poignant

the many people affected by one person's sudden death and the web of connection created among them

inexorable conclusions

honesty with oneself and self-responsibility

the devastating impact of alcoholism

I've been eyeing this book for quite a while so when I saw it on the library shelf I snatched it up. I'm glad I did. Sarah Rayner's book about one moment that can change everything was a good read.
On the 7:44 am train one morning three strangers lives are about to intersect over one moment. It is that moment and the ones introduced the following week that literally change the course of their lives. Lou witnesses firsthand the moment that changes Karen's life. Anna is several cars down and finds out about her best friend, Karen, later on that morning. Together, and separately, the three of them begin to reevaluate their current lives and what may need to change. Rayner does this with ease.
I've not read any of Rayner's other titles but I'm going to give them a go. Apparently a book released earlier this year, The Two Week Wait, is a loose sequel off of this book as Lou become a main character in that book. I like her writing style, it has an ease of storyline to it and her character development is good. She is a British author and while some of them are a bit too colorful and over the top with their language and character lifestyles, I found Rayner to have struck a realistic balance. I appreciated that. I'm glad that I picked up this title, looking forward to exploring this author a bit more!

Couldn't finish it, boring.

3.5 stars. A sad story about how your life can change forever in a moment and the friends who will get you through.

A very good read, it's great to see the characters develop while the plot unfolds. I think many people will be able to see bits of themselves in one of the 3 main characters.

I found the bereavement process to be poorly portrayed and this really let the book down

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads contest and am rather glad I did.

I would not have normally picked up a book like this to read and by winning it, I was able to read a book that was quite good. I would have normally passed it by.

It starts with a train trip that has a life changing happening unfold during it. It affects 3 women greatly. One the wife of the person that passes away, the other her friend who was in another train car on the same train, and the third the woman sitting across from the couple. All three women have their lives changed dramatically by the death and it brings them together as friends.

The book's story unfolds over a week and it shows how the women deal with and take the feelings they get from the sudden death. One deals with it directly being the wife with two small children. The other as a friend who is in an abusive relationship. The third as a stranger who gets to know the two women and is struggling with who to come out to as a gay woman in her family and workmates.

The writing style kept me drawn into the book. It is from a British author so there are what Americans call "Britishisms" in word choices and phrases. I actually enjoyed that about the book but I am sure it would annoy an few people so be aware.The characters were well fleshed out and likable which is always a good thing in a book. The book does go forward and backward in time with little warning but the reader quickly gets used to this and there are breaks in paragraphs when this happens though the switch in story to when Simon is alive is a huge clue we are reading about before the train ride.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to readers who like to read about the relationships between women, their families, and their friends. It is not sappy in the slightest and it feels very real in how it deals with personal lose.

At first, I was overwhelmed by the lack of prepositions used by the author, but through time I came to quite enjoy it. It is a very relaxing comfort read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Through the book, relationships and character likes and dislikes were developed extremely well, which I enjoy in a book. It was creative having three different perspectives of a series of events, as well as a non-chronological order including flashbacks which I feel bought a lot of backstory and colour into the book.

Reading previous reviews, I understand that the book might not have been the most lively. However, I believe that it was a very subtle book, a bit like real life really.

Overall it was a really enjoyable read