Before I'm Gone

New York Times bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin tells a poignant story about living life to the fullest--and savoring the small moments along the way.

Palmer Sinclair has never needed anyone's help. A successful loan officer, she's all work and no play. But when splitting headaches and blurred vision begin to affect her job, she begrudgingly sees a doctor and receives a diagnosis that leaves her shaken to her core and with little time left. Facing an uncertain future, Palmer makes a bucket list, determined to do the things she'd only dreamed of before she goes.

Kent Wagner has dedicated his life to helping others. An army medic turned paramedic, he's a regular at Palmer's bank who makes his monthly car loan payments in person just to see her radiant smile. After responding to not one but two 911 calls involving Palmer, he learns about her bucket list. Touched by her circumstances--and needing a distraction from his own--Kent offers to take Palmer to the places on her list.

Neither is prepared for the emotional journey ahead...or how little time they have left together, but the friendship they find in that brief time might be the most lasting legacy of all.

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367 pages

Average rating: 5.67

3 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Jan 07, 2025
6/10 stars
There were some pieces of the book that I enjoyed. Some of the descriptions and observations were good and the balance between death and life is always a plot line I’ll gravitate towards. However, a lot of the writing felt both predictable and repetitive (especially stylistically as there was minimal sentence structure variation) and lacked the true anguish and conflict that people feel when they deal with a diagnosis like this. I think it needed a little bit of a deeper dive into those emotions prior to the bucket list angle happening. It didn’t feel like when I’ve lost people to short terminal illnesses or memoirs I’ve read on the topic. The connection between the two main characters also felt a bit forced and exploitative on the part of Kent and is even commented on by Palmer in passing.

I can appreciate what the author was trying to do and I do think people who enjoy simpler, easy to read books with a sad angle would be happy reading this as there’s nothing wrong with the book technically. It just doesn’t break out into anything exceptional either.
Ani84
Oct 10, 2024
7/10 stars
Kent is my dream guy.

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