31 Days of Wonder by Tom Winter

From Goodreads

'And in that instant, he knows in his heart that today is a momentous day; come what may, he and Alice will meet again, and life will never be the same.'  

Alice is stuck in an internship she loathes and a body she is forever trying to change.

Ben, also in his early twenties, is still trying to find his place in the world.

By chance they meet one day in a London park.

Day 1
Ben spots Alice sitting on a bench and feels compelled to speak to her. To his surprise, their connection is instant. But before numbers are exchanged, Alice is whisked off by her demanding boss.

20 minutes later
Alone in her office toilets, Alice looks at herself in the mirror and desperately searches for the beauty Ben could see in her.

Meanwhile, having misunderstood a parting remark, Ben is already planning a trip to Glasgow where he believes Alice lives, not realising that they actually live barely ten miles apart.

Over the next 31 days, Alice and Ben will discover that even if they never manage to find each other again, they have sparked a change in each other that will last a lifetime. In 31 Days of Wonder, Tom Winter shows us the magic of chance encounters and how one brief moment on a Thursday afternoon can change the rest of your life.

My thoughts

My thanks to Corsair Books via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review. I gave this a 3.5 stars or 7/10 depending on which rating you prefer.

This is the tale of Ben and Alice who meet on a bench in a park one day. Told in 31 chapters which mimic a 31 day period that could be a calendar month or just 31 consecutive days. This story is quite a quirky read that would make a fab reading group read.

Both Ben and Alice have issues. Ben has health issues that aren't that apparent at first, but is one of the reasons that it took me awhile to settle into the story as I found it quite hard to tell what was going on with him. I read a review that basically told me what his problem was, this did help me understand him a little more. However, it did spoil it for me a little bit too. Alice has body issues that she has to come to terms with, none of us will admit that our body is perfect and I am sure that all of us will be able to relate to Alice.

As Ben and Alice both go on their separate journeys, we learn so much about both of them and they both learn so much about themselves.