The Survival Kit is the story about Rose coming to terms with her mother passing on from cancer and how she draws strength from the survival kit her mother made for her before dying. Unfortunately, I couldn't relate to Rose's character or her grief. I didn't feel like her grief was convincing enough. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to say that her grief was not real but I did feel that it could have been written better. I did like the way Rose's relationship with her mother was written, and how her mother influenced the people in her town. It was vivid, descriptive and heartwarming. 
 The survival kit was a good theme and it really tied the novel together, in an otherwise mundane novel. The idea was a really good one and I wish I have something like that in my life too. The other characters were also very engaging though. Rose has a few friends who stand by her through her painful process of healing and I thought that was a very nice touch. I was glad there wasn't any b****y characters, the ones who would get all snide and make people even more miserable. 
 The romance was really well-written and it's definitely something I want to have in my own life. Will is a really quiet guy who pretty much leads a quiet life. He's the right amount of mysterious but at the same time, incredibly real. His grief was actually something I could connect to, better than Rose's. Rose and Will's relationship moved at a very slow but believable pace, something that wasn't a rebound. Will is a great romance for Rose and I wished we knew even more about him. 
 The Survival Kit was a good story and I look forward to reading more of Donna Freitas' books.