The Anniversary, Hilary Boyd

The Anniversary,  Hilary Boyd

Genre: General Fiction (adult), Woman’s Fiction.

Gah, Woman’s Fiction – I hate when we dismiss a whole sector of readers. Why do that? Why shouldn’t men read this? Ah well, rant over.

I’ve enjoyed a few of Hilary’s stories now. They’re for readers who want to think about a book, want some depth, want to really get to understand the characters. Sometimes I want a fluff relaxing read, others I want one like this, that makes me really think “what would I do? How would I cope?”
Its incredibly moving, I cried at parts, so felt for all the characters. There weren’t any I didn’t like, but really loved the three main ones, Jack, Stella and Eve. They were treated so in depth I felt I knew them, felt their emotions and understood their reactions.
I empathised with Stella so much, had a similar experience and it really does affect people so much, strains relationships, shapes the rest of people’s lives. I so understood how she’d been even as I yearned for her to be closer to Eve.
Jack I adored, he and Stella has a real soulmates relationship- until they didn’t. Can you ever leave that though. Can they both move on? They seem to, both have other partners, but this summer tests all those bonds.
I could write so much about this book, there was so much I loved, the way events unfolded, the realism of the characters and what happened, the huge emotions I felt but I’m afraid of giving too much away. I’ll just say this, if you want a solid story, a book that will make you cry but which has an ending that makes up for much of that, if you want characters that are real, flawed like the rest of us, if you want plots that mirror real life read this book.

Stars: Five, perfect read, depth, plots, characters, emotions all so real.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and Publishers