Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“When I remember you, I wrap my arms around myself. I remember how brave I am to be here without you.”

Everyone knows grief and everyone knows how difficult it is to overcome. Laura Linn Knight’s When I Remember beautifully encapsulates the experience of moving through stages of grief in a way unlike I’ve ever encountered before. It really sticks with you. Such a talented writer, one who puts everything she knows into one helpful tool that is so visually pleasing you’ll be flicking through it regularly, even when you feel on top of your feelings. I’m so happy to be sharing my review of Soothing Stories for Grown-up Hearts: When I Remember.

About the book

Rediscover the magic of storytelling with these beautifully illustrated books for adults and teens—where mindfulness meets personal growth and every page is a step towards self-discovery!

This heartfelt book guides you on a poignant journey across the sea of grief, offering a soothing balm for anyone navigating the grieving process—supporting you in acknowledging your feelings, reflecting on the complex emotions associated with loss, and recognizing that you are never alone in your heartbreak.

From the crashing waves of sorrow to the gentle ripples of self-compassion, this innovative picture book, written specifically for adults and teenagers, invites you to visualize your emotions and offers proactive strategies to help you approach challenging feelings with resilience, patience, and intention.

My thoughts

Before I even start talking about the words, can we please discuss how completely and utterly beautiful this book is on the surface?! Even from just flicking through, it completely captures your attention. The stunning illustrations by Juan Pablo Cáceres, the pretty end papers. It’s something you’d feel really proud to have on your shelf. And my copy now has pride of place! ❤️

I really liked the selling point for this book, and other books in its series. It’s a book aimed at adults (and also teens), but one that encourages us to connect with our inner child, to rekindle the love of magic we all once had when we were young. It feels sad that as we age, we lose some, if not all of that magic. It’s also a book we can use as a tool to navigate the pain of grief and to soothe the parts of us that feel vulnerable. It felt like a completely original idea and as soon as my eyes landed on the beautiful illustrations and the equally beautiful words, that was it. I didn’t stop reading until the very end. It’s been a while since that happened to me!

I feel like this book came to me at the most perfect time. The last few years have tested our family and grief has played a part too many times. We’re still grieving (I’m not really sure anyone ever stops, do they?) but we have learned to manage and deal with it in our own way. And as I started reading Laura’s poetic and breathtakingly beautiful words describing thoughts and feelings, I felt as though she could really see me. She understood. And she could explain how grief feels better than I ever could.

“When I remember you, my eyes glaze over with tears.

My heart feels heavy and loud. The world around me gets fuzzy.

I feel unanchored, diving in an ocean of pain and uncertainty.”

I’m not ashamed to admit that I shed some tears. Not only because of how moving Laura’s words were, but because they made me remember. They took me back to a specific moment. They reminded me of the people we’ve lost who we wish, more than anything, were still here with us. They weren’t only tears of sadness, but also the happy tears of remembering beautiful memories. I feel that tears are a release – happy tears, sad tears, overwhelmed tears, angry tears. It isn’t healthy to keep them bottled up inside. Now I’m rambling… back to the book!

Aside from Laura’s poetic exploration of grief and overcoming those feelings, she highlights the different tools for healing from grief, including awareness, support networks, journaling, mindfulness and self care. These sections of the book were so in depth and provided so much new information for me, so much I didn’t know. I’ve always attempted to tackle grief in whatever ways I can, but I’ve already started putting some of these new tools into place to organise my head. Building my support network is one of the things I really need to work on. Too often I keep things inside and try to deal with feelings on my own. Reading the ways these tools can help felt like a breath of fresh air. I also felt like they gave me the knowledge to help other people manage and overcome their own grief.

A must read for anyone going through grief or those whose loved ones need support and guidance through their own grief. I loved every word!

Soothing Stories for Grown-up Hearts: When I Remember is out now, available on Amazon. Make sure you’re following the author over on Instagram for more updates. You can read my author Q & A with Laura Linn Knight here!

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