What Next? by Shari Low Blog Tour

 Last year I had the pleasure of joining a blog tour for one of author Shari Low's novels, The Story of Our Secrets. I absolutely loved it, I happily shed tears as I read that book. So when the opportunity arose to read and review her latest book, What Next?, I jumped at the chance.

Now what I didn't realise was that this story is a part of a series.

But panic not, after reading it I'd say you could easily read this as a stand alone novel, although I'm now going to go back and start the series from the beginning as, spoiler alert, I really loved all of the characters.

Val Murray and her best friend, Josie had been planning a ‘Thelma and Louise’ bucket list style holiday. Now Josie is gone, and Val needs to make the trip before it’s too late. But Val doesn’t want to do it alone, so she enlists the help of her nieces, Carly and Carole, and their best pal, Jess, who jump at the chance to join Val on a trip of a lifetime.

What Val doesn’t realise is that Carly, Carole and Jess are all at turning points in their own lives, nursing crushing secrets, lies and betrayals. Somewhere between Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York they all hit a crossroads and have to decide if they want to return to the lives they left behind or let Josie’s last wishes take them on a brand new adventure.

Absolutely hilarious from start to finish.

Val is on an absolute mission. After losing one of her closest friends, she resolves to complete a bucket list which they created together. But she doesn't want to do it alone so she recruits her niece Carly as well their friends Carol and Jess to help her with the mammoth task.

So what next? You see what I did there.

Well...

It isn't just the bucket list that needs attention. 

All of these women have their own missions, well problems that need solving and this trip of a life time seems like the perfect opportunity to put the world to rights and turn those secrets into truths.

Forget about Thelma and Louise, it's all about this fabulous foursome. The use of female friendship throughout the story made it all the more special. They feel like they could be your friends and the story lines (although not in my life) are believable. It was like the comedy version of Sex and the City.

Heartfelt and humorous.

Shari writes in a way that is entertaining whilst pulling at the readers emotions. I couldn't help but feel a mix of sympathy and empathy as I learnt more about these brave women.

Emotions run high but when mixed with some fantastically sarcastic dialogue, it doesn't come across too heavy.

Written with honesty, each character's arc was filled with detail. Expressive is how I guess I'd really describe it.

I was entertained from the first page and I already miss all the ladies.

A great summer read.

Here's hoping Shari gets the urge to write about these characters once again because I think there is still more of their story to tell.