What do you think?
Rate this book
In Jake's Shoes: A Father's Journey Through Loss and Redemption
A Father's Journey Through Loss and Redemption
An Army officer knocks on the door only a few days before Christmas-and a family's world quietly unravels.
When Marshall Gatlin retreats to his dusty attic in search of solace, he stumbles upon an old notebook tucked inside a forgotten box. Written by his son Jake at the age of eleven, the letters inside are addressed to a deceased grandmother...but their words are very much alive.
As Marshall turns each fragile page, he's drawn into the tender, whimsical, and often rebellious world of a boy wrestling with friendship, grief, and the quiet mysteries of growing up. With every letter, Marshall begins to uncover a side of Jake he never knew.
Both heartbreaking and inspirational, In Jake's Shoes is a tale of discovery, loss, and the strange, mysterious ways that love leaves its mark. Prompting readers to reflect on their own family dynamics, it will spark conversations about love, loss, and the words left unspoken.
An Army officer knocks on the door only a few days before Christmas-and a family's world quietly unravels.
When Marshall Gatlin retreats to his dusty attic in search of solace, he stumbles upon an old notebook tucked inside a forgotten box. Written by his son Jake at the age of eleven, the letters inside are addressed to a deceased grandmother...but their words are very much alive.
As Marshall turns each fragile page, he's drawn into the tender, whimsical, and often rebellious world of a boy wrestling with friendship, grief, and the quiet mysteries of growing up. With every letter, Marshall begins to uncover a side of Jake he never knew.
Both heartbreaking and inspirational, In Jake's Shoes is a tale of discovery, loss, and the strange, mysterious ways that love leaves its mark. Prompting readers to reflect on their own family dynamics, it will spark conversations about love, loss, and the words left unspoken.
- GenresFiction
345 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 9, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 1, 2026
BLURB:
Jake Gatlin is a young soldier whose death just before Christmas devastates his family. After the funeral, his father Marshall finds letters Jake wrote to his late grandmother as a child, uncovering hidden truths about his son while confronting his own grief and regrets.
REVIEW:
If you enjoy literary family dramas, stories with epistolary narrative elements, or emotional stories about loss, regret, and redemption, you need to add this book to your list! The story is set in a small Southern town around Christmas 2004, but the epistolary narrative details events in the mid-90s. The series of letters written by 11-year-old Jake Gatlin to his late grandmother, whom he addresses as “Gammy Gat,” will capture your heart as he writes about his worries, joys, friendships, issues with his father, and the struggles he faces when they move to a new town and he gets caught up with a troubled kid. What makes the book so compelling is how Jake’s words trigger his father's (Marshall's) own memories (in the form of vivid flashbacks) as he reads—and Marshall is forced to confront his own bad decisions and behavior, creating a powerful multigenerational story. If you’ve ever experienced grief, loss, major regret, or difficult relationships with family members, this book will hit a chord!
The book has a really unique structure. It starts with a prelude from Jake’s introspective POV while on duty in Afghanistan in 2004 just before his death, and you’ll immediately feel a connection to him. From there, the story shifts to the Gatlin family home days before Christmas when they find out about his death. But the majority of the story unfolds on Christmas Eve, when Marshall slips away from the mourners gathered in their home to the attic, where he discovers Jake’s letters. The narrative then seamlessly jumps between a few timelines: Jake’s letters from 1995 and 1996, Marshall’s memories of Jake and his present-day reactions as he reads, and flashbacks to Marshall’s own childhood and family experiences.
For a short book, a lot is packed in, and paying close attention is required to keep track of what timeline you’re in—if listening on audio, I recommend a slower speed to absorb everything and for full emotional impact. And while all that is happening in the attic, the rest of the family searches for Marshall, worried he’s drifted away in a bad mental state. Despite all these shifting timelines and POVs, the novel is very easy to follow.
Jake’s honesty and revelations in his letters reveal a kid that Marshall really didn’t know or understand—and it becomes increasingly painful for him to read as his inner voice forces him to confront mistakes he made as a father and how emotionally distant he was. Some of the most heartbreaking letters involve Jake’s friendship with Randy, a troubled boy whose difficult home life leads to a chain of events that forever alters Jake’s relationship with his father and also causes him to shut down. The fallout from these events is quite emotional, so be sure to have tissues on hand!😭
The book only has six (lengthy) chapters, including the prelude and four chapters centered around Jake’s letters, but it’s incredibly immersive, and you’ll have as difficult a time putting the book down as Marshall does once he begins reading the letters. And even if you don’t normally gravitate toward literary fiction or family dramas, this is such a relatable human story about loss, regret, missed opportunities, and redemption. Marshall’s character arc is pronounced by the end, and even though you may not love him as a protagonist (and may even despise him in certain scenes), he still comes across as painfully human.
Without giving anything away, Jake’s death becomes the catalyst for profound changes for Marshall and the rest of the family. The final scenes are powerful and will leave you thinking about the characters afterward, as well as reflecting on your own relationships, regrets, and how you never know how much time you have left with loved ones. Definitely a book you won’t forget any time soon!
Jake Gatlin is a young soldier whose death just before Christmas devastates his family. After the funeral, his father Marshall finds letters Jake wrote to his late grandmother as a child, uncovering hidden truths about his son while confronting his own grief and regrets.
REVIEW:
If you enjoy literary family dramas, stories with epistolary narrative elements, or emotional stories about loss, regret, and redemption, you need to add this book to your list! The story is set in a small Southern town around Christmas 2004, but the epistolary narrative details events in the mid-90s. The series of letters written by 11-year-old Jake Gatlin to his late grandmother, whom he addresses as “Gammy Gat,” will capture your heart as he writes about his worries, joys, friendships, issues with his father, and the struggles he faces when they move to a new town and he gets caught up with a troubled kid. What makes the book so compelling is how Jake’s words trigger his father's (Marshall's) own memories (in the form of vivid flashbacks) as he reads—and Marshall is forced to confront his own bad decisions and behavior, creating a powerful multigenerational story. If you’ve ever experienced grief, loss, major regret, or difficult relationships with family members, this book will hit a chord!
The book has a really unique structure. It starts with a prelude from Jake’s introspective POV while on duty in Afghanistan in 2004 just before his death, and you’ll immediately feel a connection to him. From there, the story shifts to the Gatlin family home days before Christmas when they find out about his death. But the majority of the story unfolds on Christmas Eve, when Marshall slips away from the mourners gathered in their home to the attic, where he discovers Jake’s letters. The narrative then seamlessly jumps between a few timelines: Jake’s letters from 1995 and 1996, Marshall’s memories of Jake and his present-day reactions as he reads, and flashbacks to Marshall’s own childhood and family experiences.
For a short book, a lot is packed in, and paying close attention is required to keep track of what timeline you’re in—if listening on audio, I recommend a slower speed to absorb everything and for full emotional impact. And while all that is happening in the attic, the rest of the family searches for Marshall, worried he’s drifted away in a bad mental state. Despite all these shifting timelines and POVs, the novel is very easy to follow.
Jake’s honesty and revelations in his letters reveal a kid that Marshall really didn’t know or understand—and it becomes increasingly painful for him to read as his inner voice forces him to confront mistakes he made as a father and how emotionally distant he was. Some of the most heartbreaking letters involve Jake’s friendship with Randy, a troubled boy whose difficult home life leads to a chain of events that forever alters Jake’s relationship with his father and also causes him to shut down. The fallout from these events is quite emotional, so be sure to have tissues on hand!😭
The book only has six (lengthy) chapters, including the prelude and four chapters centered around Jake’s letters, but it’s incredibly immersive, and you’ll have as difficult a time putting the book down as Marshall does once he begins reading the letters. And even if you don’t normally gravitate toward literary fiction or family dramas, this is such a relatable human story about loss, regret, missed opportunities, and redemption. Marshall’s character arc is pronounced by the end, and even though you may not love him as a protagonist (and may even despise him in certain scenes), he still comes across as painfully human.
Without giving anything away, Jake’s death becomes the catalyst for profound changes for Marshall and the rest of the family. The final scenes are powerful and will leave you thinking about the characters afterward, as well as reflecting on your own relationships, regrets, and how you never know how much time you have left with loved ones. Definitely a book you won’t forget any time soon!
May 8, 2026
Andrew C. Phillips’s In Jake’s Shoes: A Father’s Journey Through Loss and Redemption does a fine job of signaling what the novel is essentially about, and the loss and redemption are quite real and heartfelt. The book centers on two main figures, Jake and his father, Marshall. Jake joins the military and later dies in Afghanistan. In the aftermath of that loss, Marshall finds himself working through a trove of letters Jake wrote as an adolescent, a process that forces him to re-evaluate both himself and his relationship with his deceased son.
It begins innocently, as Jake is excited to find a new friend, Randy. As their relationship evolves, it becomes clear that Randy’s family is struggling financially, and Jake agrees to help him.
Unfortunately, that help comes in the form of a robbery, and the boys are caught. The consequences are devastating, and so are the words young Jake scribbles down in his journal:
“Dear Gammy Gat,
Randy swallowed a bunch of some of his mama’s painkiller drugs, and the doctors couldn’t save him. My school counselor, Mr. Jones, told us the police caught his daddy. They put him in prison. Mr. Jones met with me and gave me a note Randy wrote. His mama gave it to Mr. Jones. All it said was, ‘Tell Jake thanks for wanting to be my friend.’”
It should come as a shock to no one that this event leaves Jake feeling so alienated that he later joins the army and serves in Mortuary Affairs. When the book opens, he is so forlorn that he slides himself into a body bag just to see what it will feel like. Meanwhile, Marshall’s regret grows, and by the very end, he comes to understand that his stern silence may not have been the best way to handle the situation, and that his son’s crime was, in part, an act of empathy worthy of understanding.
Just beneath the surface of In Jake’s Shoes lies a quiet but devastating meditation on class. Randy’s life is shaped by instability at every level—financial strain, domestic violence, and the constant threat of displacement—conditions that the text makes explicit through Jake’s observations of money troubles and talk of orphanages. In contrast, Jake’s home is materially stable but emotionally constrained: a different sort of lack. The novel shows how these worlds intersect. Jake’s attempt to help Randy—misguided as it is—stems from an intuitive recognition of this imbalance, an awareness that Randy has been handed circumstances he cannot escape, a tougher lot in life.
The tragedy is that the adult world, particularly Marshall’s world, reads this not as moral sensitivity but as delinquency. In this sense, class in the novel is not just background context but a determining force: it drives Randy’s despair, Jake’s response, and ultimately the narrow set of options available to both boys, one ending in death and the other in a kind of institutional living death.
In the end, I found In Jake’s Shoes to be a compelling and insightful read. The novel serves as an excellent reminder of how trauma can repeat itself across time, and how failures of communication within a family can have tragic consequences. This “stiff upper lip” brand of toughness and masculinity ultimately proves toxic; as the novel illustrates, stoicism without reflection becomes a form of emotional illiteracy.
It begins innocently, as Jake is excited to find a new friend, Randy. As their relationship evolves, it becomes clear that Randy’s family is struggling financially, and Jake agrees to help him.
Unfortunately, that help comes in the form of a robbery, and the boys are caught. The consequences are devastating, and so are the words young Jake scribbles down in his journal:
“Dear Gammy Gat,
Randy swallowed a bunch of some of his mama’s painkiller drugs, and the doctors couldn’t save him. My school counselor, Mr. Jones, told us the police caught his daddy. They put him in prison. Mr. Jones met with me and gave me a note Randy wrote. His mama gave it to Mr. Jones. All it said was, ‘Tell Jake thanks for wanting to be my friend.’”
It should come as a shock to no one that this event leaves Jake feeling so alienated that he later joins the army and serves in Mortuary Affairs. When the book opens, he is so forlorn that he slides himself into a body bag just to see what it will feel like. Meanwhile, Marshall’s regret grows, and by the very end, he comes to understand that his stern silence may not have been the best way to handle the situation, and that his son’s crime was, in part, an act of empathy worthy of understanding.
Just beneath the surface of In Jake’s Shoes lies a quiet but devastating meditation on class. Randy’s life is shaped by instability at every level—financial strain, domestic violence, and the constant threat of displacement—conditions that the text makes explicit through Jake’s observations of money troubles and talk of orphanages. In contrast, Jake’s home is materially stable but emotionally constrained: a different sort of lack. The novel shows how these worlds intersect. Jake’s attempt to help Randy—misguided as it is—stems from an intuitive recognition of this imbalance, an awareness that Randy has been handed circumstances he cannot escape, a tougher lot in life.
The tragedy is that the adult world, particularly Marshall’s world, reads this not as moral sensitivity but as delinquency. In this sense, class in the novel is not just background context but a determining force: it drives Randy’s despair, Jake’s response, and ultimately the narrow set of options available to both boys, one ending in death and the other in a kind of institutional living death.
In the end, I found In Jake’s Shoes to be a compelling and insightful read. The novel serves as an excellent reminder of how trauma can repeat itself across time, and how failures of communication within a family can have tragic consequences. This “stiff upper lip” brand of toughness and masculinity ultimately proves toxic; as the novel illustrates, stoicism without reflection becomes a form of emotional illiteracy.
April 23, 2026
In Jake’s Shoes is a work of contemporary literary fiction with a strong family drama and coming-of-age core, and it follows Jake Gatlin, a young soldier serving in Mortuary Affairs in Afghanistan, while also tracing the older grief and silence that shaped him back home. As the novel moves between war, memory, and the letters Jake wrote to his dead grandmother, it slowly becomes a story about loss, guilt, and the hard work of finally seeing someone you thought you already knew. It's not just about what happened to Jake. It is also about what his family, especially his father, failed to understand until it was almost too late.
Author Andrew C. Phillips does not rush the pain in this book, and he also doesn't try to dress it up too much. The novel trusts ordinary family moments, old arguments, private letters, and half-finished conversations to carry real weight. I liked that the book lets Jake feel wounded, observant, tender, and angry all at once. The letters to Gammy Gat could have felt like a gimmick in another novel, but here they become the quiet engine of the whole story. They give Jake a voice that is open in ways he cannot be with the living, and they also give the novel its deepest sense of intimacy.
I also found myself thinking a lot about the father. In many books like this, the emotionally blocked parent is there just to be judged. Here, Phillips does something harder and better. He lets Marshall be wrong without flattening him into a villain. That choice gave the novel its professional edge for me, because it pushed the story beyond easy blame and into something more honest about family, masculinity, and the stories parents tell themselves about discipline, strength, and love. The novel is direct to the point of sentimentality. Still, I respected that openness. The book means what it says. And by the end, that candor felt earned rather than naive, especially once the father begins to understand Jake through the letters and, finally, through grief.
I would recommend In Jake’s Shoes most to readers who like heartfelt literary fiction, family-centered war novels, and stories of grief that lean toward healing rather than irony. People who respond to books about parents and children missing each other emotionally, then trying to bridge that distance, will probably find a lot here. It's a reflective, sad, generous novel, and it feels written from a place of real care.
Author Andrew C. Phillips does not rush the pain in this book, and he also doesn't try to dress it up too much. The novel trusts ordinary family moments, old arguments, private letters, and half-finished conversations to carry real weight. I liked that the book lets Jake feel wounded, observant, tender, and angry all at once. The letters to Gammy Gat could have felt like a gimmick in another novel, but here they become the quiet engine of the whole story. They give Jake a voice that is open in ways he cannot be with the living, and they also give the novel its deepest sense of intimacy.
I also found myself thinking a lot about the father. In many books like this, the emotionally blocked parent is there just to be judged. Here, Phillips does something harder and better. He lets Marshall be wrong without flattening him into a villain. That choice gave the novel its professional edge for me, because it pushed the story beyond easy blame and into something more honest about family, masculinity, and the stories parents tell themselves about discipline, strength, and love. The novel is direct to the point of sentimentality. Still, I respected that openness. The book means what it says. And by the end, that candor felt earned rather than naive, especially once the father begins to understand Jake through the letters and, finally, through grief.
I would recommend In Jake’s Shoes most to readers who like heartfelt literary fiction, family-centered war novels, and stories of grief that lean toward healing rather than irony. People who respond to books about parents and children missing each other emotionally, then trying to bridge that distance, will probably find a lot here. It's a reflective, sad, generous novel, and it feels written from a place of real care.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I am rarely at a loss for words, but after reading the last paragraph of this deeply moving and poignant story all the thoughts I had about what I wanted to say evaporated. I need to take a moment to let the chills in my spine settle and wipe away my tears, not sad tears. This combination narrative fiction and epistolary captures three generation of families and all the love and loss, the expressed and unexpressed, misguided impressions that intergenerational families experiences. Jake, his father Marshall, and his grandfather Cole are the alternating subject matter of the story, but while they contain the thread of the story’s mind, the heart belongs to gammy Gat the recipient of Jake’s letters. The painful event that leads Marshall to read his son’s letter to his mother is heartbreaking, but as he reads the letters the emotions change. As Marshall takes in his son’s words memories of earlier times with his son and his own family come to mind. Times with Mildred and their daughters and Jake, problems and labels at school making Marshall feel he needs to take control and direct Jake’s life resulting in pushing him to join the military—an act that he as a boy didn’t want to do when his own father suggested it. A strained father son relationship and misconceptions unwind as Marshall reads the pages and once finished there’s a powerful scene with a local deputy sheriff that screams from the page the impact Jacke’s letters had on him. When all is said and done I’m sitting in silence, reflecting on the chances we’re given in life, the ones that come through loss, the unexpected gifts offering redemption and I’m in awe. A beautifully powerful story.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Growing up at Forty – A bittersweet tale of enlightenment
Christmas Eve of 2004 found the Gaitlin family home full of guests and Christmas decorations. The only thing missing was good cheer. Their son Jake had been buried that day, and the guests were bringing food and offering their condolences.
Marshall is wracked with guilt, having pushed Jake into enlisting for that fatal tour in Afghanistan. Cold, distant, and callous, he had never been close to the boy, never supported or encouraged him in the way a father should.
He finds himself unable to endure the chaos and well-wishers, and retreats to the attic, only intending to spend a few moments alone with his thoughts. But he finds something there that is completely unexpected, something that provides deep insight into Jake’s own feelings and struggles, something that triggers memories of his own difficult childhood and relationship with his father.
Andy Phillips has written a masterful tale of an agonizing venture of perception, understanding, and retribution. The device he deploys to advance the story is both unique and compelling as it slowly intensifies the reader’s wonder. You’ll be enthralled by his creativity and lyrical writing as you find yourself unable to put it back on the shelf unfinished.
Bill Schweitzer, author of Doves in a Tempest
Christmas Eve of 2004 found the Gaitlin family home full of guests and Christmas decorations. The only thing missing was good cheer. Their son Jake had been buried that day, and the guests were bringing food and offering their condolences.
Marshall is wracked with guilt, having pushed Jake into enlisting for that fatal tour in Afghanistan. Cold, distant, and callous, he had never been close to the boy, never supported or encouraged him in the way a father should.
He finds himself unable to endure the chaos and well-wishers, and retreats to the attic, only intending to spend a few moments alone with his thoughts. But he finds something there that is completely unexpected, something that provides deep insight into Jake’s own feelings and struggles, something that triggers memories of his own difficult childhood and relationship with his father.
Andy Phillips has written a masterful tale of an agonizing venture of perception, understanding, and retribution. The device he deploys to advance the story is both unique and compelling as it slowly intensifies the reader’s wonder. You’ll be enthralled by his creativity and lyrical writing as you find yourself unable to put it back on the shelf unfinished.
Bill Schweitzer, author of Doves in a Tempest
Review of advance copy received from Author
War is hell, In Jakes Shoe’s we open a soldier’s foot locker to another level of that hell. Albeit brief, the war puts everything here into perspective.
A troubled boy, Jake, struggling with adolescence and all its challenges, joins the military at the behest of his father, a hard man who thinks the military is the answer to straighten out any boy.
Before all of that, for years Jake wrote letters to his dead “Gammy” to help cope with his troubled life and relationship with his father. But that was then, and this is now. Jake served as a Mortuary Affairs Specialist, when it was his turn to come home, unfortunately, he knew the routine all too well, in a bag.
Struggling with the loss of his son and the guilt he felt for driving the boy into the military, the father stumbles upon the letters Jake had written to his grandmother. We delve into reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding with his son as well as his own father.
Author, Andrew Philips, brings the goods swiftly to the reader. Something special here as your empathy will attach to Jake with only a small introduction, but here we are. Just Brilliant. In Jakes Shoe’s goes straight to the point with sharp, poignant prose and delivers a smooth heartfelt story.
A troubled boy, Jake, struggling with adolescence and all its challenges, joins the military at the behest of his father, a hard man who thinks the military is the answer to straighten out any boy.
Before all of that, for years Jake wrote letters to his dead “Gammy” to help cope with his troubled life and relationship with his father. But that was then, and this is now. Jake served as a Mortuary Affairs Specialist, when it was his turn to come home, unfortunately, he knew the routine all too well, in a bag.
Struggling with the loss of his son and the guilt he felt for driving the boy into the military, the father stumbles upon the letters Jake had written to his grandmother. We delve into reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding with his son as well as his own father.
Author, Andrew Philips, brings the goods swiftly to the reader. Something special here as your empathy will attach to Jake with only a small introduction, but here we are. Just Brilliant. In Jakes Shoe’s goes straight to the point with sharp, poignant prose and delivers a smooth heartfelt story.
April 18, 2026
In Jake’s Shoes is a deeply emotional and reflective story that explores grief through memory, discovery, and the fragile connections that remain after loss. The narrative is shaped around a father’s quiet unraveling and his unexpected encounter with his son’s written words, which become the bridge between absence and understanding.
What stands out most is the emotional pacing. Rather than rushing through grief, the story allows it to unfold gradually through the letters Jake left behind. These writings create a layered portrait of a child the father thought he knew, revealing humor, sensitivity, and emotional complexity that deepen the story’s impact.
At its core, this is a story about love expressed indirectly through memory, through language, and through what is left unsaid until it becomes too late to say it aloud. With its intimate structure and emotionally driven narrative, In Jake’s Shoes is especially well suited to audio, where tone and delivery can heighten its reflective and cathartic quality.
What stands out most is the emotional pacing. Rather than rushing through grief, the story allows it to unfold gradually through the letters Jake left behind. These writings create a layered portrait of a child the father thought he knew, revealing humor, sensitivity, and emotional complexity that deepen the story’s impact.
At its core, this is a story about love expressed indirectly through memory, through language, and through what is left unsaid until it becomes too late to say it aloud. With its intimate structure and emotionally driven narrative, In Jake’s Shoes is especially well suited to audio, where tone and delivery can heighten its reflective and cathartic quality.
Review of advance copy received from Author
In Jake’s Shoes weaves a story toward reconciling the past of a misunderstood son and reaching for healing and redemption. Through a series of letters left behind, Marshall uncovers what was always right in front of him as he discovers people are more alike than they are different. With the gift of looking in the rearview mirror, he begins to see where he might have made crucial missteps that reverberated into the future.
This is a poignant novel that acknowledges the need to face difficult truths for the chance to move forward, while at the same time forgiving others, including one’s self.
This is a poignant novel that acknowledges the need to face difficult truths for the chance to move forward, while at the same time forgiving others, including one’s self.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Grief-stricken by the news of his son Jake's death in Afghanistan, Marshall seeks solace in his dusty home attic and discovers a portal into Jake's misunderstood world. Jake’s super-listener person was his beloved Gammy Gat until she passed away, but much like entries in a diary or journal, young Jake took comfort in writing letters to her, particularly during his troubling fifth-grade year. Reading those letters, Marshall begins to understand his son, remembering his childhood and seeing the uncanny parallels. Author Phillips has created a redemptive father-son story, and In Jake's Shoes will pull at your heartstrings much like it did mine.
May 8, 2026
I think everyone should read this beautifully written very emotional book! This story will have you captivated from the moment you start reading till the end! It’s about a Father finding his sons letters he wrote to his Grandmother as he lets loose with all of his hurts and pain and suffering his good days n bad his experiences and so many things and the Father gets to see sides of his son through these letters he never knew. This story will have you laughing n mostly crying and really even taking a look at your own life and if you have children there emotional roller coster of feelings as they grow up! It’s a must read!! I highly recommend recommend!
May 14, 2026
A hard book to read. A distant father who was more concerned with perfection than his son’s feelings gets his eyes opened after his son’s death in Afghanistan. He pushed his son to join the military figuring it would straighten him out. Upon his son’s death, he finds a notebook full of letters his son had written to his dead grandmother. They help him see his son’s behavior in a more positive light and trigger memories of his own childhood. Will he be able to change and be a more loving father to his remaining children? I felt so sad for Jake (the son) but Marshall (the dad) left me cold.
June 1, 2026
Crying for loss of Jake and the discovery of Marshall
Wow. This journey was emotional in the best ways possible. You will learn not to judge so harshly when someone isn't doing things the way you think they should be done and will find so much heart as the tale unfolds. Jake is an emotionally whole child who sees the world through a lens that is pure even as he disappoints those around him. Years later, his father follows his path and finds the true heart of a boy and rediscovers himself.
Wow. This journey was emotional in the best ways possible. You will learn not to judge so harshly when someone isn't doing things the way you think they should be done and will find so much heart as the tale unfolds. Jake is an emotionally whole child who sees the world through a lens that is pure even as he disappoints those around him. Years later, his father follows his path and finds the true heart of a boy and rediscovers himself.
Want to Read
March 1, 2026In Jake’s shoes puts you in the backseat of one family’s heartfelt emotional journey through love, loss, and self-discovery. The author’s vivid description of small-town North Carolina life is spot-on. You can really feel the characters’ struggles to understand each other and the choices they make through the decades. Anyone who picks this book up will be hard-pressed to put it down until the story ends!
April 17, 2026
outstanding
Even I (I'll be 91 in two weeks) ended up crying before I finished this book. I am the father of two daughters and four grandkids, so I know how hard it is to get it right. I was t as unfeeling as arshall, but sometimes we all count our own wishes and worries before those of others. Beautifully written.
Even I (I'll be 91 in two weeks) ended up crying before I finished this book. I am the father of two daughters and four grandkids, so I know how hard it is to get it right. I was t as unfeeling as arshall, but sometimes we all count our own wishes and worries before those of others. Beautifully written.
April 20, 2026
if I only knew!
I couldn’t stop reading this book even when it became painful. I was this child though I’m female. I felt misunderstood and invisible as a child and teenager. Please read, especially if you have children that you love and want to understand what they are thinking when they say “I don’t know.”
I couldn’t stop reading this book even when it became painful. I was this child though I’m female. I felt misunderstood and invisible as a child and teenager. Please read, especially if you have children that you love and want to understand what they are thinking when they say “I don’t know.”
Review of advance copy received from Author
A tender story about a father and son, life, death, and redemption. In some ways a coming of age story and in others a family drama. But in everyway a story that will have you weeping and smiling and glad you read it.
May 12, 2026
So Touching
I absolutely loved this book. Really couldn’t stop reading until I started crying. So very well written. Looking forward to reading another of his books.
I absolutely loved this book. Really couldn’t stop reading until I started crying. So very well written. Looking forward to reading another of his books.
May 31, 2026
Absolutely amazing novel and I highly recommend it. It will break your heart, and then make it soar. Beautifully written!
June 10, 2026
I wanted to like it, but I just didn’t. It was repetitive and predictable, and then it felt like it would never end.
June 26, 2026
Extremely sad book, but a good read.
April 27, 2026
This was a good book. This was a Goodreads Giveaway winner.
Review of advance copy received from Author
After an estranged son’s funeral, a father slips away to the attic and opens a notebook he has never seen before. Inside are letters his son wrote, during his childhood, to his dead grandmother, letters which reshape the father’s understanding of his son and force him to confront years of silence, distance, and missed conversations. The story unfolds through beautifully textured, atmospheric settings…from diesel-tainted air and mortar thuds to a crowded, grief-stricken home. This it touching literary fiction, elegantly written and worth reading. Recommended.
Excerpted from a Reader’s Favorite 5-Star Review
Reviewed by Jamie Michele
Excerpted from a Reader’s Favorite 5-Star Review
Reviewed by Jamie Michele
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews