The Invisible Husband of Frick Island

 TW: D3ath

My second book from Colleen Oakley! The first book I read from her was Close Enough to Touch back in 2019. 

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island is an adult romance novel that follows two characters: Piper and Anders. Piper is a woman living on the eccentric Frick Island, which is a small island community in the Chesapeake Bay. Anders is a reporter working for a small newspaper and on the side, has his own podcast where he talks about random weird stuff, but he is struggling to get any listeners. 

Piper recently lost her husband Tom, in a boating accident, but she continues to live on as if Tom were still there. In fact, sometimes she talks to him as if he was still there. The rest of the Frick Island community goes along with it so they don't hurt her feelings. When Anders arrives at the island to do a report on a Cake Walk Festival held there, he finds out all sorts of things about Frick Island: how the island is a victim of climate change, a new cell tower is being built and most of the citizens are against it, how a bunch of citizens are starting to leave to live and work elsewhere, and of course, Piper. After his first visit, Anders revisits the island several times saying he's there to investigate climate change, but he keeps it a secret from everyone. He is actually trying to investigate why is Piper carrying on as if Tom were still alive, and why everyone in the island goes along with it (which he starts to do himself, too!). At first, everyone on the island is skeptical of Anders (well, normally they don't like outsiders), but eventually they get used to him and start to tolerate him visiting the island every week. Eventually he and Piper fall in love with each other, but he is worrying how the podcast will affect Piper and everyone else on the island. He really does want to help Piper and the rest of the island, after all. At the same time, Anders's podcast starts to grow in listeners, and Anders gets overwhelmed by his sudden popularity. Anders and Piper also have problems with each of their own parents. 

This was a very lovely book! It does deal with some pretty heavy stuff such as d3ath, grief, feeling abandoned by your parents, etc. But they are all handled really well! And the messages are very heartwarming. Colleen Oakley loves to touch upon themes reminding you that you are important and loved in this world. 

But I did give it 4 stars. It was mostly due to pacing issues (sometimes the story moved too slowly and sometimes too quickly), and I did want to see more sweet, lovey-dovey scenes between Piper and Anders. But other than that, it was a great book! I can't wait to read more from this author.