Review: 'Our Song' by Dani Atkins (2016)

This is the story of Ally and Charlotte, whose paths have intersected over the years though they've never really been close friends. Charlotte married Ally's ex and first true love, David. Fate is about to bring them together one last, dramatic time and change their lives forever. 

Full of Dani's signature warmth and emotion, this is a gripping and emotional family drama. With breath-taking plot twists, Dani explores themes of serendipity, friendship and love. She fully engages the reader in the dilemmas faced by her characters. What would you do if your husband was the love of somebody else's life? And when faced with an agonising decision, could you put the past behind you and do the right thing?

This week has been filled with reviews of some quite amazing January 2016 releases and today I've got another one to share with all of you! At the end of last year I was incredibly excited to be contacted by Simon & Schuster UK about Dani Atkins' newest novel, 'Our Song', which was released on January 28th. While I had heard a lot of positive things about Dani Atkins' works, such as 'Fractured', I never actually managed to pick one up. Until now, that is! The description of the book didn't give too much away, except for the fact that it would be an emotional and intense family drama, so I was curious to give both the book and the author a chance and see whether it would live up to expectations!

'Our Song' focuses on two female characters: Ally and Charlotte, whose lives are about to completely change within the time span of just 24 hours. The two women are no strangers, since they met at university several years ago and Charlotte is now married to Ally's ex, David. Unexpected circumstances bring the two of them together at the ICU of the same hospital and only one thing is for certain: after this night together, their lives will never be the same again. 

With some books, it's quite simply better to know as little as possible about the story before diving in, and that's definitely the case with Dani Atkins' 'Our Song.' I didn't quite know what to expect of this book, but I was completely blown away by the emotional and intense story, and completely understand all the positive things I've heard about this author. The book focuses on two couples; their past, present, and future, and how 24 hours can change absolutely everything you thought you knew. The reader gets to see and experience things from the viewpoints of both main characters Ally and Charlotte, which were both fascinating and well-rounded characters. I am not going to give much more away about the plot and the characters, because I don't want to ruin the reading experience for anyone.

The book is quite a long read with over 500 pages, but also a book that needs and deserves all of those pages. At a certain point I could see what was going to happen eventually, so I wasn't really surprised by the novel at any time, but this didn't ruin the reading experience in any way. The ending really made me cry and it doesn't happen often that a book makes me cry, but this story really managed to tug at my heartstrings. 'Our Song' is a thoroughly moving, heart-breakingly intense, and emotion novel that will get under your skin; a book that's incredibly beautifully written and deserves all the 5-star reviews it can possibly get. 
Rating:10/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.