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One Day, Hard and Clear
A poignant novel about two best friends sharing yearning, rejection, and lip gloss in a close-knit blue-collar town.
It’s 2004 and childhood friends Sami and Lucy are on the edge of adulthood. Lucy knows what she is going to do — she’s going to school and getting out. But Sami, caught in an endless loop with a boy, True, who is from a troubled family, can’t seem to get unstuck.
“I’d used to feel, when I was with True, that I was safe, that he would take care of me, that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen. But now I wasn’t sure what I had constructed that from. His easy way with words, his confidence, maybe, his height. I was tall but he was bigger than me; in my mind he was bigger than anyone. Or maybe it was the surprisingly gentle way he’d touch your hair, your face. But in reality, he’d offered no more protection than a child’s night light against monsters, a tender deception we fall for, easily, before we grow up and know better.”
The further Sami drifts from Lucy, the harder it is to not be guided and bound by her heartbreak for True, whose destructive presence continually interferes with Sami’s hope for stability and connection. As their paths begin to diverge, Sami must learn to navigate life in their small town — and the universe — without the one person she’s always counted on.
“If soulmates were real, she was mine.”
It’s 2004 and childhood friends Sami and Lucy are on the edge of adulthood. Lucy knows what she is going to do — she’s going to school and getting out. But Sami, caught in an endless loop with a boy, True, who is from a troubled family, can’t seem to get unstuck.
“I’d used to feel, when I was with True, that I was safe, that he would take care of me, that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen. But now I wasn’t sure what I had constructed that from. His easy way with words, his confidence, maybe, his height. I was tall but he was bigger than me; in my mind he was bigger than anyone. Or maybe it was the surprisingly gentle way he’d touch your hair, your face. But in reality, he’d offered no more protection than a child’s night light against monsters, a tender deception we fall for, easily, before we grow up and know better.”
The further Sami drifts from Lucy, the harder it is to not be guided and bound by her heartbreak for True, whose destructive presence continually interferes with Sami’s hope for stability and connection. As their paths begin to diverge, Sami must learn to navigate life in their small town — and the universe — without the one person she’s always counted on.
“If soulmates were real, she was mine.”
- GenresFictionComing Of Age
228 pages, Paperback
Published June 30, 2026
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June 30, 2026
Lucy and Sami are best friends in the early 2000s, dreaming of bigger and better things, dreaming of Paris. They assume, then, that their friendship will stay the same forever, even as everything else changes around them. But things rarely work out that way.
One Day, Hard and Clear follows Lucy and Sami—mostly Sami—as they grow up and drift apart. Sami is infatuated with her sometimes boyfriend, True, even as they body slip in and out of other relationships. I wanted to know if my body would always feel like a live wire next to his, she says. If I would one day forget how I used to fall asleep up against his big back and finally feel anchored to the world. (loc. 328*)
I like a coming-of-age story, and that's just what we have here. Circumstances dictate a lot of Lucy and Sami's choices—they both imagine a world full of possibilities, at least at first, but it's clear that Lucy will simply have more resources to pursue things she wants to pursue, and also that there are limitations even before they get out of the gate.
"Young man" was a compliment, an honour, but even then I knew "young lady" was different, cool and corrective. You only heard it when you were doing something wrong. (loc. 466)
The book moves further through time than I initially expected—I'd thought it might stay in 2004 (so strange that my high school years have become historical fiction), but instead it moves forward and forward again. Sami has a burst of initiative relatively early on, moving away and trying to have an adventure, but, well, things change, and after that she seems largely to take life as it comes to her, accepting the hands she's dealt.
I looked at Bodie, wondering when the moment "I've chosen you right now" mutated somehow into "forever." By then I'd realized what we were, two broken fingers taped together, a busted buddy system. (loc. 757)
I wouldn't have minded a bit more of Lucy's life, for contrast and to see how much their paths truly diverge or don't (is Lucy happy, by the end?), but I liked how real this felt—no great choices or big declarations, just life moving forward and friendship morphing over time.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
One Day, Hard and Clear follows Lucy and Sami—mostly Sami—as they grow up and drift apart. Sami is infatuated with her sometimes boyfriend, True, even as they body slip in and out of other relationships. I wanted to know if my body would always feel like a live wire next to his, she says. If I would one day forget how I used to fall asleep up against his big back and finally feel anchored to the world. (loc. 328*)
I like a coming-of-age story, and that's just what we have here. Circumstances dictate a lot of Lucy and Sami's choices—they both imagine a world full of possibilities, at least at first, but it's clear that Lucy will simply have more resources to pursue things she wants to pursue, and also that there are limitations even before they get out of the gate.
"Young man" was a compliment, an honour, but even then I knew "young lady" was different, cool and corrective. You only heard it when you were doing something wrong. (loc. 466)
The book moves further through time than I initially expected—I'd thought it might stay in 2004 (so strange that my high school years have become historical fiction), but instead it moves forward and forward again. Sami has a burst of initiative relatively early on, moving away and trying to have an adventure, but, well, things change, and after that she seems largely to take life as it comes to her, accepting the hands she's dealt.
I looked at Bodie, wondering when the moment "I've chosen you right now" mutated somehow into "forever." By then I'd realized what we were, two broken fingers taped together, a busted buddy system. (loc. 757)
I wouldn't have minded a bit more of Lucy's life, for contrast and to see how much their paths truly diverge or don't (is Lucy happy, by the end?), but I liked how real this felt—no great choices or big declarations, just life moving forward and friendship morphing over time.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
October 1, 2025
Anne Baldo’s One Day, Hard and Clear is a novel of narrative gestalt: people, characters who’re more than how they see one another. Whether we’re talking about Sami, a layered, complex young woman from Windsor, or True, her onetime boyfriend who strives to become more than it’s given him to be, Mrs. Baldo’s novel is a story which breathes in all the right places. It’s a book of exquisite, living, sincere detail which feels less like words in a book and more like a secret confided between childhood friends over a hot drink. It’s a novel about how all of us are more than we appear to be.
Readers of Margaret Atwood, Shashi Bhat, and Flannery O’Connor will feel right at home here. Mrs. Baldo is, in my opinion, a quiet virtuoso of Canadian literature. If I may return to those coffee-shop friends, One Day, Hard and Clear is like a wonderful shop which you half-hope will ‘succeed,’ become a franchise, while a secret, more selfish part of you feels like that’d ruin its charm. I believe we see that same conflict in play among many of these characters. For instance, we half-hope that Sami will escape the house, the hometown which stifles her, but wonder what she’ll find. We hope she doesn’t lose something irrevocable in the search.
I hope Mrs. Baldo also doesn’t lose it, no matter where this book takes her.
Readers of Margaret Atwood, Shashi Bhat, and Flannery O’Connor will feel right at home here. Mrs. Baldo is, in my opinion, a quiet virtuoso of Canadian literature. If I may return to those coffee-shop friends, One Day, Hard and Clear is like a wonderful shop which you half-hope will ‘succeed,’ become a franchise, while a secret, more selfish part of you feels like that’d ruin its charm. I believe we see that same conflict in play among many of these characters. For instance, we half-hope that Sami will escape the house, the hometown which stifles her, but wonder what she’ll find. We hope she doesn’t lose something irrevocable in the search.
I hope Mrs. Baldo also doesn’t lose it, no matter where this book takes her.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Dundurn Press for sharing an ARC copy of this book 🙏
The sign says, Windsor, City of Roses,
But anyone who's lived here knows it's a city of hands and dark metal, necessary as blood
— Bronwen Wallace, "Reclaiming the City"
The Premise:
Set against the backdrop of a sweltering July in 2004, One Day, Hard and Clear is a visceral, deeply atmospheric exploration of the "tender deceptions" of youth. It centers on Sami, a young woman caught in the magnetic pull of two very different people: True, the first love she knows she should outgrow, and Lucy, her best friend whose life is as curated as her mother’s expensive candles. When tragedy shatters their shared dreams of Paris, Sami is forced to confront the ghosts of her past and see the people she loves with a sudden, painful clarity.
My Thoughts
Masterful Atmosphere and Prose: Baldo has a startling gift for sensory detail. Whether she is describing the smell of lavender and cucumber peel-off masks or the "blue blink" of a digital clock at 11:11, the writing feels lived-in and real. She perfectly captures the "long, slow ache" of grief, where even the most mundane objects- VCR tapes and Abercrombie ads- become heavy with the weight of loss.
The Complexity of Girlhood: The relationship between Sami and Lucy is the soul of this book. It’s an all-consuming, ride-or-die friendship that feels both beautiful and claustrophobic. Baldo expertly highlights the friction between their domestic lives, Sami’s raw, loud household versus Lucy’s stiflingly perfect home, to show how these environments shape their identities and their desperation to escape.
A Pitch-Perfect Setting: The 2004 setting is more than just nostalgia; it’s an anchor. The references to The Practice, LFO on the radio, and "whippet-thin" eyebrows are used to ground the high-stakes emotions of adolescence in a specific moment of transition. It makes the eventual shift into the stark, quiet reality of the funeral feel even more jarring.
The Clarity of the End: The title comes home beautifully in the final chapters. It’s about that singular moment when the fog of youth and "protection" lifts, revealing the people we loved for exactly who they were, flaws and all. It’s a melancholic conclusion, but it feels like a necessary exhale for Sami as she finally starts to find her own path.
Final Verdict:
One Day, Hard and Clear is a haunting and observant look at the transition to adulthood. Baldo’s lyrical prose and sharp emotional intelligence make this a standout for readers who enjoy character-driven literary fiction that explores the darker, more complicated edges of friendship and family.
Recommend to readers who love:
Atmospheric Prose: If your audience highlights quotes and loves "vibey," sensory writing, they will adore Baldo’s style. Her descriptions of 2004 suburbia are incredibly vivid.
Character Studies: This isn't a fast-paced thriller. It’s for readers who want to get deep inside a protagonist's head and understand the messy, often toxic dynamics of high school friendships.
Nostalgia with an Edge: It’s great for anyone who grew up in the late 90s or early 2000s and wants to revisit that era as a "sparkly" memory, but as a raw and complicated time.
Emotional "Heavy Hitters": Since it deals with grief and the "shattering" of childhood illusions, it’s a perfect recommendation for fans of authors like Celeste Ng or Emma Cline.
My Perspective:
I would definitely recommend it, especially to your followers who appreciate literary depth and emotional honesty. It feels like the kind of book that stays with you long after you finish the last page because the "clarity" Sami finds is something everyone eventually faces.
The sign says, Windsor, City of Roses,
But anyone who's lived here knows it's a city of hands and dark metal, necessary as blood
— Bronwen Wallace, "Reclaiming the City"
The Premise:
Set against the backdrop of a sweltering July in 2004, One Day, Hard and Clear is a visceral, deeply atmospheric exploration of the "tender deceptions" of youth. It centers on Sami, a young woman caught in the magnetic pull of two very different people: True, the first love she knows she should outgrow, and Lucy, her best friend whose life is as curated as her mother’s expensive candles. When tragedy shatters their shared dreams of Paris, Sami is forced to confront the ghosts of her past and see the people she loves with a sudden, painful clarity.
My Thoughts
Masterful Atmosphere and Prose: Baldo has a startling gift for sensory detail. Whether she is describing the smell of lavender and cucumber peel-off masks or the "blue blink" of a digital clock at 11:11, the writing feels lived-in and real. She perfectly captures the "long, slow ache" of grief, where even the most mundane objects- VCR tapes and Abercrombie ads- become heavy with the weight of loss.
The Complexity of Girlhood: The relationship between Sami and Lucy is the soul of this book. It’s an all-consuming, ride-or-die friendship that feels both beautiful and claustrophobic. Baldo expertly highlights the friction between their domestic lives, Sami’s raw, loud household versus Lucy’s stiflingly perfect home, to show how these environments shape their identities and their desperation to escape.
A Pitch-Perfect Setting: The 2004 setting is more than just nostalgia; it’s an anchor. The references to The Practice, LFO on the radio, and "whippet-thin" eyebrows are used to ground the high-stakes emotions of adolescence in a specific moment of transition. It makes the eventual shift into the stark, quiet reality of the funeral feel even more jarring.
The Clarity of the End: The title comes home beautifully in the final chapters. It’s about that singular moment when the fog of youth and "protection" lifts, revealing the people we loved for exactly who they were, flaws and all. It’s a melancholic conclusion, but it feels like a necessary exhale for Sami as she finally starts to find her own path.
Final Verdict:
One Day, Hard and Clear is a haunting and observant look at the transition to adulthood. Baldo’s lyrical prose and sharp emotional intelligence make this a standout for readers who enjoy character-driven literary fiction that explores the darker, more complicated edges of friendship and family.
Recommend to readers who love:
Atmospheric Prose: If your audience highlights quotes and loves "vibey," sensory writing, they will adore Baldo’s style. Her descriptions of 2004 suburbia are incredibly vivid.
Character Studies: This isn't a fast-paced thriller. It’s for readers who want to get deep inside a protagonist's head and understand the messy, often toxic dynamics of high school friendships.
Nostalgia with an Edge: It’s great for anyone who grew up in the late 90s or early 2000s and wants to revisit that era as a "sparkly" memory, but as a raw and complicated time.
Emotional "Heavy Hitters": Since it deals with grief and the "shattering" of childhood illusions, it’s a perfect recommendation for fans of authors like Celeste Ng or Emma Cline.
My Perspective:
I would definitely recommend it, especially to your followers who appreciate literary depth and emotional honesty. It feels like the kind of book that stays with you long after you finish the last page because the "clarity" Sami finds is something everyone eventually faces.
July 17, 2026
I received a copy of the book from the author.
When Anne Baldo reached out to me, saying she had developed her short story “Sweetlip,” which we published in Blood & Bourbon's issue 12, “Companionship,” into a full-length novel, I was over the moon. And it was being released through Dundurn Press in Toronto—soon. Of course, I’d read One Day, Hard and Clear if she sent me a copy! What I found was a quietly devastating novel with a glimmer of hope that was hard to put down.
It is a story of Sami, who is thrust into adulthood but still operates on high-school ideas of belonging, friendships, and love. The first part of the book reads like an ode to your best friend growing up, the one with whom you share your most formative experiences, discover the things you like and dislike, and can chat for hours. The words ooze longing for a time that is fading into the past as Sami and her best friend, Lucy, begin to drift apart. The prose quietly stabs your heart with bits of niche nostalgia (I’ve seen Rasputina in concert twice) and transports you to the early aughts effortlessly. I cried remembering my Lucy and how we inevitably drifted apart.
All the while, the novel builds on another theme: how relationships we form without much care can define years of our lives if we’re not careful and how important a good support system is in our 20s. How these shitty relationships that were not supposed to be anything serious pull you down because no one was there to tell you life could be different, that there are options. And then, when you try to advocate for yourself, make your situation better, you can’t help but run towards something that was never good for you because you stop feeling like you deserve any better, because it feels familiar. You root for Sami when she leaves Bodie, but you can also see all the other roads she could’ve travelled had someone shown her a little more care.
The only thing I wish was more present is the further drifting apart of Sami and Lucy in the middle of the novel, as it focuses heavily on Sami and True and their unhealthy dynamic.
And it’s such a common occurrence in small towns in Ontario, and likely far beyond Ontario. It boggles my mind that there isn’t more written on these topics through this small-town lens, but I’m glad that Anne is doing it, because her voice does it justice, makes the hopelessness of a small town have dimensions and nuances, and never lets it become a caricature of the people who are on similar life paths. I’d recommend it to lovers of contemporary literary fiction and those with roots in smaller Canadian towns or who grew up in the 90s and 2000s.
This is a fantastic debut, and I couldn’t be happier for Anne Baldo. I’m looking forward to what she writes next, and I hope that our other authors may be inspired by her success. We’ll always be here to support them.
When Anne Baldo reached out to me, saying she had developed her short story “Sweetlip,” which we published in Blood & Bourbon's issue 12, “Companionship,” into a full-length novel, I was over the moon. And it was being released through Dundurn Press in Toronto—soon. Of course, I’d read One Day, Hard and Clear if she sent me a copy! What I found was a quietly devastating novel with a glimmer of hope that was hard to put down.
It is a story of Sami, who is thrust into adulthood but still operates on high-school ideas of belonging, friendships, and love. The first part of the book reads like an ode to your best friend growing up, the one with whom you share your most formative experiences, discover the things you like and dislike, and can chat for hours. The words ooze longing for a time that is fading into the past as Sami and her best friend, Lucy, begin to drift apart. The prose quietly stabs your heart with bits of niche nostalgia (I’ve seen Rasputina in concert twice) and transports you to the early aughts effortlessly. I cried remembering my Lucy and how we inevitably drifted apart.
All the while, the novel builds on another theme: how relationships we form without much care can define years of our lives if we’re not careful and how important a good support system is in our 20s. How these shitty relationships that were not supposed to be anything serious pull you down because no one was there to tell you life could be different, that there are options. And then, when you try to advocate for yourself, make your situation better, you can’t help but run towards something that was never good for you because you stop feeling like you deserve any better, because it feels familiar. You root for Sami when she leaves Bodie, but you can also see all the other roads she could’ve travelled had someone shown her a little more care.
The only thing I wish was more present is the further drifting apart of Sami and Lucy in the middle of the novel, as it focuses heavily on Sami and True and their unhealthy dynamic.
And it’s such a common occurrence in small towns in Ontario, and likely far beyond Ontario. It boggles my mind that there isn’t more written on these topics through this small-town lens, but I’m glad that Anne is doing it, because her voice does it justice, makes the hopelessness of a small town have dimensions and nuances, and never lets it become a caricature of the people who are on similar life paths. I’d recommend it to lovers of contemporary literary fiction and those with roots in smaller Canadian towns or who grew up in the 90s and 2000s.
This is a fantastic debut, and I couldn’t be happier for Anne Baldo. I’m looking forward to what she writes next, and I hope that our other authors may be inspired by her success. We’ll always be here to support them.
July 19, 2026
One Day, Hard and Clear is the emotionally resonant debut novel from Anne Baldo, author of the dazzling short fiction collection Morse Code for Romantics (2023). A mature work that demonstrates significant growth in Baldo’s art, in some respects the novel seems to echo—could even be said to continue—the story collection, as if the author was not yet finished with themes of lost love, emotional betrayal, nostalgia for friendships past and youthful uncertainty over what tomorrow may bring.
The story begins in July 2004 with best friends Sami and Lucy freshly graduated from high school and working together at Zehrs Supermarket in Windsor, Ontario. At home, Sami’s mother is unreliable and mostly absent, and her father lets her do whatever she wants. Lucy’s ever-watchful mother worries that Sami, with her lip gloss, overdone makeup, cheap clothes, and disreputable boyfriend, might be a bad influence. Lucy and Sami have been friends forever. There are no secrets between them. But it’s clear they want different things. In the fall, Lucy will enter university. Sami has no such plans and seems content to hang out around town, working for minimum wage, frequenting bars, and hooking up with whomever is available. She has recently broken up with the boyfriend, whose name is True. But Lucy’s mother’s concerns are well founded: True comes from a family with a questionable pedigree (his father’s served jail time), and True has been known to throw a rock or two through the odd window. But even though Sami and True are no longer a couple, their emotional connection remains potent. With Lucy gone, Sami—despite plenty of evidence that he does not bring out the best in her—leans on True to help her through the rough patches.
Baldo’s elegant narrative describes the turbulent ebb and flow of Sami and True’s complex relationship over the next several years, as the two engage in other relationships but always seem to gravitate back to one another. The paradox Baldo presents to the reader is that Sami is smart enough to know that True is selfish and controlling, that he will take every opportunity to question her choices and undermine her self-respect, that he represents a damaging presence in her life. She knows that by staying close to him, by taking his advice and following his lead, she will never move forward and learn to stand on her own two feet. But True is also the addiction she can’t seem to shake, the one that allows her to step out of herself and imagine a world that isn’t filled with disappointment, cruelty and bad luck. Even when she’s making choices that on the surface appear to have nothing to do with him, we feel True’s influence at the root of almost everything she does.
The power of One Day, Hard and Clear resides in Anne Baldo’s relentless dissection of her characters’ motivations and the construction of scenes that reveal them taking needless risks and sometimes even acting against their own self-interest, if only to defy expectations or thwart someone else’s wishes. With friendship at the core of the novel, Baldo demonstrates she is adept at depicting that heartbreaking moment when someone realizes a once-cherished friendship is over. Her prose is compulsively readable, shimmering with detail, creating an irresistible flow that carries the reader along. The novel is also filled with wisdom and insight, frequently capturing, in seemingly effortless fashion, naked truths about human relationships that can be breathtaking in their simplicity: “The margin between someone who would save you and someone who would destroy you is not as wide as we liked to believe.”
Anne Baldo has her finger firmly on the pulse of a generation struggling to cross the threshold from adolescence to adulthood. One Day, Hard and Clear presents life how it is, with all its sharp edges intact. The world it evokes is one where people learn their lessons the hard way, and no one gets to take the easy way out.
The story begins in July 2004 with best friends Sami and Lucy freshly graduated from high school and working together at Zehrs Supermarket in Windsor, Ontario. At home, Sami’s mother is unreliable and mostly absent, and her father lets her do whatever she wants. Lucy’s ever-watchful mother worries that Sami, with her lip gloss, overdone makeup, cheap clothes, and disreputable boyfriend, might be a bad influence. Lucy and Sami have been friends forever. There are no secrets between them. But it’s clear they want different things. In the fall, Lucy will enter university. Sami has no such plans and seems content to hang out around town, working for minimum wage, frequenting bars, and hooking up with whomever is available. She has recently broken up with the boyfriend, whose name is True. But Lucy’s mother’s concerns are well founded: True comes from a family with a questionable pedigree (his father’s served jail time), and True has been known to throw a rock or two through the odd window. But even though Sami and True are no longer a couple, their emotional connection remains potent. With Lucy gone, Sami—despite plenty of evidence that he does not bring out the best in her—leans on True to help her through the rough patches.
Baldo’s elegant narrative describes the turbulent ebb and flow of Sami and True’s complex relationship over the next several years, as the two engage in other relationships but always seem to gravitate back to one another. The paradox Baldo presents to the reader is that Sami is smart enough to know that True is selfish and controlling, that he will take every opportunity to question her choices and undermine her self-respect, that he represents a damaging presence in her life. She knows that by staying close to him, by taking his advice and following his lead, she will never move forward and learn to stand on her own two feet. But True is also the addiction she can’t seem to shake, the one that allows her to step out of herself and imagine a world that isn’t filled with disappointment, cruelty and bad luck. Even when she’s making choices that on the surface appear to have nothing to do with him, we feel True’s influence at the root of almost everything she does.
The power of One Day, Hard and Clear resides in Anne Baldo’s relentless dissection of her characters’ motivations and the construction of scenes that reveal them taking needless risks and sometimes even acting against their own self-interest, if only to defy expectations or thwart someone else’s wishes. With friendship at the core of the novel, Baldo demonstrates she is adept at depicting that heartbreaking moment when someone realizes a once-cherished friendship is over. Her prose is compulsively readable, shimmering with detail, creating an irresistible flow that carries the reader along. The novel is also filled with wisdom and insight, frequently capturing, in seemingly effortless fashion, naked truths about human relationships that can be breathtaking in their simplicity: “The margin between someone who would save you and someone who would destroy you is not as wide as we liked to believe.”
Anne Baldo has her finger firmly on the pulse of a generation struggling to cross the threshold from adolescence to adulthood. One Day, Hard and Clear presents life how it is, with all its sharp edges intact. The world it evokes is one where people learn their lessons the hard way, and no one gets to take the easy way out.
August 28, 2026
Originally reviewed at Books Etc.
I had really high hopes for One Day, Hard and Clear, the debut novel from Anne Baldo. It begins in 2004, with characters just out of high school and I was just about done high school myself at that time. What would this book of best friends and nostalgia be like? For me, it was tough to get through. Maybe it was an instance of “good book, wrong time,” but I felt that this one was a miss.
I wanted more from the friendship storyline, though, rereading the description, I should have been more prepared for the drifting apart that occurred between Sami and Lucy. We’ve all been there and have friends we’re no longer close to, and I completely understood all the complicated feelings around becoming estranged from a former friend. But I never quite believed the girls were as close as Sami thought they were. That could be because, when we first met them, there were signs the friendship was being strained. At least, I saw some signs. Lucy’s in post-secondary school and Sami is still working at the same grocery store she was at during high school. She’s still hopeful the pair will go to Paris but we never hear Lucy mention it. Lucy’s priorities have clearly shifted and I don’t think Sami fully realized that. It doesn’t help that each woman is dating/infatuated with someone the other thinks is bad news for them. How can a friendship actually survive all of that?
It might have been a realistic story but I wanted more for Sami, who just seemed to get stuck in a life she had hoped to escape. She may have eventually been at peace with her life, but I couldn’t help but wish she had achieved the dreams she seemed to have cast aside. She could have stayed in Montreal, even after some surprising news (which, I hate to say it, I hated - but that’s a personal thing. And vague, I know, but I don’t want to spoil anything that’s not mentioned in the description!). Even though she was with a guy who wasn’t good news, she could have started over on her own. Sami is strong and I could see she was starting to make some healthy habits, making new friends, and so on, in the city. She could have made it to Paris on her own. But she moved back home…and for what? Her family isn’t supportive and she never admitted to wanting to be close to Lucy, though I’m sure that was a motivation. The choices were questionable, to me, and just didn’t seem to make sense. But maybe they weren’t supposed to.
Finally, I was really curious to see how the setting of the book impacted the story. Sami and Lucy are just a few years older than me so a lot of the references to 2004 pop culture and beyond felt familiar. They also felt, however, really heavy-handed. It got to the point where it felt like I was being smacked upside the head with every single early 2000s reference Baldo could squeeze in. It’s probably unfairly harsh but something about the way some of the scenes were written just didn’t work for me as a reader.
A more literary novel than I typically read, I was still willing to give One Day, Hard and Clear a shot. I didn’t love Anne Baldo’s work though I may be willing to check out the next novel she writes, but it will depend on if it sounds like the characters are ones I’ll want to spend some time with.
*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Rare Machines (Dundurn Press), in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*
I had really high hopes for One Day, Hard and Clear, the debut novel from Anne Baldo. It begins in 2004, with characters just out of high school and I was just about done high school myself at that time. What would this book of best friends and nostalgia be like? For me, it was tough to get through. Maybe it was an instance of “good book, wrong time,” but I felt that this one was a miss.
I wanted more from the friendship storyline, though, rereading the description, I should have been more prepared for the drifting apart that occurred between Sami and Lucy. We’ve all been there and have friends we’re no longer close to, and I completely understood all the complicated feelings around becoming estranged from a former friend. But I never quite believed the girls were as close as Sami thought they were. That could be because, when we first met them, there were signs the friendship was being strained. At least, I saw some signs. Lucy’s in post-secondary school and Sami is still working at the same grocery store she was at during high school. She’s still hopeful the pair will go to Paris but we never hear Lucy mention it. Lucy’s priorities have clearly shifted and I don’t think Sami fully realized that. It doesn’t help that each woman is dating/infatuated with someone the other thinks is bad news for them. How can a friendship actually survive all of that?
It might have been a realistic story but I wanted more for Sami, who just seemed to get stuck in a life she had hoped to escape. She may have eventually been at peace with her life, but I couldn’t help but wish she had achieved the dreams she seemed to have cast aside. She could have stayed in Montreal, even after some surprising news (which, I hate to say it, I hated - but that’s a personal thing. And vague, I know, but I don’t want to spoil anything that’s not mentioned in the description!). Even though she was with a guy who wasn’t good news, she could have started over on her own. Sami is strong and I could see she was starting to make some healthy habits, making new friends, and so on, in the city. She could have made it to Paris on her own. But she moved back home…and for what? Her family isn’t supportive and she never admitted to wanting to be close to Lucy, though I’m sure that was a motivation. The choices were questionable, to me, and just didn’t seem to make sense. But maybe they weren’t supposed to.
Finally, I was really curious to see how the setting of the book impacted the story. Sami and Lucy are just a few years older than me so a lot of the references to 2004 pop culture and beyond felt familiar. They also felt, however, really heavy-handed. It got to the point where it felt like I was being smacked upside the head with every single early 2000s reference Baldo could squeeze in. It’s probably unfairly harsh but something about the way some of the scenes were written just didn’t work for me as a reader.
A more literary novel than I typically read, I was still willing to give One Day, Hard and Clear a shot. I didn’t love Anne Baldo’s work though I may be willing to check out the next novel she writes, but it will depend on if it sounds like the characters are ones I’ll want to spend some time with.
*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Rare Machines (Dundurn Press), in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This novel is gorgeous, lyrical, heart-breaking, and profound. Perpetually abandoned by her clueless parents, Sami searches for belonging in relationships, in particular with her intellectually-curious friend, Lucy, her UFO-obsessed boyfriend Bodie, and her upwardly-mobile first love, True. While it's hard to root for Sami's toxic entanglements, Anne Baldo balances wry snark with genuine compassion for the troubled men in Sami's orbit. (Admittedly, I did LOL at her ironic descriptions of Bodie and his unfortunate living situation, like this one: ""Sami," Bodie said, "We have everything right here." The thought disturbed me as a I looked around the apartment. Crushed cans of energy drinks that didn't seem to give Bodie energy and torn-open bags of gummi bears that Bodie forgot he opened so they crystallized").
Like Sami, True is a lost kid searching for home in a seemingly inhospitable town. Unlike Sami, True attempts to "Gatsby" himself out of a cycle of poverty and addiction through his association with relatively affluent characters, some legit, others shifty. In contrast, Sami only succeeds at deceiving herself about the desperate nature of her situation. It's through rich, poetic language that Anne Baldo conveys Sami's slippery state-of-mind. According to Sami, a white dress can either be a ghost or a wedding gown; a closet can be full of moths or it can be brimming with snowfall. It's all a matter of perception. Perhaps Sami finds her true home in poetry.
Anne Baldo's writing style is so distinct that it's hard to find comparison. I love how she blends references to popular culture (Britney Spears, Courtney Love, LFO), old Hollywood (Richard Burton & Liz Taylor), literature, science, and conspiracy. Reading this, I felt like I was browsing a lost archive or an encyclopedia of oddities. I think this book would appeal to fans of Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals. I am also reminded of Eden Robinson, who uses poetry, humour, noir, and raw, but compassionate, realism to explore the lives of wounded people and the systems that hurt them.
Like Sami, True is a lost kid searching for home in a seemingly inhospitable town. Unlike Sami, True attempts to "Gatsby" himself out of a cycle of poverty and addiction through his association with relatively affluent characters, some legit, others shifty. In contrast, Sami only succeeds at deceiving herself about the desperate nature of her situation. It's through rich, poetic language that Anne Baldo conveys Sami's slippery state-of-mind. According to Sami, a white dress can either be a ghost or a wedding gown; a closet can be full of moths or it can be brimming with snowfall. It's all a matter of perception. Perhaps Sami finds her true home in poetry.
Anne Baldo's writing style is so distinct that it's hard to find comparison. I love how she blends references to popular culture (Britney Spears, Courtney Love, LFO), old Hollywood (Richard Burton & Liz Taylor), literature, science, and conspiracy. Reading this, I felt like I was browsing a lost archive or an encyclopedia of oddities. I think this book would appeal to fans of Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals. I am also reminded of Eden Robinson, who uses poetry, humour, noir, and raw, but compassionate, realism to explore the lives of wounded people and the systems that hurt them.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Why do I love reading sad stories so much?
This book was in the end very emotive for me and even though I can't massively relate or see myself in any of those characters, Anne's talent shone through and put my in the room, right next to them as I was reading this story. Visceral, reflective and thought provoking, with a wonderful sprinkle of nostalgia and so many cultural references that made my heart sing.
The story is quite simple, as these stories tend to be but it gives so much food for thought and reflection. Sami in particular and True feel incredibly real and even though they are flawed, you can't help but love them and root for them (although, you know from the beginning this is going to be a SAD SAD story). Generational trauma, poverty, emotional abuse, abandonment, co-dependence, hopelessness, constant struggles and battles to overcome (can you ever escape the generational spiral), toxic relationships, we have it all.
The highlight for me is the portrayal of Sami and True's relationship throughout the years. In a way, growing apart from Lucy wasn't a huge surprise. But we witness the obsession in adolescence morph into an emotional crutch/ support that we desperately cling onto and can't really let go, even as the years evolve, we can't be together but we can't be apart. It's beyond being just a love interest though, isn't it? That hit home, felt very real and I think we all have that one person who is True for us. I didn't feel judgemental towards Sami, she is deeply flawed and very much comes across like a someone who just allows life to happen, rather than actually DO something to help herself.
In a nutshell, for me this book delivers what it sets out to give in spades and if you, like me, like a sad girl tale, this will not disappoint. Thank you to Anne Baldo, Dundurn Press | Rare Machines and NetGalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.
This book was in the end very emotive for me and even though I can't massively relate or see myself in any of those characters, Anne's talent shone through and put my in the room, right next to them as I was reading this story. Visceral, reflective and thought provoking, with a wonderful sprinkle of nostalgia and so many cultural references that made my heart sing.
The story is quite simple, as these stories tend to be but it gives so much food for thought and reflection. Sami in particular and True feel incredibly real and even though they are flawed, you can't help but love them and root for them (although, you know from the beginning this is going to be a SAD SAD story). Generational trauma, poverty, emotional abuse, abandonment, co-dependence, hopelessness, constant struggles and battles to overcome (can you ever escape the generational spiral), toxic relationships, we have it all.
The highlight for me is the portrayal of Sami and True's relationship throughout the years. In a way, growing apart from Lucy wasn't a huge surprise. But we witness the obsession in adolescence morph into an emotional crutch/ support that we desperately cling onto and can't really let go, even as the years evolve, we can't be together but we can't be apart. It's beyond being just a love interest though, isn't it? That hit home, felt very real and I think we all have that one person who is True for us. I didn't feel judgemental towards Sami, she is deeply flawed and very much comes across like a someone who just allows life to happen, rather than actually DO something to help herself.
In a nutshell, for me this book delivers what it sets out to give in spades and if you, like me, like a sad girl tale, this will not disappoint. Thank you to Anne Baldo, Dundurn Press | Rare Machines and NetGalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
To start off, this was a beautiful story that really asks the question: once someone leaves from your life, do they really leave forever?
The friendships and lasting invisible strings between all these characters was so poetic and profound. I absolutely loved Anne Baldo’s writing. She would just whip out a masterpiece of a sentence and i’d have to reread it because of the pure beauty that is her writing.
Buttt, there were a few instances where i was getting just a tad confused with the timeline. Yes, she’d add years as the chapter heads, but sometimes she would go back in time, or Sami would take us back, and so more than once i thought maybe we’d gone into the past again, when it was actually still the present time. Purely because there wasn’t much explanation. I feel like there could’ve been much more context to things and people so i could’ve perhaps cared more. Also, ALL the characters were so unlikable, i’ve been making faces this whole reading experience. But maybe the author intended that? We could never truly know.
And lastly, I thought that this book was marketed more towards Sami and Lucy and their friendship together, with boyfriend drama as a side plot. I could’ve misread the description, so it might just be a me thing. But i was so excited for a hard hitting book about deep, emotional friendship torn apart by time, and it could’ve been my lack of attachment, but i felt like that’s not what was delivered. I was hoping to learn more about Lucy and eventually get her point of view, but instead we got some jerk’s pov that is somehow so intwined into the storyline, yet does nothing for it.
Despite all these very harsh criticisms, i still very much enjoyed this novel and recommend it to people who like to read about characters developing over time! I read it in 2 days, so that has to count for something.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!
The friendships and lasting invisible strings between all these characters was so poetic and profound. I absolutely loved Anne Baldo’s writing. She would just whip out a masterpiece of a sentence and i’d have to reread it because of the pure beauty that is her writing.
Buttt, there were a few instances where i was getting just a tad confused with the timeline. Yes, she’d add years as the chapter heads, but sometimes she would go back in time, or Sami would take us back, and so more than once i thought maybe we’d gone into the past again, when it was actually still the present time. Purely because there wasn’t much explanation. I feel like there could’ve been much more context to things and people so i could’ve perhaps cared more. Also, ALL the characters were so unlikable, i’ve been making faces this whole reading experience. But maybe the author intended that? We could never truly know.
And lastly, I thought that this book was marketed more towards Sami and Lucy and their friendship together, with boyfriend drama as a side plot. I could’ve misread the description, so it might just be a me thing. But i was so excited for a hard hitting book about deep, emotional friendship torn apart by time, and it could’ve been my lack of attachment, but i felt like that’s not what was delivered. I was hoping to learn more about Lucy and eventually get her point of view, but instead we got some jerk’s pov that is somehow so intwined into the storyline, yet does nothing for it.
Despite all these very harsh criticisms, i still very much enjoyed this novel and recommend it to people who like to read about characters developing over time! I read it in 2 days, so that has to count for something.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book was really promising!
I really enjoyed it overall - the reason I've knocked off a star is because I wish certain elements were further fleshed out.
The story predominantly follows Sami, and her best friend Lucy, through various of life's trials and tribulations including Sami's toxic but ever-present relationship.
I think this was a great slice-of-life depiction of the small changes in our lives which end up having the most momentous reprecussions and it showed really well the changing nature of relationships as those changes come into play.
I felt that many of the quotes were resonant and compassionately written for all of us who have experienced grief, joy or nostalgia in unexpected moments.
As above, my obly criticism is that I wish there was more! This book felt like a breeze to get through but in reality part of that was because it was pretty short in length. I wish we explored more of Sami's life (with greater context) at each stage of life we follow her through - especially since there are relatively large time-jumps between the segments.
What I really wanted to see more of was the ending where our characters reconnect. I felt this could have been a very poignant moment but it was underplayed.
Overall though, very enjoyable and worth a read. It's resonant but not emotionally taxing; reflective of the shared experience of growing up.
I really enjoyed it overall - the reason I've knocked off a star is because I wish certain elements were further fleshed out.
The story predominantly follows Sami, and her best friend Lucy, through various of life's trials and tribulations including Sami's toxic but ever-present relationship.
I think this was a great slice-of-life depiction of the small changes in our lives which end up having the most momentous reprecussions and it showed really well the changing nature of relationships as those changes come into play.
I felt that many of the quotes were resonant and compassionately written for all of us who have experienced grief, joy or nostalgia in unexpected moments.
As above, my obly criticism is that I wish there was more! This book felt like a breeze to get through but in reality part of that was because it was pretty short in length. I wish we explored more of Sami's life (with greater context) at each stage of life we follow her through - especially since there are relatively large time-jumps between the segments.
What I really wanted to see more of was the ending where our characters reconnect. I felt this could have been a very poignant moment but it was underplayed.
Overall though, very enjoyable and worth a read. It's resonant but not emotionally taxing; reflective of the shared experience of growing up.
July 27, 2026
One Day, Hard and Clear by Anne Baldo is a story about the relationships we grow up with and into - and how they weave in and out of our lives. Sami is the central character and we get a nostalgic view of her growing up with her best friend Lucy. Some fantastic early 2000's nostalgia along the way too. Also in Sami's orbit is her first love, True. Although True and Sami both enter different long-term relationships, they maintain an emotional connection. Then there is Sami's boyfriend for much of the book, Bodie. Have you ever had a friend in a relationship you knew was toxic and you just wanted to yell at her to RUN!?... ugh, Bodie!
This is a short read and flips between the present and the past quite a bit. Ultimately, one day, it becomes hard and clear to Sami when certain relationships need to end, or when the time may be right for them to begin anew.
I liked this one, but it seems very choppy to me. We bounced all over the place and at times I wish the book went a little deeper. This book landed at a 3.5/5 ⭐ read for my personal reading preferences.
Thank you to Dundurn Press for the #gifted physical copy of this book. All opinions shared are my own and are freely given.
This is a short read and flips between the present and the past quite a bit. Ultimately, one day, it becomes hard and clear to Sami when certain relationships need to end, or when the time may be right for them to begin anew.
I liked this one, but it seems very choppy to me. We bounced all over the place and at times I wish the book went a little deeper. This book landed at a 3.5/5 ⭐ read for my personal reading preferences.
Thank you to Dundurn Press for the #gifted physical copy of this book. All opinions shared are my own and are freely given.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
One Day, Hard and Clear predominately follows Sami and some of her close friends as they navigate young adulthood in a gritty, hard telling of their lives. Sami’s “slice of life” telling has her ending up with a deadbeat boyfriend, then pregnant with many of his children, and constantly struggling to figure out how to love herself and how that translates into being loved by others.
I know there is some motive to like True and Sami together but True is so grossly bad for her that every time he came around, I was frustrated for her.
I do love a gritty tale, where you keep hoping for the MC to pull themselves out of their own world but part of the realism is that Sami truly can’t. she is doing the best she can with her limited means, education, and support and that’s just the way her life is going to be.
This short read was hard to put down and I wouldn’t have minded it being just a little bit longer.
One Day, Hard and Clear is due to be published June 30, 2026 and I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my review.
I know there is some motive to like True and Sami together but True is so grossly bad for her that every time he came around, I was frustrated for her.
I do love a gritty tale, where you keep hoping for the MC to pull themselves out of their own world but part of the realism is that Sami truly can’t. she is doing the best she can with her limited means, education, and support and that’s just the way her life is going to be.
This short read was hard to put down and I wouldn’t have minded it being just a little bit longer.
One Day, Hard and Clear is due to be published June 30, 2026 and I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
One Day Hard and Clear is a story set at the beginning of the 21st century filled with fun early 2000s nostalgia. The story follows Sami and her friend Lucy as they approach adulthood and begin to slowly but drastically drift apart as their lives take different shapes. The live they once’s dreamed of together doesn’t work out and they both go down two separate paths with very different outcomes. It was an interesting read. I did find it hard to follow sometimes. However the character of Sami was fun to read about as she is quite complexed and flawed which makes her feel more real. Overall I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to people to enjoyed books such as Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.
This one was just okay for me. I could see where Sami’s story was going pretty early on, especially when it came to her relationship with True, and unfortunately it didn’t feel like there was enough development to really make it hit the way I wanted it to.
I did appreciate the friendship between Sami and Lucy—it had some strong moments and felt realistic in that intense, growing-apart kind of way—but overall the story felt a bit flat for me. I kept waiting for something to fully pull me in emotionally, and it just never quite got there.
That said, I can see the potential in the writing, and I’d definitely be open to trying another book from this author in the future.
Review of advance copy
This book perfectly captures the heartbreak of growing up: the kind that is not about any particular breakup or parting of ways, but just the bittersweet resignation of realizing that you can never have everything you want and thought you might get one day. Baldo writes characters glittery with the beauty of their hopes and dreams and grimy with the detritus of daily life. These characters reckon with socioeconomic class, with obscure interests not always understood by those closest to them, with the imperfect ways people love and the twin difficulty of knowing how to let themselves be loved. And as always in Baldo's work, these pages are adorned with poetic sentences, peppered with cryptids, and rooted in Windsor-Essex lore.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This was such an addicting book. I found a lot of nostalgia that reminded me of my life as a teenager in the early 2000s and then as a young adult. I loved how this book takes us through the future years as Sami and Lucy grow up and grow apart. All of the things Sami deals with are so relatable. Friendships, relationships, motherhood, and more. This is such a perfect book for millennial women. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Set in the 2000s, this novel was a nostalgic exploration of girlhood. Coming of age where a guy comes between two girls' friendship. The characters were relatable, and the prose was engaging. I think a lot of millennial readers will connect with this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC!
Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC!
August 29, 2026
Although I wouldn’t say this is actually in the category of other four star books I’ve read, there was something very real and appealing about this novel. It’s a story about friendship and life and everything that gets in the way. I would imagine that it’s easy for readers to relate to at least one of the characters and the childhood references made me nostalgic for simpler times.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Elegant, restrained writing, and a powerful story about the thrall of bad boys.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
One Day Hard and Clear made me nostalgic for my best friends in high school while at the same time reaffirming that getting out of my small town was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Did Not Finish
June 27, 2026Never had me hooked, hard to follow and very boring... Might be the perfect book for someone but it didn't grab me at all.
August 2, 2026
This was very Miriam Toews vibes. I didn't know what was going to happen to Sami, but I was locked in.
Love and goodbyes are never easy.
The nostalgia of the early 2000s were *chef's kiss*
Love and goodbyes are never easy.
The nostalgia of the early 2000s were *chef's kiss*
Did Not Finish
August 13, 2026I had to stop at 30%. The narrator was awful.
August 24, 2026
Beautifully written story about first love, friendship, and the complexity of the heart.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really wanted to enjoy this eARC of One Day, Hard and Clear by Anne Baldo from NetGalley and Dundurn Press, but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.
Every page felt heavy and emotionally draining. The character development is extensive, but the story moves very slowly. Lucy and Sami’s relationship — and the complications with their significant others — just didn’t connect with me the way I hoped.
I did enjoy the prose at times, but it often felt buried beneath constant arguing, fault-finding, and emotional struggles. Life already feels serious enough, and this just wasn’t the kind of emotional weight I wanted while trying to escape into fiction.
I almost DNFd at 70% but thought an ending would wrap it up for me, alas, it did not. Afraid this one just didn’t work for me.
Life is too serious — go enjoy some fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Every page felt heavy and emotionally draining. The character development is extensive, but the story moves very slowly. Lucy and Sami’s relationship — and the complications with their significant others — just didn’t connect with me the way I hoped.
I did enjoy the prose at times, but it often felt buried beneath constant arguing, fault-finding, and emotional struggles. Life already feels serious enough, and this just wasn’t the kind of emotional weight I wanted while trying to escape into fiction.
I almost DNFd at 70% but thought an ending would wrap it up for me, alas, it did not. Afraid this one just didn’t work for me.
Life is too serious — go enjoy some fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
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