On a cold December’s morning… Carosets off to find the truth: has her relationship with her father been based on a lifetime of lies? Cammycan’t wait to surprise the woman he loves with a proposal. All he needs is the perfect ring. Lilacan no longer hide her secret. She has to tell her lover’s wife about their affair. After thirty years, Bernadetteknows it’s time. She’s ready to leave her … thirty years, Bernadetteknows it’s time. She’s ready to leave her controlling husband… and never look back.
Over the course of twenty-four hours, four lives are about to change forever…
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One Day in Winter by Shari Low
A Winter Day #1
It is almost Christmas as this story begins. It is told from the perspective of four people who will each experience more before the day ends than they could have imagined.
Caro: is just finished teaching and on break. She is off to see if what she has seen on social media might give her insight into why her father disappeared a couple of years before. She is dealing with the illness of her mother and wants answers.
Cameron/Cammy: is a man nearing forty who has loved deeply in the past and lost the girl to someone else. He has a business running a men’s clothing shop and believes he is in love and ready to settle down even though friends of his are skeptical.
Bernadette/Bernie: has been married for thirty years, born two children, is a nurse and is fed up and finally ready to claim her life for herself again. Her husband is a handsome professional man who is in reality a scum-bucket.
Lila: is a blonde beautiful bombshell focused on her media image and attaining the man she has been with off and on for the past seven years. She seems to have daddy issues that carry over into other parts of her life. Of the four people narrating this story she is the one most difficult to feel anything positive for.
The book begins with a person on a bed alone dying.
The book then is told in segments of time by the four people mentioned above.
Beginning in the morning we see how the day of each one begins
Next they are on their way to achieve their goals for the day
We follow and get to know them better
As the day wore on I began to:
* like Caro more and more
* hope Cammy could deal with what I suspected was going to happen
* cheer loudly for Bernadette
* and dislike Lila and the man she was having an affair with
By the end I was satisfied with the way the book ended.
At first I was wondering if I would enjoy the book because it moved from one perspective to another and I wondered if I would be able to keep all the threads straight but very quickly I realized it would be no trouble at all.
Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes
Thank you to ARIA for the ARC – this is my honest review.
4.5 Stars
Warning : this story may cause spontaneous bouts of stress eating #justsaying
I kid you not – blink and you’d miss that share bag of Peanut M&Ms (not a shameless plug – just leftover treats from my birthday). Honestly though, from chapter 25 onwards my anxiety levels were spiking. I don’t think I even tasted them on the way down. I fear it went something like this…
OMG! I can’t take the tension…
*crunch-crunch*
Crap, here come the heart palpitations…
*crunch-crunch*
NOOOOOO!!!
*crunch-crunch*
Insert sweary-word here of your choice.
*crunch-crunch*
*sobs*
*crunch-hiccup-crunch-hiccup*
Woohoo!
*crunch-crunch*
Aww.
So, yeah, just a normal reading session ‘a la Laura’ then. *snorts*
As readers of my reviews will know, This Is Me was my first read by this author earlier this year in which Josie and Val were scene stealers for me. Needless to say, when I realised they popped up in this story I was cock-a-hoop.
Plus, I finally got to know more about Caro and Cammy. I have to admit it took a moment for me to put two and two together, but with the arrival of J & V the penny finally dropped. Embarrassed you will be. *smirks*
Shari has an uncanny way of making my metaphorical hackles rise with the introduction of a truly loathsome character or two. I was so angry I could spit. Don’t laugh, that was me being polite. The air was blue. Very uncouth of me, I know.
Seriously though, is there anything more satisfying as a reader than when one such character gets their comeuppance? Sooooo satisfying, lol.
Like all the best reads, ODIW will take you on an emotional rollercoaster. For me, Shari Low is an exceptional storyteller. She just has a way of drawing out all your emotions as you read. One where the lines become blurred and you can no longer distinguish yourself from the characters. Quite simply, you are one and the same.
On a lighter note, one line from Val had me hooting with laughter longer than necessary:
“Och, son, if I was twenty years younger and single…”
The Mommy will kill me for mentioning this, buuuttt remind me to tell you all about my mum and a male author at a book signing I attended a few years back where almost the exact same sentence was used to my mortification *laughs*.
And you lot wonder where I get it from *shrugs*.