One Moment by Becky Hunter

 

One Moment by Becky Hunter.

Published 2nd March 2023 by Corvus.

From the cover of the book:

One moment in time can change everything...

The day Scarlett dies should have been one of the most important of her life. It doesn't feel fair that she'll never have the chance to fulfil her dreams. And now, she's still ... here - wherever here is - watching the ripple effect of her death on the lives of those she loved the most.

Evie cannot contemplate her life without Scarlett, and she certainly cannot forgive Nate, the man she blames for her best friend's death. But Nate keeps popping up when she least expects him to, catapulting Evie's life in directions she'd never let herself imagine possible. Ways, perhaps, even those closest to her had long since given up on.

If you could go back, knowing everything that happens after, everything that happens because of that one moment in time, would you change the course of history or would you do it all again?

***********

Scarlett and Evie have been inseparable since childhood, certain that whatever life throws at them they will always be able to rely on each other. But Fate has other ideas. On a day that promises the realisation of everything Scarlett has been working toward, she is involved in a fatal accident. Scarlett's death leaves Evie overwhelmed by grief, and struggling to get beyond blaming Nate, the man she considers responsible for what happened... and yet, these things are never black and white.

After the accident, Scarlett is unable to leave the world behind, even though her life is over. She hovers unseen on the edge of Evie's struggles, and watches over her with conflicted feelings while Evie and Nate, who would never have met if she had not died, develop a friendship that could become so much more. Scarlett finds herself revisiting moments from the past, gathering insight on the decisions she has made, and begins to understand that her relationship with Evie was not all it should have been. Would she go back and make different choices if she could, now she can see everything more clearly?

One Moment is an absolutely gorgeous debut novel from Becky Hunter that takes you on a deeply emotional journey through love, loss and the moments that define us. The story focuses on an intimate cast of characters dealing with loss in different ways, and it has a very clever twist reminiscent of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, because one of them is watching on from the outside, witnessing the profound impact of her death on those who remain behind.

Although Scarlett is dead throughout almost all of this story, she becomes the guide that leads you onwards from tragic beginning to heart-wrenching end. There is a lot of (quite literal) 'soul' searching, as Scarlett learns more about herself and her relationships with others, through being drawn to moments from past. Meanwhile Evie has revelations of her own about her friendship with Scarlett as Nate persists on inserting himself into her life and dragging her out of her comfort zone when she wants to hide from the world - and as she makes a new friend in Astrid, the young girl that reminds her so much of how she used to be.

There is no way to do this book justice in a short review. It deftly explores the pivotal moments that dictate the direction our lives take, and the preoccupations that can get in the way of seeing the bigger picture. There is real maturity in Hunter's writing that is very impressive for a debut author, as she spins bittersweet magic that wraps you up completely in this story, touching on a wealth of themes about expectation, self-awareness, chronic illness, mental health, friendship, family, and different aspects of love.

I cried my way through this one, building up to a full on sob fest at the end when all the threads come together in a final breath-taking moment that hits you right in the feels. One Moment is a contender for my book of the year, and I predict that Becky Hunter is a rising star to watch. If this book is not on your reading pile yet, then it should be.

One Moment is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Corvus for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.

About the author:

Becky Hunter lived and worked in London for several years before moving to Mozambique to volunteer with horses and try her hand at writing. A few years, a few destinations, and a few jobs later she had the idea that would become One Moment. 

Alongside writing, she now works as a freelance editor and publicist, splitting her time between Bristol and London, and constantly trying to plan the next adventure.