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Nice Things All the Time: a funny, surprising and heartbreaking love story
Not yet published
Expected 20 May 27
Real love
Or real life?
Max and Eva have woken up in Camp, an in-between world of pristine purgatory.
The weather is beautiful. There's a rolling schedule of organised fun. They can eat what they want, do what they want, and never have to worry about a thing.
After thirty days, everyone in Camp has to choose what happens they can die, return to real life with no memory of Camp, or stay, forever.
At first, it's an easy decision. Max wants to leave. Eva wants to stay. But that was before they fell in love.
Witty, poignant and surprising, Nice Things All the Time is the story of boy-meets-girl that asks what makes a forever kind of love, and a life meaningful.
'The most unusual and wonderful thirty days you'll ever live through' TISH DELANEY
Or real life?
Max and Eva have woken up in Camp, an in-between world of pristine purgatory.
The weather is beautiful. There's a rolling schedule of organised fun. They can eat what they want, do what they want, and never have to worry about a thing.
After thirty days, everyone in Camp has to choose what happens they can die, return to real life with no memory of Camp, or stay, forever.
At first, it's an easy decision. Max wants to leave. Eva wants to stay. But that was before they fell in love.
Witty, poignant and surprising, Nice Things All the Time is the story of boy-meets-girl that asks what makes a forever kind of love, and a life meaningful.
'The most unusual and wonderful thirty days you'll ever live through' TISH DELANEY
377 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication May 20, 2027
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August 11, 2026this is so the good place core
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was given Nice Things All The Time by Nancy Tucker as an ARC by Quercus Books on NetGalley.
There may be a couple of spoilers in here, so look away if you don’t want to read them!
The notes I jotted down while reading this book:
• Killed by a gnome!? Brutal.
• I love that they have an app for dead people.
• Even the in-between has icebreakers lol
• “It was just the two of them, sitting by the fire, dressed as a skeleton and a spider, in a holding place between life and death.”
For some reason, this is my favourite sentence in the whole book.
• An in-between filled with books you’ve started but didn’t finish or meant to start and never got round to it? Yes, please!
All in all, this book was a bit different for me. I took a little longer to get into it, and then when I got to the end, I literally said out loud, “Is that it!?” I don’t honestly know what I wanted from the ending, but it wasn’t that. But maybe that’s the beauty behind this story. Is that it leaves it open for more to happen once the story has ended for us.
There may be a couple of spoilers in here, so look away if you don’t want to read them!
The notes I jotted down while reading this book:
• Killed by a gnome!? Brutal.
• I love that they have an app for dead people.
• Even the in-between has icebreakers lol
• “It was just the two of them, sitting by the fire, dressed as a skeleton and a spider, in a holding place between life and death.”
For some reason, this is my favourite sentence in the whole book.
• An in-between filled with books you’ve started but didn’t finish or meant to start and never got round to it? Yes, please!
All in all, this book was a bit different for me. I took a little longer to get into it, and then when I got to the end, I literally said out loud, “Is that it!?” I don’t honestly know what I wanted from the ending, but it wasn’t that. But maybe that’s the beauty behind this story. Is that it leaves it open for more to happen once the story has ended for us.
October 3, 2026
First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishing house for the ARC, and I would like to point out how smart and funny the email I got with access to the book was, as if I were part of the novel, getting a welcome-to-camp message from "My supervisor" Mark, who is Max's supervisor in this story. Really creative and fun, it really made me want to start reading right away. That's how you promote a book.
As some other user has pointed out, if you like the TV show The Good Place, this is for you, for Camp is no other than a limbo space for people who can decide whether they want to go back to life, go on to die forever, or stay there for as long as they wish. And Max, the protagonist, might have his decision very clear (staying the 30 compulsory days, then leaving). He is 30; he has his dad to care about, much to live for - until Eva starts joining him everywhere, until they start talking, and his desire to know more about her becomes something more...
I really loved this book, even to the point of thinking what I would do if Camp were real. It was funny -I love Mark, the supervisor, so annoyingly funny - and indeed I envisioned it as played by Adam Scott's Trevor in TGP, but different, obviously. He would nail the role, were an adaptation to be made - I thought of him at the beginning because of his Severance role as Mark, the supervisor position, and the white, endless corridors, so... -
Both Max and Eva were very relatable to me, and the countdown of days really hooked me on the story... Until that ending. I suppose one could say it's an open one, but this was where the novel lost points for me,
Still, I recommend this book for the worldbuilding and the plot; it is very intriguing and fun.
I really enjoyed reading this.
As some other user has pointed out, if you like the TV show The Good Place, this is for you, for Camp is no other than a limbo space for people who can decide whether they want to go back to life, go on to die forever, or stay there for as long as they wish. And Max, the protagonist, might have his decision very clear (staying the 30 compulsory days, then leaving). He is 30; he has his dad to care about, much to live for - until Eva starts joining him everywhere, until they start talking, and his desire to know more about her becomes something more...
I really loved this book, even to the point of thinking what I would do if Camp were real. It was funny -I love Mark, the supervisor, so annoyingly funny - and indeed I envisioned it as played by Adam Scott's Trevor in TGP, but different, obviously. He would nail the role, were an adaptation to be made - I thought of him at the beginning because of his Severance role as Mark, the supervisor position, and the white, endless corridors, so... -
Both Max and Eva were very relatable to me, and the countdown of days really hooked me on the story... Until that ending. I suppose one could say it's an open one, but this was where the novel lost points for me,
Still, I recommend this book for the worldbuilding and the plot; it is very intriguing and fun.
I really enjoyed reading this.
October 4, 2026
Thank you @netgalley for the ARC.
I have no idea how to review this, which is pretty apt given that I have no idea what I just read.
The book tells the story of Max and Eva two, ‘residents’ at a camp, for people who are not quite dead, but they could be dead, maybe, if they want, after thirty days. The camp is exactly how it sounds - cringey and forced and utterly glorious!!
The book asks a multitude of questions without ever actually asking. It will make you question your entire life. It will leave you with a hollow feeling in your chest, and ambiguous thoughts about all the characters - I’m not even sure I liked either of the MC’s really, or any of the supporting characters, except Max’s Dad who is clearly a good cookie. But they worked and they were everything the story needed.
This is unlike any book I have read before and I’m still trying to process it. The story enthralled me from the beginning, it was easy to read despite the rather morbid subject. I have now spent an excessive amount of time wondering what I would watch in the viewing room, and what i would decide to do after 30 days….
Thoroughly recommend this book, however, if you’re feeling rather precarious about your own life I would proceed with caution as I think it could be triggering for some people.
Take care of yourselves!!
I have no idea how to review this, which is pretty apt given that I have no idea what I just read.
The book tells the story of Max and Eva two, ‘residents’ at a camp, for people who are not quite dead, but they could be dead, maybe, if they want, after thirty days. The camp is exactly how it sounds - cringey and forced and utterly glorious!!
The book asks a multitude of questions without ever actually asking. It will make you question your entire life. It will leave you with a hollow feeling in your chest, and ambiguous thoughts about all the characters - I’m not even sure I liked either of the MC’s really, or any of the supporting characters, except Max’s Dad who is clearly a good cookie. But they worked and they were everything the story needed.
This is unlike any book I have read before and I’m still trying to process it. The story enthralled me from the beginning, it was easy to read despite the rather morbid subject. I have now spent an excessive amount of time wondering what I would watch in the viewing room, and what i would decide to do after 30 days….
Thoroughly recommend this book, however, if you’re feeling rather precarious about your own life I would proceed with caution as I think it could be triggering for some people.
Take care of yourselves!!
October 1, 2026
I don’t know why I found this grating at first, but I did. Firstly, it was very similar to the 2025 romcom ‘Eternity’, though it’s entirely possible that the author started writing this book before that movie came out. But it meant that I was already very familiar with the premise of going to halfway house after death to choose your future. It also reminded me of the TV series The Good Place. I was interested in the genre which is why I chose this ARC, but maybe there are a limited amount of options when it comes to post-death scenarios.
The characters have 30 days to make their decision and the chapters countdown in terms of days left in purgatory. At one point I realised I was 32% through the novel and starting the chapter called ‘27 Days’ and my heart sank to realise there were so many more days left to get through. So I guess at that point I realised I just wasn’t really engaged. I soldiered on because I was curious to find out why there would be only win-win options (either go back to life, die properly or stay in the cheery Camp for eternity)
But then about halfway through, I started to become much more interested and it seemed less ‘obvious’ and more complex. By the end, I was fully invested, so if you’re impatient like me, it’s worth persisting.
The characters have 30 days to make their decision and the chapters countdown in terms of days left in purgatory. At one point I realised I was 32% through the novel and starting the chapter called ‘27 Days’ and my heart sank to realise there were so many more days left to get through. So I guess at that point I realised I just wasn’t really engaged. I soldiered on because I was curious to find out why there would be only win-win options (either go back to life, die properly or stay in the cheery Camp for eternity)
But then about halfway through, I started to become much more interested and it seemed less ‘obvious’ and more complex. By the end, I was fully invested, so if you’re impatient like me, it’s worth persisting.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Max and Eva woke up in Camp together, that eerie in-between world with its rolling schedule of organized fun and thirty days to decide whether to die, return to real life with no memory, or stay forever. At first their choices felt so clear, Max desperate to leave, Eva ready to stay, until falling for each other complicated everything they thought they wanted. I loved watching each day of that countdown peel back another heartbreaking layer of who these two really were, the activities director Mark's relentless sunny optimism clashing so perfectly against Max's constant irritation gave their scenes together real warmth and humor. By the halfway point I was completely invested in whether Eva would get the ending she deserved. The ending itself isn't a surprise, you can feel it coming from the start, but somehow that made me care even more. A beautiful, witty story about what makes love and life worth choosing.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was invited to the camp on Netgally for 30 days, but ended up only spending an evening there. The book was unputdownable for all the good reasons.
The surprising things is that the ending isn't surprising at all, you know from the beginning how it will end but by the end you care so much more.
If that ain't an analogy for life, I do not know what is.
This is journey that takes you where very few books do, into the irritating, mundane, hilarious, confusing, heartbreaking crevices of life. The point, as they keep telling you, is there is no point.
Yet it is worth it, all of it. No matter how tragic or sweet. I can't say a lot about this book without spoiling it.
I'd recommend discovering it all for yourself, you'll be glad you did.
The surprising things is that the ending isn't surprising at all, you know from the beginning how it will end but by the end you care so much more.
If that ain't an analogy for life, I do not know what is.
This is journey that takes you where very few books do, into the irritating, mundane, hilarious, confusing, heartbreaking crevices of life. The point, as they keep telling you, is there is no point.
Yet it is worth it, all of it. No matter how tragic or sweet. I can't say a lot about this book without spoiling it.
I'd recommend discovering it all for yourself, you'll be glad you did.
Read
September 26, 2026Nice Things All the Time by new to me author Nancy Tucker is a stand alone novel published by Quercus Books.
I read the blurb and was intrigued, so why not give it a spin.
This book came at just the right time for me, intriguing, witty and fun at the same time heartwrenchingly beautiful and emotional, I was literally unable to put it down.
Max and Eva wake up at Camp with no clue what happened to them or how they got there. Soon they learn its the in-between before they can stay or go back to their old lives. Easy peesy, right? No it isn't. There are feeling involved, family to consider and much more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this gem of a story, all the stars.
I read the blurb and was intrigued, so why not give it a spin.
This book came at just the right time for me, intriguing, witty and fun at the same time heartwrenchingly beautiful and emotional, I was literally unable to put it down.
Max and Eva wake up at Camp with no clue what happened to them or how they got there. Soon they learn its the in-between before they can stay or go back to their old lives. Easy peesy, right? No it isn't. There are feeling involved, family to consider and much more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this gem of a story, all the stars.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Sometimes you know you're going to love a book right from the first page, and this was one of those occasions.
I love the set up, that limbo is a place for you to decide what you want to do (with crazy golf and pool parties).
My favourite character was the ever optimistic Mark in charge of activities with an ever present sunny nature. Max was the polar opposite, finding fault in everything and getting annoyed all the time, their scenes together were some of my favourites.
As each of the characters stories unfolded, heartbreaking details came to light, and I wanted a happy ending for Eva in particular.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Camp, and highly recommend ''Nice Things All the Time' and thank Netgalley, Quercus and Nancy Tucker for the advance copy.
I love the set up, that limbo is a place for you to decide what you want to do (with crazy golf and pool parties).
My favourite character was the ever optimistic Mark in charge of activities with an ever present sunny nature. Max was the polar opposite, finding fault in everything and getting annoyed all the time, their scenes together were some of my favourites.
As each of the characters stories unfolded, heartbreaking details came to light, and I wanted a happy ending for Eva in particular.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Camp, and highly recommend ''Nice Things All the Time' and thank Netgalley, Quercus and Nancy Tucker for the advance copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I knew as soon as I started this book that I’d love it. The whole concept of 30 days in camp was like nothing I’ve read before and it worked so well. It’s a beautiful story with humour and a sadness to it. It’s one of those books that I’ll read again and will recommend to everyone.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5* Such an original concept, and sweet, engaging and very easy to read. I was genuinely invested in the characters and flew through it. Warm without becoming too sentimental, and just a really enjoyable little read.
September 27, 2026
Magical. Hopeful. Heartsick.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews