Book Review: Destination Funeral by Paige Harbison

Fun Spin On Time Loop Concept. Time loops have been done by a lot of storytellers in a lot of ways, but here Harbison presents a version of one I'd never seen before - a women's fiction tale set on the weekend of a funeral. I am intrigued.

The execution of the concept works remarkably well, and given the strength of The Other Side Of Now - my introduction to Harbison - I expected no less. Every main character here is fully fleshed out (though admittedly side characters are less so), and the small coastal Georgia town actually feels rather lived in and both generic enough and accurate enough that no one is really going to have any issues on that end.

Even the one incident early on is handled with a fair amount of realism, particularly given the era - and I say this as a native (mountain region) Georgian who voted for Georgia's Defense of Marriage Amendment in 2004. If you have a problem with such realities being mentioned in the book - as well as the realities of Georgia in the 2020s being far more accepting than many give it credit for, particularly its more rural areas well outside Atlanta or even the "smaller" regional cities like Savannah, Augusta, Rome, Macon, etc.

The meat of the actual story here is four friends - including two actual sisters - who have grown apart over the years, and we get a solid dual timeline tale showing both how everything shaped up and broke down in the past, and where that has left everyone now... and how they're going to use this very unusual weekend to find some way to move forward. There is quite a bit of character growth, quite a bit of pain... and more than a few laughs as well. For those that prefer their romance tales about as spicy as a warm glass of milk... there's going to be at least a few scenes here that will give you the vapors. Just move past them. Read this book anyway, because even without those scenes it really is a strong and interesting tale. Perhaps a *touch* Hallmarkie - small town, fleeing the big city, winds up finding romance, etc - but then, at that level, most *all* romance books are, and at least this one has a more interesting hook than *just* that.

Overall a truly interesting tale well told.

Very much recommended.

This review of Destination Funeral by Paige Harbison was originally written on August 10, 2026.