Eight Perfect Hours: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

After being trapped in standstill traffic on the M4 with him, Noelle didn't think she'd ever see Sam again. Noelle lives a life of routine, caring for her increasingly agoraphobic mother and taking extra jobs to pay the bills; a night out for a class reunion had taken months to plan. Then a freak snowstorm derailed her trip home, forcing her to borrow a phone charger from Sam, the handsome man parked in the next lane. Now fate keeps finding a way to drop Sam in Noelle's path, and they begin to realize that their shared history started well before that snowy night on the highway. Louis (Dear Emmie Blue, 2020) deftly intertwines Noelle's and Sam's stories, with the tiniest early details paying off by the book's end. Louis handles Noelle's tumultuous inner conflict, between her ever-shrinking London life beholden to her mother's needs and her own dreams of independence, with care and grace, never making Noelle's mother out to be the villain. A journey of self-confidence, acceptance, and that first blush of love, Eight Perfect Hours will delight fans of Michelle Gallen and Elisabeth Egan.

Louis (Dear Emmie Blue) fills this sweet romance with twists of fate and rich emotional considerations. A snowstorm strands aspiring florist Noelle Butterby on a British highway on her way home from a college reunion. Needing to get in touch with her anxious, reclusive mother, she accepts the offer of similarly stranded American mountaineer Sam Attwood to charge her phone in his car. They spend hours together before the weather clears, but despite the spark they both feel, they part without sharing contact information. A series of chance encounters throw the pair together again--as when Noelle happens to be hired to clean Sam's father's apartment--but Sam explains that he has a girlfriend back in America and they are trying to work things out. Meanwhile, Noelle tentatively patches things up with her doctor ex-boyfriend, Ed, who abandoned her two years earlier with harsh words about her losing her life to her mom. Things come to a head when Noelle agrees to do the flowers for a wedding in Scotland and the trip spurs her to make some decisions. Witty moments and a delightful supporting cast bolster this slow-burning romance, and Louis manages to make the many coincidences feel believable. Fans of clean contemporary romances will find plenty to enjoy. (Sept.)

After being trapped in standstill traffic on the M4 with him, Noelle didn't think she'd ever see Sam again. Noelle lives a life of routine, caring for her increasingly agoraphobic mother and taking extra jobs to pay the bills; a night out for a class reunion had taken months to plan. Then a freak snowstorm derailed her trip home, forcing her to borrow a phone charger from Sam, the handsome man parked in the next lane. Now fate keeps finding a way to drop Sam in Noelle's path, and they begin to realize that their shared history started well before that snowy night on the highway. Louis (Dear Emmie Blue, 2020) deftly intertwines Noelle's and Sam's stories, with the tiniest early details paying off by the book's end. Louis handles Noelle's tumultuous inner conflict, between her ever-shrinking London life beholden to her mother's needs and her own dreams of independence, with care and grace, never making Noelle's mother out to be the villain. A journey of self-confidence, acceptance, and that first blush of love, Eight Perfect Hours will delight fans of Michelle Gallen and Elisabeth Egan. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Louis (Dear Emmie Blue) fills this sweet romance with twists of fate and rich emotional considerations. A snowstorm strands aspiring florist Noelle Butterby on a British highway on her way home from a college reunion. Needing to get in touch with her anxious, reclusive mother, she accepts the offer of similarly stranded American mountaineer Sam Attwood to charge her phone in his car. They spend hours together before the weather clears, but despite the spark they both feel, they part without sharing contact information. A series of chance encounters throw the pair together again—as when Noelle happens to be hired to clean Sam's father's apartment—but Sam explains that he has a girlfriend back in America and they are trying to work things out. Meanwhile, Noelle tentatively patches things up with her doctor ex-boyfriend, Ed, who abandoned her two years earlier with harsh words about her losing her life to her mom. Things come to a head when Noelle agrees to do the flowers for a wedding in Scotland and the trip spurs her to make some decisions. Witty moments and a delightful supporting cast bolster this slow-burning romance, and Louis manages to make the many coincidences feel believable. Fans of clean contemporary romances will find plenty to enjoy. (Sept.)