Published by Avid Reader Press on July 7, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction
Rating:
Goodreads
Travis is Death in the modern world. He wears jeans and a T-shirt and lives in a small, grey town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life. He’s stoic, gentle, and a little naive, despite everything he knows. He’s young and handsome, despite who he is. Each death he witnesses is meaningful to him; he listens, never judges, and most importantly, never tries to change anyone’s fate. He knows that every life must eventually end to maintain the balance of the universe and he respects the cycle.
Then he meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter Layla, who live across the hall. As Dalia and Layla come to embrace Travis, it becomes more difficult to maintain the detachment that’s allowed him to function for so long. Their time together teaches him what’s truly important in life—and what might be irrevocably lost in death.
Written with radiant warmth, wisdom, and compassion, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is a timeless story about appreciating life, accepting its end, and finding our place in the universe—especially when it feels most impossible—that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost or worried at time’s passing.
When he comes for them, they recognize him as he ushers them from this life. Travis Smith had a job, and he did it with a degree of detachment. But then he befriends his young neighbor and their friendship changes him.
Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt..except this book! The book is basically about Death, someone who escorts people to their death, but Reeves really knew how to inflict some serious pain. There was a continuing story embedded with vignettes of people's last moments, and it was that main story that broke my heart.
I would say the ending was hopeful, but I shed so many tears on the way there. In essence, a lot of the capsule stories seemed to tell us that the time is now to live with no regrets because you never know when Travis Smith will come for you.
Published by Grand Central Publishing on July 28, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction
Rating:
Goodreads
She erased their past. He’s rewriting their future.
When Landon receives a letter from Rose—the woman he once planned forever with—he learns their love story is over. She’s undergone a radical memory-erasing treatment, leaving behind her grief, her past… and him. But Landon can’t bear to lose the love of his life. If she fell for him once, couldn’t she fall for him again?
Now living in Edinburgh, Rose’s world is a blank canvas, and she’s dating someone new. When Landon reenters her life as a stranger, they become fast friends, their lives entwining once more. But what Rose doesn’t know is that this new friend carries the weight of everything they once shared: their firsts, their marriage, and the heartbreak they barely survived. And when she starts exhibiting strange symptoms, it becomes clear their history isn’t gone—it’s just buried. And remembering could come at a devastating cost.
Told in alternating timelines—his from the present, hers from the past—The Good Parts is an achingly poignant story about the people we become across a lifetime, and the beauty of finding our way with what remains.
Well, now I am a snotty mess.
I have read several books where the characters have a means to forget their life and start anew. Every one of these stories left me wondering what I would be willing to leave behind. This one hit me hard because I thought Rose and Landon had so much worth holding on to. They suffered heartbreak, setbacks, and a tremendous loss, but in my heart, I felt like they could heal together. Their love story was a beautiful one. I must admit that I read those "then" chapters through a lens of knowing about the pill and their future, so it was all bittersweet.
This was a sort of sad story. There were moments of happiness and joy, but like I said, knowing what I knew about Rose set the tone. I also struggled a bit with her decision given her family history and knowing how it felt to be on the other side of being forgotten. Still, I was touched, my emotions were stirred, and I cannot refute how thought provoking this book was.
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