Meet Shannon Hart........
and take a look at her debut novel Until the End of Forever.....
Welcome to my first book tour…..!
Thank you to Samantha from Chick Lit Plus for getting me involved xx
** What it’s about **
Sarah Matthews has everything in the world a woman could wish for: a loving husband; two beautiful children; a small business which she runs together with her sister in law; and even her own top of the range car. Why then does she keep having recurring nightmares?
Over a friendly lunch with her ex-lady boss, seeds of doubt and discontent begin to gnaw at her, and the realisation dawns that she is no longer free to live a life of her own as she would wish. When offered the opportunity, therefore, to go to work in Paris for a month she finds herself unable to resist.
As Sarah takes us along with her on her journey, we are given a privileged insight into the workings of the female mind as her thoughts and feelings tumble around in an attempt to find answers.
** What I thought **
Rob is the perfect gentleman, and the man every woman dreams of. Sarah should have the perfect life with him, but something doesn’t feel right and she isn’t content. She needs to get away, to find herself again away from being a mum and a wife….but will their relationship survive some time apart? I’m sure many women will relate to this book –those feelings when you first find love, perhaps followed by the routine of a relationship and the feeling that something is missing. What many women may not relate to is leaving their husband and kids for a month to go to the other side of the world to work in Paris. It’s a little frustrating, and many people would say there were much easier ways to sort out her issues, but it isn’t entirely unbelievable and perhaps if women were presented with such an opportunity they would take it.
I loved the cover; both the colour and the design. It tells you everything you need to know about this book; it is a love story. I liked the New York skyline on the front cover with the Eiffel tower on the back; very effective.
The book is mainly told by Sarah, with the odd chapter by Rob giving his perspective. It has a very personal feel to it, which is my favourite thing about this book. It really does feel as though you are in Sarah and Rob’s heads; something I haven’t fully felt with any other book of this genre recently. This draws you into their lives and into the book much easier and deeper than with most chick lit reads.
There are plenty of times when each character relives memories of their past (e.g. when they met, when they married etc) which fills you in on the background which led them to their current lives. It allows you to feel how their relationship has grown, and how they have ended up as they are today. I preferred these parts of the book; when Sarah firsts meet Rob and they have the most romantic whirlwind romance.
This is Shannon Hart’s first novel. She previously wrote short stories and for me this was a relatively short novel. A thin book; 209 pages of relatively large writing – it didn’t take me too long to get through. It’s thoroughly enjoyable; it made me smile, laugh, reminisce and it made my eyes fill with tears on more than one occasion. The ending left me satisfied, but all-in-all it was fairly predictable chick lit.
Saying that it is a wonderfully easy and light read – perfect for a summer holiday by the pool or on the beach, or a winter read cuddled up by an open log fire with a glass of wine and a box of chocs!
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You can find out more about Shannon and her debut novel ‘Until the End of Forever’ at Shannon’s Website, Shannon’s Blog and you can follow Shannon on Twitter. You can see other reviews, and follow Shannon's Book Tour here.
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COMPETITION: Everyone who leaves a comment on Shannon’s tourpage will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card. This is open worldwide so pop over and leave a comment!
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Available in Paperback and Kindle Edition on Amazon.co.uk:
Available in Paperback and Kindle Edition on Amazon.co.uk: