Let’s make it three reviews today – the others will be along later! First of all, I’m really delighted to share my review of On the First Day of Christmas by the wonderful Faith Hogan: published on 13th October by Aria Fiction, it’s now available as an e-book for kindle (just 99p, or free via Kindle Unlimited) and also for Kobo (99p there too!), and also in paperback and as an audiobook. My thanks to the publishers for my reading copy, provided via netgalley.
I’ve told everyone so many times now just how much I love Faith’s writing – but it won’t stop me doing so again! She’s assembled a legion of new fans with her last two books – The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club (you’ll find my review here) and The Gin Sisters’ Promise (review here) – but I thought she was really special from the very beginning (you’ll find my 2016 review of her debut, My Husband’s Wives, here, and I haven’t missed one of her books since then). If you pop her name into my search box on the right, you’ll find all those other reviews, often shared more than once (because they’re all books I’ve been very happy to shout about…!). I had heard that this latest one was something a little different, but it didn’t worry me for one moment – Christmas, and Faith’s lovely writing, and I already knew I’d love it…
This Christmas, everything will change…
When Liv Latimer says goodbye to her fellow nurses and finishes work for the holidays, she’s looking forward to a Christmas to remember with her boyfriend Eddie.
But as she leaves the hospital, tragedy strikes and Liv is faced with a choice. Will she ignore her instincts and go home as planned? Or will she stay, and potentially change the course of her life as she knows it?
Whatever choice she makes, Liv is about to discover that fate finds a way…
From the bestselling Irish author of The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club comes an emotional and uplifting festive story about love, family and how a split-second decision can change your life.
Everyone kept saying “this is something a bit different” – its structure certainly is (and incredibly cleverly done), and the author hasn’t produced a Christmas book before – but this book had absolutely everything I’ve grown to love about the author’s writing. A well told and tremendously engaging story, wonderfully drawn characters, a fine emotional touch, laughter and tears, the palpable warmth that always distinguishes her writing – all that, plus a visit to her beloved Ballycove, and a touch of real magic that brought a tear to my eye and filled my heart with joy.
I desperately don’t want to spoil this book for anyone, but I’m sure others will have spotted the “Sliding Doors” references, and the fact that Liv – a nurse in a busy hospital A&E department – has a difficult choice to make when involved in an incident on her way home, before her planned departure to stay with her parents at Ballycove for Christmas. And she’s hoping that they’ll be celebrating more than just Christmas – she’s found a very special ring in boyfriend Eddie’s workshop (when she’s previously doubted whether their relationship was ever going anywhere), one capturing her special memories of the twin sister she lost to cancer, and she believes he’s planning to ask her to marry him. But then comes that moment when she has to make a choice – to return to the hospital with the man seriously injured while saving her life, or to walk away and continue with her plans.
The book follows both options, the stories then told in parallel – and if that sounds a touch difficult, and you’re perhaps even thinking “not for me”, I’ve never seen it done any better. In the proof copy I read, the parallel stories were distinguished by different typefaces – I don’t know if that was carried forward into the final copy (I hope it was, it worked well), but the stories deviate enough that I doubt anyone would struggle with the shifts from story to story. What’s particularly clever is that, as well as capturing Liv’s different journeys, they feature many of the same characters – her sister’s (and now her) best friend Pete, boyfriend Eddie (and what a waste of space he turns out to be), and in one storyline some of the incidental players (like Eddie’s appalling mother, and Pete’s former girlfriend) move from the background to take more significant roles. There’s a really original use of perspective too – the key outcomes in both stories are often the same, the angle of approach rather different.
At an emotional level, the whole book is extremely engaging – Liv had my heart from the very beginning, even when I found some of her romantic choices distinctly questionable. One of the storylines has more of a focus on home and family, beautifully done as always (I loved her parents as much as I did her), the other on a possible alternative romance and outcome but with considerable obstacles and complications. The supportive friendship – the wonderful Pete – is common to both, as is the lingering grief over the loss of her sister and the impact it’s had on everyone’s lives.
And then there’s the book’s ending, when the two versions of reality collide – and I have to say that I thought its emotional impact and the way it was handled was entirely perfect. There are a lot of tears in this book, but plenty of opportunities to laugh and smile too. I’m sorry to be a tad more cryptic than usual about the twists and turns of both stories, but I really want everyone to immerse themselves as I did and discover them for themselves – but it’s one of those that you read with the heart, and mine was certainly overflowing with love when I reached the final page.
I really did love this one – highly original, a Christmassy read with a real difference, a story beautifully told, entirely compelling, and one I certainly won’t forget in a hurry. And, I think, not necessarily a story you need to read at Christmas – although I’m really delighted I chose to add it to my festive list. Very highly recommended.
About the author
Faith Hogan is an award-winning and bestselling author of nine contemporary fiction novels. Her books have featured as Book Club Favorites, Net Galley Hot Reads and Summer Must Reads. She writes grown up women’s fiction which is unashamedly uplifting, feel good and inspiring.
Faith’s Kindle Number 1 bestselling book, The Ladies Midnight Swimming Club was published in May 2021: her summer 2022 book, The Gin Sisters’ Promise, was a USA Today Bestseller.
Come to Ballycove this Christmas, with Faith’s new Christmas book – On The First Day Of Christmas – described as Sliding Doors meets One Fine Day – the ultimate festive escape.
She writes twisty contemporary crime fiction as Geraldine Hogan.
She lives in the west of Ireland with her family and a very busy Labrador named Penny. She’s a writer, reader, enthusiastic dog walker and reluctant jogger – except of course when it is raining!
Twitter (her favourite) | Facebook | Instagram | Web Page
Wow, you are a review machine at the moment!
Oh I’m kicking myself that I didn’t fit this one in! Indo enjoy Faith’s writing too.