Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: After December
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo & Greg Boudreaux
PUBLISHER: GallagherWitt Publishing LLC
LENGTH: 12 hours and 39 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 2026?
BLURB:
May-December love is sweet… but December doesn’t last forever.
Tim Davis always knew he’d likely outlive his older husband. He just thought they’d have more time. He also never imagined that their final years together would revolve around a grueling and protracted battle with cancer. Eighteen months later, he’s still coming to terms with his loss and his new life. Where does he go from here?
Alex Ouellette is drowning in grief and survivor’s guilt, constantly reliving the moment his world stopped. Then a friend suggests that a change of scenery and the company of men who’ve been through similar losses could do him some good. Alex is dubious, but he agrees to go.
Neither man has high hopes for this widowers’ retreat. Grief and loneliness have been constant and unwelcome companions, though. At this point, they’ll try anything.
The last thing either anticipates when they get there? A powerful spark of attraction.
Friendship blooms. Then more. They bond over their grief, but also find joy, laughter, and a connection neither expected to ever feel again. As their broken worlds collide, both Tim and Alex finally have unexpected hope that there’s life after loss.
But grief’s dark clouds are never far behind, and the past could be the one thing standing in the way of a happy future.
REVIEW:
Tim and Alex meet at a grief retreat. They have both lost their husbands under very different circumstances. Despite help and working on dealing with their losses, they are still having difficulty and have ended up at the same retreat.
Tim’s husband was older and he always knew he’d likely end up being the one left behind, but the difficulty of dealing with caring for his husband’s long decline and hard journey with cancer have left him with PTSD. He’s doing therapy but he feels like he still has a long way to go.
Alex’s husband died in an accident where he was also injured. He’s not just grieving that loss, but he’s also dealing with survivor’s guilt too. He agrees to go to the retreat at the behest of well-meaning friends.
What neither Alex nor Tim expects is to feel an attraction. This is the first time either of them have felt anything like this since their losses. And while they are happy to know they aren’t “broken”, there is also a lot to unpack and deal with here. The biggest hurdle is the guilt in feeling like maybe they want to be with someone after losing their respective partners. There is so much to work through for both of them.
Wow! This is a long hard look at what working through grief looks like. It’s not linear. It doesn’t follow any paths. It moves from one stage to another, sometimes from one hour to the next. The guilt of potentially loving someone else is big. I will say the first half of the book was better for me than the last half. I think anyone who has been through loss will recognize the way these men feel. There is a lot about addressing pain and loss and also dealing with the intrusion of the expectations of others in how to deal with loss. This will feel familiar to so many. Honestly, it’s quite a hard story because this is a hard subject. If it wasn’t hard, well then this book would be very dishonest. I though the way both men handled their journeys – one step forward, two steps back at times – rang very true. As usual, this author doesn’t shy away from tough subjects, which makes it all the better when things eventually resolve and the future looks so much brighter.
Two my favorite narrators do a spectacular job with this audiobook. They are both masters of their craft and so experienced and performing these kinds of emotional stories – because make no mistake, this is a very emotional journey for everyone involved. There are so many ups and downs. So many hurdles to tackle here. I think the audio performances actually really enhanced this very long listen. Bravo to all involved in making this heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting and satisfying story come to life. Recommended.
RATING: 
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