Chicklit Club
 

NEW RELEASE

 
 

These Days of Ours - Juliet Ashton (2016)

 

Growing up, Kate and Becca are inseparable as cousins, just as Kate and Charlie are inseparable as friends. As friendship turns to love for teenagers Kate and Charlie, Kate imagines she’ll always have Becca by her side as her right-hand woman, and Charlie by her side as her partner. But when Charlie moves away to university, things begin to unravel, but at least Kate still has Becca. As the years pass, Kate and Charlie’s lives take separate routes but remain intertwined. But can friendship be enough? Ashton’s novel is the real deal, a story so complete that it bursts from the seams. The writing is superb and Ashton structures the novel innovatively around key occasions – birthdays, weddings, funerals etc – that give a lovely focus to the narrative whilst enabling it to span the years effortlessly. The characters have their foibles, but are believable for doing so, and watching Kate and Charlie pass each other like ships in the night is at times frustrating, but creates an epic journey. This is one of those rare stories that has it all and delivers on every count. It offers everything you hope from a novel: to laugh, to cry, to be uplifted and heartbroken. To manage one of these is good, but to manage them all is exceptional. (JC)

Rating 9/10
 
 

These Days of Ours, by Juliet Ashton, is what happens when the person you love cannot be yours. The summary says: "Kate and Becca are cousins and best friends. They have grown up together and shared all the most important milestones in their lives: childhood birthday parties, eighteenth birthdays, and now a wedding day as they each marry their childhood sweethearts, Charlie and Julian. Kate has always loved Charlie - they were meant to be. Then she discovers that life never turns out quite how you expect it to. And love doesn't always follow the journey it should. But best friends are forever, and true love will find a way, won't it...?" These Days of Ours is out in March 2016.

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