I felt empathy for Lydia wanting to become more adventurous, attempting the difficult challenges encouraged by Jake who believes that Lydia is Lily Bennett. But Jake also has secrets of his own. This book was cute, I love my little hags. It was a lot of fun to see Lydia grow as a person and become her best self. I loved her relationship with daughter and the rest of her family. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the Arc! I really enjoyed this book! I was drawn to it based off the description and I’m happy to have taken a chance on it! Lydia really grew as a character and I loved her development. The amount of times I laughed at the different ways Jake “broke” his arm, hilarious. Every single one of them. Phenomenal. Now, I won't tell you the whys and the wherefores, but that list is in Lydia's hands, and from afar, her daughter engineers a way for her to complete this strangers list, to feel more adventurous

Its lead is Lydia Grey, who at 39 has returned to live with her moms and dads adhering to the malfunction of her twenty-year marital relationship to Adam. Lydia absolutely feels washed up and is just experiencing the movements. Furthermore her little girl, Ollie, has actually just started a six-month overseas trip as well as Lydia is missing her.

Featured Reviews

If you’re looking for a book that will inspire adventure and to get you out of your comfort zone while still getting that Rom Com feel, this is the book for you. Such a lovely, uplifting story with relateable and likable characters that I know I am going to miss. Get In Jake Jones, a table tennis pro that has actually recently retired after damaging his wrist. At their first conference Jake thinks that given the name on the listing that she is Lily Bennett. Lydia figures it will be ok “since Jake was just going to be her experience close friend. Did it really matter so much if he never understood her actual name?” This was such a cute and charming read! I loved watching Lydia’s growth throughout this book and was rooting for her! Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I look forward to reading more from Katherine Dyson! Definitely add this to your tbr list! Katherine lives on the outskirts of Barnsley with her husband, two children and two belligerent cats. When she's not writing you'll find her merrily eating cake, swearing at her sewing machine or taking eight million photos of a really good sky out of her bathroom window.

Jake assumes Lydia is Lily and she doesn't put him right, which later causes a bit of trepidation and wonder about what she is going to do when it comes to it, as they embark on the adventures together. Overall it wasn’t a bad read, I’m not sure if Jake should have forgiven Lydia for basically lying to him for months. The man didn’t even know her real name and she had sex with him. How is that ok? Very odd. The man smelt nice enough, fresh and masculine, and he kissed with a vigour which she was sure came from a place of passion, but something about the rhythm of his movement and the firm grip of his hand on her shoulder left her cold. His name was Matt, or maybe it was Mark – she wasn’t sure. He’d introduced himself, of course, but Lydia had been so distracted that she’d only half heard him. I will say that by no means am I the perfect person with incredibly high morals (I mean who is?? 👀) but, the fact that Lydia or should I say Lily, let the lie about her name go on for so long, frankly had me feeling annoyed and left a sour taste in my mouth. I get that the whole moral of the story is that she found who she was, and that she didnt need to use a fake name to achieve that, but this whole plot point could have been left out entirely in my opinion. I also refuse to believe an almost 40 year old woman could be that clueless and naive about her marriage. But also, Adam was a real piece of work, which I'm truly glad she figured out in the end.

Customer reviews

Although this is a holiday romance book in style and therefore comes complete with a predictable ending, it did not disappoint, it was funny and thoroughly enjoyable! Reasoning for a lower ranking? Even though Lydia's story is relatable, I do not know why she felt like she needed an alias "Lily" to give herself permission to start over/find herself. The book also got predictable in some parts. I did love the ending and felt it was suiting. Phenomenal . . . I couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait to read more from this awesome author’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Lydia Grey is 39 when she’s discarded by her partner of twenty years for an Italian supermodel and ultramarathoner. He tells Lydia that she’s uninteresting which their marriage has become stale. How can she contend? This is such a lovely tale, with characters I adored, especially Lydia's quirky Polish family and their eccentric circle of friends. I read all night, so caught up in the growing relationship between Lydia and Jake, never wanting to leave their charming world. A must-read for lovers of second chances and readers who cheer when female characters come into their own.