Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 384
Released On: 20/06/2024
Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.
But not today. Today, the rules don’t apply…
After a morning that starts with a terrible migraine, an accidentally strong concoction of painkillers, and a bump on the head, Clover Hendry is not quite herself.
And as she walks out of work at 9.47am, for once Clover isn’t worrying about the consequences.
For once, she’s going to live for herself. . . if only for a day.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I absolutely adored Beth’s debut book, Saving Missy, and knew she’d be an author to look out for. Her second book wasn’t my kind of thing but that didn’t stop me jumping at the opportunity to rad this one as it sounded delightful and it had such promising early reviews.
I absolutely LOVED this book! Clover is a fabulous creation and a fabulous protagonist. She is like so many of us, giving in to that want of freedom we so desire, free from work and family responsibilities. Free to just do and say what we want for one day. She’s great on her own, but I loved her interactions with her colleagues, friends, families, strangers – that’s when she really comes into her own. There’s many other characters who are great in their own way, but for me, this is Clover’s story and she steals every single line.
What I love about Beth’s characters are they’re flawed, they’re imperfect. They’re normal people, usually women, wives, girlfriends, mothers, best friends; trying to balance a job with family duties, whilst trying, and often failing, not to lose oneself along the way. They do bad things, silly things, wrong things, embarrassing things. They make mistakes and wrong choices, but that’s what makes them good. They stumble and trip through life. They are us and our friends and our sisters and our mums and our children. They’re the woman down the street, the woman in the supermarket, the woman boss-ing her executive job. And in this case, Clover is Every Woman.
I did wonder at times whether it was a ruse, whether everything going on was actually a dream or something she was just wishing to do, rather than actually doing it. I am not going to say if I was right or wrong, because spoilers, but it was an interesting thing to ponder.
It isn’t a short book, nor is it particularly long. At just shy of 400 pages. But it’s perfect. And it goes so quickly. At first I had planned to just read a few pages here and there between jobs, but before I knew it I was 1/4 of the way through and felt like I just had to carry on. I found myself unable to think of anything else whilst reading it.
It’s not a really heavy serious book, not is it a frivolous book. It is light and funny and moving and happy and joyful. It does have it’s difficult topics, but overall, it’s very uplifting. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good thriller or murder mystery, but they can get you down when you read so many, and so it was a breath of fresh air to get a palette cleanser and that is this book.
It spreads sunshine through every word. It’s a pick me up. It’s for when you’re rundown, or sick, or tired. When you feel like you can’t bear to get out of your bed, when you can’t face the world. That is what this book is there for.
The only little tiny thing that concerned me was that this all happens in one day (June 16th – the day before my birthday; just saying 😊), with flashbacks. And I did think whether it was really practical or realistic that all these things she does would be done in such a short space of time. But in the end, I didn’t really care. All the wonderful things about it just negated any concerns I might have had.
Like I said at the start, whilst Saving Missy was one of my favourite books of 2020, her second book wasn’t to my tastes. But this one is back in book-one territory. I don’t write off authors just because I maty not have enjoyed one of their books, because that doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, it’s just not for me. And so I was still keen to read this one and I’m so glad I did. I think this tops Saving Missy, and that’s saying something .This book ahs proved why I return to authors, even if one book wasn’t my thing.
At times I forgot I was reading a book. It felt so touching and familiar that it felt like I was reading about Beth herself, or reading about a friend. I can definitely see me buying copies of this later in the year for presents!
Books By Your Bedside 