I honestly cant think of anything good to say about this book, if I could give it lower than 1 star I would. It started out strong but quickly went downhill. The middle was ridiculously unbelievable and the end was practically non existant.It was ludacris for Ms. Leavitt to try to convince readers that a husband would get into a relationship with the woman who inadvertantly killed his wife a few short months after her death. The author also tried to get us to feel sorry for Isabelle but she became pathetic and selfish when Charlie put her on the back burner to tend to his sick son who saw his mother get hit by a car. I don't think any one of these characters lived "happily ever after" in an ending that never really showed up. Therefore, it is my opinion that this story was completely pointless and I wasted the 3 days it took me to struggle through this book when I should have been reading something worth reading.

On a foggy road, a collision occurs. Three people are impacted. Sam, Isabelle, and Charlie. Charlie and Sam, father and son, lost April in that tragic accident and Isabelle's car was the one who caused it, through no fault of her own. Charlie has so many questions. Why were April and Sam three hours away from home on that day? Why was April's car in the middle of the road, turned the wrong way? Why wasn't Sam in the car with her when the collision happened? Why was Sam even with April to begin with and not in school? As Charlie and Sam wrestle with their loss, Isabelle wrestles with being the visual for their loss. It wasn't her fault but everyone treats her like it was. And how is it that Isabelle and April, who live in the same town, ended up on the same road three hours away at the same time? In the months and years following the tragedy, all three try to put their lives back together and in doing so find one another.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect when I decided to move this book from my TBR to read. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the story, and characters, from the very beginning. I was also surprised at the lack of predictability in the plot. I really thought the story was going one way and when it didn't I was satisfied because real life doesn't always turn out the way the stories tell you it does. So this story ended on a more reality-based note and I appreciated that. I have several titles authored by Leavitt on my TBR and after reading this one, a first for me, I'm glad to give her other titles a try as well.

I'll be giving this 3.75 stars on Planet Books.

This book just didn't know when to quit

Great idea - but there were a lot of inconsistencies. I did like that she didnt try to make everything perfect in the end.

Pictures of You was a fine piece that really presented life in its most raw and unpredictable fashion. This book had momentum and teeth from the start. Leavitt clearly jumped right in.

It’s a story left behind by April who was killed in a car accident. As her husband and son later learned she was running away, they were left wondering why she was running away and so were we. It’s also a story of Isabelle, who unfortunately struck April that foggy day on the road and was left struggling to put the pieces of her life back together as she winds up discovering love and healing through the lives of those least expected. Both women running from their respective marriages. One was unhappy and unloved; the other was, I guess, unfulfilled.

Sam was the heartbeat of the story: a young boy with chronic, life-threatening asthma, who was dealing with the trauma of losing his mother, keeping the painful secrets of the accident, struggling to make sense of his new life alone with his grieving father, Charlie. Charlie’s suffering was multidimensional. He’s grieving April’s loss for himself and for Sam, while trying to come to terms knowing that April was leaving him… for reasons he will never know. Through it all, I believe that Charlie was the one to learn the most about life’s curveballs in the most bewildering way. He seemed to be such a happy man before April’s loss. Even so for a while after he moved on. Then from the knowledge of his deceased wife’s unhappiness and ultimate departure to the truth about his parent’s marriage to the experience of watching love walk away from him, he wound up being the most bitter at the end. He wounded Sam under the guise of protecting him, thus hurting them both.

In life after the loss of a loved one, we are left with our own memories and such provided by others. Leavitt conveyed April’s existence in this same manner. In the aftermath of the accident, we followed the analyses of their pasts and their self-discoveries toward the future. The only voice for April was through the backstories provided through Charlie and Sam. That, to me, was such an interesting tactic. Just as the characters of her life were left to speculate, so were we.

That’s what I enjoyed about this book: it simply resembled life. Its’ messy, unpredictable, unscripted, and beautiful moments. It is a poignant story that kept me engrossed until the end.

This book captured me and pulled me right in, then about 2/3 of the way in it change directions and became a new story, one that didn't fit the earlier story.

The book starts with two women independently running away from their lives. They meet on a foggy road 3 hours away from their home town (which oddly enough is the same). Their meeting is in the form of a car accident, one survives. She goes back to her hometown to pick up the pieces, subsequently befriending the deceased woman's husband and son. They build a relationship, it's here where the book takes the turn. Both stories were good, for me they just didn't mesh.

A 3.5 if ever there were one... I thought early on that I was going to hate this book, by the end, I was pleasantly surprised.

Excellent storytelling right from the first chapter. I was pulled into the story and cared about all of the major characters. There is great character development throughout the book without getting weighed down with unnecessary over-descriptive paragraphs and dialogue. I loved the not-wrapped-up-in-a-neat-little-bow ending; it's a risk that paid off (for me anyway). Highly recommend.

Wonderfully written and honest in a heartbreaking way.