Nell HudsonJust For Today

This beautiful first novel written by Ms. Nell Hudson portrayed that 20’s life when we were all wild, young, and free! We either know people like the characters in the novel or we can relate to some of the things that these young characters did. The story sets in London about a group of close friends that goes through love, grief, emotions, and adulthood. The author shows the life of all these characters separately at times and together, sharing the moments of fun, happiness, and just life together. It captures you from the get go and will not let you put the novel down. This novel not only made me smile and laugh, but also made me emotional and after reading it I wanted more. So, I went back and read it again 😊 I am looking forward to many more from this author.

A fun romp and emotional roller coaster! Loved this book!

I don't know how I found this book or why I bought it once I did since it is very clearly not intended for a target audience of my age, being about 20 somethings and I'm most certainly not. I started it and wasn't sure it was going to be for me but how wrong I was. It was an excellent read, beautifully and intelligently written. There's not much of a plot but the book is character rather than plot driven, Joni and Dyl being my favourites. It flagged, only very briefly at one point, but then picked up again. I was totally invested in the characters and what would happen to them. Sadly, the ending was tragic, if predictable. Altogether an excellent read and highly recommended.

Trigger warnings - excessive alcohol and drug use, overdose, sexual harassment, death.I’m feeling a little bit flat after finishing this one! The ending for me was very frustrating and not at all how I had hoped that the book would end. Although I do appreciate that in reality, it’s not always happy ever afters, and that the way that this book ended was probably, sadly, reflective of many people’s real lives.The book focuses on Joni and her friends, all in their mid twenties, navigating life through a never ending sea of parties, drugs and alcohol. The book starts on New Year’s Eve, the biggest party night of the year. Joni and her friends are in their element, but by the time morning rolls around, the reality of excessive and careless drug use hits home in the worst of ways.However, this doesn’t really deter Joni and co from carrying on their lifestyles in a similar way and we follow them through the year as they continue to make questionable decisions. Joni is quite a chaotic character. She’s a nanny for two children, and this is where she really thrives and you see her true potential. But socially, she’s a mess. She hasn’t learnt how to be alone. She lurches from one relationship to the next, and her toxic trait is using male company to numb the pain that she feels. It frustrated me that none of her family and friends seemed to want to help her get herself together. At the point that she was jobless, and all her friends appeared to be moving in the right directions career wise, why did no one help her?I enjoyed the book, it was very hard hitting, but I was invested in Joni and her life. The ending hit me hard, it was devastating and frustrating. I felt that the aftermath of what happened could have been explored a bit further. The book just seemed to end at a place where it didn’t really feel like the right time to end. As a reader invested in Joni, I would have liked to have seen the way she dealt with what happened. But overall, a good read!

Spoiler alert: Beautiful book, described loss in your early twenties perfectly which really resonated with me after also losing a close friend to suicide just after uni - really reminded me of the heartbreaking feeling of things never feeling so innocent again. A great read, would highly recommend.