You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
beanith's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
This book is not a lighthearted Christmas/Winter rom-com that takes place over the course of eight hours. Don’t let the cover fool you (as it fooled me and many others). However, despite not being at all what I thought it would be, I really enjoyed it.
This book is for eldest daughters in their late 20s/early 30s who are the glue holding their families together. ‘Frazzled English woman’ sympathizers and admirers. Late bloomers who are lost in life yet holding, dearly, to the concept of fate.
The romance here is very tender and emotional but also second to Noelle’s journey of personal growth (which I think would land this book in the realm of Chic-Lit/Women’s Fiction). Everyone in this book has a struggle, if not multiple struggles. The description doesn’t allude at all to how much of this book is about caring for aging or disabled parents, coping with depression, anxiety and grief, or learning how to not be afraid of life.
But the emotional internal conflict is balanced by the very British, Bridget Jones type humor as well as a genuine budding hopefulness about fate and letting yourself want a bigger life.
My biggest criticism against this work is regarding Ed, Noelle’s former boyfriend.He gets a gentle goodbye during his last conversation with Noelle, despite treating her like garbage for the entirety of this book. I don’t even know where to begin with describing how much I hate this guy. He calls her pathetic, doesn’t care about her responsibilities, promises to help her with her flower gig then does nothing but try to have sex with her all night, allows his mom treat her like shit, and refuses to tell her that he was on a break from his American Fiancée. It felt like he got away with being a complete asshole.
CW:Postpartum Depression
All other content warnings are listed below.
This book is for eldest daughters in their late 20s/early 30s who are the glue holding their families together. ‘Frazzled English woman’ sympathizers and admirers. Late bloomers who are lost in life yet holding, dearly, to the concept of fate.
The romance here is very tender and emotional but also second to Noelle’s journey of personal growth (which I think would land this book in the realm of Chic-Lit/Women’s Fiction). Everyone in this book has a struggle, if not multiple struggles. The description doesn’t allude at all to how much of this book is about caring for aging or disabled parents, coping with depression, anxiety and grief, or learning how to not be afraid of life.
But the emotional internal conflict is balanced by the very British, Bridget Jones type humor as well as a genuine budding hopefulness about fate and letting yourself want a bigger life.
My biggest criticism against this work is regarding Ed, Noelle’s former boyfriend.
CW:
All other content warnings are listed below.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical content, and Car accident
Minor: Infidelity
emilylovesgoodbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
theespressoedition's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
chloelj27's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Infidelity
laheath's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Brought together under less-than-ideal circumstances, after spending an evening stranded but enjoying each other's company and conversation, Noelle and Sam go their separate ways. What follows is a series of serendipitous encounters that leave Noelle questioning whether fate is trying to bring them together or she should reunite with her ex-boyfriend. The serious side stories with her friends and family occasionally seemed to be taking up a lot of time, even darkening the mood. However, though somewhat predictable, the additional "coincidental meetings" between Noelle and Sam helped to lighten the mood and made for a fun, sweet story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Grief
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Car accident
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Suicide
ambersbooksandbakes's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Mental illness
Minor: Infidelity
hellobellarose's review
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Not my taste, but we’ll written. Very character focused with complex relationships and emotions
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, and Medical content
_thelitlibrarian's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5.0 stars
-
TW: Death, Grief, Car Accident, Mental Illness, Suicide, Infidelity.
-
Lia Louis had done it again and has gained an auto-buy on my list. This book had me feeling all of the motions, I laughed, I cried, and wanted to throw my kindle across the room. The plot of this book hooked me immediately, I love the fact that this book had me questioning fate and love at first sight.
Noelle Butterby is on her way home from her college reunion when a blizzard leaves her stranded in her car for the next 8 hours, with a dead phone, and no idea of when she'll be back - Noelle finds herself in a state of panic. In walks American Sam Attwood to offer some assistance, the two of them hunker down together and spend what is eight perfect hours together. I felt my heart flutter during the entire scene where the two of them were in the car together, Noelle and Sam have amazing chemistry together. After the night is over, the two strangers part ways, under the assumption they'll never see each other again. Fate has other ideas as the pair often run into each other countless times over the next few months.
I really appreciated how realistic the characters were, they both had flaws that were acknowledged and had problems that were acknowledged during the course of the story. Although I was madly in love with the characters, I had really hoped for a bit more fizzle from our characters and wanted a bit more romance between the two of them, there are certain plot points that make this tricky to do. I really appreciated how vulnerable our characters would get, and seeing Noelle work through problems in her life, and realize that she has so much more self-worth and in the end got everything she deserved.
-
TW: Death, Grief, Car Accident, Mental Illness, Suicide, Infidelity.
-
Lia Louis had done it again and has gained an auto-buy on my list. This book had me feeling all of the motions, I laughed, I cried, and wanted to throw my kindle across the room. The plot of this book hooked me immediately, I love the fact that this book had me questioning fate and love at first sight.
Noelle Butterby is on her way home from her college reunion when a blizzard leaves her stranded in her car for the next 8 hours, with a dead phone, and no idea of when she'll be back - Noelle finds herself in a state of panic. In walks American Sam Attwood to offer some assistance, the two of them hunker down together and spend what is eight perfect hours together. I felt my heart flutter during the entire scene where the two of them were in the car together, Noelle and Sam have amazing chemistry together. After the night is over, the two strangers part ways, under the assumption they'll never see each other again. Fate has other ideas as the pair often run into each other countless times over the next few months.
I really appreciated how realistic the characters were, they both had flaws that were acknowledged and had problems that were acknowledged during the course of the story. Although I was madly in love with the characters, I had really hoped for a bit more fizzle from our characters and wanted a bit more romance between the two of them, there are certain plot points that make this tricky to do. I really appreciated how vulnerable our characters would get, and seeing Noelle work through problems in her life, and realize that she has so much more self-worth and in the end got everything she deserved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Car accident
mmalone's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical content, Car accident, and Gaslighting
now_booking's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this soft sort of uplit-esque romance… it’s actually not QUITE romance but it has romantic elements in it- it’s sort of reminiscent of that golden era of Brit “chick lit” (hating to use that nomenclature but you know what I mean) from the late 90s/ early 00s that was women’s coming of age stories. In that way, this is very similar to this author’s previous novel (Dear Emmie Blue). It’s about family and friendship, but also about loss and grief and being stuck and reconciling either being okay with that feeling or doing something to change it, without privileging the latter option as most books do.
The premise of this book is that Noelle is kind of stuck in a rut, grieving the loss of her childhood friend, looking after her housebound mother, and mourning the end of a long term relationship when she meets Sam on a highway when they’re both stranded due to a blizzard. Over the next few months they continue to meet randomly through no effort on their part leading them to question what fate is trying to tell them,especially since they’re both battling demons and dealing with blasts from the past.
This is a book that happens very much in Noelle’s head. It’s not that there is no plot action, there is, but you have to have a lot of patience with Noelle’s worries and fears and internal monologues and doubts. I found that I related to her a lot but perhaps because of that I found her a little tiresome at times because it was a lot like looking into a mirror of my own psyche and staring down all my issues. Noelle rambles a lot and arguably her internal monologues can run on and tend towards the precious- but overall I found her endearing.
I thought the way the author tackles mental health in this is quite good and I found realistic and diverse. Consider if this might be a little triggering if you have struggled with mental health or have had to take care of someone with severe mental health struggles. One major theme of this novel is grief and the ways people deal with or don’t deal with it- a lot of Noelle’s internal monologue centres around her trauma over losing her friend and this is reflected by the way she lives her life and also mirrored through Sam.
I feel like I struggled with this book in the sense of the romantic relationships. One thing I liked in this book as in the previous book is the way past romantic relationships are not villainised but rather seen through a lens of reality and seen for what they were- both the good and the messy with some 💩-holery that happens without you consigning entire characters as 🍑-holes. That said, I think because of the nature of fate as a character in this book, it made the actual relationship-building parts a little weak and underdeveloped for me. It’s not that I didn’t love the characters and the role of fate, but I wanted more of Noelle and Sam together on page. For such a “real” book, their epic love story felt a little rushed and unsubstantial because of how fate-based it was. And the thing is that when they were together it was good, at least from Noelle’s POV- Sam barely speaks now that I think of it, but there could have been more.
There are certain changes that happen in the book that seem out of nowhere and certain problematic family dynamics that are never resolved. If you like things tied up in and tidy now, this might be a struggle- but I liked the realism of leaving things open-ended in some aspects especially since this is otherwise such a fate-driven novel otherwise.
Overall, I liked this and recommend it perhaps not as much as Emmie Blue but still it’s a wonderfully uplifting read. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for the complimentary copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders