My enormous thanks to Dani Atkins for sending me a copy of her latest book Always You And Me<\/strong>. It\u2019s my absolute pleasure to share my review today.<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll find Dani featured on Linda\u2019s Book Bag<\/em> on other occasions in interview and review here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I had hoped Always You And Me<\/strong> might be one of my My Weekly reviews for April but sadly recent restructuring and redundancies mean I already have seven reviews pending new reviews are on hold at the moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Always You And Me<\/strong> is published in paperback by Lake Union today, 1st April 2025, and is available for purchase here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From the bestselling author of Fractured comes a moving, heart-mending and uplifting novel of love, hope and second chances.<\/span><\/p>\n Then\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n On the eve of her wedding to Adam, Lily\u2019s best friend Josh unexpectedly walked out of her life, and she hasn\u2019t seen him since.<\/span><\/p>\n Lily and Adam are blissfully happy, until he falls ill. As she cares for him in his final hours, Adam asks her to make a mysterious promise: to find Josh\u2015and forgive them both.<\/span><\/p>\n This winter\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Tracking Josh down isn\u2019t easy, but fate seems determined to bring them together. Cut off in his remote Scottish cabin by a fierce snowstorm, Lily and Josh explore their tangled feelings for each other, stretching back over the decades. But when she discovers the shocking reason behind Adam\u2019s unexpected last wish, she\u2019ll need to trust her heart completely\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Can Lily and Josh choose love\u2015and find forgiveness and lasting happiness together?<\/span><\/p>\n Lily has a promise to keep.<\/span><\/p>\n Always You And Me<\/strong> is one of those books that grasps your heart from the very first page and simply doesn\u2019t let go. It\u2019s totally wonderful and I adored it unreservedly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s an intensity of emotion because essentially the narrative revolves around Lily, Adam and Josh with only a very few minor characters so that it\u2019s as if we are discovering the innermost thoughts of these three. Lily\u2019s narrative voice is perfection and Dani Atkins uses that voice to delve into Josh\u2019s heart so that as we learn about Lily we also learn about Josh and vice versa. They are as interwoven as two strands of DNA. And yet it is Adam who initiates the action. It is he who has shaped Lily and Josh\u2019s destiny. Although he is not physically present for almost all the novel, I felt I knew him intimately, because Lily showed him to me with scalpel sharp clarity and yet, as is true of all relationships, she didn\u2019t know everything entirely. Indeed, I thought the way the characters developed in Always You and Me<\/strong> was superb.<\/span><\/p>\n The plot is magnificent. It is so realistic, so absorbing and so compelling that it doesn\u2019t feel like fiction at all. I truly forgot I was reading about the lives of characters in a book. Obviously I can\u2019t spoil the read by revealing too much, but I found every aspect of the story realistic and heart-breaking in equal measure. At the same time, there is wonderful, natural humour that frequently comes through direct speech, making Always You and Me<\/strong> feel balanced and absorbing.<\/span><\/p>\n Themes of love, family, the way our past shapes our present, grief, marriage, loyalty and parenthood are threaded throughout the book, providing a tapestry of life and humanity in a beautifully written narrative that makes the book flawless in execution.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m aware I haven\u2019t said a great deal but if you read the story for yourself you\u2019ll appreciate how hard it is not to reveal too much and spoil the read for others. Achingly romantic and deeply emotional, Always You And Me<\/strong> is utterly wonderful and not to be missed, even if I was completely broken by it. This will be a hard book to beat for my favourite read of 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut Fractured<\/strong> (published as Then and Always in North America) has been translated into over twenty languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n Dani is the author of ten bestselling novels (Fractured<\/strong>; The Story of Us<\/strong>; Our Song<\/strong>; This Love<\/strong>; While I was Sleeping<\/strong>; A Million Dreams<\/strong>; A Sky Full of Stars<\/strong>; The Wedding Dress<\/strong>; Six days<\/strong> and The Memory of Us<\/strong>) and two eBook novellas: Perfect Strangers<\/strong> and When I Awake<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n This Love<\/strong>, A Sky Full Of Stars<\/strong> and Six Days<\/strong> have all won Romantic Novelist Association awards.<\/span><\/p>\n Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, a Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.<\/span><\/p>\n For further information, follow Dani on Twitter\/X @AtkinsDani<\/a>, or find her on Facebook\u00a0<\/a><\/span>and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lindasbookbag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/always-you-and-me.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAlways You And Me<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\nMy Review of Always You And Me<\/span><\/h3>\n
About Dani Atkins<\/span><\/h3>\n
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