Tuesday 22 March 2016

The Night That Changed Everything - Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice; Review


Book Details:
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Transworld PRH (24th March 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0552170828
ISBN-13: 978-0552170826

Summary:

Rebecca is the only girl she knows who didn't cry at the end of Titanic. Ben is the only man he knows who did. Rebecca’s untidy but Ben doesn’t mind picking up her pieces. Ben is laid back by Rebecca keeps him on his toes. They're a perfect match.

Nothing can come between them. Or so they think.

When a throwaway comment reveals a secret from the past, their love story is rewritten.

Can they recover from the night that changed everything? And how do you forgive when you can’t forget?

The Night That Changed Everything is a funny, feel-good and bittersweet story, told in alternate chapters by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice. 

Links To Buy:




Rating:
Review:

The funniest, most ironic thing happened when I picked up this book. You know in the blurb it mentions that a throwaway comment reveals a secret that forces their relationship to reconsidered? Well, I landed right in the middle of all that before I had even read a single bit of the book. The wonderful people over at Transworld sent me this book for review, and lovely publicists that she is, Becky added a complimentary note that was placed around 1/3 of the way inside the book. As I opened the book to take that slip out, my eyes fell on the writing behind it - and before I knew it had even happened, I read the whole page and realised what the secret thing was that happened between Ben and Rebecca, our main characters. *silently laughs to self at the play of it all*

But what I noticed right from that moment on *aside from the fact I had just revealed the whole story to myself* was how easy it was to get into just a page of the book and not want to put it down. You’d think that having opened the book to almost halfway in and reading a page, you’d be somewhat confused as to what’s going on. But everything was so easy, so clear, so simple. I could have, if I wanted to, read the book backwards from that moment on or read onwards, and both ways it would have made sense - now how often can you say that about a story?

The writing was easy, you get into the book so quickly - it’s not a huge drama-filled story that intends to shock you from page to page - but instead it’s a very real feeling story about two people, their choices, their relationship, and what each is most afraid to lose. Alternating between Rebecca and Ben, I felt like the story worked really well and it was nice to see the distinctive differences between the two characters and the two sides to the same story. I’ll also add, that I love the kinda role reversal between these two - generally the female character is painted as the one partial to cooking, being tidy, being the emotional one. But for a change, like it says in the summary, Rebecca was never the girl that cried at Titanic, whereas Ben was the only man who did. But this difference didn’t feel forced either, like the authors just threw it in to mix it up - it suited the way the characters were written and worked really well - and it’s something I really liked about the book. 

As for the characters themselves, I felt like the authors did a great job in making them feel real and honest. Though on a personal level, I couldn’t connect to them, maybe just because my life experiences have never veered in that direction, but I still felt like they weren’t contrived and baseless. Having said that, there were moments where I felt so frustrated with both characters, the lack of communication and the resting of misunderstandings - but it’s like with horror movies when you know something horrible is about to happen - you scream and scream at the characters, knowing you can’t do anything to change it - yet the chips will fall where they may. 

Oh by the way, appreciate the reference to Eric Northman from True Blood, who despite me hating the show, he sure is something to look at. Also the Westlife reference in the same chapter LOL yeah okay, 23 year old self-professed Westlife lover. Moving back to the book review…

This is a great contemporary read, for those looking for something different - an easy read perfect for a long train journey or just something to tuck in with on a cold night as you’re warm in bed. Be warned though, there are ups and downs in this book and a moment which will make you wana bawl - but hey, what’s a good book without a few tears right?

Thank you to Transworld PRH for sending me this lovely book in exchange for an honest review. Be sure to grab your own copy of the book which publishes on 24th March, 2016. Links for purchase can be found at the top of this review. 

2 comments:

  1. Hello Sahina I loved your review! And I laughed a lot about what happened when you started the reading...
    Anyway, I didn't know this book but I will read it for sure.

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    Replies
    1. Hey Gabi, thanks so much for your comments - not sure why these keep getting deleted! But yep, do let me know how you get on with this book if you pick it up :)

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