Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Eight Perfect Hours, by Lia Louis {ends 10/16}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

You can see for miles up here. Stretches of houses and buildings, but just on the horizon, hills and lush green trees and blue sky. There’s a particular specific smell up here. The smell of other people’s houses; evidence of other people’s lives. Freshly cut grass of someone’s garden, the smell of frying onions from another flat. I grip the balcony rail and close my eyes. Daisy and I used to do this on her balcony, or at night at a sleepover, the night silent through the open window except for the distant whoosh of motorway traffic far in the distance.

“Where are you, Elle?” she’d ask sleepily, and I’d always make her go first, because she had the best ideas—the best imagination. It’s why she took art. It’s why she wrote the best short stories and poems, in English Lit.

“Oh, I’m in Italy with you,” she’d say, closing her eyes. “We’re celebrating. I just sold this movie script and they’re saying I’m the new Nora Ephron, so I have a shitload of money to spend. We’ll pick up some hot, tortured poets at some dive bar tonight. They’ll romance us.” She would always giggle, as if with glee at the glory of her own little stories. “Come on, Elle, close your eyes. Use your imagination. What do you see?”

Noelle just hasn’t been the same since Daisy died. She can give lots of reasons for putting the needs of other people first, but is she still hesitating from moving on without Daisy?

Official synopsis:

On a snowy evening in March, thirty-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone.

All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence.

While the amount of coincidence in this book is truly staggering, suspension of disbelief is worth it for the abundance of warm fuzzies that go along with just believing. Daisy is gone, and Noelle struggles to keep her life and her mother’s life on an even keel. They do what they do each day, without much fanfare. Noelle cleans houses on a schedule that lets her be home to help her mom, and her mom is so appreciative, even if her dependence isn’t understandable to others in Noelle’s life. 

Noelle’s charming best friends Charlie and Theo are super-strong believers in fate and true love. As Noelle thinks back to her night spent with the American stranger, Charlie is sure that every coincidence after that is another sign that they’re meant to be. Is she right? Or is rekindling things with her ex the best safe plan for Noelle?

This was such a charming book and reminiscent of the emotionally evocative writing from Lia Louis in her previous novel, Dear Emmie Blue. I’d give this one 5 out of 5 stars. It’s a great contemporary story of families, love, loss, and trusting your heart.

{click HERE to purchase}

Becki Bayley is a Gemini who likes feta cheese with olives, Cherry Coke with Southern Comfort, and a good book with a warm blanket. She also posts reviews on her own blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

Two of my lucky readers will win a copy of Eight Perfect Hours!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Saturday, October 16th, at 11:59pm EST, and winners will be notified via email the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner(s) will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Eight Perfect Hours, by Lia Louis