This story is the perfect cute, Hallmark movie and will make you believe in soul mates.

Sam and Noelle keep bumping into each other. On her way home from a class reunion, Noelle, and every other commuter, ends up stranded on the highway due to heavy snow. Sam is parked in the car next to her and sees Noelle having a bit of a breakdown. He comes over and offers to help in any way he can; she takes him up on it and goes to charge her phone in his car. They talk and get to know each other in eight perfect hours and part without exchanging info. But then they unexpectedly bump into each other again. Then again. All while Noelle cannot stop thinking about him between their chance encounters.

As I read, I was fully expecting to rate this book 3 or 3.5 stars, but the ending got it a 4 out of 5. The book didn’t really pick up until I was about 40% through, but it was so worth it to keep reading and finish. Great read for fans of “Invisible String” by Taylor Swift; it is the perfect embodiment of that song. Also, I am obsessed with the cover art— so cute!

If you are looking for a sweet, emotional winter read— this is it!

Thank you so much to Atria Books via NetGalley for the advanced reader’s e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I adored Dear Emmie Blue and this one doesn't quite live up to my love for that one but this is still a very sweet read. This does not have as many winter vibes as it appears on the cover, but it is a great transitional fall to winter read. I loved the serendipitous encounters of Noelle and Sam and uncovering their connections along the way. This is a book for those that believe in fate and 'everything happens for a reason' type stories. Overall, a heartwarming, charming story that will put a smile on your face.

I read Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis about two months or so ago and completely forgot to review it, which would be a shame because I REALLY enjoyed it.

Noelle and Sam meet on a snowy night where they are trapped on the same road due to the blizzard. Sam offers for Noelle to use his phone charger so she can get in touch with her family and the rest is history. These two are sure they will never meet again, especially because they live in two different countries, but fate keeps bringing them together.

I thought this was so charming and heartwarming. Eight Perfect Hours is the perfect snowy day, holiday rom-com. I find myself leaning towards romances in the winter, when I need something to lift me from the grasp of seasonal depression, so if you find yourself in a similar state around that time, I highly recommend using this book as a pick-me-up when the need arises. I found both Sam and Noelle to be completely likable and I was rooting for them the entire time! Books like this remind me of the Punchline song, Caller 10. “We all have a match, if we can make the connection, so when your time comes make sure you’re paying attention to it.” It’s a book about seizing opportunities when they present themselves, because sometimes things are meant to be 🥰 Thanks to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the early copy. This book comes out on September 28th!

When you read a book by Lia Louis, you’re entering a special little world, looking into someone else’s life, a fly on the wall of someone’s world.

Noelle is stuck. Stuck taking care of her mother. Stuck working instead of following her dreams. Stuck with memories of her broken relationship with her high school sweetheart. Then, on her way home from her college time capsule reunion, she meets Sam, a stranger during an eight hour snowy highway shutdown. Are they really strangers? Or were they always meant to be?

I loved Dear Emmie Blue, and I loved Eight Perfect Hours MORE!! Y’all, my heart! 💔🥰😭
I forgot that Lia Louis makes me cry with her arrow straight to the heart writing. This is also such a sweet, hopeful book that I couldn’t recommend any higher. Five big bright stars
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to @netgalley @atriabooks and @lialouis for my gifted copy in exchange for my personal review 🙏🏻💗

This beautiful book that is easily one of my favorites of 2021 publishes on Tuesday, September 28th! Set your TBR and your alerts

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle. But it will never break.
—ancient Chinese proverb

Just like in Emmie Blue, Louis takes us on a journey that’s worth the trip.

Noelle and Sam keep meeting in unexpected places at unexpected times, and while they seem to have a connection, something is in the way. Are they destined to forever be ships passing in the night or to have a “can’t-eat, make you puke” kind of love? With Noelle scared to start living and Sam afraid to stop, is there a future for them and is their red thread entangled even more than either of them could ever imagine? A lovely story of love, loss, letting go and learning to live!

2 stars
I have a feeling that this is one of those books that people will either love it be "ehh" it's okay. I'm in the second group. This had such potential but just did not live up to it for me.

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis is truly serendipitous, and hopelessly romantic!

Noelle and Sam get stuck on a motorway during a freak snowstorm, and throughout the book keep bumping into each other. The way their lives continually intersect is really sweet, and also sad and torturous! An absolute slow-burn romance, with heavier life issues mixed in! I was rooting for Noelle's personal journey the whole way, and was pleased with the ending.

Thanks so much to Atria Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

What a truly enjoyable journey, filled with missed chances, fateful choices and magical coincidences. Was it really Fate or just coincidence or chance that Noelle and Sam's paths kept crossing?

<img src="https://c.tenor.com/42QLdnkxU68AAAAM/balanced-and-unbalanced-forces-fly.gif"/>

There are times when the narrative resembles a seesaw. One moment the plot is soaring high into the sky with possibility, then suddenly the opposite seat comes crashing down - foiled by ex lovers or partners who aren't quite completely out of the picture... yet!

<img src="https://www.luvze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/couples_friends_dinner.jpg"/>

Then the story started to resemble a maze toward the end. I agree with Kat (whose GR review convinced me to request an ARC of this highly entertaining novel) that the family issues were tidied up a tad too quickly at the end of the story. I also felt that the whole "Ed" mini-mystery was a major about face and changed the direction of the story.

<img src="https://c.tenor.com/SAviEA7OrT8AAAAC/alice-wonderland.gif"/>

I really enjoyed this novel. Noelle's best friends, Charlie and Theo, always had me in stitches - what a riot those two were. The world needs more Charlie Wilde's in it!

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I'm rating this one a 4 out of 5 stars for the great writing (although there were a few spots that needed a bit of editing and tidying up grammatically!) and memorable characters. My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Five Perfect Stars!

I didn’t know if Lia Lous could replicate the emotional journey I had with her previous novel Dear Emmie Blue, but she did. Eight Perfect Hours gave me all the feelings, and I relished every minute.

In this lovely, heart-warming, and romantic novel we meet Noelle, our flower-loving heroine, who is very likable but clearly struggling. She has been forced to put herself last, taking care of her mother to the detriment of a long-term relationship. She’s also still mourning the loss of her best friend when she was a teenager. This is the state we meet Elle in when she finds herself stranded on the highway during a worsening snowstorm, desperate to get home to her mother. But it’s also here she meets Sam, an American mountaineer and fellow strand-ee. And suddenly being stranded isn’t so bad.

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.

Louis has a way of making all her characters human. They’re layered, and even when unbelievable things happen, Louis makes them believable. And oh so charming. My heart ached for Elle. Her loneliness, her wistful hope.

Even the antagonists have likable characteristics. I still want to chuck them, but they’re real. Their actions make sense because even though their reasons may be wrong, Louis does such a good job creating these believable characters, I can understand most of their choices.

I also enjoyed the side story of Elle’s friends, Charlie and Theo. Once again, very believable characters, and theirs is an important and timely story I was excited to see represented.

I was pulling for these characters, not wanting to set the book down. And I would have happily stayed with them longer. Eight Perfect Hours has firmly secured Lia Louis a spot on my list of auto-read authors.

Eight Perfect Hours is an adult contemporary romance about a woman who is stuck both in her professional and personal life and the life affirming eight hours she spends on a snowed over road with a stranger.

Noelle is thirty-two and has put her professional and personal life on hold to stay near her mother as she recovers from a stroke. Although her mother is physically better anxiety and fear have kept her in the house requiring someone nearby. Most of the care has fallen on Noelle who wasn’t able to take additional classes, pursue her dream of being a florist or follow her long time boyfriend to the United States. After meeting Sam on that snowy night (and over and over around town) she begins to question fate and pursuing your dreams. But both she and Sam are trying to repair their former romantic relationships and the timing is off to meet someone new.

I really enjoyed Noelle and could relate to her role of trying to be there for everyone. But also the fear that life has passed you by and that you may never be able to pursue your dreams. Like her last novel (Dear Emmie Blue) Lia Louis also has a fun and supportive group of friends and side characters. I loved Charlie, Theo, the friend she lost Daisy (and continues to mourn) and even her clueless brother Dilly. Charlie has a highly relatable storyline about being a new parent and connecting with your child and I think a lot of moms could relate. At the core, this is a beautiful love story and romance between two deserving people that keep getting thrown together but need to work out the timing.

I loved Eight Perfect Hours and highly recommend it to romance readers and women’s fiction lovers. It has a beautiful love story with a lot of food for thought about caring for your parents, being a good friend, pursuing your dreams and finding the love of your life.

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A little too predictable for me to fully enjoy it was an okay story better character development would have made it far more interesting.

4 1/2 "Fateful" Stars...

Do you believe in fate? Noelle isn't sure if she does or not. Yet she meets a man during a freak snowstorm and then she keeps running into him over and over again in the most unexpected places. It has to mean something, right?

Eight Perfect Hours was a heartwarming book that takes the reader through a multitude of emotions on Noelle's journey to her "Happily Ever After." You see the growth she experiences from the beginning of the story until the end as she learns to accept change into her life and decides to put herself first. For the last several years, her wishes and goals came second to that of others, particularly her ailing mother. Yet, when she begins to feel touched by fate, she starts to embrace that maybe there is more out there for her than the day to day survival she's been living with. She actually starts to want more for herself and looks for ways to achieve it.

I absolutely adored this book. The twists and turns of fate in a person's life have always been something that intrigued me. So, obviously this book spoke to me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I wanted to like this one, but sadly, I didn't. It was just too boring to me and seemed to drag on and on, causing me to take 3x as long to read this as a typical book. I kept checking to see how many chapters were left in the book in hopes that something interesting would happen soon. I was in it for the romance, but it's more chick-lit since there is no romance until the very end. The blurb sounded great and I was excited to see how Noelle and Sam meet and where life takes them from there. I just wish we had gotten their love story and not the story of Noelle and all her personal problems.

Unfortunately, Sam and Noelle spend 95% of the book apart. In fact, they are committed to other people for most of the book.. Well, Noelle says Ed isn't her boyfriend, but that's not how it appears with them spending so much time together and kissing and all that. And Sam admits he has a girlfriend/former fiancé that he's trying to work things out with and that's why he keeps his hands of Noelle. So there is no 'Sam and Noelle' until a few chapters from the end.

There's definitely chemistry between Noelle and Sam and I kept rooting for them to finally get together. Had the author made that happen sooner, I'd have probably liked it more. I didn't find it believable at all that Noelle was 'in love' with Sam when she'd never spent a whole day with him and they weren't even dating. She loved him before they even kissed. How is that possible?

I really liked Sam, but don't feel we really get to know him much in this. He only pops up here and there when they run into each other. He seemed like a nice guy though. I definitely didn't see that 'twist' at the end coming.

Noelle...where do I begin? She never said no. She mothered her mom (and didn't say no). She didn't tell her brother to step up. She didn't put Ed in his place every time he'd say something to belittle her or try to make a move when she didn't want it. She was basically a pushover to everyone in her life and this is 90% of the book. It became old, redundant and boring to keep hearing of her woes when she did nothing to change them.

I wish I could say more about Sam & Noelle as a couple but we really only get a couple chapters at the end where they're together. They were cute and I know they'd make a good couple in the future. Sam was supportive of Noelle and I liked that about him. And Noelle eventually changes and starts doing things she wants to do and pursuing her dreams, so I liked her in the end, but by then I'd lost interest in her.

The author almost seemed to try too hard with the whole 'fate' aspect of the book. A few chance meetings, okay, that's believable. But the author adds in stuff from their childhood and teen years and that's when it just becomes a bit absurd.

This was my first book by the author, so I didn't go into this with high hopes that it would be like 'Dear Emmie Blue' as other reviewers note. I may go back and read that one later since everyone raved about it, but I can't say I'd recommend this book unless you're looking for chick-lit and are maybe a YA, not someone the age of the characters in this book.

Noelle is on her way home from a college reunion when a freak snowstorm completely stops traffic on the highway for 8 hours. She isn't prepared, is in the most unreliable car ever, and isn't dressed for the weather. Plus her phone is dead, and she really needs to check in on her mother who has special needs, and isn't used to being home alone.

In the care next to her is Sam. Sam is American and on his way to the airport to get a flight home. He senses her distress, and offers her use of his phone charger and his warm car. For eight hours, they talk and both feel the pull of attraction, but Sam has a girlfriend. They part ways without even exchanging numbers.

Fate has other ideas for them, and through all sorts of random encounters, they keep being pushed together. In spite of both of their attempts to pull away. For those who believe in the serendipity of the universe, this will be the romance of your dreams, and for those who think otherwise, the many ways that their lives keep intertwining may seem far fetched.

As a hopeless romantic, I loved this book. I thought the way they kept finding each other, and the many twists and turns in their lives to get them to this point were cleverly crafted. There is a wonderful cast of side characters that you grow to care about (and some who you don't), and so many wonderful moments between our two main characters. This book is the definition of a slow burn romance!

Thanks so much to Lia Louis, Atria Books, and Emily Bestler Books for supplying me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

What a sweet book about fate and serendipity!

I honestly thought this was a book about Christmas, but once you read the first couple of chapters, the cover makes perfect sense, plus it still has all the cuteness of a Christmas book! This book was the ultimate fate and second chance book for me. If you're a believer of "everything happens for a reason" then this book is perfect for you, because that saying is basically this book's motto, everything does happen for a reason and some things are meant to be, no matter if the events are happy or sad. Overall, I enjoyed Sam and Noelle's (cutest name ever) story and the journey between them!

If you're a fan of the movie Serendipity or the book One Day in December, you'll enjoy this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the earc in return for an honest review.

As you read do you consider what books you’d loop these in for recommendations or consider that it may be a “seasonal” read? These are the random thoughts I have sometimes when reading, especially when I am so overwhelmed with love for a book like I was for this one. IMO every contemporary romance reader I know needs to plan to own this one to curl up on a snow day & just SWOON at this incredible love story!

Do you believe in fate?

The story starts with Noelle and Sam meeting by chance during a blizzard, and after that they just keep running into each other. So many of the characters small moments relate to one another, so that even as they live separate lives after meeting, it seems inevitable for the couple to have met for a reason.

What I loved most is that Louis didn’t shy away from tough topics in the plot line - death of a friend/family, complicated family relationships, how we change as we get older. Not only do we get a dreamy romance in the story, we get a fantastic message about friendship, moving on and moving on / dealing with grief and going after our dreams.

I fell hard for this book.

Louis just has such a charming writing style, with swoon worthy couples that pulls you in instantly, leaving you in all the feels. This one was like a girly hug that left me feeling all cozy & warm, with moments that made me melt. (that post-it note! SWOON!)

Pick this one up, you won’t regret it, and don’t forget, “say yes, panic later.”

tw: death of a best friend; death of a family member; mentions of suicide; stroke

This book was one of those perfect combinations for me as it combines angsty, "fated" love story with heavier topics of grief and loss, mental health struggles, and finding your identity. The synopsis reads as two people who meet and then keep bumping into each other by "fate", but it's fated lovers in a very non-woo woo way which I love when that trope is done right! It's only told in our main characters POV, but everyone in the story felt so fleshed out and I felt for all of their experiences. Also, the depictions of mental health, particularly anxiety, were so accurate in here from the symptoms to the discussed treatment, which I love to see. A new favorite for sure.

I just love Lia’s writing. It always has such an uplifting quality to it. The idea of the red string and how it can be tangled, but never broken really resonated with me. It was the perfect touch weaving throughout Noelle and Sam’s story. I loved both of their patience and resilience. This was just overall a very sweet story and I really enjoyed it. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

You know that feeling when you start a book, and you can somehow tell that you’re going to absolutely love it? That’s how I felt from the very first page of Eight Perfect Hours. The writing captured my interest from the get-go, and it never released it. Not even now. I’m still thinking about this book.

Eight Perfect Hours is a story about fate, loss, grief, love, family, and fear. I wish I could write a review that could encapsulate this whole book and make everyone want to read it. Instead, take my word for it. Read this book.

Eight Perfect Hours is relatable and heartwarming. Noelle is a character you can’t help but root for. You want her to achieve her dreams. You want her to be happy. Another thing you will love is the side characters. They feel real. Sometimes side characters can feel flat and one-dimensional. That’s not the case in this book!

I can’t applaud Lia Louis enough! She weaved this story together perfectly. You’ll believe in fate and destiny by the time you read the last page. You’ll also leave this story feeling lighter and happier.

TW: Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, talk of suicide, death of a friend, car accident, post-partum depression

3.5 STARS - Eight Perfect Hours is a story about chance meetings between a couple who initially find themselves stranded during a blizzard and spend eight hours together in a car. When the storm ends, they go their separate ways only to find that fate has different plans for them.

This is a charming story with characters readers will root for and several serendipitous situations and emotional obstacles for the couple to overcome. I loved the 'two strangers forced into a unique situation' plot as well as the idea of soul mates making their way to each other again and again. It has a sweet premise, but it didn't quite have the emotional fortitude of Louis' previous book Dear Emmie Blue. I found being stuck in Noelle's head, with her indecision and extreme passivity, a bit much a times and with the couple not spending a lot of time together, I felt their connect wasn't as strong as I was expecting. That said, I enjoyed how the story wraps up giving readers more clarity about the coincidences which leads up to a satisfying ending.

Overall, I found Eight Perfect Hours to be a bit predictable and not quite the ooey-gooey romance I was expecting, but ultimately, I enjoyed this lighter story about sweet coincidences, destiny and finding your soul mate.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for my advanced copy of this book given in exchange for my honest review.