The Story Of Our Lives

This story follows the lives of four friends – Sophie, Emily, Amy and Melissa from 1997 when they go on their first girls weekend away together, up until a follow up in 2012. Over the years, these four have to face many personal challenges but with each other’s support, they manage to come out strong.

Warner has created four women that are so unique and different in personality, that it would be a surprise if a reader didn’t relate to at least one of them. I loved that the four women complimented each other, i.e. there was this perfect balance of career-mindedness and family-orientated vibes that resonated from the pages. For me, I loved a bit of all of them: Sophie’s kindness, Emily’s passion for her son, Amy’s determination to continue to be strong, and Melissa’s ability to listen to her friends when she needs help.

I was very hooked by the line on the front cover: “Four Friends. Twenty Years. One Powerful Secret.” So I knew from the very start that a juicy secret was going to be revealed at some point in the story, which made this book an instant page turner before I had even begun. Very early on you discover a secret that one of the women is hiding, and I thought ‘oooooooh is this the secret’, but NO, Warner is only teasing us readers by revealing lots of smaller secrets whilst she builds up to her ‘pièce de résistance’…

What’s wonderful about this book is because it is set over a long period of time, Warner chooses to flick to a new year every few chapters, which kept the writing feeling fresh and made me eager to read on further each siting. I loved Warner’s writing style, as when she jumps to a new year, she starts tantalising the reader by letting you know that a change has happened in the past year, but you have to continue to read on to find out what/why/how it occurred.

What makes this book even more special, is the nostalgic nod that Warner has created by linking each weekend away to newspaper quotes of important events at that time – it makes you think, it creates the illusion of time moving on and it also makes you feel slightly old, if, as the reader, you can remember all of these historical moments!

*I managed to grab a copy of this book at HQ’s Summer Fiction Showcase and talk to the amazing Helen herself! Thank you!!!*

The Story of Our Lives is OUT NOW!

Until next time, Chloé x