One Night on the Island is a delight! I've been a Josie Silver fan since they day I picked up One Day in December and finished it a few hours later and she does it again with this magical book. The characters are likeable, real and have believable conflict throughout. The setting is also a dream - it made me want to take a trip to a remote island in Ireland ASAP! To accurately summarize this book I'll take a note from Silver herself...1) this is the perfect post-holiday/new year read, 2) I've never wanted to listen to Bruce Springsteen more, and 3) I don't regret this book one bit. Pick this up as soon as you can!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me this title for a review!

I really really enjoyed reading this book—it is right up my alley. It was about Cleo, who needs a refresh and to find herself, and Mack, who wants to connect to his roots while figuring out what’s going on with his marriage. They both get accidentally booked for the same rental on Salvation Island, and a rom com is born.

I have loved Silver's books, so I knew I'd probably enjoy this one - and I wasn't disappointed! It was delightful read, and I really liked the main character and how she came into her own and made her own home somewhere new. I am fan of self-exploration novels, and this fit the bill. This takes place over some time, however, so I was unsure as to why it was titled what it was titled. Perhaps I missed that "one night" but at the end of the day, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel. Highly recommend!

Another winner by Josie Silver! I read in a Goodreads reviewer post that some authors just writes the books she wants to read and Josie Silver has that knack for me.
Having loved One Day in December and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird I was so excited to read this ARC from NetGalley and Penguin. As in her other works, the premise of this story was so interesting and the characters so lovable and well developed.
Cleo Wilder is approaching thirty and her life is adrift - romantically and professionally. She is sent to a remote island to escape her impending birthday celebration and write a new column about self love. She meets Mack, an American photographer whose family comes from the island and who is struggling through a marital separation. The real character gems are the island inhabitants themselves.
The writing was beautiful and evoked a picture of a place I would love to visit. So much wisdom imparted in this book about life and love.
This book is perfect for those who aren't quite into "romance" novels but love a "romantic" feel good story.
Can't wait to see this published to add to my collection.

Oh Nelly, I have a book hangover! Reading One Night on the Island by @josiesilverauthor was like drinking wine and mojitos and champagne and more wine and just ONE more glass (read: bottle) of champagne. This book is warmth and joy and happy tears and sad tears and telling your best girlfriends you love them in the bathroom at 1am and then drunk texting the man you secretly are in love with right before passing out with a slice of pizza in your hand. Reading this made me love drunk and now I’m hungover.

Dating columnist and unlucky in love Cleo lives life in the fast lane in London. Her boss sends her to a tiny island off the coast of Ireland to write about solitude and being in a relationship with herself on the eve of her 30th birthday. Mack (aka Chris Evans) is going through a separation from his wife and retreats from Boston to the Irish island to embark on a photography project and some soul searching. Due to a scheduling snafu, Mack and Cleo are booked to stay in the same cabin at the same time…which means…ONE BED TROPE!! Unfortunately, (SPOILER ALERT) there’s a couch and no awkward bed sharing ensues. However, awkward cabin sharing ensues as neither inhabitant is willing to leave. After a rocky start Cleo and Mack slowly become friends and then obviously lovers- and oh how sweet it is! Silver’s descriptions of these two characters as their love story evolves is pure magic. The words they say to each other, the feelings they feel, and the world in which they living are depicted with intoxicating perfection. I fiercely love these two characters and their journeys.

This book was pretty near flawless. I will say there are moments in the second half that drag a bit, but that’s just me being picky and impatient for Mack and Cleo’s HEA. Silver makes these two (and us) work for that HEA, but it’s all so so good and I was so drunk on Silver’s words by the end that all was forgiven!

Thanks @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for this ARC. This book will be born Feb 15, 2022!

Smut- 3 stars
Romance- 4.8 stars (swoony)
Story- 5 stars (Oh hello little rare 5star unicorn)
Getting drunk on books- 278 stars

This review contains spoilers.

This was five stars up until the end. I loved it. The characters, the setting, the story. But they just live thousands of miles apart and commute indeterminately? Hard no.

What a wonderful read! I could feel the breeze and cool air and would love to visit the pub! I adored this title. It was the perfect escape title for a weekend read. Cleo and Mack are great characters and it was wonderful to see the struggles and dilemmas they deal with. I adored it and can't wait for the next title.

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this early for my honest review.
I really enjoyed the feeling reading this book gave me the reading next to the cozy fire feel.
The relationship on this book will divide people, I can see why it would but at the same time the story still worked for me. I will go into detail once closer to the release date!

The first half of One Night on the Island had me hook, line, and sinker, though the later half left me wanting. Josie Silver is a very skilled writer -- it's what I loved most about this book, and is what has me adding her other books to my reading list. The story itself moves well and doesn't feel at all snagged by time as other books encompassing a months time might. The characters were likable, even through the moral grays, which is a feat in and of itself. The plot was predictable, but that's not a make-or-break for me, or most readers I venture to say. The things that I docked stars for are the excessive pop culture references and the pace of the last half of the novel. It felt that after a certain major plot point it was just biding time until the obvious outcome, and it just dragged. The alternative would have felt rushed, so it was a delicate balance to strike, but in my opinion it missed the mark just a bit. Overall I enjoyed the book, and I would recommend it to friends.

I loved this book. The life Cleo finds and lives is a dream of mine. Cozy beach house with an ocean view, small community of kind, strong, supportive friends, job she lives, none of the pressure or hussle and bustle of big city life.

Only reasons I gave it 4 stars vs 5 is because I honestly would have ended it differently. She got her happy ending with the guy she fell in love with, but I think the ending would have been so much stronger and unique if Mack mended his marriage and Cleo moved on without him - both having grown and healed due to their experience on the island.

But it wasn't my book. Lol

Also, it's a really clean book except for one open door sex scene right in the middle. It could have done without that with how strong the writing and feelings were throughout the book.

I read this thanks to an ARC from Netgalley.

I really loved Josie Silver's One day in december and was very much looking forward to this novel and for the most part she delivered.

I liked Cleo, she was the appropriate amount of spunky, lost, but not too annoying. She had some growth and that was developed well over the book through her relationships, I liked that it wasn't a pure girl meets boy story but that she had her own baggage to work through. I did wish the islanders had been explored a bit more. The characters were interesting enough that it would've been nice to dive into them a bit more, and perhaps even more background into the family Cleo had left behind.

Mack was a dynamic character who is a bit harder, his back story made it tricky to feel either wholly bad or good about him but I think that's what made it work. Real people are flawed, and Josie Silver captures human nature in this book. I couldn't relate a lot to the why Cleo was on the island but willing to overlook that because the overall book was enjoyable.

In honor of Cleo and Mack, I thought I’d review this in a way that would make them smile with two-tone eyes.

1: I devoured this book and am still picking my heart up off the floor from after reading it.

2: One Night on the Island made me swoon, sigh, and ugly cry in all the right ways.

3: I’ll never regret reading Josie Silver
(If you know, you know)

I fell in love with Mack, Cleo, and the villagers of Salvation Island. Silver has a way of writing that makes you think, “Yes! That’s exactly it—spot on” with her dialogue and her characters’ internal thoughts. Several times I found myself nodding my head almost as if I was agreeing or talking to the characters. This story is heartbreakingly beautiful and conquers several themes; a struggling marriage, self-identity, single-hood, and parenting. Cleo writes for an online magazine that has sent her to Salvation Island to, in the words of Emma Watson, “self-couple”. What is supposed to be a cozy Irish island retreat full of solitude and self-partnering for Cleo, becomes a tightly shared space when Otter Lodge is accidentally double booked with a Bostonian. The story could have very well jump straight into the “one-bed” narrative, but Silver is so much smarter than that and has us pining for a shared bed without even acknowledging that a romance could ever happen between her characters. Cleo and Mack do NOT like each other from the start and their butting heads and stubbornness as to whom will leave Otter Lodge had me hooked from the word go. The way Silver breaks down each hero’s wall is so delicately and smartly done that the reader cannot help but fall in love with Cleo and Mack. Initially I wanted to dislike Mack because of his marriage circumstances, but instead felt sympathy for him. And what could have been a ridiculous plot with the self-coupling of Cleo, had me like her and her journey even more. One Night on the Island fulfilled all of my reading expeditions in a good book: I couldn’t put it down, I loved the characters and especially the knitting circle, and it made me feel as if I could totally and completely relate to both Cleo and Mack. The only thing I could ask for is a sequel or maybe a story about Delta and Barney? Cheers to Josie Silver and her triumphant return as an author that can make me feel ALL the emotions.
I received this ARC from NetGalley and Ballantine books in exchange for an unbiased review.

4.5 stars! I truly enjoyed this book. It surprised me by going deeper than a usual rom-com. The characters were so well developed- even the secondary characters- and the themes extended far past romance. Highly recommend!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I read Josie Silver’s The Two Lives of Lydia Bird and fell in love, so I was extremely excited to read this one too! The prose of the book was beautiful. We have Cleo and Mack, two lost souls who came to Salvation Island for completely different reasons and end up getting stuck together.

This one does have more romantic development than Silver’s others books, but some parts did seem to drag for me. I loved the side characters and the setting, but there was some aspects of the book that I couldn’t relate to, or just didn’t care about as much.

I greatly enjoyed the beautiful writing and the unique setup, but it was missing a hint of something for me. If you like your romance books with a side of self-improvement and self-love, this might be the book for you!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Two strangers, Mack and Cleo, arrive on a remote island with different purposes and intentions. They realize the cabin they planned to stay in was double booked, and they will now be sharing the accommodation. I appreciated that there was some depth to the story lines and it wasn't just a cliché romance, however I didn't gravitate towards the main characters as much as I'd hoped. I also felt the shift in their relationship was fairly abrupt, with not much build up leading to it. Debated between 3 and 4 stars but opted to round up as I flew through the book in a day and overall enjoyed it, so that must count for something!

**Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this ARC!**
ONE NIGHT ON THE ISLAND follows Cleo, a twenty-nine-year-old dating column journalist from London as she’s tasked (or forced, depending on who you’re asking) with marrying herself on her thirtieth birthday for a series of articles on a remote Irish island called Salvation, the same island community where Mack, a separated father of two and photographer from Boston, has ancestral ties. In a twist of fate or, more likely, miscommunication, Cleo and Mack find themselves staying together in the only lodging available for visitors of Salvation Island. Though they originally clash (and enforce separate spaces with the help of a chalk line down the middle of the cabin) Cleo and Mack grow closer as they find new pieces of themselves on the island.
I immediately connected with both characters, but especially Cleo. We’re both at the age where women, especially single women, are constantly asked or feeling the pressure to have their lives—love, familial, career—settled, and the beginning of a new decade, this point where a lot of your peers seem to be figuring it all out with ease, can be lonely and mess with your head. Throughout the book, with help from her isolation on a mostly Wi-Fi-less island, a week-long romance, and a colorful cast of locals who become closer and more genuine confidants than even her closest London friends, Cleo comes to see that marrying herself might hold more meaning than some gimmicky thing she was sent to do for her job and ease her transition into her thirties.
I’d say that while the story really puts Cleo at the forefront, Mack has an incredible transformative journey as well. He comes to the island still hung up on the wife whom he separated from a year earlier and desperate to keep his sons from having the messed up, child-of-divorce childhood he had. So many people will be able to relate with his desire to do whatever is right for his children while also wondering whether it’s the best thing for all involved to hold onto the love he’d had for years with his wife.
Though ONE NIGHT ON THE ISLAND isn’t strictly a romance, Josie Silver injected so many incredible moments that had me swooning (their nighttime lists!) and I predict every Jersey girl will too when they see how big a role Bruce Springsteen plays in Cleo and Mack’s story. However, unlike most novels infused with a romance, where readers can see how things will end about half way through, the author still managed to keep the novel from being predictable. I had no idea whether there was going to be any romantic resolutions and found it refreshing (if not worry-inducing for my need-an-HEA-heart), but felt the story wrapped up in a way that was perfect for all involved.
I loved this book and can’t wait to see where else Josie Silver will take us in the future. One Night on the Island will definitely be a novel I buy to put on my ever-shrinking bookshelf!

**Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of One Night on the Island. All opinions are my own**

I’m a Josie Silver fan and was so excited when I was approved for this book on Netgalley. I got so invested that I read it within one day and couldn’t sleep until I had gotten to the end.

On the outset you think the book is just about Cleo and Mack, but it’s so much more. It is also about community, self-love, and complicated relationships. The growth I saw in both main characters is what really resonated with me. Cleo getting away from her life and realizing what actually makes her happy at her core was a joy to watch unfold. I really enjoyed how the community enveloped both Cleo and Mack and how integral Cleo became. Cleo found her voice on this island, and in turn, was strong enough for her to be ready for Mack. I felt like Mack could have been anyone, still reeling from his separation, the guilt of being away from his sons and his realization that his marriage really is over. I loved the shift of Cleo and Mack’s relationship once that happened, and the way Mack respected and supported Cleo’s discovery of her self love. I really enjoyed that the ending wasn’t Cleo giving up Salvation Island and they were traveled back and forth, well for now. So many novels the woman just gives up everything for the man, and I love that Josie Silver did not do this.

As a side note: Americans don’t put the x after texts like British people. So it threw me off seeing Mack’s texts end in x. Cleo made sense, but not Mack.

One Night on the Island tells us the story of two estranged souls looking for their own versions of salvation. Cleo is a well-renowned romance blogger who has spent most of her life looking for her "flamingo." Mack, on the other hand, is an American photographer from Boston. Pulled from two different parts of the world, their paths will coincidentally collide on an island with the population of close to none.
Their relationship starts on the wrong foot. Both of them on a mission to displace the other, debating which one of them has to die just to get rid of them on an emergency boat ride out of the island. I jest. Nonetheless, neither one of our characters relented. Eventually, they came to a compromise that will ultimately bring them closer to each other.


This was my first Josie Silver book and let me just say ... her prose was amazing. It was one of the things that convinced me to keep reading the book. But sadly, good prose and the occasional Star Wars reference wasn't enough to get me to the end.
First of all, the notion of a small town romance got me quite excited for this book. It was definitely one of the things I looked forward to, and although it wasn't perfect, I appreciate the effort that the author put in from the setting to the different colorful personalities of the people on the island. It definitely set the tone for a warm, homey, and comforting vibe.

Now lets get to some issues I had with the book.
I only made it up to the first half before deciding to dnf it. Mack and Cleo's relationship just made me wholly uncomfortable and I didn't really feel any chemistry between them. I think they got together too fast. I know that their days were numbered, but the development of their 'relationship' could have been better. I didn't feel the "heat" that they felt for each other, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't have existed. I think they could have used more scenes, more encounters, more angst and holding back to be able to establish a broader idea of where their relationship was going and how it got to that point.

Another thing that made me uncomfortable was the fact that Mack was still married. And despite his wife—Susie—having her own relationship, I think Mack was wrong for even pursuing Cleo and her proposal for a 'fling' sort of relationship between them. But Mack isn't the only one at fault. Cleo was one of the driving forces that pushed whatever it is between them to come into fruition. She, herself, as someone who writes relentlessly about romance, should have seen the red flags of starting anything with a married man, especially since there were kids involved. Now, I don't know how their story ends, but I do hope they find it in themselves to end it.

I know that Mack and his wife, Susie, were already in a failed marriage and I'm not against finding someone new after things have gone sour with the person we're with, but I do believe that there's a certain sanctity in marriage (not in a "I'm a Catholic and matrimony is sacred" way, but in an "I made a vow and I'd like to stay true to those vows because I have principles" sort of way).
Susie was seeing someone, so what? Does that make it okay for him to make the same mistake she did? I don't think so. As a child of divorce, (I may be projecting) it definitely would have been better if my parents got their shit together before going off and finding someone else.
Divorce may be a formality, but it's the thought that counts.

Anyways, since I've already projected my being-a-child-of-divorce, I'd like to end this review positively. My rating is only from my personal relationship and understanding of the book (despite not having finished it). Overall, it does have potential and if the things I mentioned doesn't bother you the way it bothers me, then I hope you enjoy Mack and Cleo's journey.

On the cusp of turning thirty, dating columnist Cleo is sent on assignment to a remote Irish island to marry herself. Instead of solitude, a mistaken double booking forces Cleo to share the cabin with Mack, an American photographer mourning the end of his marriage, while they wait a week for the next ferry.

Romance isn't generally my genre, but I found Josie Silver's previous books, One Day in December and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, to be sharp and nuanced in a way most romances are not. Sadly, One Night on the Island didn't reach the same level. Although the characters are mature and the writing is easy to read, the romance felt tired and predictable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballantine Books

Cleo planned a solo retreat for her 30th birthday. Mack also craves solo time. Somehow they've booked the same cabin on an island and have to figure out how to exist together.


Sigh. The premise of the book is okay. The characters are okay. The story is okay. The book was just okay. It's predictable. It's nothing new. It's not bad.