Books Read: While I Was Sleeping by Dani Atkins

What if someone else was living your happy ever after? 

When Maddie wakes up in a hospital bed, she can't remember anything about what happened to her or what has changed.

She just remembers she was about to be married and had everything to look forward to.

But it seems life has become a lot more complicated while she has been asleep ...

Amazon Affiliate Links: Kindle or Paperback

I'd like to thank Simon and Schuster for the proof copy of While I Was Sleeping which I received in a goody bag at their Spring Blogger event earlier this year.

You know you have read a fantastic book when you feel emotionally drained when you close the final page and that's exactly how I felt after reading the epilogue of Dani Atkins' latest book While I Was Sleeping.  This truly was a heartbreaker of a story that puts you through the emotional wringer as you follow Maddie's remarkable journey.

Maddie has everything to live for, she's just days away from marrying the man of her dreams Ryan when the unimaginable happens.  The next thing she can remember is waking up in hospital but she has no idea how long she has been asleep.  For her loved ones it's been a living nightmare waiting for her to wake up whilst they have to continue their everyday lives without her physically being present with them but knowing that she's still around.

It's hard to review this book without giving away spoilers but it is fair to say that it's a story that will pull at the heartstrings of anyone who reads it.  It's a story that will take you on an emotional journey with the characters, and I'm sure like me will have you asking questions as to what would you do in this unimaginable situation.  How long would you wait for the love of your life to wake up before you move on with your life?  What do you tell someone who is too young or frail to understand what has happened?  And how would you cope when your loved one finally does awake after what seems a lifetime when everything they knew has changed so much?

I really felt for each and every one of the central characters and the predicament they found themselves in, even if I sometimes didn't agree with every decision that was made, but they were in a truly unique situation so had to come to terms with it and adapt to a new completely different future to the one they had been expecting.  To the future that Maddie and Ryan had been planning before the accident, and the one that Ryan had been living in the period after the accident.  Even when something was playing out that I didn't like or agree with I tried to put myself in that persons position to see their point of view and could see that they really were in an impossible situation and it's hard to understand how you would feel or act unless you were in that situation yourself.

There were so many memorable moments in this story that will make you smile, laugh or cry, sometimes all of these feelings at the same time.  I wasn't going to mention any specific scenes as don't want to give anything away for future readers but all I will say is I might have given a little squeal and thumbs up at the school sports day scene even if I did also shed a tear!

As everything was unfolding I couldn't even begin to imagine how it was all going to play out as Maddie, Ryan, and everyone else in their lives, adjusted to their new futures.  Would they all get their happy ever after they deserve?  Everything was so unpredictable that I literally had no idea where the story was going to take me next but it's to the testament of Dani Atkins skill as a storyteller that she completely floored me with that ending.  Even now when I have finished reading and am writing this review, I am still thinking about Maddie and Ryan and everything that played out between the pages of While I Was Sleeping.  I don't normally like giving ratings for reviews but this truly is one that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend and give it the highest rating possible as it was a beautifully written story from start to finish.