There is a lot to love about this novel, but for me there was just something missing. I enjoyed the setting, the townspeople, the premise of Cleo and Mac being stuck at the cottage together, and both of their journeys. However, while I found myself rooting for Mac and Cleo to get together, it was uncomfortable because of Mac's marital status... which did make it a challenge to continue hoping Mac and Cleo would come together in the end. I also never felt like Cleo truly bonded with the townspeople even though she was developing friendships with them.

I ended up having to DNF this book. I read until almost 65% and at that point there still just didn't seem like much engaging story to me. I think it's a cute premise, but it missed the mark for me as far as pacing and storytelling goes.

I'm sad to say that I struggled to get into this story. I had never read a book by Josie Silver before, even though I've seen tons of reviews about One Day in December. I won't give too much detail about my reasons why I couldn't finish the book since I think someone else could really enjoy it.

Thanks to the publisher for my advance review copy.

If you are feeling stressed, this is the perfect book to read. A feel good book with a lot of story and heart. An American man and English woman end up in a seaside house on an island off the Irish coast inadvertently. Over time they get to know each other and their selves. Plenty of interesting island people to round out the story.
#netgalley #randomhouse #josiesilver #onenightontheisland

This book really grew on me as I was reading it. At first, I wasn’t really a fan and then I quickly found myself rooting for the two main characters. I loved the way the island was described and I felt like I could really picture it. Super cute, quick read and I always love books that have dual viewpoints! Solid four star read for me!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the ARC!!

I love Josie Silver's writing style. She makes you feel as though the characters and setting are real. As though you could transport there and interact with the people. One Night on the Island takes place on a small island in Ireland. Cleo is about to turn thirty and goes there to marry herself. She plans on spending time alone and committing to herself instead of continuing to look for romance. This was interesting to me and would have made for a fine story, especially with the characters she meets on the island.

However, instead this is a romance with an American, Mack, who just happens to have booked the same one room cabin as Cleo. Mack is separated from his wife and missing her and his sons a lot. Which annoyed me when the book turned the relationship between him and Cleo into a romance. Mack was a self centered jerk. He claims to miss his family and that he feels they are his number one priority. Yet he's spent his career as a photographer traveling the world WITHOUT them.

I would have loved more of a story about Cleo learning more about herself by being alone and the friendships she made in the knitting circle. I loved Cleo's chapters and her time spent with the women on the island. I found myself skimming Mack's parts toward the end. I just could not care about him.

Read this book for the setting and ambiance. I wish I could go spend a week on Salvation Island. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

I'm such a big fan of this book—it has enemies to lovers, a remote town full with lovable characters, and a love story about finding yourself. Cleo is done with love, so when her boss sends her to a remote island in Ireland to "marry" herself, she goes. Little does she know that the small cottage she's supposed to stay in is double booked. In comes the other tenant! Mack is a photographer and father from Massachusetts who's trying to reconnect with his Scottish roots, and get over his wife who left him months ago. What unfolds is fantastic. The two of them have to survive together in a small cottage for a week until the next ferry comes. I adored how they're fates where intertwined and I genuinely rooted for them. Review posted on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CY7VrQ6Phub/?utm_medium=copy_link. TikTok review post to come closer to publishing date.

Loved this new one from Josie Silver - just like her first two books, you get sweet and bittersweet together. From the synopsis, Cleo and her mission could sound pretty vapid and ridiculous but there is so much more substance to her. And Mack - bless his poor broken heart. You know they are going to end up falling for each other, even if they don't want to, but it's so complicated. And aside from the enemies-to-friends-to-more storyline, this is a love letter to the mystical (and unfortunately fictional) Salvation Island. What a fantastic place if it were real! I loved the residents of the island and the way they all support one another, and the lush descriptions of the island itself. I wanted to see Mack's photos and stand by the boulder on Wailing Hill. Absolutely incredible descriptions that made me feel as if I were really there.

Thank you so much Ballantine and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to review this book!

This is not the book I would recommend to voracious romance readers, it is more of a quiet romance. I think if as a reader you have read and enjoyed previous Josie Silver books then the odds are high you would enjoy this one as well, it feels very on brand. I do think while this might miss the mark for die hard romance readers this has definite book club potential and I don't mean that in a negative way. This is the kind of book I will be recommending to patrons AND my mom.

I thoroughly devoured and was charmed by this book! I love the setting on an island off the coast of Ireland, the characters were charming and so real. The author beautifully described Ireland and the lovely and welcoming people there. The story had great depth and I appreciated the honesty that the characters showed as they worked through major life changes and challenges! It left me wanting to unplug and go rediscover myself for a while. Thank you! Absolutely loved this!

This is a unique love story mixed with a tale of finding a community of your very own. Cleo heads to a small, remote island lodge to find herself and work on her writing. Mac arrives on the same island to recover from the increasing chaos in his life and work on his photography. A reservation mix up leads to the two strangers sharing a space (forced proximity romance is one of my favorite plot points). The unexpected story between Cleo and Mac is perfectly balanced with the story of the townspeople embracing them both as their second family.

One of the things I loved most about this story was the maturity of the relationship of the main characters. Romance plots almost always include a twist and there is joy in the fun or dramatic ones but I really appreciated the realistic and understandable difficulties this love faced (no obvious misunderstandings or dramatic secrets revealed). I loved Cleo and Mac and was rooting for them until the end. I also really enjoyed getting to know each additional character from the village. They were wonderful on their own and as part of the larger community aspect of the story. This is a great book and I am still missing it days after I finished reading.

Thank you to Josie Silver, Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I just love Josie Silver's writing. I have found she is able to flawlessly interweave an enjoyable rom-com with a deeper, more meaningful life lesson (grief/loss, self-discovery/self-acceptance, etc.) -- no small feat.

And the romance. It's beautiful. It's intoxicating. And her characters are (as always) so real and so relatable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for my complimentary copy.

This was enjoyable but predictable-nothing surprised me from the first chapter on...predictable. I finished the book and liked it but it really felt that I have read this before. THanks to NetGalley for the early read.

Terrible book premise turns out to be a pretty enjoyable rom com.

Cleo writes for an online magazine about dating adventures. When her editor books her a house on a remote island off the coast of Ireland to go "marry herself", Cleo finds the house to be accidently double booked. The other lodger is a heartbroken man from Boston who is a photographer. They have to share the house and find themselves on the remote island, pursuing what they want for their futures and befriending the interesting cast of locals.

The storyline and the characters are so ridiculous that I almost didn't stay with this book. I hated the start of the book and the dumb title (they spend much more than one night on the island? why is this the title?) However, once the townspeople came into the story and it became more about their community, Cleo started to also own her mission and the whole book changed for the better. I really liked Mack's commitment to his family and his conflicting feelings and the choices he makes. In the end this is a nice book if you can get past the dumb title and premise. I liked it more than The Two Lives of Lydia Bird for sure and fans of One Day in December should give it a chance.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review. 3.75 stars

This was my first Josie Silver book and I love the characters that she created in this story. One Night on the Island was a quick read of two people who find themselves double booked for a cabin on a small, remote island in Ireland. What follows is and enemies to friends, friends to lovers story as both characters try to find their way forward to the next chapter of their lives. My favorite part of this book was the island and the people who live there. Josie Silver did a great job creating a charming supporting cast and her writing about the scenery made me want to visit Salvation Island. Thank you to Josie Silver and Random House Ballantine Books for this advanced copy to read and review. One Night on the Island will be released on February 15.

Josie Silver is quickly becoming my favorite contemporary romance author. Her books get to the heart of it and pull at the deepest parts inside of you. Her writing is addictive and she always finds a way to get you to relate to her stories in the most visceral way imaginable. I enjoyed this just as much as her other 2 novels and she is now an auto read author for me.

Josie Silver is an auto-buy author for me, and One Night on the Island just didn’t disappoint. Cleo, a vibrant dating columnist from London, is given an assignment: go to the remote island of Salvation in Ireland and do a self-coupling ceremony (a ceremony inspired by Emma Watson where she marries herself). Her vacation of self-love is instantly interrupted as she finds the cottage her boss rented for her—Otter Lodge—has been double booked and her roommate in this one-bed, one room place to stay is the brooding American Mack, a wonderfully loving father dealing with separating from his wife. This book is just breathtaking. I mean I was half ready to set up a self-coupling wedding ceremony for myself after this one. It’s inspiriting and lovely. This island is just enchanting with eclectic, welcoming, and nosey (in the best way) townsfolk. Mack is so tortured by the situation with his family, struggling with his feelings and what is best for his two boys. He’s kind and living and just having his story grow was so heartwarming. And Cleo, she’s amazing. She starts high-strung and maybe a little self righteous, but her journey to find herself and her dreams is beautiful. The writing is witty and lyrical. It’s breathtaking and I was captivated by the island magic that came from each page. I loved the gentle slow burn of Mack and Cleo as they navigated being stuck in the same room. I loved their trading secrets and vulnerabilities and their story was just enchanting. In a way, I didn’t love the ending though. It felt a little too pretty an ending in a way that didn’t necessarily match all the needs of the two main characters. But it is a happy ending and for that, I’m glad. There was also dual perspectives in this that I felt was so perfect for this. The way the characters got to experience the island was just stunning and I loved seeing the slow burn from both sides. This is an enchanting, charming read that I can’t recommend enough.

3.5 STARS

Cleo Wilder’s dating column has been about looking for love and finding it in all the wrong places. As her thirtieth birthday approaches with no significant other in sight, Cleo is strong-armed by her editor into spending this noteworthy turn of the calendar on a far-flung Irish island in a one room cabin. Anyone who has spent time on Ireland’s islands, particularly in the North Sea, will appreciate the remoteness and wild weather. The cacophony and insane pace of London has just about fried Cleo’s nerves so she is feeling fairly desperate to do some profound navel gazing all alone…except she isn’t.

American Mack Sullivan’s grandmother grew up on the tiny and aptly named, for this story, Salvation Island. His own life has been in turmoil the past year since Mack’s wife Susie decided she wanted something else than their marriage leaving him and their two kids in limbo. Mack has been in a holding pattern waiting to get his life back; however, as that does not seem to be happening, he decides to discover his roots in a cabin owned by a cousin. Unfortunately, or not as it turns out, Mack arrives to find Cleo has also booked the cabin and with no other accommodations on the island and a boat only weekly if the weather holds, they must grudgingly learn to share the small space meant for one.

In the beginning, they struggle to get along each resenting the other’s intrusion as they both want solitude. Living on island time with its limited connections to the outside world, Cleo and Mack learn to let go of out of some angst and irritation with the situation and begin to see the value in the world and people around them. Mack is a successful photographer who drinks up the natural beauty of the island with its people who treat both of them as family. When their life stresses and struggles begin to fall away, the unlikely roommates start to enjoy the forced proximity. There is still plenty of torment to be had in this Women’s Fiction as Mack is still legally married though separated and has been wanting to reunite with his wife…until now. Cleo’s high stress life as a magazine writer with a major media following no longer fills her soul. Cleo has a somewhat silly task while on the island dreamed up by her boss of “marrying” herself on her birthday to proclaim that she is enough, alone without a life mate.

It is never a pleasant time reading about someone’s marriage imploding because one spouse is no longer “fulfilled” in his or her role. Mack’s job profession means he is often gone for long stretches which certainly contributed though he was quite blindsided by the split. Cleo’s being unplugged from her media job and its attendant world gives her a chance to fulfill a long-held dream to write more than a column always looking for the next angle to keep readers interested. This contemporary tale of relationships has its ups and downs especially with Mack’s status and family baggage, but for the most part it is an interesting and at times, entertaining read. Despite being touted as such, this is not what I would call a rom-com nor exactly a love story; it is much more complicated with an atypical ending for a romance.

This was a did not finish at about 35 percent. I liked the set up and the idea of the story.

I lost interest in the characters and storyline early on. I might try it at another time since I do like stories that take place in Ireland. For now this is a one star rating due to not finishing.

I've enjoyed Josie Silver's books - The Two Lives of Lydia Bird in particular, so was really pleased to receive an ARC for this title. One Night on the Island flips between two viewpoints, one of Cleo, a soon to be thirty year old magazine writer, and the other of Mack, a photographer who is going through a separation. Both have come to Salvation, a remote island of the coast of Ireland for different reasons and due to a miscommunication find themselves having to share a cottage (the only available lodging!). They gradually develop a relationship, but it's not without bumps along the road.
I really liked the set up, Silver does a great job in describing the island and bringing the inhabitants to life. Cleo's struggles (becoming thirty, not knowing where in life she is headed) also felt relatable. Mack's story was well done, as he comes to terms with the end of the marriage. However, I just couldn't get into the romance - the timing/chemistry didn't seem right. I thought the ending was realistic though.
Overall, I still enjoyed the read and found myself invested in the characters.
Thanks very much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book.