The Best of Times

by Penny Vincenzi

Paperback, 2009

Rating

½ (80 ratings; 3.6)

Genres

Publication

Headline Export (2009)

Description

Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:Everything can change in the blink of an eye. . . On an ordinary London afternoon, a truck swerves across five lanes of traffic and creates a tangle of chaos and confusion. As loved ones wait to hear news and the hospital prepares to receive the injured, a dozen lives hang in the balance. A doctor is torn between helping the injured and hiding his young mistress; a bridegroom hopes to get to the church on time; a widow waiting to reunite with a lost love ponders whether she�??ll ever see him again; and the mysterious hitchhiker, the only person who knows what really happened, is nowhere to be found. Filled with suspense, romance, and more twists than a country highway, The Best of Times proves once again why Penny Vincenzi is the queen of happy endin… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member kcieslak

Cheesy summer reading at its best ... no need to think or analyze ... just read on the beach or by the side of the pool.

In The Best of Times, all the characters come together because of a horrible crash on the M4 Motorway outside London. All the various characters at the scene of the crash

ultimately become entwined with each other. We follow each character from shortly before the crash to a year or so after. Predictably, everything turns out hunky dory and life is good. This is not an intellectual book - how can it be with scenes like the following: "'Christ,' he said, 'dear God, Abi, what are you?' And then she pushed his head up and began to kiss him, desperate, hungry for him, her mouth working frantically at his, moaning, almost crying with wanting him ...."

Yeah, yeah. I know this has romance novel written all over it. And I'm not afraid to admit it. ;) Nor am I afraid to admit that I have read three other Penny Vincenzi novels and loved those even more (they were far better ... highly suggest the trilogy No Angel, Something Dangerous and Into Temptation).

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LibraryThing member ruthm2010

Although this was quite a long book lots of different characters and a fast moving storyline made this a pageturner. Easy to read and vey enjoyable.

LibraryThing member bookczuk

A horrible accident on the M4 jumbles traffic and lives, some for better, some for worse, all causing people to search within themselves to search for truths and resolution. I had a hard time keeping characters straight. There were a lot of them. Liked how the info about the accident played out.

LibraryThing member anissaannalise

I have mixed feelings about this one. I decided to read this along with a couple other books over the long holiday weekend. I'm glad I had other things to read. I quite loved the first half & thought the author did a great job with most of the characters & also the accident we are shown in the

opening of the book. And then the second half happened. Or didn't so much and just meandered along until I have to honestly admit, I was skimming for resolutions for my favorite characters. I'm positive that's not a good sign & that's not how I like to get through my books. On the upside, I was compelled to at least get to the end to see how my favorites fared but that's not enough for me to give this one more than a middling star grade. Another thing that diminished my enjoyment was that I had the BBC series "Collision" (Masterpiece Contemporary in the US) running alongside in my mind. That's not the author's fault but they were so similar, I couldn't help the meld. I have other Penny Vincenzi books on my bookshelf & will gladly give them a read but this one is unfortunately no going to be a favorite.

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LibraryThing member brillow51

I enjoyed this book. It may have been ridiculously calculated to show all's well that ends well, but it kept my attention and for my attention deficit problem that was an achievement.
Yes, it would be considered Chick Lit even though I detest that term, but so what. The message I got was: you can

plan your life all you want, but life has a way of throwing you off course, and sometimes that is not a bad thing at all.

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