The Days I Loved You Most

February 1, 2024

Acquired with a six-figure preempt as a lead title for the season, Neff's debut receives a 200K-copy first printing. Childhood sweethearts spent many summers at neighboring New England beach homes. Sixty years later, they tell their grown children that they'll be ending their lives in a year due to a tragic diagnosis. Prepub Alert.

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Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2024
Joseph and Evelyn, inseparable since their earliest memories, have shared a lifetime of companionship. They went from childhood playmates to devoted spouses, and they've weathered life's storms together in the quaint seaside town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Their love story has unfolded within the walls of the Oyster Shell Inn, a place Joseph inherited from his parents and where they've cherished countless moments. Now, in their twilight years, a fatal diagnosis has their love story ending. But not without a final hurrah and a plan: one final year together. They've decided to end their lives after a final year to savor their life and loved ones before illness and grief can claim them. Their children, taken aback by this decision, grapple with how to honor their parents' wishes while urging them to reconsider. As the story weaves between the past and the present, the reader witnesses the heartaches and triumphs of their long, intertwined lives. This bittersweet tale, both heartbreaking and heartfelt, will leave even the most stoic reader with tears in their eyes.

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July 15, 2024
Neff debuts with a moving story of love and mortality centered on an octogenarian couple’s decision to end their lives. Evelyn and Joseph have spent decades running a bed-and-breakfast in the Connecticut beach town where they fell in love back in the 1940s. Now it’s summer 2001, and they’ve invited their three children home to share upsetting news: Evelyn has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and the couple plan to die by suicide together one year from now, before the disease overtakes her. The children object, preferring to have more time with their parents, and emotions run high during the visit. Old wounds open for Jane, the oldest, who ran away as a teen in the ’70s after a misunderstanding with her mother (the complex and twisty subplot involves a love triangle with a college-age employee at the bed-and-breakfast). Thomas, the middle child, has been facing fertility issues with his wife, and worries his parents will never have a chance to see his family grow; while Violet, who’s remained close to her parents and lives nearby, immediately begins to mourn them. Poignant revelations and dramatic turns ensue as the narrative alternates between the couple’s attempt to celebrate their lives over their last year and the story of their love’s origins during WWII, when Joseph served with Evelyn’s brother, who died in combat. Fans of The Notebook will gobble this up.

July 1, 2024

DEBUT Neff's first novel, featuring five generations operating a family-run inn on Long Island Sound, is a candid romantic saga highlighting the impact of national events (World War II, the Kennedy assassination, the first moon walk, 9/11) on the family and the inn's guests. Innkeepers Joseph and Evelyn, childhood friends, are now a long-married couple in their 70s. When Evelyn is diagnosed with stage-two Parkinson's, the couple announces their pact to die with dignity and end their lives, together, in one year. The plan is to have one last good year of memories and celebrations. The plot unfolds with glimpses of Joseph and Evelyn's young love and family struggles as they lived then through history and now must adapt to illness and aging. The story also reveals Evelyn's dream to tour the world as a concert pianist, a goal she deferred to become an innkeeper's wife. VERDICT With many recent novels focusing on the pandemic, Neff's is a reminder of the historical events that stunned Americans and uprooted daily life prior to 2020. Recommended for women's fiction discussion groups.--Joyce Sparrow

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.