This is a DNF for me at page 133, which is sad because I love the way Josie Silver writes. This story is easily 5 stars for writing quality. The setting is like a character and I loved that so much! They way she described this Irish island called Salvation, I felt like I was there. The chill of the weather got into my bones. The secondary characters are amazing. I wanted to get to know them right alongside Cleo. However, the characters I didn't want to get to know were Cleo and Mack...the main characters.
At first, it was just fine. I liked the backstory that was unfolding. Cleo was a little too disgruntled and immature in her dealings with Mack, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. No, the deal breaker came when the first portion of the book set Mack up as the heartbroken husband and father who was going through a rough patch with his wife and all he wanted was to get back to being a family together...until, without any provocation, he's making out with Cleo on the porch and she's ready to bang his brains out. She knows he's married. She knows his heart is broken from missing his sons. The only thing close to an explanation for this shift in their antagonistic relationship is that they sit back to back on the floor and that amount of physical contact with her gets him all hot and bothered. Given his behavior until then, it seemed like it would have been a wake up call to work through things with his wife, who he seemed to still be in love with up to that point.
Once Cleo felt hurt and embarrassed because Mack rejected going further with her physically...not hurt and embarrassed that she was ready to do it with a married man she didn't know or care for, I couldn't root for Mack and Cleo as a couple. Nevermind the fact that Cleo is 29, about to turn 30, and Mack told her he'd been married with two kids by 29...so how old is this guy? (I think he said his oldest son was 12...so 41? Not that it's robbing the cradle, but the age difference hadn't been mentioned at all by that part of the story.)
I couldn't buy into it. It wasn't sweet. Cleo and Mack had done nothing to make this sudden shift in their relationship believable.
The setup for the story was excellent...these particular two characters were the wrong choice for me.

Who doesn't love a good forced proximity trope meets enemies to lovers? Great pick for fans of romance!

I found the story pretty bland and both characters infuriatingly annoying. This “romance” had very little actual romance and the two characters had zero chemistry.

This was fine. It didn’t feel like a rom com at all, but I enjoyed the wholesome village vibes that were throughout this book. I thought the main characters were relatable, especially the female character— we are the same age. Overall this book was pretty okay if you need a quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital copy of this book.

One of my last books of the year was One Night on the Island by @josiesilverauthor! This was a beautiful story of two people who wanted solitude but ending up finding so much more.

Cleo and Mack meet each other in the cutest way; they both have rented the same studio cabin on a small remote island in Ireland, called Salvation Island. They actually met earlier on the ferry, but it didn’t go well. Cleo is a Brit, who turning 30 and she’s still single. She is here on assignment for her magazine column, Finding My Flamingo. Mack is American and reeling from a whirlwind separation from his wife. Since the ferry doesn’t run often and there are both other accommodations, they are forced to share the cabin for a night. Soon they realize they they can share and begin to get to know one another. They venture out on small adventures to the pub, just getting fresh air and we meet the wonderful townspeople.

While I really enjoyed the romance, I was especially drawn to the demise of Mack’s relationship. It was absolutely heartbreaking to hear his kids so upset. It was so visceral, I definitely shed a tear at this part. I did find the whole “marry yourself” part a little hokey, but I get that it was a moment that Cleo needed to be able to accept the way her life has turned out.

Thank you so much to @randomhouse and Josie for my gifted ebook. If you feel a little lost in life, I think this one would be a good read.

A dating column writer, Cleo, feels lost. She’s the baby of her family and has never had the chance to know her dad. She dreams of finishing writing a novel. Anddddd she's tired of suffering through her current love life. At least she has her editor pushing her to challenge herself. So she finds herself running away from her crowded and protective family’s surprise birthday party, leaving for her self-couple ceremony and working to complete each entry to her bucket list on a remote island called Salvation. How poetic.

The problem, a charismatic but brooding American insists on staying in the room he reserved to connect with his ancestors in the place his family manages. Did I mention the room he reserved is also the room she's staying in?


As you may guess: both parties are too stubborn to leave and due to the weather, the boats aren’t operating. So they’re trapped .....together.

This is not your typical, predictable romcom. Mack is estranged from his wife, who thinks she's not happy with him anymore. He has two sons in Boston that he misses. And he's struggling to balance his attraction for this new stranger with his faithfulness to his wife. The emotions are raw and real and the characters flawed. But It's easy to empathize with them as they are honest and genuine. And even when they annoyed me, I rooted for them. I did not like the ending, because I usually like my stories to have a neat bow on them in the end. But I can forgive that here because I think it's an unusual but fitting ending.

I also find the cover a little misleading. The story is not really light and cheerful in tone, which I think the cover leads you to expect. Cleo is also explicitly stated to have dark hair several times in the story and she has blonde hair on the cover. But alas the cover drew me in and made me read a story I enjoyed, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Big thanks to NetGalley for sharing this digital arc with me in exchange my honest review!

I was not a huge fan of this book and that made me really sad because I usually do love Josie Silver's work. This was just not for me.

3.5 stars!

This was my first book by Josie Silver, and I hate to say it but I was severely disappointed. I did not really like the main character, and I really did not care about the relationship between her and the love interest. I think that I would definitely read more by Josie Silver, but unfortunately this wasn't the one for me to start with.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. Made it halfway through before giving up. It just felt like it was trying too hard to be deep and the romance felt really disjointed and awkward to me. I also thought Cleo was unnecessarily rude from the beginning and her reasons to stay didn’t come close to Mack’s. It just wasn’t for me.

Josie Silver’s books always make me cry and this was no different! The sisterhood in this book was so sweet and lovely.

Josie Silver can do no wrong in my opinion! I really loved this story. The alternating viewpoints, the slow build. My only complaint is that I wanted MORE of the characters!!!

I got this book from #NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.If you're looking for a lovely story of life, love, and all of the complications that brings, then this novel is perfect .

Oh my gosh, what a perfect little meet cute and romantic comedy overall. Can this be made into a movie already?! I loved Cleo and Mack's "opposites attract" love story and though I have some questions on the practicality of their future lives together, I am totally and completely in support of their happily ever after. All of the supporting characters on the small island are also so lovable.

A joyful delight!

I do think the title is a hair deceiving though.

Cleo is on a self coupling adventure as she approaches 30 and she travels to a remote island off of Ireland called Salvation. She arrives though to find that her cozy cottage is a lot cozier because an unexpected mix up in scheduling has Mac (the American!) arriving at the same place for the stay.

With a remote island and separate from the comforts of daily life, Mac and Cleo must work together to survive their unexpected living arrangements.

I really loved this book once it got going. It is not a rom com but a deep love letter to loving oneself and the journey to do so.

Mac and Cleo are adorable but also both broken and in need of some support to foster their necessary growth.

This book had the best side characters and I would love to know what happens to them. One of my favorites was Delta.

Truly a delight of a book that will make you run the gamut of emotions but also hopefully teach you something new as well.

4 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the opportunity to read this one. I was so pleased for the opportunity!

When I saw this author wrote another book, I was SO excited to read it! I loved her last two books, and couldn’t wait to read another by her. I unfortunately did not love this book as much. I thought the concept for the book was so good, but it fell flat for me.

I did enjoy the dual perspective in this book, as well as the Ireland setting. I found myself wishing I was there! I was not a huge fan of the characters in the book, I found I couldn’t connect with them. I know a-lot of others loved this book, so I do recommend checking it out! It just wasn’t for me.

I like Josie Silver. Her last book made me cry. This one was good as well. I would recommend this to my friends.

Thanks so much to Netgalley & Ballantine Books for the e-book of One Night on the Island!

I admittedly held off on reading One Night on the Island because while I liked some of Josie Silver's past books (One Day in December & The Two Lives of Lydia Bird), I didn't love them! But surprise, surprise, I enjoyed One Night on the Island so much and really wished I'd picked it up sooner! It had just the right mix of banter, romance, self discovery, friendship, the list goes on! Salvation Island was definitely some place special and I couldn't help but fall in the love with this small town community and the island itself! So many lessons to learn from this one about life, love and growing up. It just hit all the right notes for me and was paced so perfectly! I highly recommend it!

There was a lot to like about ONE NIGHT ON THE ISLAND, particularly the extrememly cozy setting--ignore the summery vibes of the cover this novel is set in the fall and features tons of rain and warm blankets and hot drinks and dark wooden pubs offering comfort food and warm fires--of Otter Cottage and the whimsical vibes of the remote island of Salvation, Ireland. I adored all of the townspeople (I would read a book from TK perspective in a heartbeat) and the close-knit community vibes. The biggest issue, though, was that I didn't quit jive with the central point of the novel: the romance between Cleo and Mac. I didn't particularly care much for either of them, didn't really feel the level of intense chemistry between them I was supposed to feel, and didn't love a lot of their backstories (the self-coupling idea should have spoken to me, but it just felt *so* schmaltzy and over-the-top.) There was so much potential for "there's only one bed" slow-burn romance and instead it went just over the line into cheesy Hallmark movie territory for my taste. This felt like it was aiming for an audience of older women (nothing wrong with that!) but since protagonists are in their 30s, it didn't quite mesh. I also wasn't a huge fan of where Mac's relationship with his wife ended up/where Cleo and Mac's relatiionship ended up. That said, I did have a good time reading this book and if you're looking for the ultimate cozy vibes, this book has you covered.

You know that subReddit thread AITA, where people give situations wanting to know “Am I The Asshole”? I feel like the answer to this one would be Everyone Sucks Here.

Cleo and Mack both show up at the same small lodge on an Irish island expecting to spend some solitary time contemplating their life. When the booking mix up is discovered, neither is gracious or understanding about the situation, instead digging in their heels and seeing what they could do to make the other person leave on the next boat out…which isn’t for several days.

Of course, bad weather forces a week’s delay in the departure for one of them (still not determined) and the more they get to know each other - oftentimes aided by copious amounts of whiskey - the more they become sympathetic towards each other and the reason that brought them to Salvation Island. (Cue eye roll at the island name…)

You know who didn’t become sympathetic towards the characters? ME.

I felt like there was a bit of a bait and switch with this one, with its cute book cover and rom-com vibe. But the heroine is a self-centered drama queen and the hero is technically still married, making his relationship with the heroine a bitter drink to swallow. For me at least, there is very little that’s romantic about a married man getting involved with another woman and the way it went down here left a sour taste in my mouth. (Are there ways I could have been okay with it? Yes, actually…but I’m not going into that here.)

But dammit. The writing in this book is beautiful, I loved the people of the island, and the author made Salvation Island sound like a lovely place to spend an extended vacation! The last third of the book pulled at my heartstrings and almost made me feel something other than contempt for Cleo and Mack. Almost.

This one is so hard to rate. I didn’t like the characters in the beginning, and even after getting to know them it wasn’t enough for me to overlook their flaws, let alone root for them as individuals or a couple. I loathed the squishy, not happily ever after ending. I did a combination read/listen to One Night on the Island and not even the excellent narration gained this story extra favor. My overall feeling about this book could be summed up with the word meh.

* thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Right off the bat let me say this was not your typical rom-com, in fact it's not your typical romance either. As someone who reads a tons of romance this was different but I found in a good way. There was something refreshing about it for me.

Cleo writes the dating column but is more than little lost when it comes to her own life. She is the youngest child which means everyone is super protective. Her love life is nonexistent and she dreams of finishing her novel. She gets inspired by Emma Watson's self marriage and runs off to the remote island of Salvation. The name is poetic is it not?

It is there she meets Mark, an American who has left his estranged wife and two boys in Boston. He is attempting to put the pieces of his broken family back together. He and Cleo end up in the same hotel room that they both rented and both refuse to leave.

Both Mark and Cleo are on a journey of self discovery and a life changing experience. For Mark he struggles to stay faithful to a wife who isn't happy with him anymore. While Cleo struggles to not cheat on herself with Mark.

I will say that this is one that I had to read twice before I was certain I liked it. After reading the first time I was like "Nope" but I gave it a second go and enjoyed it the second time around. I felt for both Mark and Cleo and the journey they both take.