Blog Tour Review: Another Day in Winter by Shari Low

Another Day in Winter by Shari Low

Published: October 2nd 2018

Publisher: Aria

Pages: 426

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

On a chilly morning in December… Forever friends Shauna and Lulu touch down at Glasgow Airport on a quest to find answers from the past.

George knows his time is nearing the end, but is it too late to come to terms with his two greatest regrets?

His Grandson Tom uncovers a betrayal that rocks his world as he finally tracks down the one that got away.

And single mum Chrissie is ready to force her love-life out of hibernation, but can anyone compare to the man who broke her heart?

After the success of the No1 best seller ONE DAY IN DECEMBER, comes the second unmissable read in Shari Low’s Winter Day trilogy.

Review

If you read Shari Low’s novel One Day in December last year, then you are sure to love Another Day in Winter as the format is the same.  As four people experience one day in December their lives become irrevocably changed forever.

George is nearing the end of his life and as he lays in his hospital bed he ponders over the biggest mistakes of his life wishing there was some way he could put them right.

After recently losing her grandmother and her husband, Shauna has arrived in Glasgow with her best-friend Lulu hopefully in search of some long-lost family members.

Chrissie is venturing out on her first date in years and spends the day in preparation with friends Josie and Val.

Tom has recently learnt that the love of his life is back in Glasgow and after twelve years he’s determined to be reunited with her.

Told throughout a twenty-four-hour period Shari Low slowly takes each character of a journey of their past as they search for answers in the present, she draws each of her characters together until at the end of the day we learn how they are all connected.

I love Shari Low’s writing, she has a real talent for creating engaging characters which all have interesting stories to tell. In this book she has beautifully unravelled the secrets and lies each character has to deal with and help them to find forgiveness and peace with the actions which have lead to their current situation.

I love that Josie and Val from some of her previous novels have made a reappearance, its like catching up with old friends and gives her novel a cosy which I just adore.

Even if you’ve never read any Shari Low then I recommend Another Day in December it’s a great novel about forgiveness, second chances and all kinds of love.

About the Author

Shari has written seventeen novels under her own name and pseudonyms Ronni Cooper, Millie Conway and Shari King, of which many have been published globally. She writes a weekly opinion column and Book Club page for the Daily Record. Shari lives with her husband and 2 teenage boys in Glasgow.

Follow Shari

Twitter handle: @sharilow

Facebook: @sharilowbooks

Website: www.sharilow.com

Buy links

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2w3R9o2
iBooks: https://apple.co/2MuCsV9

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2wlC2oX
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2OZs707

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Blog Tour Guest Post: Becasue Mummy Said So by Shari Low

Because Mummy Said So by Shari Low

Published: 18th September 2018

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Pages: 352

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Blurb

The era of the yummy mummy has finally gone.

To celebrate this, Shari Low has taken a baby wipe to the glossy veneer of the school of perfect parenting and written Because I Said So to show us the truth about motherhood in all of its sleep-deprived, frazzled glory.

This is a book that every experienced, new or soon-to-be parent will relate to – well, hallelujah and praise be those who worship at the temple of Febreze. For over a decade, Shari wrote a hugely popular weekly newspaper column documenting the ups, downs and bio-hazardous laundry baskets of family life.

Because Mummy Said So is a collection of her favourite stories of parenting, featuring superheroes in pull up pants, embarrassing mistakes, disastrous summer holidays, childhood milestones, tear-jerking nativity plays, eight bouts of chickenpox and many, many discussions that were finished with the ultimate parental sticky situation get-out clause…

Guest Post by Shari Low

In some ways, I feel that the publication of Because Mummy Says So brings my life around full circle.

Way, way back in 2000, when I’d just broached my thirties and still had anatomy that had yet to landslide in a southerly direction, I took an uncharacteristic day off work because I was feeling sick and miserable.

That whole of the previous year had been a bit of a slog. After what seemed like endless rounds of fertility treatments, we were still no closer to having a family. And although I’d finally managed to find an agent, it looked like my first attempt at writing a book was going to languish in the bottom drawers of the publishing world until the end of time. It was definitely an all-time low point.

Late afternoon, I was under my duvet with a packet of Hob Nobs when the phone rang, and I heard my agent announce that an offer had come in for my novel. I was so ecstatic, I’d have done a lap of honour of the room if I hadn’t been feeling so damn nauseous. Instead, on some crazy, hoping-my-luck-had-changed hunch, I did a pregnancy test and there it was – that little line in the ‘positive’ box.

In the space of twenty minutes, my whole life changed and what a brilliant moment that was.

A couple of years later, I was asked to write a weekly newspaper column documenting the funny, embarrassing and very real mayhem of family life.

Time flew by in a chaotic juggle of raising two boys, sharing the funny stuff in newspapers and magazines, and writing twenty two novels about love, loss and friendship. And there were biscuits. Lots of biscuits.

It’s been a blast. And an exercise in sleep deprivation.

Last year, at the age of 16, my eldest left home, trotting off to play basketball in a college down south.

It seemed like the perfect time to look back on all my favourite parenting moments and the result is Because Mummy Said So. All the motherhood milestones are in there, from pregnancy to empty nest. The nursery days. The first days at school. The holiday disasters. The Christmas joys. And every embarrassing, funny, and downright mortifying thing that ever happened to us along the way. I’m not delivering a spoiler when I say that way too many of them include superhero impersonations and incidents involving pants.

The book is a collection of hilarious, toe curling and sometimes tear-jerking tales that I hope everyone from expectant and new mothers to empty nesters will love.

It’s the perfect excuse every mum needs to stop for half an hour, put the feet up, and have a giggle.

Oh and if you’re having a bad day you might take solace in the profound, intellectual lessons I’ve learned along the way: everything can change in one moment, no parent has it all worked out, and there’s no situation that can be improved with a chocolate Hob Nob.

About the Author

Shari Low has published eighteen books under her own name and pseudonyms Millie Conway and Ronni Cooper. She is also one half of the writing duo, Shari King. She lives near Glasgow with her husband, two teenagers and a labradoodle. www.sharilow.com

Follow

Twitter: @sharilow

Facebook: @sharilowbooks

Buy links:

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2x7ctIK

iBooks: https://apple.co/2x7x27T

Google play: http://bit.ly/2p0LdYZ

Amazon: mybook.to/MummySaidSo

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Blog Tour Review: One Day in December by Shari Low

One Day in December by Shari Low

Published: 1st September 2017

Publisher: Aria

Pages: 296

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

One morning in December...

Caro set off on a quest to find out if her relationship with her father had been based on a lifetime of lies.

Lila decided today would be the day that she told her lover's wife of their secret affair.

Cammy was on the way to pick up the ring for the surprise proposal to the woman he loved.

And Bernadette vowed that this was the day she would walk away from her controlling husband of 30 years and never look back.

One day, four lives on a collision course with destiny...

Review

One Day in December is the latest book by Shari Low who is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. In this book we follow the lives of four very different people as they set out to make today the day that changed their lives.

Caro is on her way to Glasgow to find out if she has a half-sister. After looking through Facebook she found a picture of her dad with another girl who looked like his daughter. Her father walked out on her and her mother a few years early and hasn’t been heard of since, with her mother dying it’s time for Caro to get some answers.

Lyla’s has enough of being a mistress and after seven years she doesn’t want to share no more. She wants the glory of being the trophy wife so sets out to tell her lovers wife about his cheating ways so she can keep him for herself.

Bernadette has decided today is the day she leaves husband Ken and their loveless and controlling marriage and starts a life of her own. With best-friend Sarah she sets out to put her carefully laid out plans into action.

Cam is nervous. After many hints from his girlfriend about marriage he’s finally decided that today is the day he will propose. Dragging friends Josie and Val along to help finalise all his plans can Cam make this a proposal to remember.

By midnight all of these four lives will have changed as they become tangled together. Will any of them get their happy ever after?

I loved this book so much, Shari Low is an excellent storyteller and this just unravelled at such a pace make very addictive reading. One thing that makes this book work so well is the day is split into two hour sections for each of our four main characters. This built up the suspense as we find out what their plans are and how they all become connected at the end. The drama builds right from early morning and for some their day goes according to plan. For others problems arise giving them obstacles to overcome, which lead to some comical moments as frustrations rise.

Shari Low has created some great characters in this book but my favourite had to be Lyla. She’s the sort of girl you just love to hate because she behaves like the rules don’t apply to her just because she is rich and beautiful. I loved her interactions with other characters and her endless need to take selfies for her Instagram account.  

I also loved the reappearance of Val and Josie from Shari’s previous book A Life Without You, it was lovely to see these two characters in a happier setting showing just how fun loving and sneaky they really can be.

I loved everything about this book it has great characters with each main character having their own great plotline which all come together to form an explosive and hilarious finale. Shari has brought drama to small everyday situations making this book a joy to read from start to finish. It’s been one of my favourite reads of the year so far and cemented Shari’s place in my list of must read authors. I’m lucky that Shari has quite a back catalogue to enjoy while I wait for her to write her next stunning success.

Thank you so much to Aria and Netgalley for sending me a copy to review and to the publishers for inviting me on the blog tour.

A Life Without You by Shari Low

A Life Without You by Shari Low

Published: 1st April 2017

Publisher: Aria

Pages: 378

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

30-year-old Dee Harper and her husband, Joe, are blissfully happy. Everyday she makes her loyal parents Val & Don incredibly proud.
Jen has been her best friend and 'adopted sister' since their days of teenage crushes, bad 90's make-up and huge hair.

They are just like any other group of family and friends, living life, getting by with equal measures of love and laughter.
Until one day everything changes.
Dee is gone, killed by a reckless driver, leaving the people she loved to deal with their grief in different ways.
A marriage is rocked as a parent becomes consumed with seeking justice. A husband struggles to accept the loss of his wife and their future. And a friend discovers that there were shocking secrets that went unshared.
But all of them have to learn that the only way forward is to let go of the past.

Review
A Life Without You is the first book I’ve read by Shari Low and despite its sad start it was a book I adored. Jen and Dee have known each other for ever and are more like sisters than best friends, especially after Jen moved in with Dee and her family in her teenage years. So imagine her devastation when Jen suddenly finds herself without Dee by her side. One minute Dee was alive and bouncing around the street, the next she’s gone a joy-rider hits her head on and kills her instantly. After Dee’s funeral is over, Jen’s boyfriend of fifteen years Pete decides it’s time to tell her their relationship is over and he’s moving out and for the first time in years Jen finds herself completely  alone.

Jen’s not the only one devastated by Dee’s death, husband Luke is lost without his perfect wife and turns to her for comfort. Dee’s parents are also struggling and begin to drift apart, Dee dad goes into his own little world trying to get through the day the best he can. Val, Dee’s mum is the one who seems the hardest hit by the loss of her daughter. On the outside she puts on a brave face but when alone she struggles to hold it together. It was so sad to read from Val’s perspective but Shari Low has done an excellent job in conveying the overwhelming heartbreak felt by Val. How do you really get over the loss of a child, well for Val it’s to start a one woman crusade to gain justice for her daughter? The stakeout scenes with her and best friend Josie were very funny and brought a lightness to these emotional parts.

I loved reading about Jen’s journey as she tries to follow Dee’s dream and keep their travel business alive. As Jen delves into Dee’s world of travel blogging she begins to realise that her best friend had secrets and wasn’t quite as perfect as everyone else believes.  

With the story being told from Jen, Luke and Val’s perspectives we learn a lot about Dee and how much she loved life and much of a whole she has left in the three people closest to her. I loved how the story developed and was glad there were moments which made me laugh as well as cry throughout this brilliantly told tale.

Shari Low is an excellent storyteller and has taken a very tragic storyline and handled it realistically and sensitively. She has created some great characters who I loved reading about and I’m glad they were able to realise they were all capable of a life without Dee.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aria for this review copy, I loved this book and can’t wait to read more by Shari Low.