There was so much potential for angst and longing. To yearn for the inaccessible other. To try everything in their power to find each other or even for a second out of nowhere meeting that would just prove that their destined for each other. Noelle and Sam have quite the unique meet cute: they're both stranded on the highway. After they part ways, Noelle never expects to see him again, but turns out she can't stop seeing him. This week, some junior employees of the US bank Goldman Sachs have had a grumble, daring to point out that they are putting in as much as 95 hours a week. If they were squeezing those hours in Monday to Friday – which I appreciate they are not – their numbers on my Former Yugoslavia Work-Life Balance Index (FYWLBI) would be an awful long way from 8-8-8. Ninety-five hours work over five days comes out at a punishing 19 hours a day. That’s some shift. I’ve got their FYWLBI at 19-2-3 – 19 hours’ work, two hours’ free, three hours’ sleep. But if the BBC drama series Industry is anything to go by, the general pattern is nearer 19-4-1, or even 19-5-0. If you spread the 95 hours over seven days, you are still averaging a gruelling daily regime of 14-5-5.

This one didn’t quite have the same emotional punch for me, as DEAR EMMIE BLUE, maybe because I didn’t feel as much spark (it could be rated G) or maybe because much of the book takes place while the characters are apart, but the author does a fantastic job of coming full circle and returning to the secret held within the camera, much as she did, with the secret associated with the balloon in the last book. The characters in Eight Perfect Hours are so vibrant that you could easily imagine their story played out on the screen. Who would be your dream cast for the characters in the book?That's not to say that there aren't a few deeper subjects included--post-partum depression, fear, grief, and aging parents all make appearances. However, it's not so much that the book becomes maudlin, just enough to give it some substance in the midst of the romance. You know how sometimes you just need a feel-good book to reboot your heart after a long week (month…year)? Well, this fit the bill perfectly. An utterly delightful novel from one of the most charming voices in modern romance. I loved it' LOUISE O'NEILL

But don’t worry: a few weeks later: they bump into each other and this happens again and again: I know you start furrowing your brows but don’t do that! This book’s magical and fairytal-ish tone can fit with the entire coincidental premise! The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again, but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence. With plenty of charming twists and turns and Lia Louis’s “bold, standout voice” (Gillian McAllister, author of The Good Sister), Eight Perfect Hoursis a gorgeously crafted novel that will make you believe in the power of fate. My thoughts Discuss something good that has happened in your own lives and some of the events that had to happen to lead up to it. Discuss with each member of the group whether they believe chance or fate brought them to where they are now.

Eight Perfect Hours

In fact, once she knows her mother is okay, she doesn’t want to be rescued. Not only is she sharing great conversation, she has time to just be. Be herself. For the first time in a very long time. And they share eight perfect hours. Now that I’ve got the gushing over, here are some non-spoilery thoughts to encourage in new and those who are already Lia Louis fans. Noelle Butterby was one of the most relatable heroines I’ve ever read. Noelle would call herself boring and insignificant but this story was anything but. It started with a snowed up stationery motorway and a circumstantial meeting with Sam. Then they kept meeting one another. Now I want to say this is not some prolonged missed opportunities trope (which I do not gel with) it was something else. I read Eight Perfect Hours in one sitting, in four perfect hours, because I couldn’t bear to put it down without knowing the ending.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author A: I think my favorite part of Emmie’s story in Dear Emmie Blue was Emmie’s own personal journey. Thinking that the strength she needed was outside of herself, and learning it was within her all along. I definitely put that into Eight Perfect Hours, and not just with Noelle, but with her mother, Charlie, and also Sam to a degree. We learn that Noelle has a love of growing flowers and creating flower arrangements for the people she works for, and that being a florist is a career that she has dreamed of but won’t let herself explore. Why do you think Noelle is so drawn to flowers? How would being a florist help connect her with others and live a bigger life?

In the novel, people like Daisy, Charlie, and Ian are as much family as anyone biologically related to Noelle. What is the novel saying about chosen family and the lifelong connections we make with those who cross our paths? Our main character, Noelle Butterby, has just left her college reunion heartbroken and now she’s stranded in a snowstorm on the roadway. Her older car is unreliable, and she can’t charge her phone. A handsome stranger in a nearby car comes to the rescue and the two spend “eight perfect hours” together talking and connecting. Then the road finally clears up and they go their separate ways. Q: Why did you choose to start the book with Daisy’s time capsule letter to Noelle? What about that letter helps sets the stage for what’s to come? Lia Louis has written another winner with Eight Perfect Hours, such a delightfully satisfying novel for the end of the year.In this romantic and heartwarming novel, two strangers meet in chance circumstances during a blizzard and spend one perfect evening together, thinking they’ll never see each other again. But fate seems to have different plans. From the acclaimed author of the “swoon-worthy…rom-com” ( The Washington Post) Dear Emmie Blue. This year, the secret may be on a photograph still on a camera, which has been buried in a time capsule, at her old college. The photographer was Noelle Butterby’s best friend, Daisy, who died the night the camera was buried. ⌛️📸 The zero chemistry, zero sparks, zero romantic tension then just continues for the entire book. I could not have cared less whether Noelle and Sam ended up together. I don’t even believe they are in love, because this book has given me nothing that would suggest that. Imagine yourself becoming stranded on the side of the road during a frightening blizzard, when your phone is out of juice, feeling abandoned, all by yourself in the middle of nowhere. The sobs come out from your throat are quiet realistic expression of your emotional turmoil. But don’t worry: your knight in shiny armor is about to reach your destination to save you for 8 precious, memorable, amazing hours!