Tag Archive | Shari Low

One Midnight With You by Shari Low

Aug27

Lasts Long After Midnight

One Midnight With You by Shari Low is a heartfelt contemporary novel that I really enjoyed.

The action is set over twenty four hours on the 31st December as we follow a cast of characters all coping with varying emotions. The book is broken down into two hour chunks as we alternate between varying points of view.

Many characters are dealing with loss. Loss comes in many forms – loss of a job, loss of a loved one, loss of relationship. Everyone deals with loss differently. Some cope by looking backwards but then we will miss out on today. Sometimes we need to let go of the past and embrace a new tomorrow.

We see the characters struggling with the death of lifelong partners. Grief looks different for everyone. We must grieve in the way that is best for us. “Gut wrenching sorrow… She was dealing with it the way only [she] would – she still chatted to [him] as if he was in the room.” There is no right or wrong way to grieve.

A character has stopped living after her relationship ended. With the help of friends, she has an epiphany on New Years Eve. “I don’t just want to be alive, I want to feel alive.” Life is for living, not for just existing.

We see the importance of prioritizing. “Prioritise the right things.” People, not possessions are what matter most.

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One Long Weekend by Shari Low

May11

Connections

One Long Weekend by Shari Low is a powerful contemporary novel that I loved. For a few hours I immersed myself in the world of the novel as I joined for characters for a weekend.

The novel is set in Glasgow and told in the first person from four alternating points of view. These seemingly unconnected lives find themselves intersecting over one long weekend. The reader spots the connections before the characters do, as we become intimately acquainted with them all.

A moment in time is all it takes to alter four lives. Lives that were balanced on a knife edge find that life looks very different on a Monday afternoon compared with Friday morning.

We meet a character who is struggling with the loss of three people very dear to her heart. Each loss has merely heightened the previous losses. Four rings have symbolized three lives and when these rings are accidentally lost, a character is bereft.

There is the importance of family. Family will move mountains to support others. We witness sacrificial love as we see several sets of parents and grown up children who will do whatever it takes in order to protect those they love.

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One Christmas Eve by Shari Low

Sep3

Joining The Dots

One Christmas Eve by Shari Low is a delightful novel set over twenty four hours in three different time periods – 1968, 1993, 2023.

The years are linked by the female line in a family going down through the grandmother, mother and granddaughter. We follow them alternately in two hour blocks as we drop in on one Christmas Eve.

There is a beautiful bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter, partly created by the mother being a workaholic, even on Christmas Eve. “Her mum was making it clear that her other option was work, yet she was still choosing that instead of spending time with them.” We only have one life and we need to choose wisely. No-one ever said on their deathbed ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.’ We need to get our priorities right.

We witness the love to last a lifetime. There may be other loves but that one big love will never die. Love has the ability to send us back to feeling like teenagers – no matter how old we are.

We see the special place in hearts for over fifty years. It is a place that one will return to again and again in order to relive a moment.

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The Fall by Shari Low & Ross King

Jun7

Roots

The Fall by Shari Low and Ross King is a contemporary thriller suspense and the final book in the Hollywood Thriller series. I had not read the previous books and found this could be read as a stand-alone. However, I would recommend reading the previous books first as I did get a little confused at times.

The novel is mainly set in Hollywood where it is glitz and glamour, truth and lies, dog eat dog. There are those who use their power to corrupt – and seemingly get away with it. It takes bravery and tenacity to stand up, investigate and seek to right the wrongs.

Life in Hollywood, in the spotlight can be challenging. We see the desire of characters to return to their roots.

The reality of Hollywood is that it is not real. It is all for show. “None of it is real and you don’t need it to be happy.” Fame and fortune will ultimately never satisfy as you are only as big as your last hit.

Grief threatens to sink. “It hurt just to breathe, just to exist.” There is the longing for things to be just as they were. The pain of grief cuts like a knife.

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