"One Day in December"

"One Day in December"
Written by Josie Silver
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia


Reading an author's sophomore book prior to reading the author's first book is an interesting experience. After thoroughly enjoying "The Two Lives of Lydia Bird", I knew that I had to read "One Day in December". After receiving access through the app, Libby, to the audiobook, I began listening. I found myself instantly hooked by the first appealing chapters, of meeting Laurie and Jack. The two characters in this story accidentally meet, are unable to speak to one another, and finally meet a year later. Through the year, Laurie has been absorbed with finding Jack, calling him "Bus Boy", due to his sitting on a bus stop bench when she first saw him. They meet each other once more, as Sara, Laurie's roommate and best friend, introduces Jack as her newest boyfriend.

We continue through the lives of Jack and Laurie, read flawlessly by Eleanor Tomlinson and Charlie Anson. The characters' lives take a number of twists, turns, and strange events that typically occur in a higher level romance. I believe that Silver's romance novels are a higher quality than others in the genre, similar to the stories of Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Although I am uncomfortable when romance novels include cheating, it was a small event that was handled improperly by the characters, showing that infidelity causes great and negative consequence.

I also enjoyed the smaller characters that we learned about: Billy, Luke, and especially Oscar.

The story takes place over years, so I was delighted with how the character development finalized. I do have to say that during some points of the story, I highly disliked Jack, but his atonement was duly noted.

I highly recommend this novel, especially in the audiobook format. I never felt the story dragged on or that listening to 10 hours worth was too much. This is great to listen to while walking, while cooking, and while going to sleep. I thoroughly enjoy Josie Silver's writing and look forward to reading her books in the future.

"Little White Lies"

"Little White Lies"
Written by Philippa East
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

For the most part, I was impressed by "Little White Lies", a debut novel by Philippa East. In this mystery thriller novel, the narrative is split into two perspectives, of Anne, a woman whose daughter has returned after years of captivity, and her niece, Jess. Both characters are torn in many emotional directions, trying to heal with Abigail, who does not seem to want to go back to her old life. Abigail exhibits many characteristics of Stockholm Syndrome, which tolls on Jess and Anne.

Jess's perspective is interesting. East created a very full and realistic teenage character, whose primary focus is to help Jess feel comfortable in her return. Jess has noticed that her cousin has not bounced back quickly, has missing memories, and harbors negative feelings towards the two families.

Anne has been hiding secrets, one large one since Abigail was kidnapped. Her perspective creates an element of suspense, as we readers long to discover the full truth.

East's characters, plot, dialogue, and suspense are written carefully and precisely, in a way that suggest her writing to already be on par with the greats of thriller fiction: B.A. Paris, Ruth Ware, Agatha Christie, and Shari Lapena.

As much as I enjoyed this story, I was extremely disappointed in the final act. The climax took far too many twists, leaving the final villain to be supremely uninteresting, to the point that it nearly ruined the story for me. Anne's secret was a separate twist, but my god, I absolutely found the payoff to be non-existent. After reading small teases of information, I had hoped the secret to be more impressive.

In conclusion, I still enjoyed the novel, although I was unhappy with the ending. I think that East has a promising career in thriller and mystery fiction, and I am eager to read more from her in the future.

Thank you to HQ Publishing for a copy of this book as a giveaway prize.