I...sigh. I hated the women in this book. Both Shay and Chloe were immature, whiny and borderline toxic. Shay's physical therapist was the most unprofessional provider I've seen in a book in a long time and it really did not sit well with me with all the boundaries that were crossed. Erica and Lila were both opportunistic stalkers. If it weren't for Whitney, I'd probably have given this one star. I just didn't care for any of the characters or their love story and found them all cringey.

This book, unfortunately, did not work for me. I found it very hard to get through and was unable to connect to the MCs.
It felt a little bit too much over the top, like a soap opera and everything seemed way too dramatic.

The storyline was also predictable which made it hard for me to keep my interest in continuing reading since everything was pretty much straight forward, I was not grasping the edge of my seat.

The book also felt to be very repetitive as the story of the separation is revisited again and again, I do understand the importance of it since Shay had lost her memories however it really bugged me.

Infidelity and an accidental memory loss set up Just One Moment, a second-chance romance. The story is very well-written, and the plot is well thought out with twists and turns. I'm not really a fan of the whole memory loss thing so while I couldn't love this book, others might. Recommended nevertheless as I like the book and did enjoy this read.

This one was good. The characters came to life and i found myself turning page after page. The romance was good.

This book had a little more angst that I usually like but it kept me turning the pages. The thought of a second chance romance intrigue me. I liked the book and the all the characters that ended up bringing these two together. Shay not knowing what happened in the past year loves her wife and Chloe is wondering if she can forgive. Together they work through their problems trying to understand what brought them to this point.
Chloe Jensen embarks on a new life without her wife, Shay because of infidelity. When Shay realizes she’s leaving, tragedy strikes. A car accident leaves Shay confused and vulnerable, and with no friends or family to care for her, Chloe feels obligated to stay until she recovers. Shay Buchanan can remember her whole life except for the past year. Everything seems to fit into place, but Chloe is distant, and Shay can’t figure out why. Something is missing.

First book I've read by this author. Characters were believable and well-liked in a good storyline. Strong couple until the affair. Car accident, memory loss, second chances, that's it in a nutshell. But the writing by Blake is very good, sometimes funny, often touch and thought provoking.

NetGalley Review:

Just One Moment was. fine. It had a lot of back and forth relationship drama, which keeps you compelled. It got a bit confusing with all the characters, trying to keep straight what their intentions and relationships were, but in a way that was also interesting. I would read more by this author.

This was part of a multi-book review of July releases. They can be found on C-Spot Reviews. (http://reviews.c-spot.net/archives/7612)

This month, I think the best cover is <strong>Just One Moment</strong> - the image of a woman walking down a beach in a red dress is actually in the book and has some significance to both the main characters.  It's nice to see when the cover matches something in the book - although, looking at the cover you might be expecting a frothy beach romance (and wow, would you be surprised if you didn't read the blurb before starting the book).


Wow - if you're looking for angst, this might be the book for you.   Just One Moment's plot sounds like something out of one of those tele-novellas - Chloe and Shay have separated when Chloe discovers that Shay has been having an affair.  Resolved to move forward with her life, Chloe starts a relationship with one of her  clients - when Shay discovers this new relationship, she races away from the beach-house and ends up in a horrible car accident.  Arriving at the hospital, Chloe is told that Shay will need significant rehab and in home care as she recovers from a badly broken leg - and she's lost all memory of the last year.  In order to minimize any further trauma, Chloe doesn't tell Shay about the betrayal and pretends that everything is normal.  As you can imagine ... things get even more complicated as Chloe and Shay are still desperately in love but can they overcome the past (you know - the one Shay doesn't remember).

Blake does angst particularly well and she's wrung every possible ounce out of this one.  I've read a couple of Blake's earlier novels, and I think she's growing as a writer and developing a nice narrative style.  I found myself getting sucked right into the story - I do love a good bit of angst and enjoy  the copious amounts of drama on occasion.  That being said, I found some of it overwrought (I know - I like angst, but not overly overwrought angst).

Infidelity is a delicate topic to deal with - especially in a romance.   The betrayal of love, trust and commitment isn't something easily forgiven and likely never really forgotten.  To drag two characters through all of this and keep the reader sympathetic to both and ultimately root for them to get back together is no mean feat.  Blake does this reasonably well.  Luckily Shay doesn't remember what she has done and the confused and bewildered Shay we see in the story and in the deeply in  love Shay from the journal entries isn't the "cheating Shay" - it almost seems like cheating Shay was a completely separate character.  But don't get me wrong, Shay made a number of bonehead moves even without knowing what an absolute heel she had been.

Obviously Chloe is the more sympathetic character, but there were times I wanted to shake some sense into her as she was really the queen of poor decisions and seemed to let everyone walk all over her despite the descriptions of her being willful and wild in her younger days. Also, her back and forth and mentally rehashing whether she should forgive or not forgive and her insistence that it was her fault as well (omigod ... Shay left you in the car while she went up and banged her co-worker in the office ... it is not your fault ... you both need to smarten up and talk to one another!) was a bit over the top.

The supporting characters actually bothered me more with all the lesbian secondary characters being self-serving, manipulative, opportunistic and bordering on unethical.

I'm of two minds with this book - it's drama-laden to the nth degree but there were elements that bothered me enough to pull me out of the guilty pleasure I get from an angst-fest.

Is it possible to forgive the person who betrayed you if that person doesn’t remember the betrayal? The premise to this story is very exciting. Chloe and Shay thought they were forever and still they have broken up, after Shay cheated on Chloe with one of her colleagues. After a car accident, Shay wakes up with no memory of the last year or so, including the break-up, the affair etc. Chloe still cares too much to let Shay’s horrible mother take care of her so for Shay’s sake, she pretends everything is fine between them, willing Shay to remember (or not remember) by herself while she tries to decide whether she can forgive her.

Both Shay and Chloe are flawed, not only in their relationship to each other but with « the other women » too. As self-centered and borderline mean as Erica is, she doesn’t deserve to be treated the way Chloe treats her. Neither does Lila, even though the circumstances are different. In another story, that would have annoyed me but with Shay’s memory loss and all it implies for both her and Chloe, I can understand them not being able to deal with everything at the same time and being insensitive to others.

For once, I rather enjoyed the back and forth between the MCs because in this case, there are real reasons for it. The angst is justified. It mostly worked for me, despite it being a little repetitive at times. These two have obvious miscommunication problems but they’re given a second chance to table it all and work through it. What makes the whole story believable is that the love between them is even more obvious. They are without a doubt each other’s The One.

One of the things I liked is that the story is set after the glorious days of falling in love, after the time when everything is exciting. It shows how sometimes, trying to make life better really makes it more complicated if you don’t adapt your everyday habits too. It’s also, and mainly, a reminder of how important communication is between partners, and that as solid as trust seems between two lovers, misunderstandings happen very easily. From what the author writes about their relationship, Shay and Chloe seemed to be the perfect couple, until they weren’t.

There are a few inconsistencies, like they’ve been together a few years but Chloe doesn’t know she was Shay’s first until she reads her journal (that’s actually one of the things that made me uncomfortable, reading someone’s journal without their consent…). Or maybe it’s not an inconsistency but another proof that these two had a real problem with communication!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book but no matter how much I tried, I really just didn't enjoy it. More than anything Just One Moment left me frustrated throughout the entire book. The story seemed to go in circles with the same problems being rehashed over and over again without ever coming to a real resolution until the very end. And by that point it seemed too late. The story centers around Shay and Chloe, a married but separated couple. The relationship ended because Chloe caught Shay cheating. Then Shay gets into a car accident and loses all memory of the past year, including their separation. Chloe decides to take care of Shay during her recovery and to pretend the separation never happened. I thought that the story line sounded good and had a lot of potential, but the execution was lacking for me. Every character in the book changed their mind so frequently about major life decisions, it honestly just for confusing. And the way Chloe couldn't make a decision and stick to it drove me crazy. The fact that none of the characters seemed to be able to be honest to each other certainly doesn't bode well for their fictional futures. To be honest I really didn't care for any of the characters. I found none of them to be likable and I can't understand their motivations. Like why did Erika care so much if she made it clear she wasn't interested in a serious relationship? Why was the ending with Lila so anticlimactic when it was built up to be such a big thing? Why was the romance aspect with Rachel even there? This book left me with more questions than answers and not in a good way.

What a whirlwind of emotions. I have truly enjoyed this book, full of twists and turns. The constant push and pull of these characters and the execution with witch the writer delivered them was perfect.

Loved it!! This could be a great movie.This story draws you in. You feel what both women are going through,and the love they had. This by far has been one of my favorite to read.

Chloe Jenson has grown up in a family that has always accepted her as an out and proud lesbian. An artist who up until she met her wife live her life in the fast lane but upon meeting Shay her life changed. Now settled living what she thought was a wonderful life she thrown when she finds out her wife isn’t as in love with her as she thought. The one thing she does have is a brother, Jackson, who helps her travel this new reality. How has this even happened.
Shay Buchanan hasn’t had the same relationship with her family regarding her sexual orientation. She was sent to summer camps where she was told her desires weren’t real. But they were real and it wasn’t until she met Chloe did she really accept herself because Chloe believed in her. Being married to Chloe was simply the best. Best friends and lovers. But why did Chloe change.
After an accident Shay couldn’t remember the last year so she didn’t know she and Chloe were on their way to divorce. But Chloe couldn’t do anything but look after Shay, she had no one else, but trying to act like nothing happened is taking its toll.
Ms Blake has written some pretty good books but this one really shows us just how good a story teller she really is. Nicely paced book with more than a few little twists and turns makes this a book I found hard to put down. Very, very enjoyable read.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bold Stroke Books

Great Read And The Journals Are A Plus!

This is my first time reading a book by Dena Blake and I most certainly was not disappointed! Chloe and Shay are married but due to infidelity and assumed infidelity, their relationship is broken apart. As Chloe considers moving on with her life, an accident causes Shay to lose her memory for the last year. Because the accident causes Shay to require treatment and care, Chloe steps in to provide assistance in helping Shay recover. During this time, Chloe re-discovers the reason why she loves Shay.

The author did a great job of helping the reader understand the relationship Chloe and Shay had through Shay's journals. Whereas some books would use flashbacks, these journals served a great purpose of helping to paint the picture of how Shay felt about Chloe and also helped Chloe to remember the kind of relationship she had with Shay. The secondary characters in book were also well incorporated. It was interesting to see how willing Chloe was able to agree to things just to appease Erica. And Rachel played the role of villain and ally rather well.

It was good to see Chloe & Shay figure out how to give each other another chance...This a great read!

Stories about rebuilding a relationship from scratch are close to my heart and I am always tempted to read them. But I approached this one quite cautiously. I had tried to read the author's first book but couldn't finish it. Since she now has a few books under her belt, I thought I would give her another shot. It was a mistake.

I don't understand how books like these go through the publisher's production process. Granted they can see a good story behind all the bad writing, in which case it is their job to fix the writing so that it becomes a story worth telling. But no such effort has been made with this book.

I managed to go through twenty per cent or six chapters of the book, all of which were dedicated to explaining to the reader why the protagonists separated. This was done again and again and again from both protagonists' perspectives. Some readers get it the first time itself. Maybe there are some readers who need to be told this five times more.

The writing reads like a summary of the plot. This happened, then that happened. This is what this person felt and this is what the other person felt. This person is like this and that person is like that. We are told the protagonists are heartbroken, but we don't see it. We are told they are each other's soulmates, we don't see it. We are told that they devastated by the other's trauma, we don't see it. All emotions are labelled rather than evoked. A classic and most annoying case of trashing the old mantra of 'show, don't tell'.

It seemed like the first draft of a manuscript. I didn't get far enough to figure out if it had any promise. I would give it zero stars if I could.

This story will not be for all to like, for me has been bittersweet because topics about cheating couples aren't my favorite but it also has the part of true love that overcomes all adversities, that has made it bearable for me, somehow.

This story tells that, after an almost fatal tragic event, Shay and Chloe realize that what they had was the most important and they have been about to spoil it. And they can only overcome it because one of them does not remember the last six months of their lives, in which several things happened that were about to throw away everything they had built together for years.

The rediscovery of their true feelings after Shay's accident also exposes the events that Shay does not remember. Several characters appear and contribute pieces of the puzzle that sometimes are not very clear. Because at first Chloe seems to be the bad one, and her behavior is a bit erratic, but as past history is exposed, her behavior makes more sense.

Actually I did not like any of the characters, nor the main ones Shay and Chloe, neither Rachel nor Erica, nor Lila although she barely shows up, she is more a shadow that is above all the history. And between Shay's diaries and current events sometimes the behavior of the couple is not very understandable.

I don't know if I recommend this book or not, but if you read it, be ready to see not very nice things about the behavior of a seemingly stable couple making not very thoughtful decisions in the past. Maybe it's the reflection of many real couples. For me it is not very fun to read this kind of stories.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I knew going in that this would be a tough sell because I hate infidelity books, but the premise of the cheater not knowing they cheated was intriguing. Too bad it didn’t live up to the premise.

So, for those who haven’t read the blurb, this features MC Chloe, an artist who is separated from her wife, the other MC Shay. The two of them have been together five years but are separated due to Shay being unfaithful. Shay is then in an accident and conveniently forgets the past 10 months or so, which also happens to be the period where their relationship faltered and she cheated. Chloe, showing extraordinarily bad judgement, has already moved on with a b**ch named Erica. Lila, Shay’s cheating partner also features briefly.

So, Shay begs Chloe to take her back, and when she won’t, and upon finding out about Erica, she takes off in her car and gets in an accident. Chloe steps up to care for Shay because she still loves her, but this is fraught with angst because of course Shay doesn’t know that she cheated and can’t work out why Chloe is acting different. And as if there weren’t already too many women involved in their relationship, Shay’s physical therapist (also displaying a ridiculous level of unprofessionalism) wants Shay and isn’t shy about making this known. Thankfully she finds out what happened to torpedo Shay/Chloe’s relationship and backs off (she became one of my favourite characters but I still couldn’t get past how creepy it was to hit on someone so dependent on you for their recovery).

So, amongst all of this Shay and Chloe are trying to figure out how to live together when only one of them knows they shouldn’t be. Of course Shay gets wise to something being wrong and figures out the truth but doesn’t tell Chloe that she knows, because that’s what an actual adult would do, and just because you screwed up your relationship by not talking with your partner doesn’t mean you’d realise that maybe you shouldn’t make that mistake again. Chloe also does the exact same thing and never tells Shay what happened even when Shay wants to know why they don’t relate like they used to. The two of them learn more about each other from reading Shay’s journals than by actually talking to each other, and frankly that was tiresome.

Honest to god, from what we’re told about how they felt about each other only 10 months before, I couldn’t work out how their relationship ever got to the point where Shay would cheat. I never bought that she would (honestly seemed more likely that Chloe would cheat, Shay seemed more into Chloe than vice versa all the way through). So, while this had an interesting premise, there just too much miscommunication, a cartoonish ex (Erica) and way to much back and forth by Chloe. I only persevered to see how they managed to overcome it in the end. 2.5 stars, rounded down.

I enjoyed reading this book. Infidelity isn't the first subject I would pick to read about but this was written very well. I wouldn't say it was the best book by the author that I have read but it is worth a read.

Chloe & Shay are a married couple. Shay ends up having an affair and Chloe decides to go her own way. Shay tries everything she can to get a second chance but all her attempts hit a brick wall. Shay ends up in an accident and cannot remember anything after the accident. She has lost her memory and doesn't remember that she was not with Chloe before the accident. Chloe decides to help Shay recover but was that the right thing to do?

The pace was just about right and it was well written. Shay was my favourite character. Chloe grated on my nerves at times. By the end of the story I thought they made a good couple.

I received an ARC copy of the book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

4.5 Stars. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. This book is about Chloe, who is starting to live without her wife, Shay after being separated for 6 months. Chloe had walked in on Shay cheating on her with one of Shay's co-workers she was spending long hours with. Shay, on the other hand, realized her horrible mistake wanted to beg Chloe to come back to her. Shay comes to their beach house where Chloe is living and tries to win her back, but finds Chloe may have moved on with another woman, Erica. Shay leaves upset and gets into a car accident. Chloe cannot help but spend all her time with Shay in the hospital until she wakes up, as Shay hit her head and now has a rod in her left leg from the accident. Once Shay does wake up, they find out she has lost almost a year of her memory. Shay has no memory of cheating on Chloe or even why she cheated on Chloe. She is completely in love with Chloe and thinks they are happy. Chloe plays along for a while and hides journals Shay has written from her as she wants her to remember naturally, or never at all.

I enjoyed this book a lot. This was a little bit of a different story line than the normal romance novel, as the two characters are already married. Their interactions were very good and their evolution of their romance was well written. The novel itself was very well written and through. I love a long slow burn and this book had it as Shay and Chloe are falling back in love with each other, as they both have changed. Chloe had changed from being cheated on and her heart breaking and Shay from the accident and forgetting a lot of time. All Shay wants to do is be with Chloe. I really enjoyed how this book shows the process of Chloe repairing her broken heart from Shay and knowing she still loves her deep down. This book is a little different but I loved it. This is the first novel I have read by the author, Dena Blake, and I am now going to read more as I really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it .

I'm in the minority, but infidelity in books doesn't bother me. But knowing how polarizing the topic is among most readers, I have to give kudos to Dena Blake for going ahead with this story. It's a completely original idea, and with just a couple of exceptions was handled beautifully. For the story to have been centered around a life-altering car accident, no mention was made of the severely broken leg after Shay was released from the hospital. Maybe it would have been too mundane, but I know from personal experience that just daily moving around is a beast, let alone dancing, sex while standing up, walking on the beach, etc. And the convenience of having highly detailed journals for everyone to pore over bothered me a little. An actuary who is working 60-80 hours a week has time to write like that every day?

That said, this is a brave, original book that needs to be read over time because of the need to digest. And the cover is gorgeous and fitting.