Sigh... there is so much about Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis that I connected with. From Noelle's relationship with her mother to the way, she felt emotionally in so many situations. It was a beautiful real read and a somber look into growing both as a person and in thought processes. I highlighted so much while reading I had to stop and write a few quotes down as well.

"That’s the thing about the middle of the night and its loneliness and bad memories. It makes you clamor for comfort and safety."

I'm not sure why this book resonated so much with me, I just know that it did. The love affair aside, it's a fantastic book. I will be excited to read more from Lia Louis.

~Tanja

Five perfect hours of reading this book. I would give it ten stars if it was allowed. I adored this book. The red thread proverb - wonderful. First, I'm one of those people who believes in signs and the magic of the universe and that too many coincidences aren't coincidences. I could also relate to Noelle's life in a big way, having always supported my family in one way or another when my parents were alive and now with my brother (similar to Dilly); including people in my life who don't understand why I still do it. So big connect to the story. Then, there's the writing that flowed effortlessly between current times and the past filling in the backstory a little at a time as we needed it. Lia also immerses you in the story with her very visual words making you feel like you're a fly on the wall in Noelle Butterby's world. I cried through out while reading this, not sobbing, just tears at different parts of the story, but especially at the end. Noelle ends up in a love triangle (sort of) with her ex, Ed, and Sam, whom she met randomly in a horrible traffic jam. I loved all the characters, even Sam's dad, Frank. Okay, there were a couple of side characters I didn't care for, but they were necessary to drive the story where it needed to go. There is a happy ending.

I'm not sure I would have found this book on my own and that would have been very sad, so a big thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an impartial review.

A breath of fresh air, witty and an uplifting gem of a story. A well needed respite from my heavier novels. A perfect beach read.

I LOVED the serendipity of Noelle and Sam's overall ARC, from their first meeting in a snowstorm to Fate's repeated efforts to put them in each other's paths to the ultimate resolution.

But this was also a tough read, especially during a pandemic. Still grieving the loss of her best friend 15 years ago, Noelle feels stuck in her life, held back because she's the primary caregiver for her mom who suffered a stroke 6 years ago. Her brother, their mom's favorite, is pretty useless and selfish and everyone's default position is "Noelle will take care of it." So if that's you right now, you've been warned.

Though this is contemporary fiction with a romance in it, I could have done with less wasting time with Noelle's ex, Ed As Harry says in When Harry Met Sally (paraphrasing), "When you realize who you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start ASAP."

I loved Dear Emmie Blue by Louis so I was very excited to dive into her next book. Once I started Eight Perfect Hours I couldn't put it down! I read it in one sitting and was smiling for ear to ear by the end. This book was like the movie Serendipity but with SO much more depth. I loved how real and honest the two main characters seemed. I started to put together some things in the middle but it was still crazy to continue to see their lives intersect and for them to really question fate. I love when characters come across as normal and kind and I really felt that in this book. I would highly recommend!

On a snowy evening, Noelle is stranded in her car. Sam Attwood is also trapped nearby, and they spend 8 hours together until roads are cleared. They leave before getting each others' info, but somehow they bump into each other again and again.



I thought this novel was quite cute and charming. Both characters are likable, and sometimes you just want a book that is going to give you warm, fuzzy feelings. It wasn't over the top, and it felt like serendipity. I am really looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cute book. Somewhat predictable, but the characters are realistic and loveable. This would make a great movie.

New favorite author alert- Lia Louis. This is not a genre I typically reach for, a contemporary romance, but after reading and loving Dear Emmie Blue, I knew I needed to read Eight Perfect Hours.

Check it out:

On a snowy evening in March, thirty-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone.

All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. 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.

Sometimes its really nice to take a break with the mysteries and suspense novels I enjoy and this was perfect. I love the author’s writing style and reading this book is like getting a warm hug and a mug of hot tea on a cold afternoon.

Coming out on September 28.

This cute romance begins with Noelle and Sam meeting by chance during a traffic jam. Thrown together for eight hours in a car, they make a connection. But when traffic starts moving again, they both go their separate ways and don't expect to ever see each other again. Until they run into each other again. And again! With each chance encounter, Noelle and Sam begin to wonder-- Are they destined to be together?

I adored Lia Louis' previous book (Dear Emmie Blue), and I was so excited to jump into her latest story. This novel was super cute and a quick and easy read. I did connect with it as deeply as I did with Emmie Blue though. It was a slow start for me. I didn't find Noelle and Sam's initial interactions to be all that interesting, which made it hard for me to root for them at first. Sam was very aloof at the beginning, and I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to feel the connection between them, but it took a while to get there.

However, about halfway through the book, I felt like we all connected-- me, Sam, Noelle-- and I was completely hooked for the rest of the story. The cover of the book with the snow globe makes this look like a Christmas/winter story. But it really is not. Sam and Noelle meet in March during a blizzard, but there is really nothing wintery at all about the rest of the book.

It's a cute romance that can be read anytime you want something light and fluffy to escape reality and put a smile on your face. It would make for an easy beach read or a cozy book to cuddle up with in front of a fire on a snowy day.

I didn't completely fall in love with this book, but I still enjoyed it. I will keep reading whatever Lia Louis writes!

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. This one comes out on September 28, and is available for preorder now.

Noelle + Sam + a snowstorm = a hallmark movie type book!

A freak snowstorm has Sam and Nielke meeting randomly when the highway is shut down. Both has separate lives but come together at random times throughout.

It was an okay book, I was excited to finish but there are parts that felt dragged on.

As I’m sure it has been for many, I found the past two months to be especially difficult and stressful — part of this is because of everything going on in the world right now and the resulting negativity that seems to have permeated every corner of the globe. On a personal level, having to deal with various concerns and issues related to work and family has been tremendously draining, to the point that, most days, I feel too exhausted to do anything that requires any level of sustained concentration. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, this has also started to affect my reading life in that my inability to focus has made reading certain types of books more challenging. It also didn’t help that my last couple of reads have been more on the heavy side, with a few that actually bordered on depressing.

Given all of the above, I was at the point where I was in desperate need of a “palette cleanser”-type read that would help me forget about my worries (albeit temporarily) and hopefully get my reading life back on track. It is within this context that I decided to pick up Lia Louis’s forthcoming release Eight Perfect Hours to read, even though a) I’m not usually a fan of romances, especially rom-coms, b) I’m a bit of a cynic when it comes to relationships and so I’m not too keen on sappy, cliched, angsty love stories, and c) this book was pretty low on my “priority” list to read right now due to the fact that it publishes at the end of September and I have a slew of ARCs publishing before this one that I also need to get to. But like I said earlier, I needed something that would get me out of this reading funk that I’d found myself in, and having read (and enjoyed) Louis’s previous book Dear Emmie Blue, I figured at least I’m reading a familiar-to-me author. Well, this one turned out to be a great choice!

As far as heartwarming romances go, Eight Perfect Hours definitely checks all the boxes. While the story itself wasn’t too original (and yes, the plot was absolutely predictable — everything panned out pretty much as I thought it would), I still enjoyed this one quite a lot (both from the story and characters perspectives). One thing I noticed from reading Louis’s previous book and now this one is that she has the ability to create realistic, relatable characters who are tremendously flawed and sometimes do frustrating things, yet we can’t help but love them anyway (this goes for the main characters as well as the side ones). With Noelle, the main protagonist in the story, I didn’t always agree with her every decision, but I understood her struggles — of being torn between responsibility to family versus pursuing her own dreams, of feeling like she wasn’t being seen, of living her life more for others than for herself, etc. — because I’ve experienced the same throughout my life, so I could definitely relate. This was also one of the reasons why I found myself rooting for Noelle throughout the story, even though I already knew she would most definitely find her way to a happy ending (this is a romance after all). And just like with Dear Emmie Blue, I loved all the side characters in this one nearly as much as I loved the main characters — the wonderful chemistry that all the characters had was a bonus that made this one all the more enjoyable.

Another aspect that I liked about this one was that the author was able to strike a good balance between lighthearted moments and the more serious ones, which I felt made this both a fun read as well as one with good emotional depth.

For those who enjoy rom-coms, I definitely recommend this one. Yes, the plot is predictable and there are romantic cliches galore, but the characters are endearing and the story overall is quite charming. For me, this was exactly the “pick-me-up” I needed to get me out of my reading slump during this time. I’m glad I decided to read this one!

Received ARC from Atria / Emily Bestler books via NetGalley

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis
Is it FATE or Happenstance
A fun sweet clean romance story and a story of overcoming fears that keep you from living your life fully. I really loved this story. It kept me interested and intrigued wondering if fate was playing a large role in these two lives, or was it just happenstance. Read the story and decide for yourself, I did. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.
This review is my honest opinion.

“My life has started. I’m in it. It’s not something I’m waiting for anymore. I’m here. And whatever I wanted for my life, was it this?” Was it this? Was this what I wanted for myself? And what is it that I wanted? Am I still waiting?

We absolutely adore Lia Louis and once again she showed us why, in Eight Perfect Hours. It was a wonderful and emotional story of life, hope, dreams, and relationships. Of the sacrifices, we make for those we love, of pushing ourselves out of a stagnant rut, and of the risks we’re willing to take. It was a story of love and kismet. Once again, this Author wowed us with her beautiful writing, her moments of quirky fun, her strong and relatable characters, and of course a slow-building romance with angst.

“…sometimes it feels like I’m fading into the background or something, and – nobody can see me. You know? But I thought – well, I can see me…”

Noelle Butterly goes through a momentous emotional journey in Eight Perfect Hours. Her shoulders are at a point of collapse from the burdens of others, as well as the ones she’s unwittingly chosen to place upon herself. Living with perpetual guilt, unresolved relationship issues, feelings of failure, and anxiety would break the strongest of people. Yet Noelle refuses to break because who would carry her burdens?

‘…I wonder how often the pair of them think, “Noelle will sort it. Noelle will deal with it.” And I wonder what would happen if I said, “No. Noelle won’t actually. Noelle is sick of dealing with it.” But I don’t.’

At thirty-two she finds herself at a crossroads; does she continue life as she knows it? One that is so far removed from her dreams and aspirations, or does she take a leap of faith and put herself first for a change? Does she stick with what she knows, or does she take a chance on the handsome and mysterious ‘stranger’ she serendipitously keeps meeting in moments of emotional need? We fell in utter love with the wondrous notion of kismet for Noelle and Sam, and how she found a fellow broken soul who understands her, who sees her, and who doesn’t sit in judgement.

“I want you to know something,” he whispers, words barely there, his nose inches from mine. “You said nobody does but – I see you, Noelle. I do.”

We loved the premise of Eight Perfect Hours; it was so deliciously swoony it made us melt into puddles. But this wasn’t just a meant-to-be romance, it was so much more. It was about friendships, grief, family, mental health, and second chances. All weaved together in such an insightful and emotional manner, we were fully invested and captured by this feel-good romance from the first page till the last. If you haven’t experienced Lia Louis’s work yet, you really must add her to your reading list, you won’t regret it!

‘We’re living now. Because now is all there is…the only way to live forever is to leave parts of yourself behind.’

This was a fun, light romance that I found myself completely absorbed in during the afternoon that I read the majority of it. It was something that entertained me while I read yet it was not easily forgotten. The love story was sweet and catchy as the characters experienced a chance at connecting while stranded in an unexpected circumstance. I do recommend this as it is sure to be enjoyed!

Noelle Butterby is a likable and relatable heroine. She is a loving and dutiful daughter with a dream. Her story seems predictable but plays out in a way I never would have guessed. I cheered her on and was delighted by how the author ties her story up with a bow in the end.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was cute. A quick summer read. Entertaining.

I am a sucker for a great holiday love story! And Eight Perfect Hours is it! I gifted One Day in December to all I knew who love romantic movies and the idea of falling in love and this title will be on the list for this year! And I too do not believe in coincidences!!

Eight Perfect Hours is this year’s One Day in December! The hours I spent reading Eight Perfect Hours were some of my favorite hours; Lia Louis nailed this novel and I cannot wait for its release date.

Have you heard of the red thread proverb, the idea that two people are connected by a thread? Noelle is in her early thirties and is meandering through life. She is a residential and office cleaner, full time caregiver for her mother with agoraphobia, missing the love of her life that broke her heart and an aspiring florist. Noelle meets Sam while stranded on the highway and they spend a long cold night getting to know one another, sure it will be the only time they meet. Louis then takes readers on a journey through time as Noelle and Sam continue to collide into each other's world. Time and time again they seem to find each other, but can’t seem to work out their connection.

I think Louis did an exceptional job of covering really serious topics including; postpartum depression, death of teenagers, infidelity, aging parents, mental health and love. Love can look a lot of ways and both Sam and Noelle are given the opportunity to choose love that is safe and familiar or look further for something that inspires, but involves risk. Eight Perfect Hours will definitely be one of my top 2021 reads and I look forward to discussing it with friends in the future.

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful winter read! The cover is fun and the story is enjoyable. A perfect book to wrap up in a warm blanket with some hot cocoa and read the day away!

Do you believe in fate? It plays a central role in this book.
I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. It’s a well written romance with compelling characters. Noelle is stuck in her old car during a snowstorm that has the highway shut down completely. She’s without food, water, and blankets, and Her phone is dead with no charger cable and she needs a call her mom, who will be frantically worried. She’s startled by a knock on the window from Sam, another motorist. She ends up spending 8 hours in his car talking about everything under the sun, and when the storm clears he drives away.

Fate has plans for them, and they run into each other several times, and discover a lot more going on behind the scenes than either of them realize. Great writing, strong characters, and an outstanding plot that made me question the role of fate. I highly recommend this book, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.