A review by bibliorey
12 Hours To Say I Love You by Olivia Poulet, Laurence Dobiesz

5.0

“as i watched him that night, i knew without a shadow of doubt that right now, in the championships of love, we would win, hands down.
because we were invincible.
it was us against the world.
and nobody, but nobody, would ever love like we did.”

12 hours to say i love you explores the meaning of love and grief through the eyes of two lovers, steve and pippa, as steve is running against the clock to help pippa awaken from her coma due to a tragic accident by reminiscing their times together from the moment they met to their journey full of love up until pippa's tragic accident.

this was such a profound book that i am truly at loss for words on how to describe it apart from just crumbling into a sobbing mess just thinking about it. perhaps it’s my hormonal self at the moment but still, it was deeply profound, it was beautiful, it was sad, it was quite literally everything that you’d expect life would be when facing death be it yours or someone else’s. i don’t know if it’s just a personal trait or someone else could relate to it but i’ve always wondered what my emotions would be when it comes to someone close to me edging closer to death or have already been consumed by it. i’ve only ever truly lost one person in my lifetime and i didn’t cry the whole way until i am face-to-face with someone i have grew up knowing and that’s when everything shatters.

the dual pov between steve and pippa in their past and in their present was deeply enjoyable and at the same time heartbreaking as you already came into the book knowing the “end” but it isn’t the end truly. i love how the authors sort of left the last chapter open to readers’ interpretation of what happens next almost. anything is possible and i’d just like to think that steve and pippa got their happily ever after.

i was surprised to have found out that olivia poulet and laurence dobiesz are actually married in real life. i think that was what intensified the whole emotion that was pouring out within each of the characters. i haven’t had a book tugging on my very heartstrings as this did in a while now and i’m glad that this book somehow successfully made me shed multiple tears and had me sucked in a few snots. i simply loved how raw and genuine everything felt as i’m reading this. the flawed characters, the realistic telling of a tumultuous life. this. this is what i live for.

12 hours to say i love you is a gripping and tear-jerking story of what it means to love to the core. highly recommending this to everyone because i want everyone to cry with me pls lol!!!!

thank you as always to definitely books by pansing for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review