Sunday 17 January 2016

Book Review - Our Song by Dani Atkins - Winning Reads #2

Winning Reads #2

Welcome back to my new feature, Winning Reads. As I enter a large amount of competitions for books, and have a reasonable degree of luck, over the past year or two, my paperback mountain has grown out of control mainly due to being a bit lucky, and then not remembering to pick the books up and read them. 

Now I have a blog, I find it harder to not just stick the the brand new shiny releases the whole time, but I do want to read all these other books, so while I have a stash of them, here is Winning Reads, my new weekly feature for Sundays.


Amazon UK
Title: Our Song
Author: Dani Atkins
Format reviewed: Paperback
Source: Competition Win
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Publication Date: 21st January 2016
Rating: 5 Stars


The stunning new emotional drama from ebook phenomenon Dani Atkins, author of Fractured. 

This is the story of Ally and Charlotte, whose paths have intersected over the years though they've never really been close friends. Charlotte married Ally's ex and first true love, David. Fate is about to bring them together one last, dramatic time and change their lives forever. 

Full of Dani's signature warmth and emotion, this is a gripping and emotional family drama. With breath-taking plot twists, Dani explores themes of serendipity, friendship and love. She fully engages the reader in the dilemmas faced by her characters. What would you do if your husband was the love of somebody else's life? And when faced with an agonising decision, could you put the past behind you and do the right thing?

I have no idea how to start this review, nor do I have any idea how to convey the utter brilliance of this book. Right from the first chapter I was hooked. Dani Atkins has produces an emotional and gripping story, that will draw you in and won't let you go until you are finished. And even afterwards Our Song has the power to keep you thinking about it after you have finally finished. 

I strongly believe that Our Song could be an early contender for one of my books of 2016. It has been that well written, and doesn't make light of the tough subject matter. 

Our Song is about two couples, who both find themselves in the same hospital and intensive care unit, over a 24 hour period. Both of the husbands are in critical conditions, and by sheer chance the foursomes lives are incredibly interlinked. 

Ally, is married to Joe, and has 7 year old son Jake. Charlotte is married to David. However Ally used to go out with David, and believes he cheated on her with Charlotte. So when the two ladies meet again, mired in their own panic for their spouse, its inevitable that thoughts of their joint past are brought to the front of their minds. 

As the viewpoint changes between Ally and Charlotte, the passage of time changes as well and you get large snapshots as to their joint history, from both sides of the story, and they slowly become each other's support until their real support systems can arrive. 

There are various agonising decisions to be made, and various surprises to be revealed, and you are with Ally and Charlotte every second of this horrific 24 hour period, where lives are irrevocably changed for ever. 

Our Song is an emotional book, and there were various parts where tears were pricking and by the end, lets just say I'm glad I wasn't reading this on public transport but in the comfort of my own home, based on the state of me at the end. Make sure you have some tissues handy. It is very rare for tears to fall steadily as I read books, which makes me wonder sometimes if I have a normal range of emotions, but in this case Our Song completely got under my skin, and left me wet cheeked. 

4 comments:

  1. Great review Rachel, I loved this book too. Dani Atkins has such a wonderful way with words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Neats. I enjoyed your review of Our Song today too. Dani Atkins definitely knows how to weave a story.

      Delete
  2. This sounds great. I need to enter more book and other competitions. I'm not the luckiest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds great. I need to enter more book and other competitions. I'm not the luckiest.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...