, this is my perfect kind of book.

This book spans from World War II all the way through to 2002 and is about enduring love and family. Evelyn and Joseph have been married for more than sixty years, and following Evelyn's diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, they decide to live out their final year before ending their lives together. This book is about their relationship through the decades, the lives of their children, and how they are dealing with this decision.

The premise was perfect, and the writing was beautiful, with some really lovely lines written by Neff, and I loved that we had an interchanging timeline that explored numerous historical events from the war to the moon landing, and 9/11.

But the characters fell a little flat to me. This has all the potential to be a heart-wrenching story, but connection to the characters was sadly just surface level, with some plotlines and character feelings remaining unresolved by the end of the story. I felt like a lot of time things were told rather than shown, and I just wished I felt more for both Evelyn, Joseph and their children, and I just didn't which for me, was so important given the subject matter and the promise of the story.

Maybe my review is a little unreliable as I was in a reading slump while trying to get through this book, but it just didn't live up to what I thought it was going to deliver. This book was simply just okay for me.

3 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC copy of this book.

The Days I’d Love You Most by Amy Neff is a really enjoyable read that I would recommend as a great summer read. It follows the lives of Joseph and Evelyn from their shared childhood and teenage years to the present day when they are in their 70s.
I really enjoyed the structure of the story and the use the flashback chapters to build the past of the couple. I also liked all of the characters - their children and grandchildren.
A must read for anyone who loves a family saga!

What a stunning debut novel! I have to say that for the first few pages I was doubtful; but I persevered and was soon absorbed. In fact, I was quickly hooked and found the characters and their situation filling my mind on and off during the days of my reading. And they have continued to do so, with the emotions and deep questions the book raises.
An elderly married couple decide that after many years of marriage, the terminal illness of the wife means that they have decided to end their lives together, after one final year of celebrations. They call the family together to tell them, and the impact upon their adult children and young grandchildren is shocking and strong.
The book tells the story of the many years of being together, from childhood through the war and into adulthood and marriage. This is interspersed with moments of updates as to how the year of celebration is progressing, and how the decision to end their lives together is impacting both their marriage and their individual thoughts. As a reader, I was constantly wondering whether they will go ahead with the plan - or not. I won't spoil the ending, but it had me in tears.
This is a beautifully written book, with excellent plot and well crafted. It's a reflection on grief, on family life, above all on death and mortality. Set on the shores of Connecticut, it pulls the reader into the glories of the countryside, into the deep emotions of love, death and family life, and asks how we will each prepare for our own deaths, whether we know the date or not. And it asks the big question: how to be content with the life you have, not the life you thought you wanted. Read with hankie to hand.

Thanks to NEtgalley and the publishers for the ARC copy of the book.

This has to be one of the most beautiful and emotional debuts I have ever read. From the title of the book you know what you are letting yourself in for but it doesn’t prepare you for the wonderful insight into the characters.

Evelyn and Joseph are teenage sweethearts and have always loved each other. This books gives a wonderful insight into their lives which are far from perfect but they love each other throughout despite deep loss, the hardship of early parenthood and to the present day and a debilitating diagnosis and beyond. The book flips forwards and backwards and is split with some chapters being from Evelyn’s point of view and some from Joseph’s.

I cannot write any more as I don’t want to ruin the emotions that even the readers with hearts of stone (and I am usually one) will melt and soften a little at the authors descriptions of this love story.

What an amazing book, to say that it pulls at the heart strings is a total understatement. Beautifully written and wonderful characters. The story will stay with me for a long time.

This book was heartbreaking. What a gut wrenching way to tell a love story, a life story, through the eyes of someone who is nearing the end of theirs.

What's funny is that throughout the story, the children fixate on how perfect their parent's marriage was, how much they loved each other, how fairy-tale like their lives together were. And then we get to Evelyn and Joseph's perspectives, and their love story is shockingly...normal. Their lives were filled with ups and downs and all of the difficult moments of marriage, the fights and the stressors, the shared grief over losing loved ones, and the moments of uncertainty. It was refreshing to read a book, a love story, that shows how a "great love" still takes place in and is affected by real life.

I also liked that the children's' POVs were included, and that their feelings on Evelyn & Joseph's decisions were fully explored.

Did I agree with Evelyn and Joseph's big decision? Not particularly. And that frustrated me as I was reading. I agreed with the kids the entire time. I also wish that the author had immersed us a little more into the time period that E&J passed through as they were thinking back on their lives together. With the exception of the war when Joseph & Tommy enlisted, everything could've taken place in 1950 or 1990 and I wouldn't have noticed much of a difference.

Overall a lovely book and simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking.

I really enjoyed this book, even though I found it hard at times to remember all the characters. It's a heartbreaking story, but one that is filled with love. The obstacles life puts in front of us make for an interesting and fluent read. The only thing I found a bit tricky was the fact that the writing style was the exact same throughout the book. I'm guessing people in their seventies use different vocabulary and have some different ideas on life than let's say someone in their twenties. So overall really nice read that might have caused some tears towards the end.

What a beautiful read. Joseph and Evelyn have been together since they were teenagers raised three children and had grandchildren but when Evelyn becomes ill they make a pact that they will never live without each other.. The story is so poignant and beautifully written full of warmth and charm but you will need tissues, the ending is perfect and the family they have created together all gel perfectly.A 5 ⭐read and a fantastic debut novel

I absolutely adored this book, it brought waves of emotions during this book. I would definitely recommend this book and for book clubs