ONE MINUTE LATER
BY SUSAN LEWIS

Just as this title says, "One Minute Later," we all know how fragile life is and also time, how one minute your life is fabulous and whether or not being in the wrong place at the wrong time, an I'll fated choice, or just date itself how everything can just change in a heartbeat. Susan Lewis is undeniably a very talented writer and with her latest novel she proves she doesn't disappoint.

Vivienne Shager has just that same 180 degree turn in her life. She is living a high flying life in London with a lot of friends, has just run a marathon and just like that she is lying on the floor in a restaurant after just suffering a massive heart attack. Vivienne is told that without getting a heart transplant she will be dead in twelve months. Her boyfriend becomes disinterested in her She returns home to the seaside village of Kesterley and rests living with her mother. Vivienne gets very angry with her mother because her estranged father is a big secret. Will Vivienne get that heart saving transplant in time? Or will her luck run out with not having time to get it?

Next we are introduced to Shelly and her husband Jack who are happily married and live with their kids in Deerwood farm. Jack is a vet. They are living in an alternate timeline around thirty years earlier prior to present tense that Vivienne lives in. They have their share of heartbreak as well. These dual timelines that they both inhabit they both have their own tragedies and heartbreak that all end up merging together and make sense. I loved Ms. Lewis's lush descriptions of Deerwood farm.

It seems Susan Lewis writes a lot of medical information about heart transplants that I never knew about. She talks about being an organ donor can save nine lives. Ms. Lewis in the third section picks up the pace a bit and seamlessly weaves together all of the secrets and lies, as well as how these two very different points of view become relevant. Their two stories, two families, their heartaches, their tragedies all merge together as one. This is a highly emotional story. How while waiting for an organ to be donated sadly means the death of another person.

Thank you to Net Galley, Susan Lewis and Harper Collins for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a story about transplants as well as a love story. The author did a good job with character development but I wasn’t fully involved with the storyline. The mystery was somewhat predictable as was the ending. The story did enlighten you about the whole transplant procedure which is a definite plus. I have to give the author credit for the emotional roller coaster of a story. #oneminutelater #susanlewis #netgalley

One Minute Later by Susan Lewis was published by Harper Collins on 06/11/19. I obtained a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

I'm going to copy the exact synopsis from Goodreads, because I think the context of it is important regarding my review.

It’s takes one minute to change everything…

Vivienne Shager has it all. A highflying job. A beautiful apartment. Friends whose lives are as perfect as her own. But on the afternoon of her 27th birthday, Vivi has a heart attack.

Now Vivi’s life shrinks back to how it begun, as she moves back to the small seaside town she grew up in. With her time running out, there is one thing she wants to know the truth about.

Some secrets are best left in the past…

Thirty years earlier, Shelley’s family home, Deerwood farm, bursts full of love and happiness. But one family member has hidden a secret for all these years. Until Vivi comes home demanding answers, and it takes just a moment to unravel the lie at their heart of their lives…

I'll be honest here. I requested this book because of the synopsis. It's not quite a thriller, but it sounds like the book should have a lot of mystery surrounding the story, right? Not the case. The beginning of this book hooked me, and then quickly lost me as it transitioned from real time with Vivi to the past with people who remained cloudy for most of the book. I kept waiting for the "action" to happen. When it did, it was done and over with in about 4 pages. I fell asleep several times reading this book.

The ending was okay, but predictable. Overall this book felt like a pressure/lecture to become an organ donor, more than a story about Vivi and her trials. I'm already a full organ donor. I don't need the educational lecture when trying to read a story. It felt completely out of place for me.

This felt more like a romance type book than anything with a mystery in it. The synopsis is deceptive. Had I known what the book was actually about, I would have not volunteered to read it.

I'm sure this book will do very well with people who love to cry, or want to read sappy romance, but that's just not me. The book earned an extra star in the rating because I do know people who would read this and probably enjoy it. I'm just not part of that group.

🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars

Favorite Quotes:

I felt as though we were fitting back into a place we’d only ever left temporarily. Then, when I saw the house, this house, sad and neglected, I thought, I swear this, I thought it gave a little sigh of relief when it realized it was us— and if you laugh, I’ll leave you.

She realized there would be no bucket list for her— or not one that included daredevil stunts, long-haul flights, or weeks of hot, passionate sex on a beach in the South Seas with a younger version of George Clooney.

“We’ve become reducetarians.” Sam blinked. “What’s that when it’s at home?” he demanded. “It means we still eat meat… but a lot less of it, which is good for our health, the planet, and animals.”


My Review:

This was an informative and thoughtfully written book that held my coronary muscle in a vise and had me contemplating the various aspects and complicated issues and emotions surrounding organ donation. Ms. Lewis’s writing was highly emotive and insightful as well as lushly detailed with descriptions that involved all the senses in addition to setting the emotional tone for each scene.

Vivi Shager thought she was a healthy woman who had the world by the tail. She was an intelligent and successful professional who frequently traveled internationally for work and had recently run a marathon. But apparently not, as meeting her friends for lunch to celebrate her twenty-seventh birthday and in a most distressing turn of events, her world and her heart imploded with a series of three heart attacks and was given the life expectancy of one year without a transplant. Not a good birthday at all then. The rest of the book slowly evolved over a year forward and thirty years back with two timelines following two different families until their storylines intersected and a lovely romance blossomed.

While the premise and much of Vivi’s narrative was fraught with tension, family drama, and uncertainty; there were more pleasant elements to be found in the back and forth over thirty years of the Raynor family narrative. I adored every generation and timeline of this lively and loving clan, although they also endured more than their fair share of tragedy as well.

I cannot imagine the ghoulish and demoralizing effect of waiting for someone to die so I could continue to have a chance at living. Or to rush to the hospital for that long-awaited surgery, only to be stopped in my tracks when the donor’s family would not consent. Devastating. I learned so much about this process that I would have never stopped to consider. I also picked up a new word and a phrase to add to my Brit Vocabulary List with pong – which is British informal for an unpleasant smell, and “What’s that when it’s at home?” – which apparently means ‘I have no clue what you are talking about.’ I will be eagerly waiting for a chance to slip these into use.

I liked the characters and found that they were likable and well developed. That said, this novel, while well written, was not for me.

The two things I can always count on when I’m reading a Susan Lewis novel is that I will be completely captivating and the storyline will be one that stays with me! As per usual, One Minute Later checks both off (and much more)! One Minute Later is told in alternating character viewpoints going between the past and present day. It took me a little while to understand how the characters were connected, but once I did I was able to appreciate how brilliantly Susan Lewis had planned out that opening! One Minute Later is filled with twist and turns that truly take you by surprise and leave your jaw hanging wide open, but also touch your heart! This 5 star novel will make a fantastic beach —don’t miss this must read!

What a layered novel! I enjoyed reading for the suspense of figuring out what happened next. The characters were well-developed and the emotion it evoked was felt to the core. I have a select group of readers I know will love this story!