I had to really sit with this one for a minute. This book was beautiful. What a wonderful debut. The writing was fantastic. The MS representation was great to see. It’s a sad story full of grieving and love and moving forward.

Evie loses her best friend Scarlett to a tragic accident and has to deal with the aftermath of it. She begins getting close to Nate who witnessed and was a part of Scarlett’s accident. It takes a lot for Evie to sort through her thoughts and feelings about this. But the story was so beautiful and hopeful. I love that it showed how strong Evie was at the end. How she fought for her friends and loved so hard. Astrid was one of my faves! I loved the way it all ended.

Thank you @netgalley @readforeverpub and @beckyhunterbooks for my ARC of this beautiful debut which published Tuesday, 3/12/24.

So good! I loved "One Moment" by Becky Hunter. A dramatic, sad setting, made beautiful, interesting and uplifting. Powerful and compelling, full of incredible, imperfect and endearing characters, depicting deep friendships, co-dependence, grieving, Multiple Sclerosis, fashion, music, and big, big hearts. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

As I have recently lost a loved one, I was fascinated by the treatment of death in this book. I also thought the author’s treatment of a character with MS, and of a young neighbor who wants to make a friend of her, were handled beautifully. A good read on many counts

Thank you to Becky Hunter, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

First, I love the cover. It immediately caught my eye.

Second, talk about a book that rips your heart out. It is one hit after the other. The female friendship in this book is refreshing. The writing makes it easy to read and connect to the characters. It is one I will recommend

You would never know that this is a debut novel. It is so very well written. It deals with friendship, death, disease, depression, love and heartbreak. It is a book that will make you cry and laugh and sometimes all in just one sentence. It is told in the POV's of two best friends from childhood. One is dead and one is alive and suffering with MS. During the time after the horrific accident both friends find out about themselves. They are strong and can fight for what they want. They also both grow in maturity and awareness even though one is dead. It is such a great read. How Evie, who is fluent in violin but has MS and struggles with that so it is difficult for her to play the violin. The little girl next door has a violin and wants Evie to help her with it. That brings Evie much joy and it helps bring her out of her shell and also helps with her grief over the loss of Scarlett. An interesting male comes into Evie's life and who knew he could help her so much after the accident. And that ending......... I would highly recommend this book.
Thanks to #netgalley, #forevergrandcentralpublishing and @beckyhunterbooks for an ARC of the beautiful book

“Depression hates a moving target.” So many thought provoking lines like this in this book. This story was sad. It was heavy. It was sweet. It was beautiful. It illustrated how death and grief can rob us of what we planned and what we wanted but we can still find happiness and laughter on the other side of it. These characters were precious and this book is so good!

Wow, this book was amazing! I laughed, I cried, and I didn't want to stop thinking about the characters even after the final page. Such a heartwarming and heartbreaking story.

Scarlett and Evie have been friends forever. They have been thru so much together. Evie is diagnosed with a progressive disease. Scarlett is suddenly killed. One single moment changes everything. How does life go on without your best friend? How do we move on? How do we forgive? Would you change that One Moment if you could?

I was first drawn to this book by the beautiful, vibrant colors on the cover. The write up was intriguing. Oh, the feels this book gave me! I smiled, I cried, it made me think. So many layers…friendship, grief, disappointment, acceptance, and always love. The author took me on a journey thru Scarlett’s eyes overseeing her loved ones, while looking at her past and taking accountability for actions taken. Watching Evie grow, coming to terms with her loss and finding her strength and worth was fulfilling. She was so much more than her illness. While sad, this book is also hopeful. The magical realism is a driving force in this book, which I loved. Sometimes in a book of this nature we find the final pages predictable, but this ending was so satisfying and insightful. Ms. Hunter is a new author for me and I look forward to her next book.

Thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Becky Hunter has given us a book that explores friendship, love, loss, profound grief, the transformative power of hope, and the impact of one single moment.

Evie and Scarlett have been best friends since childhood. Now approaching their 30th birthdays they find themselves at a crossroads. Scarlett is on the cusp of realizing her professional dream while Evie deals with a devastating medical diagnosis. In a single moment everything changes when Scarlett is tragically killed. We watch the fallout through the eyes of very much alive Evie and recently deceased Scarlett.

There is a great deal of heaviness in this book, but it’s balanced by the deep love between Evie and Scarlett. One Moment reminds us of the interconnectedness of life and the reverberations of a single decision.

One Moment by Becky Hunter is the story of Evie and how she has to traverse life and an illness after the accidental death of her go-to partner Scarlett. I enjoyed this story and appreciated the character of Nate and I also enjoyed Scarlett's observations from beyond. I felt empathy for Evie but sometimes also felt great frustration with her character.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of One Moment in exchange for an honest review. One Moment is available now.

I enjoyed that this story didn’t follow any of the usual ghost rules. I spent some time wondering why Scarlett was hanging around after she died but it turns out she was making sure her long time best friend Evie was going to be ok. Evie was having trouble in life with her job, a diagnosis of MS and then added on the accidental death of her BFF Scarlett. Things were not going well for her, Then she met Nate & Astrid who both added to her life & didn’t let her wallow in her flat. Evie went on adventures & leaned that her MS didn’t have to hinder her life so much.
The ending of this book was my absolute favourite, I can’t say more because I don’t want to spoil it but it left me with the most lovely feeling after. Scarlett had a choice to make and she chose Evie living out the life she had found for herself.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Book Group for a copy of this book.

4 1/2 stars

This was such a wonderful debut. It was more than a typical romance, it was a beautiful story of friendship as well. Even though the premise is based on the tragic loss of Evie's best friend, this still manages to be a touching story that tugs the heartstrings in all the ways. You really have to sit back and think about the importance of your best friend and how deep that love runs and what a loss that has to be when you lose that person.

In this book, you really get the feel for fate and how sometimes things are just meant to happen. Also, a bit of how something good can come from something so horrible. Because through losing Scarlett, Evie meets Nate and they launch into any awkward and sometimes painful friendship. It truly is a beautiful story even if it's a little heartbreaking.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration for this audiobook was done quite well. It felt like a true performance and I was completely pulled into the story. 4 1/2 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

This was so good!! I loved it I could not stop reading it. It was absolutely captivating. I thought this was a great book.
I just reviewed One Moment by Becky Hunter. #OneMoment #NetGalley
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This was an absolutely lovely debut. There were moments that made me smile and laugh and others that were so moving. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried through the final chapter.

One Moment is a book about love but it’s also about friendship and grief and moving forward. It had heavy content but didn’t feel difficult to read. Becky wrote the story in a way that carried hope alongside tragedy, and I think the choice in POVs was brilliant.

Thank you to Forever for a complimentary advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

I loved this book.

This is the story of two best friends, Scarlett and Evie. and what happens after tragedy strikes. Any given moment can change your life forever.

An emotional one for sure. A tale of love, loss, medical diagnosis, friendship and finding courage.

I could feel all of these emotions throughout the book. I loved the characters and that one character got to see her life after death and how she realized that she could have done things differently. I also loved the story of the friendship and how it started as a chance meeting in childhood.

One Moment is so thought provoking and a story that will stay with me for a long time.

This is my first book by the author, and certainly won't be my last.

Thanks to netgalley and Forever Publishing for the arc.

This is a story that is going to delve into your emotional side - love, loss, grief, and forgiveness.

Evie was recently diagnosed with MS - multiple sclerosis and is struggling with how this incurable disease will progress. The one bright spot is that Evie has her best friend, Scarlett, by her side - the person who knows her better than anyone. However, Scarlett's life ends tragically one morning leaving Evie grief ridden and lost. Despite Scarlett's death, she is still a voice of the story and gives us perspective on her and Evie's childhood and insight into the "other side of the story,"
Also key to the story is Nate, the person who Scarlett and maybe Evie blame for her death and Astrid, the young neighbor who seems to know how to push Evie's boundaries.
This is a well-written heartwarming story that deals with challenging issues and makes you question how you would react in the same situation - and there may be more than one right answer.

Thank you to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

#OneMoment #BeckyHunter

A beautiful story of friendship, love, grief, and life after the loss of a loved one.

I enjoyed the unique narration through Scarlett’s point of view after she passed. It gave me a bit of a Lovely Bones vibe, which was a favourite read of mine when it came out.

While I tend to read more open-door romances, this one was still an enjoyable read, and would be a good choice for somebody that prefers or is open to reading closed door romance.

I also really appreciated the progressive illness representation in the story.

One Moment gave me 4.5 stars of feels! I cried, I laughed, I sympathized, and I cried some more. Imagine a best friend relationship which is more like a sisterhood. One is struggling with recently diagnosed chronic disease, one is on the brink of a break-out fashion career. One moment snuffs out a beautiful life meant to be lived to its fullest. How does the survivor react? How does a soul react in the afterlife. How to both intersect with other humans whose lives also change in the same moment? This is a story of friendship, sisterhood, disability, grief, love, music, and difficult choices. This is a story that will definitely stick around with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The strongest part of the book are Evie’s experiences with MS and how she grows through her relationships with Nate & her young neighbor, Anna. Nate ended up being complex enough to be interesting. His backstory was really moving. Nate and Evie’s dates were well-written and I loved how Evie progressed from each of them. The storyline wrapped up quickly, and I didn’t buy Scarlett’s realization about “the one,” but overall I was engaged from beginning to end.
Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC e-book!

I struggled to get into this story, due to the content rather than the writing style. Hunter did a good job of creating characters with depth and navigating a story from two perspectives: the ghost of Scarlett and a third-person narrator of Evie’s life post-Scarlett. I guess I’m just not in the headspace to be able to handle a story that starts with a tragic death and has a main character who is trying to come to grips with a devastating health diagnosis while still in her 20s as well as the loss of her best friend.

Usually when a ghost features heavily in a book, it’s because they have unfinished business and can somehow influence outcomes. In this case, Scarlett was simply an observer and commentator who couldn’t be seen, couldn’t move objects, and had no way of communicating with the living. So, other than her witnessing how her loved ones are coping with the grief, we don’t know until the end what conclusion she draws for her lingering presence, and it’s rather frustrating that she can’t “show herself.”

I enjoyed the romance between Evie and Nate, especially how thoughtful, supportive, and even-keeled he is (really a perfect book boyfriend). In his non-judgmental, non-pitying way, he helps Evie realize that life doesn’t end with a diagnosis; it just means she has to adapt to her new, unpredictable normal. Likewise, she helps him see that slowing down his itinerant lifestyle as a travel journalist to form a connection won’t have negative consequences.

If I could separate my own feelings from the narrative, I’d give it 4*, but since I struggled to get into it, I’ve dropped it to 3*. However, for readers who don’t mind depressing topics combined a very slow burn, closed door romance, it would be worth checking this out.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Forever through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.