I enjoyed that this story didn’t follow any of the usual ghost rules. I spent some time wondering why Scarlett was hanging around after she died but it turns out she was making sure her long time best friend Evie was going to be ok. Evie was having trouble in life with her job, a diagnosis of MS and then added on the accidental death of her BFF Scarlett. Things were not going well for her, Then she met Nate & Astrid who both added to her life & didn’t let her wallow in her flat. Evie went on adventures & leaned that her MS didn’t have to hinder her life so much.
The ending of this book was my absolute favourite, I can’t say more because I don’t want to spoil it but it left me with the most lovely feeling after. Scarlett had a choice to make and she chose Evie living out the life she had found for herself.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Book Group for a copy of this book.

4 1/2 stars

This was such a wonderful debut. It was more than a typical romance, it was a beautiful story of friendship as well. Even though the premise is based on the tragic loss of Evie's best friend, this still manages to be a touching story that tugs the heartstrings in all the ways. You really have to sit back and think about the importance of your best friend and how deep that love runs and what a loss that has to be when you lose that person.

In this book, you really get the feel for fate and how sometimes things are just meant to happen. Also, a bit of how something good can come from something so horrible. Because through losing Scarlett, Evie meets Nate and they launch into any awkward and sometimes painful friendship. It truly is a beautiful story even if it's a little heartbreaking.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration for this audiobook was done quite well. It felt like a true performance and I was completely pulled into the story. 4 1/2 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

This was so good!! I loved it I could not stop reading it. It was absolutely captivating. I thought this was a great book.
I just reviewed One Moment by Becky Hunter. #OneMoment #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

This was an absolutely lovely debut. There were moments that made me smile and laugh and others that were so moving. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried through the final chapter.

One Moment is a book about love but it’s also about friendship and grief and moving forward. It had heavy content but didn’t feel difficult to read. Becky wrote the story in a way that carried hope alongside tragedy, and I think the choice in POVs was brilliant.

Thank you to Forever for a complimentary advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

I loved this book.

This is the story of two best friends, Scarlett and Evie. and what happens after tragedy strikes. Any given moment can change your life forever.

An emotional one for sure. A tale of love, loss, medical diagnosis, friendship and finding courage.

I could feel all of these emotions throughout the book. I loved the characters and that one character got to see her life after death and how she realized that she could have done things differently. I also loved the story of the friendship and how it started as a chance meeting in childhood.

One Moment is so thought provoking and a story that will stay with me for a long time.

This is my first book by the author, and certainly won't be my last.

Thanks to netgalley and Forever Publishing for the arc.

This is a story that is going to delve into your emotional side - love, loss, grief, and forgiveness.

Evie was recently diagnosed with MS - multiple sclerosis and is struggling with how this incurable disease will progress. The one bright spot is that Evie has her best friend, Scarlett, by her side - the person who knows her better than anyone. However, Scarlett's life ends tragically one morning leaving Evie grief ridden and lost. Despite Scarlett's death, she is still a voice of the story and gives us perspective on her and Evie's childhood and insight into the "other side of the story,"
Also key to the story is Nate, the person who Scarlett and maybe Evie blame for her death and Astrid, the young neighbor who seems to know how to push Evie's boundaries.
This is a well-written heartwarming story that deals with challenging issues and makes you question how you would react in the same situation - and there may be more than one right answer.

Thank you to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

#OneMoment #BeckyHunter

A beautiful story of friendship, love, grief, and life after the loss of a loved one.

I enjoyed the unique narration through Scarlett’s point of view after she passed. It gave me a bit of a Lovely Bones vibe, which was a favourite read of mine when it came out.

While I tend to read more open-door romances, this one was still an enjoyable read, and would be a good choice for somebody that prefers or is open to reading closed door romance.

I also really appreciated the progressive illness representation in the story.

One Moment gave me 4.5 stars of feels! I cried, I laughed, I sympathized, and I cried some more. Imagine a best friend relationship which is more like a sisterhood. One is struggling with recently diagnosed chronic disease, one is on the brink of a break-out fashion career. One moment snuffs out a beautiful life meant to be lived to its fullest. How does the survivor react? How does a soul react in the afterlife. How to both intersect with other humans whose lives also change in the same moment? This is a story of friendship, sisterhood, disability, grief, love, music, and difficult choices. This is a story that will definitely stick around with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The strongest part of the book are Evie’s experiences with MS and how she grows through her relationships with Nate & her young neighbor, Anna. Nate ended up being complex enough to be interesting. His backstory was really moving. Nate and Evie’s dates were well-written and I loved how Evie progressed from each of them. The storyline wrapped up quickly, and I didn’t buy Scarlett’s realization about “the one,” but overall I was engaged from beginning to end.
Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC e-book!

I struggled to get into this story, due to the content rather than the writing style. Hunter did a good job of creating characters with depth and navigating a story from two perspectives: the ghost of Scarlett and a third-person narrator of Evie’s life post-Scarlett. I guess I’m just not in the headspace to be able to handle a story that starts with a tragic death and has a main character who is trying to come to grips with a devastating health diagnosis while still in her 20s as well as the loss of her best friend.

Usually when a ghost features heavily in a book, it’s because they have unfinished business and can somehow influence outcomes. In this case, Scarlett was simply an observer and commentator who couldn’t be seen, couldn’t move objects, and had no way of communicating with the living. So, other than her witnessing how her loved ones are coping with the grief, we don’t know until the end what conclusion she draws for her lingering presence, and it’s rather frustrating that she can’t “show herself.”

I enjoyed the romance between Evie and Nate, especially how thoughtful, supportive, and even-keeled he is (really a perfect book boyfriend). In his non-judgmental, non-pitying way, he helps Evie realize that life doesn’t end with a diagnosis; it just means she has to adapt to her new, unpredictable normal. Likewise, she helps him see that slowing down his itinerant lifestyle as a travel journalist to form a connection won’t have negative consequences.

If I could separate my own feelings from the narrative, I’d give it 4*, but since I struggled to get into it, I’ve dropped it to 3*. However, for readers who don’t mind depressing topics combined a very slow burn, closed door romance, it would be worth checking this out.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Forever through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

This was beautiful, raw, fresh and so well written!
I loved that we got both perspectives and I just truly loved the meaning and depth that this book offered its readers.

Two best friends learn about love and loss when one of them dies and the other must deal with the remains of their friendship. When the living friend meets the person responsible for her friend’s death, she is forced to confront her complicated feelings. Author Becky Hunter takes readers through an emotional journey that is completely relatable from start to finish in her debut, One Moment.

Evie Jenkins has been fighting with her best friend, Scarlett, and hating every minute of it. Evie and Scarlett have been inseparable since they were girls. They went to university together and then decided to be grownups together by moving into an apartment in London. But now, it seems, Scarlett is ready to move on without Evie and all because they’ve started seeing life differently.

Scarlett wishes Evie would understand. She certainly doesn’t want to move on from Evie; not in the least. But ever since Evie’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, Scarlett has watched her best friend shrink back from the world. A change—one that includes both of them—will do Evie a world of good, even if Evie doesn’t know it yet.

Except Scarlett never gets to put her plan in motion. On the day when she’s counting on everything to get better, she gets into an accident. The witness to her accident is a stranger named Nate Ritchie, but after Scarlett’s death his name is branded onto Evie’s brain.

Nate is beside himself with grief and guilt. He starts reaching out to Evie to express his hurt and to share hers, but Evie wants nothing to do with him. Nate took away the girl who was her dearest friend; her sister. The person who understood Evie and pushed her and supported her through everything in life. The one who has been there through her best and worst moments. Why on earth would Evie want to have anything to do Nate?

But Nate is persistent, much to Evie’s surprise and frustration. He continues to pursue a friendship of his own with Evie. Evie, to her even greater surprise, starts to soften toward Nate.

In the mix of all this is Scarlett herself. Despite her death, she’s stuck in some in-between place. Now she can see and hear her loved ones; she can even go back to old memories she’s shared with the people closest to her. Yet she can’t reach out to them now. She can only watch as Evie struggles with her grief and Nate continues to call on Evie. Along the way, she learns about how others have seen her in the past and comes to some important realizations about herself, true love, and what friendship means.

Author Becky Hunter hits the deepest notes of grief and the struggles of forgiving one another with pitch perfect precision. Scarlett and Evie’s relationship rings with truth and heartbreak. Readers who have experienced a similar loss will find solace in how each of the young women deals with Scarlett’s death. The title is apt; Hunter offers proof how a single moment in time changes the lives of everyone involved.

Unlike other ghost stories, Hunter doesn’t focus on how Scarlett can exist after her death. Instead, she gives Scarlett a character arc that is almost harder to read than the others because of the fact that Scarlett can no longer be with those she loves most. Even with that obstacle—or possibly because of it—readers may find Scarlett the most endearing character of all.

Evie has her own winning character traits. Her loyalty to Scarlett, even with their disagreement and the things Evie discovers later, remains absolute even through her anger. Evie’s flaws make her that much more relatable. Her MS is in the early stages, giving readers the opportunity to watch the immediate aftermath of the shock of Evie’s diagnosis. Hunter leads readers through Evie’s grief of losing her life as she knows it and losing Scarlett, letting both progress in tandem at a steady but heart-wrenching pace.

While the storyline with Nate may feel inevitable, Hunter keeps several surprises for readers along the way. Just when it feels like the plot has settled into a straightforward rhythm, Hunter drops in another unexpected note that changes the tune of the story. Readers who appreciate a book about found family and love that is truly earned will absolutely want to read this one.

Becky Hunter's ONE MOMENT is a book that will stay with me for a very long time. The story of a friendship between Scarlet and Evie was relatable in its complexity and ever-changing connection--as I read this incredibly well-written story, I kept thinking about the friendships in my life and how differently I would have lived and thought. Heartfelt and teary, this story is like none other I've ever read. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

I’ve never read a book quite like One Moment before. I loved the different point of views. It had all the feels. One minute your heart is breaking and the next all you can think is “awe”.One Moment is a book that will stay with me for a very long time. The whole time I was reading I put myself in Evie’s shoes.

If you’re ready for a heartbreaking, loving, beautiful story this one’s for you. ❤️

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever publishing for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that I’ll continue to think about long after I have finished it.

Scarlett and Evie’s friendship and growth is heartfelt and emotional.

This is a very emotional, but rewarding read. I think the narrative choice of having Scarlett have a first person voice throughout and after her death was the right choice to make this story go beyond its sad storyline. I would definitely read other books by this author.

I absolutely loved this book! It gave me such Josie Silver vibes, which is a compliment. The speculative twist with Scarlett being able to watch over her loved ones, specifically her best friend Evie, after her death was so well done and I loved the romance between Evie and Nick. I just truly enjoyed this book. It was a love story to female friendship.

This was a beautifully written story that really pulls at the heartstrings. It handles some really difficult subjects, like death and grief, in a wonderful way and really shows how growth can continue in life even when we feel like it can't. I loved this one

Absolutely loved this book! It pulled at my heartstrings right fro the beginning and as someone who has lost a friend in a similar way, this captured the waves of grief well. This was tender, sweet, and filled with hope all while holding onto realistic grief. I will absolutely be purchasing a physical copy for my shelf. This book was beautiful!

Beautiful writing emotionally moving a book that tore at my heart. Make sure to have tissues with you.An author to follow.#netgalley #onemoment