Interesting concept for a book. In short, it involves a number of different things: one day, several different, seemingly unrelated individuals, each with their own story, and the interesting way they all come together, as these people come face-to face with their own lives and complexities. What happens to them and how do they react/resolve their dilemmas? I was immediately fascinated by this book when I read its blurb on NetGalley, so requested a copy. I got lucky this time, and got it to read and review. Again, this is one interesting story/book. The author has taken several different individuals, each with his/her own story, and turned it into a fairly good book by merging them together in a great tale. First, there is Lila who is seeing a surgeon and is about to propose to him, only he is married to Bernadette, who is preparing to divorce him. Meanwhile, Lila’s boyfriend Cammy, in the dark about Lila’s cheating on him, is planning to propose to Lila. Interesting turn of events. Next comes Caro, who has just found out, on-line, that her father had a second family, and that she may have a half-sister Lila. The book brings together this small group of people, who, from all appearances, had little or nothing to do with each other, and showed how complex relationships can impact on them, as they can on any of us in life, and how these lives brought them together. Despite what, at first, seemed to be a simple, slow story, turned out to be one with some good twists and turns that kept me interested and will, I am sure, any other reader. The plot is definitely not similar to any I have found very other books/stories, so the author deserves credit for that. How she managed to pull together these different stories about these diverse, unconnected individuals was fascinating as well as interesting. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a different book, with a different sort of story. As I said, I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

I really enjoyed this book! The storyline was exciting and fast paced with a clever structure/narrative which however did sometimes become a bit confusing and all over the place. The characters were well-written and I felt that their individual stories were in such detail that I could imagine them being real people. All apart from Lila...I felt Lila was very stereotyped however there appeared to be a message there with her that reminded me of that Black Mirror episode where social media is the basis of everyday life and I enjoyed that connection.

I LOVED the repetition of the first page at the end as it gains a whole new weight of meaning with it and it is truly a moving book that allows you gain a feel for the fast-paced emotional rollercoaster of life. Definitely would read again and recommend!

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

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

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!

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!