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12 Hours To Say I Love You

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'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ An absolute joy to read. A book for anyone who is in love, has loved or been loved '

'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Oh my gosh ... It was so romantic and funny and real and relatable. I loved every page. That ending is amazing . Highly recommend'

'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is such a beautiful love story . Such a great cast of characters . Thoroughly entertaining'

_________________________

Can the love of a lifetime be saved in one night?

Pippa Gallagher is rushed in to hospital following a traffic accident. As she lies unconscious, pictures of the past flash through her mind. The day she met Steve Gallagher, the man who would become the love of her life. The heartbreak she felt tonight as she got into her car, her eyes blurry from tears.

Meanwhile Steve sits at her bedside, his eyes fixed on her face. He has no idea where his wife was going when she crashed. No clue as to why she became distracted behind the wheel. All he knows is that she is his world. And that he wasn't there when she needed him most.

For the next twelve hours, Steve tells Pippa all the reasons he loves her. And Pippa tries to find her way back to him...

_________________________

'Witty, tender and compulsively readable' DIANA GABALDON, bestselling author of Outlander

'Such a brilliant, poignant and wonderfully romantic story' ISABELLE BROOM

'This novel will make you swoon ' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, STELLA

'Wonderfully romantic' KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

'Heartbreaking yet life-affirming' HEAT magazine

' Smart, moving and fun ... A cleverly conceptual love story' METRO

'A tender, poignant, unexpectedly funny and beautifully life-affirming tale about the highs and lows of life and love' CULTUREFLY

' Relatable. Funny. Gloriou s' DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE

' Hilarious and heartbreaking ' SARA PASCOE

' Beautifully tende r' TOM ALLEN

' Captivating . I loved it' REBECCA HALL

'This drowns in love. Beautifu l' SIOBHÁN MCSWEENEY

Real readers adore this beautiful

'Moving, poignant and so very real . Explores the b eautiful, messy chaos that is falling in and staying in love'

' Oh my gosh, I can't even with this book . It was stunningly beautiful and emotive. I laughed, I cried and I felt totally heartbroken. A beautiful story that both made me hopeful and emotionally destroyed at the same time. I loved it. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'

'The connection between them was so real that my heart broke for them with every pag e, and it felt as though we've lived through their relationship alongside them. A truly heartbreakingly stunning story about love and loss, fans of If I Stay will definitely love this story ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'

400 pages, Paperback

Published January 10, 2023

10 people are currently reading
112 people want to read

About the author

Olivia Poulet

20 books5 followers

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Naaytaashreads.
1,030 reviews187 followers
November 30, 2022
Disclaimer: I receive a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Thank you, @definitelyboks, for this copy! #pansing

"I know you're still in there. Come back, my darling. Come back to me."

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this read.
I had hoped I was excited about the sypnosis but the writing was quite bland.
How it was written was a good past and present balance of who they both are, their past, personality, dreams, and how their love grew with their struggles.

The issues mentioned in the book were realistic; people may struggle in their relationships, especially in a marriage.
It was relatable for readers and the struggles that affected their relationship.
The past plotline felt mundane and everyday things when telling their story, but it is special to them because it's who they are and their love. While it might seem boring to us, it was an explosion for them.

It felt like in the past chapters, we were just getting fillers; I wish the plot of depression and miscarriage was more explored and looked into. The plotline was running in circles, getting us nowhere until the end and that's it.
While the importance of the read was more focused on the journey of grief of losing someone who is not lost yet.

I love that the ending was not really a happy ending but it was a realistic ending and shows their story has not yet end.

"I know as clear as day that if I see another dawn or breathe another sunrise, it has to be with you by my side. If I get to kiss another pair of lips or wake swaddled in another pair of arms, they have to be yours. Nothing else matters as long as you are by my side, pressed palm to palm forever."
Profile Image for Danielle Goddard.
250 reviews1 follower
February 10, 2025
Really disappointed I didn’t enjoy this. Sounded great and like my cup of tea. Going back in time to tell their story. Normally I love books written this way. However this wasn’t that gripping. Kept thinking the ending would be where it’s at but that was quite disappointing, left too open. Untold stories. :(
Profile Image for Faye.
609 reviews178 followers
September 13, 2022
“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 💌

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Profile Image for Lauren coffeebooksandescape.
251 reviews36 followers
January 27, 2023
𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 • 𝟷𝟸 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚊𝚢 𝙸 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞

~ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
~ @unuitdamour
~ Romance, Women’s Fiction

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸. 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 - 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸. 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯.”

This was one of the best love stories I have ever read. This is that epic love that survives everything thrown at them, it’s a really emotional read that takes you through a rollercoaster of emotionally challenging moments this couple shared together. However, there were also more than their fair share of happy hilarious memories too. Ones that had me laughing out loud!

The thing that makes this book really unique is how it’s told. Main character Pippa has a car accident and she’s in a coma. The doctors tell Steve that the first 12 hours are really important and that be should talk to her, tell her why he loves her, and try and coax her back to the living world. The authors did this incredibly. The chapters were written by both authors and jumped back and forth between present and past, and the past was written from both Pippa’s and Steve’s perspectives. No one author wrote one character, but instead they interchanged, but it didn’t feel clunky at all.

This book covered a lot of really important topics, such as miscarriage, IVF, cancer and even jealousy and mental health, in a really formative way. The thoughts and feelings of the characters throughout weren’t muted, and the things they had to go through weren’t either.

While this is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read, I think it may also be one of the most important stories too. The only thing it was missing was an epilogue, it needed a bigger ending!

I highly recommend if you need a heartwarming and emotional read.
Profile Image for pranasha.
232 reviews1 follower
October 12, 2022
what the fuck was that ending T_T like i get its openness leaves it up to interpretation but i need more concreteness than thatttt

note: it was great though; had that certain type of pull that makes you compelled to keep picking it up//or never put it down in the first place
was lovely to feel that way again, especially with a book less plot driven, where really what you’re longing to return to are characters who’ve endeared themselves so wonderfully to your heart

if literary fiction oft makes me dread growing up, this book has reversed such notions, without overtly romanticising life or anything following.
Profile Image for Svea Furberg.
29 reviews
March 23, 2024
2.5 stars because,
It was a good story don’t get me wrong, but it felt like every other romance book and I kinda cringed every time he called her Darling but Steve was otherwise a really great love interest. And same with Pippa loved her personality but I can’t see her with red hair. And my biggest issue with this book I never really felt like picking it up at it took a moth for me to read. I think I would like this book way more if we got more of the more depressing side of the story because I am not a fluffy romance person. But the ending was very well written topped with a perfect ending.
Profile Image for Megan Taylor.
75 reviews
December 2, 2022
This book has taken me a while to read. I’m part because we got a puppy and reading went out the window, but also because I found the book quite slow moving. However now I have finished it I’m glad I read it. A beautiful story of love.
Profile Image for Lynn.
1,211 reviews208 followers
didn-t-finish
March 19, 2023
DNF. I just don’t care about any of the characters and the plot seems thin.
Profile Image for Emma.
28 reviews
June 6, 2025
Was a sweet story but I wasn't completely obsessed with the ending.
Profile Image for Mia.
361 reviews1 follower
October 7, 2022
Somehow I got a copy of this from Morrisons (the supermarket) before it was offically released, and whilst I am extremely confused I am very grateful becaus this book was beautiful.

The premise of this book is exactly my cup of tea. A couple reflecting on their life together after a terrible tragedy, telling their story through entangled narratives that ultimately weave together to create a wonderful love story. I think you can tell that the authors are married through their writing style; the love their characters have for each other felt so real in a way that made my heart ache. Even though I knew the story was headed to a tragedy I was desperately hoping that everything would end up being okay.

If ever a book was written to be a rom com it was this one. I could picture the sets, the lighting, the actors I would cast with every chapter I read and I really hope it ends up getting adapted. Truly a rom com in a book..
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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