Thursday 8 November 2018

For Once in My Life by Colleen Coleman


For Once in My Life
Colleen Coleman
Rating: 5 stars

Twenty-nine-year-old Lily Buckley planned to be happily married and in her dream job by now. Instead she's been single since being left at the altar three years ago, and works at her local paper, writing about giant vegetables at the village fete and a dog who looks exactly like Chewbacca.

Not quite what she was dreaming of.

So when Lily's given the opportunity to write her own column it's exactly what she's always wanted - except what she has to write about. She has to do one thing every week that scares her.

With encouragement from sexy colleague - and adrenalin-junkie - Christopher, Lily agrees. From sky-diving to haunted houses, Lily is going to be pushed to her limit. But Lily is hiding something - the thing that she fears most of all...

Ever since her heart was broken Lily has been afraid of falling in love again. Will fear hold her back once more - or can Christopher help her to finally find happiness?

An uplifting, feel-good story about friendship, romance, and finding the hero inside yourself. Fans of Marian Keyes, Mhairi McFarlane and Sophie Kinsella will love Colleen Coleman!

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I was really looking forward to starting this novel, I wanted something a bit different to what I usually read and this fit the bill perfectly. The cover is bright and so eye catching. I love the colours used, the stars really stand out, and it kind of shows you that the main character of this story will be going on some sort of journey. It doesn't give too much away but it gives you some sort of indication as to what the story is all about.

I didn't read Colleen's other novel, and after finishing this one I have no idea why! I really need to start broadening what I read because as many of you know, you should never judge a book by it's cover! This book follows main character Lily who works at her local newspaper, Lily had always loved her job - until Gareth took over and took all the fun out of it that is. But when Gareth suddenly leaves, Lily is able to finally get her chance to shine and when head office puts forward that she starts her own weekly column, she jumps at the chance.

The only catch is that she needs to do something weekly that scares her. From skydiving, to completing a crazy assault course. However, Lily is determined not to be beaten on this one and goes along with it. Although she wouldn't have gotten through it without friendly consultant Christopher, that has been hired to keep an eye on the paper and help turn it around. Along the way, Lily and Christopher grow close. But with Lily hiding away from her feelings, the big question is whether she can finally put the past behind her and put love first.

I have to say, it was a little slow to begin with. There was a lot of Lily basically talking at us, describing this and that and it was a lot of description. However, having said that, when Lily starts this bucket list, that's when things get interesting and I started to really enjoy it. So if you're feeling the same, don't give up! It gets so good to the point where you can't put it down - so keep going! Just like Lily. I found myself really relating to Lily because I feel that in some way we have quite a bit in common. I am the same, I love wrapping up and being all cosy and settling down to read a good book. But as Lily says in this novel, it's all about doing what you love isn't it? Sometimes we all must get to a point where we question whether what we do in our life is making us truly happy, and what we can do to change that if it's not. I just feel that this book was really relatable and I think it will relate to a lot of different and various readers too.

Overall, a really interesting and refreshing read. It was lighthearted and so enjoyable to read but there's a deep meaning of grabbing life by the hands and the feeling of belonging which really pushed this book into becoming one of my favourites of the year. A lot of what Lily said really resonated with me and made me really think! I will certainly be keeping an eye out for more novels from Colleen Coleman in the future that's for sure! And I am now the proud owner of 3 of her other novels. Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this novel, which I have reviewed honestly.

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