Our Life in a Day by Jamie Fewery

Today is my stop on the blog tour for this, the debut novel from Jamie Fewery. I laughed and I cried. Big thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me to take part and to the publisher for my review copy, which I received via Netgalley.

The Blurb:

The rules are simple. Choose the most significant moments from your relationship - one for each hour in the day.

You'd probably pick when you first met, right?
And the instant you knew for sure it was love?
Maybe even the time you watched the sunrise after your first night together?

But what about the car journey on the holiday where everything started to go wrong? Or your first proper fight?

Or that time you lied about where you'd been?

It's a once in a lifetime chance to learn the truth.

But if you had to be completely honest with the one you love, would you still play?

For Esme and Tom, the game is about to begin. But once they start, there's no going back . . .

Our Life in a Day was published by Orion on 27th December 2018 and you can purchase it here.


My Review:

I came to read this fresh having not read the blurb for a while. It's very different from my usual read, but was a very welcome change from the murder and mayhem of crime and psychological thrillers! I had no idea it was a debut, and would never have guessed.

This is a love story about Tom and Esme. We join them as they are about to celebrate ten years together. They are going away to celebrate, but the night before they go, Esme cooks a special dinner and presents Tom with a gift - a pad of sticky notes each one with a clock face and an hour on it. Twenty four of them, one for each hour of the day. She wants Tom to come up with a significant moment in their relationship which corresponds with each hour of the day.

We then get to share the moments Tom picks - some are obvious, like when they first met, but others are not so obvious, and not always good ones.

I really liked both the main characters, but later in the book Esme made some decisions I didn't agree with, although I did understand why she made them. Esme is bright, funny, optimistic and sure of herself. Tom is shy and unsure of himself, although he does have a huge supporter and cheerleader in the form of best mate Annabel, who I absolutely adored. Anyway, our two lovebirds fall for each other quickly and settle into a routine.

The moments Tom picks aren't linear so the story does jump around a bit, and you need to stay with it to keep up. But we discover that he hasn't always shared everything with Esme, and his mental health issues keep cropping up.

Romance isn't a genre I read much of, it's just not for me. For me to enjoy a love story, it needs to have that 'je ne sais quoi', the X factor. And for me Our Life in a Day has that. It's a 'real'  love story, in that it feels very believable, between two flawed individuals. And it's a love story for our time, with its honest and open look at, and portrayal of, male mental health problems. As someone (although not male) who has  struggled with her own mental health, this really spoke to me.

It is beautifully written, with all the moments, good and bad, described with delicacy and emotion. In fact, this is a book full of heart. The ending, though beautiful, is bittersweet, and it broke me. I cried proper ugly tears and am still thinking about it now over a week after reading it. But it didn't make me love the book any less - a beautiful and accomplished debut.


The Author:

Jamie Fewery is an author, journalist and copywriter. He has written for the Daily Telegraph, Five Dials and Wired, and works for a London-based marketing and creative agency. He lives in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire with his wife and son. Our Life in a Day is his first novel. You can follow Jamie on Twitter @jamiefewery and Instagram @jamiefeweryauthor.