Lia Louis

Noelle Batterby is on her way home from a school reunion that didn’t go as planned because of a heavy snowfall. She is now stuck on the motorway for who knows how long (eight hours, perfect ones as it turns out), her phone is about to run out of power and she is worried about her mother at home. She wishes she hadn’t even bothered with the reunion – until Sam, the handsome American stranger in the car next to hers comes to her rescue, lends her his phone charger and they end up spending the rest of the night chatting in his car.

After that, he is gone out of her life, apparently forever. But life has different plans for them and Noelle and Sam keep finding themselves thrown together. There are problems though – Sam’s girlfriend Jenna, back home in America, and Noelle’s ex-boyfriend Ed, who has reappeared on the scene, not to mention her agoraphobic mother and a brother who’s still dreaming of being a huge rock star.

Will Noelle and Sam find their way to each other despite all the turmoil? Listen and find out! (Although if that synopsis doesn’t give you a clue, you’ve obviously never read chick-lit before.)

I really enjoyed listening to this book, even though I felt I knew how it would turn out pretty much as soon as it started. The narrator Emma Powell did a lovely job as Noelle, although I did feel that some of her other character’s voices were a bit off (primarily Sam, who was male and American). But I have no real complaints about her narration and would certainly listen to other books she reads in future.

Noelle was a great character who I rooted for throughout. I also liked her best friends Charlie and Theo, as well as her mother. I did not like or trust Ed, and I don’t think the reader/listener was meant to. I’m not sure how Noelle’s brother Dilly was meant to be received, but personally I was irritated by him. He was a a lazy waster who basically left everything up to his sister, and I wanted him to get his comeuppance.

Even though the ending was somewhat predictable, I liked how the book made Noelle into a fully rounded character; it would have been easy not to. It was very sweet and an easy listen, and I will look out for more audiobooks by Lia Louis.… (plus d'informations)

This was a quick but thoughtful read about Millie, who was unceremoniously dumped by her ex Owen two years ago. Millie has spent the time since then trying to live a quiet and un-noticed existence, until one day her life is blown up in spectacular fashion after her entire email draft folder is mysteriously sent out. The same draft folder that she's quietly and privately been using as a cathartic personal diary to tell the people in her life what she really thinks of them without having to actually tell them. How did it happen? And how does she handle the fallout from all these inadvertent truth-bombs? This story turned into more of an existential journey for Millie than I expected, but that's what she needed: to learn how emotionally brave she could be when there weren't many options left *but* to be brave. Millie seems like she's been stifling herself for a long time, and it was great to watch her navigate her life A.E. ("after emails") as she realized what she wanted and who she truly wanted to be. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this story in exchange for my honest review.… (plus d'informations)