A magnificent story of two people who live miles apart but have met on an on-line forum. Both have life altering things occurring in their lives. This stories is still floating around in my mind. I feel as though I have actually met them. [a:Julie Lawson Timmer|7578272|Julie Lawson Timmer|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1388502366p2/7578272.jpg]'s debut novel is so well written and captured my heart from the first page. I so look forward to reading more from her.

Heart wrenching, but a book definitely worth reading! 4.5 stars

I received this book from Penguin First to Read in exchange for an honest review.

This isn't really my kind of book, about loss and pain, love and sacrifice, coping as best you can, life and death--it has a sense of looming sadness to it that no amount of hope for the future can entirely shake.

The book is told in two interweaving stories--connected by an online forum for adoptive and foster parents. Mara Nichols' life was going well--she loves her husband and daughter, loves her job, loves her life. But then she was diagnosed with Huntington's. It's been four years since then, and her decline has been rapid. Determined not to saddle her family with her failing body, or to be trapped in it herself, she has five days before she leaves them.

Scott Coffman is a teacher and Coach, who has been fostering the eight-year-old brother of one of his students, while the boys' mother serves a twelve month jail sentence. His pregnant wife is ready for their life to go back to normal, to prepare for their coming child, but Scott loves the boy so much his heart is breaking. He has five days to say goodbye before the mother comes to take back her child.

Both characters love fiercely, and make choices based on that desire to protect and care for those they love. The book counts down as the characters do, each day that is left to show that love--to make the most of life. And the characters try their best, bringing small moments of joy and happiness into life, leaving behind a sense that there will be happiness after the book ends, as well as sadness. Well-written, thoughtful, and touching, but still overwhelmingly too sad for me to really enjoy.

A boring book that came to a predictable end. I never felt the emotion to care for the characters.

I received this book from Penguin's first to read program.

This story is about Mara, a lawyer who is diagnosed with un-curable Disease, Huntington’s. She is married and a mother of a 5 year old child. Her husband is patient and doting, while her daughter who is not of age to understand why her mom is not like other mom’s, and is embarrassed by her mother’s illness. Mara makes the choice that she wants to be in control of her death and starts making a list of things she needs to prepare. She gives herself five days.
While in the midst of all this, Mara is involved with an online community, who are not aware of her disease, nor her plans of suicide. She has a friendship with a man by the name of Scott, who is a teacher and married to a wife that is expecting their child. They are foster parents to a young boy. The young boy’s biological mother is currently serving time in jail, and should be taking back custody of her child upon release. Just like with Mara, there is a 5 day time frame mentioned. There are 5 days until the biological mother’s release from jail. Scott has plans to celebrate the 5 days with the young boy before the mother’s release, due to an early release, the mother comes early and completely derails the plans Scott had.

I had a really hard time with this book, it evoked quite a lot of emotion and it’s one that really makes you think.

I lost my sister to Huntington's Disease when I was nineteen. There was so much truth in this story about what the disease does to a person. There were so many things I wondered if my sister thought of. She must have.

The people in these books are real. Flawed and diverse and all of them hurting and strong as they make their way through two very trying situations. There's Mara, who wants the chance to die with dignity before Huntington's takes that choice from her. She chooses a date, five days from the beginning of the novel.

Then there's Scott, who has been playing father to a troubled eight-year-old boy, due to go back to his mother in five days. What a sweetheart of a man.

Such great, great, great angst.

This is the best book I've read since Me Before You.... An amazing debut novel that will tear you apart and make you think. So looking forward to more from this author! This will definitely be my pick for book club when it's my turn to choose!

I read and enjoyed Julie Lawson Timmer's Untethered last year, and I had actually bought this book first. Unfortunately, I filed it away in the "sad books" category in my own head and was waiting for the "right time" to read it. Thank goodness I finally found the right time because I felt deeply connected to the two storylines.

Mara has been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, and Scott has spent the last year being the best foster parent ever. As I walked through Five Days with each of these characters and their families, I found myself repeatedly asking - what would I do in their shoes? This book would make the perfect book club read because there are so many points of discussion - foster families/adoption, degenerative illnesses and marriage, illnesses and families/parenting, and many others.

I'm hesitant with sad books. I'm skeptical because I've read many that end up feeling trite or even just too easy. There was never an easy or pat moment. The writing was raw at times. It was moving. It was engaging, and it was tender. It was honest and powerful, and I'm so grateful that I read it.

2017 Summer Vacation Book #9

This is a tough story. A mother, Mara, who is losing control of her life due to Huntington’s Disease and contemplating ending her life to save her husband and young daughter from having to see her digress more and more. Then there is Scott, a soon to be father who has taken temporary custody of a troubled young boy only to have to have return him to his mother soon. Neither of these topics are light and fluffy. This is a bold and thoughtful story that is honest in telling the story of these two people and their families. Julie Lawson Timmer is extremely talented in the care she takes in dealing with these tough topics.

I loved that there was two separate plot lines that were connected only through an anonymous on line support community. Although each character was fighting their own battle, their own way, they were strangely tied together. I was cheering for each one throughout the entire story. There were also many times I was in tears, scared for where the story was heading. This was a very emotional story.
I could not stop reading. I wish I had read this with my book club as I can already here the conversations that we would be having and the heated discussions that would happen. Five Days Left is not a book that I will forget about anytime soon.

A clear and clever structure to an extremely emotional read. As the countdown to these two people's last "Five Days" started, I felt myself becoming more and more invested in their and their loved ones' lives and barely managed to hold back the tears.
A good book for me to listen to whilst I'm in hospital having (partially prophylactic) surgery for a treatable cancer. It certainly makes me feel lucky that I'm not trying to live (or make a quick but dignified exit from) a hard life with an incurable disease such as Huntington's.
A bit of perspective for me at the right time.