I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye: Surviving, Coping and Healing After the Sudden Death of a Loved One (A Compassionate Grief Recovery Book)

My mom passed away within weeks of getting sick with a mysterious illness. This book helped me process some of my grief. Written like you are sharing a friends story, it is relatable. It is a good tool for those supporting friends in grief as well as those grieving. I often called my mom on the way home from work, and I needed something to fill that empty space. I bought this in audio and listened to it on my way to work and home. I liked it so much I bought two hard copies for my library and to borrow out.

I was gifted this book when I lost my husband suddenly 10 years ago. It was so helpful to me and made me feel like I wasn't alone in my journey. Since then, I have gifted it to others as well. I will tell you, you will get to a better place "in time" but in your time not anyone else's. And this book truly helped me to understand the steps of grief and to be kind to myself.

Everyone will benefit from reading this! Our society doesn’t discuss grief and we tend to ignore it but we all will lose something or someone we love. This book applies to grief in general and not just sudden loss of something. Highly recommended! And it’s a super easy read.

I found this book to be excellent. While I appreciate that this book addresses parents that lose children, other family members, and close friends, I would like more information directed towards widows & widowers. Because I still have many more questions they didn't address. It's too bad there aren't separate books for different relationships. I lost my husband to Covid complications from a massive heart attack and he was gone in just a few minutes. I never got to say goodbye because I was on the phone with 911. I'm devastated and know that it's going to take many years to recover from his death, if ever. This book helped me to understand that what I'm feeling inside is right on track and normal. There's days where I just cry all day and other days I'm so angry that God took him far too early and suddenly. None of my friends understand what I'm going through because their spouses are still alive. I feel pretty much alone. And I shy away from them because they don't understand. I tend to snap at them because they ask such stupid questions and try to mind my business. I just want them to go away. And I don't understand why our country doesn't have some sort of support organization for all us widows that are losing our homes and everything we've worked for our entire lives because our spouse died from Covid complications. I'm pretty positive that the Covid vaccine caused my husband's death!! After the vaccine he could hardly breathe and he died the next day after his second vaccine. He definitely had a severe reaction to the vaccine and the ER doctor didn't realize it. This book is good, but I feel they tried to cover all the relationship bases so no one category got enough detail information.

I have recommended this book to family and friends that have lost someone. This is a must buy!

This book saved my sanity, maybe even my life, after the sudden, unexpected death of the love of my life 12 days before Christmas several years ago. It was what I’d grab in the middle of the night when I’d wake up, or couldn’t sleep. It validated me when I couldn’t take my Christmas decorations down until August. It gave me the resources needed for my co-workers to know what to say and, more-importantly, what NOT to say when I returned to work in January. It taught me how to treat myself. It helped me feel the feelings, learn from them, and love them, even though they hurt. I cannot say enough good things about this book and its companion workbook. Sadly, I’ve given at least 20 copies away in the last seven and a half years - I feel like it is one of the best things I can do in those immediate moments after someone has lost their loved one. I am grateful to the authors - beyond grateful actually. They saved me.

I downloaded an e-book to read it first before giving the paperback books to two friends (one lost a husband and the other lost her sister and brother-in-law) who had experienced sudden deaths recently. I especially liked that it covered a number of different losses relating to losses of friends, parents, children, partners, siblings, fallen heroes, suicide, multiple deaths and other unique challenges. It also provides a list of other resources and support for those that are grieving. Of particular interest in the book are suggestions for coping and learning to get through day to day life and difficult meaningful days such as birthdays, special anniversaries, weddings, holidays, etc. I lost a good friend of many years suddenly in 2012 and had I known about the book at that time, I believe it would have been extremely beneficial in helping me cope with her loss. But even in reading the book one and a half years later, I felt it was beneficial to me. As a Hospice volunteer I occasionally add various grief books to my library. Although those patients and families connected with Hospice hopefully are able to prepare for death (to some degree), this book would be good just for the resources, support and coping methods listed. This is definitely a book I have added to my library for future reference. I don't know if it would be as helpful getting it right after the death occurs or as a gift a few weeks after everyone has gone back to their normal lives and the person(s) experiencing the death is left to fend on their own.

It was a good read but not what I had expected

This book has really helped. My husband passed away suddenly and even though I have lost parents in the past a sudden death is a totally different kind of bereavement. The two people who have written the book have been through a loss and you get their experiences and ways to get though the early days. If you are looking for a book to act as a satnav when sudden loss blows up your life this book is for you. It is helpful because it lets you know that the feelings you have, they have had, you aren't going mad, its par for the course. Helpful section on what you need to do if you have never faced a loss before and need to know who you have to notify and when. Helpful section to copy out for friends and neighbours who may/may not like to disturb you. So you can let people know what you need and don't want. eg: Bring food and don't ask how I'm feeling etc. There is advice on organisations that could help you and options for herbal and Bach remedies if you don't want to get stuck on prescription medications. This book is like a good companion, that comes and sits with you in your darkest days, lets you cry, gives you tips on things that help and is just THERE when no one else is. There is enough from the authors about their experiences for you to associate with and can recognise what may be happening to you, without been too much and making you feel worse. I also recommend the book: Grieving Mindfully: A Compassionate And Spiritual Guide To Coping With Loss which has lots of practical ways of getting through the pain and easing it where possible. It helps you look at things in a different way, which really helps. These two books have taught me its not something you can get over, around or avoid, you have to get through it, but you don't have to do it alone, take these two books with you on your journey through grief, they are very good companions. This book is also helpful as it covers not just the loss of immediate partners but also other relationships too, the loss of a child, parent, sibling, close relative and also those lost to suicide or violent death. So it is a good companion for a wide range of situations. If you are needing this book, I am sorry for your loss and hope this book helps you as it is helping me. May you find peace again one day, until you do, take one day at a time, or 10 minutes at a time, listen to your body and REST you need it. This book is also useful for those helping another through a sudden bereavement.

Best book I’ve ever read on sudden unexpected loss. Highly recommend! This book helped me to realize what I was feeling was normal. I bought this book for a gift for someone in hopes it would help her like it helped me.

this book was for a friend who was struggling to cope with recent loss.Obviously I read some of the book before I passed it on(I too have suffered a loss)I. only wish I had had this book to hand when I was having such a sad time.Very informative and covers all different aspects of how to cope.Also coves grief in different circumstances-for example -loss of child.mother.father,brother sister ect.I would certainly recommend this to people who are struggling with a loss.

There are parts of this book that can help anyone that is grieving. If you take the bits that are relevant to you and keep the rest in your mind for perspective it will really help you through a difficult time.