Member Reviews

Why didn't I choose this book? Did not finish it. Sorry!

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Another great book by Shari, a story of complicated relationships and easy the can become broken for ever or change for the good.

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Set in December around Christmas and new year, many lives are set to change in many, many ways...

Lila is seeing surgeon husband to Bernadette on the quiet whilst unbeknownst to her, her proposal to him is about to go awry despite Bernadette leaving him...

Lila's boyfriend Cammy however is planning to propose to her not knowing she's cheating on him!

Caro however has had a massive shock as online she discovers her dad has a double identity. However, that's not all as she finds out she may also have a sister, Lila!

A story with where we learn just how much complicated relationships can really change and become broken or better for good or bad. We see the efforts of a man wanting to keep a family together despite his actions and another man wanting to settle down. The male characters show the two sides of men in fiction and real life and it was good to have both included and not just a cheat for once. Another good book by Shari once again!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers, Aria for this advance review copy. Also thank you to Melanie from Aria for allowing me to be part of the blog tour for this fantastic book!

This is the story of four people set throughout one day in December. They don’t know each other but are all connected in some way:-

Caro has possibly found her dad – the dad that walked out on her and her mum and who she hasn’t seen since. Caro’s mum suffers from early onset dementia and has been involved in a car accident because of this. She is in a coma and isn’t expected to live much longer. Caro has found who she thinks is her half-sister, Lila on Facebook. She decides to travel from her home in Aberdeen to Glasgow to see if her suspicions are right and this man is really her dad.

Cammy is the owner of a menswear shop in Glasgow. He is planning his proposal that night to his girlfriend, Lila. Lila is extremely ‘high maintenance’ and lives her life on social media. Her Facebook and twitter accounts are filled with snapshots and selfies from her day. Cammy has only been with Lila for 6 months and knows what she’s like, but loves her unconditionally and, against the advice from people that he knows, he wants to marry her.

Lila is a drug representative with a big flashy company car and company credit card. She is Cammy’s girlfriend, but doesn’t see a long term future with him. She is having an affair with one of her customers, a cardiac surgeon called Ken Manson. She wants him to leave his wife, which he promises he will, but not until the time is right. She has been willing to wait, until now.

Bernadette is leaving her husband, Ken Manson. She has spent 30 years in a loveless marriage with her husband emotionally abusing her. She has reached the end of the tether and today is the day that she is going to walk out and leave him.

What an amazing book! I expected a chick-lit type book but this was much more! Set over the space of one day, this book introduces us to four people who don’t really know each other, but have so much connecting them. It was great how well the story flowed from one person to another, with a chapter being dedicated to each character in turn. I experienced so many mixed feelings going through this book – sadness and sympathy for Caro, Cammy and Bernadette, anger, frustration and probably a little bit of hate for Lila. Each character’s story was wonderfully written and how they all linked together throughout the space of the day was very clever.

I genuinely could not put this book down. It was my first by this author, and certainly won’t be my last. I have related to so many different aspects of this book on so many different levels, and I have laughed and cried my way through it (you will need tissues – just a word of warning!) Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Five stars!

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