For Once in My Life by Colleen Coleman is a feel good book that will make you smile and fight for your dreams once again.

Lily has been left at the altar and she has been too scared to open her heart again.
She has devoted all her attention to her job which has been a salvation. Unfortunately, even work has been steady going downhill for a long time.
To save her job she needs to start writing her own column. The only down side is that every week she needs to do something that scares her and live to write about it.

Easy to read book, with funny yet bitter sweet moments about love, life and relationships. It shows that we all need to face what scares us to be free to life our life to the fullest.
With a dash of humor it is a perfect blend of romance and life story.
Even though it was a bit slow to start with it picked up a pace later on.
All in all I found it to be quite a nice read.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Lily Buckley has spent the last three years getting over a tragic and humiliating experience. She was left at the altar and has rebuilt her life. She has been at her job at the Newbridge Gazette for seven years. Things gets shaky for Lily yet again. The newspaper is floundering. As a matter fact, it may just close down. But another chance presents itself. Lily suddenly becomes acting editor in chief of the regional newspaper.

Things are certainly not cut and dried from this point on. Not at all. The powers that be have hired a team of people that includes Christopher, and he is a transformational consultant. The newspaper has a single shot of sinking or swimming. Ultimately it must be determined whether or not Lily and Christopher can work together to save the newspaper. For Lily’s sake it is to keep her job and career going in the direction that she has been focused on. For Christopher, this is a steppingstone to his future aspirations.

Quite naturally, the entire scope of Lily’s job has changed. Christopher and the team decide on a unique approach to reviving the newspaper. Lily’s weekly column will now become a four page spread with a bucket list in which tasks are completed weekly. They are extremely hopeful that this will increase readership.

Lily may be focused on the importance of saving her career, but her eyes are now open to new possibilities, and this was truly a delight. Lily experiences quite a lot while working on her bucket list. This required her to do things that she would never have tried before. While there is humor in the story, even at laugh out loud places, the story is rich with sensitivity and growth. We see the characters develop in certain ways and that makes the story very captivating.

As readers are drawn into the romance that blossoms between Lily and Christopher, it is also a very touching to see how Lily’s relationship with her mother changes. I was very interested in things as they were working out. If I may interject, I must say I was impressed by the fact that one of Lily’s favorite activities was to curl up with a good book..

I rather enjoyed how this book is marketed. It is first a woman’s fiction, then a romance. I think this is important to mention because we get to see Lily grow as a character. Yes, lovers of romance want a happy ending. But Lily’s life was once turned upside down and getting the opportunity to see her achieve personal growth was very rewarding to me as a reader. The cherry on top was the romance that was indeed part of the story.

This is the first book that I’ve had the opportunity to read by Colleen Coleman and I can definitely say that she is an author that I will follow in the future.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for an honest opinion.

Though I LOVE dark, creepy, scary, page-turning thrillers, I do like to take a break with something light and funny like For Once in My Life by Colleen Coleman. Its nice to read a book which offers up pure fun and joy.

Here’s the synopsis:

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 two-foot-long courgettes at the summer 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 the 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?

Lily is a great character, both funny and relatable, reminding me a little of a character in a Sophie Kinsella book. I’m sure many of us are stuck in our day to day routines, not venturing outside the lines and really enjoying what life has to offer. Lily is able to push herself to make positive changes and as a result, change her life. Fun!

I needed this book. I love reading books where the main story is about the MC rising up and making changes and this is what Lily does here! Ok, so she’s a little of a control freak at the beginning, planning her wedding to the T. When it all falls apart and all she has is her job and cottage and her books and three years on she believes she is ok. Then there are problems at work and here Lily puts her big girl pants on steps up and shines so bright.

To save the Gazette she has to do a bucket list, the Buckley Bucket List, put herself out of that comfort zone! I loved this bucket list as some of the things are on my list and Shankely Hall, Yes and please!!

This is my first outing with this author, and looking back she likes to name her novels with some titles and so much so I was singing in my head ‘For Once In My Life’ for the majority of it! I warmed instantly to Lily, her fears and her dreams and loved being able to sit in the front row and watch her learn and grow and achieve her dreams.

I found so much inspiration with this book, to go after your dreams and what you believe in, and I adore books like this they spur you and want you to go out and achieve things! And this takes the lead over the romance subplot of the novel which was just as cute and I love how Lily and Christopher spurred each other on. I have to shout out to Mary from the book, the detective and I loved her scenes with her trusty post-it notes.

If you want to read something the feel-good factor, that will make you chuckle, then look no further. It is easy to lose yourself in this book and smile throughout.

Love, Love, Love this book.....

I must admit it isn't very often that I read Rom Com but very now and then it's nice to swap genre and you cant go wrong with Colleen's books. I am a massive fan of Colleen's writing she never fails to disappoint and always has me laughing out loud. So I always look forward to reading her books For Once In My Life is without a doubt Colleens best book yet. I absolutely adored it and devoured it in one sitting.

This is exactly the book I needed after the month I've had ( I wont bore you with the details) This story is certainly uplifting and light heated not forgetting it is so bloody funny. It will make you laugh until your belly hurts.

Three years ago Lily was left at the alter, then her life turns round when she meets sexy work colleague Christoper OMG hottie or what! Without giving to much away with the plot, I always say you only live once and you need to cease the moment and take the opportunity to do things that you have never done. Well this story is exactly what I keep talking about.....it is beyond awesome I freaking loved it.

The author brings us real life characters that bounce off the pages that you can relate to and I for one fall in love with. Lily is simply epic I would love to go on a night out with her she is full of fun.

This is a must read which I highly recommend giving it all the stars.

Move over Beyonce, there’s a new sassy lady in town!!

Lily has never felt….good enough. She’s never felt….worthy. She has never felt like she belongs. Ever since she had her heart smashed into a pulp, Lily decided to take the number 20 bus to ‘I’ll never fall in love again’. Some of you might be familiar with it. Hell, some of you might even be familiar with Lily’s feelings. Haven’t we all felt like that at one point in our lives? I certainly have! I’ve never felt good enough for anyone, I’ve never felt worthy, and recently thanks to my character being tarnished, I feel like I cannot be myself. Just like Lily. I’ll be honest – I didn’t want to relate to her. I didn’t want to find myself nodding along when she expressed her thoughts and feelings, purely because of the negativity that is shown towards people who don’t feel good enough. I’m sure you’ll understand if you have been in that position.

Anyway, sorry, I’m veering off a little. With no wedding to plan, no honeymoon to embark on, and no pitter patter of tiny feet coming her way, Lily threw herself into her job only to watch her safety net fall down around her. Well, do you honestly think that she would have let that happen?

For once in HER life, Lily embarks on tasks which scare the bejeezus out of her so that she can then write about it for her colomn. A work type bucket list if you will. Bonkers? Perhaps. Thought provoking? Definitely! I know and you know that Lily could have easily turned round and told her colleagues where to go, but she didn’t. She took their ideas, grabbed them by their youknowwhats and gave it her all despite being scared shizzleless. It was as though Lily was sticking two fingers up to the person who wronged her several years ago, by showing them that she didn’t need them in her life to actually live it. It’s one thing to sit there and think about doing adrenanlin inducing things, but it’s a completely different ball game to go and actually do them and to allow yourself to be proud of your own accomplishments.

At the start of the book, Lily was a very guarded and unsure type of character. A person who wanted her loved ones to be happy before she even made herself happy. A person who, deep down, knew she was worth more than she gave herself credit for, but had absolutely no idea how to believe it herself. But, by the time I reached the end of the story, I had watched Lily grow and flourish before my very own eyes and yes, I actually felt quite emotional watching that happen because I had had faith in her from the beginning.

Colleen Coleman doesn’t just write novels which make me snort attractively like a pig wearing a bow, nor does she just write books which are laced with copious amounts of sassy wit. No. She writes novels from the heart, speaking to her readers through relatable situations with relatable characters, and boy does she do it brilliantly.

‘For Once in My Life’ is a brilliant, life-affirming novel which is guaranteed to give you a kick up the toosh when it comes to having faith in yourself and what you deserve. I thought the whole concept with Christopher was very, very clever, and I loved how it all came together so naturally as though it was meant to happen all along.

I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again; move over Beyonce!! Lily is about to steal your sassy crown! Wow – the sass alone is enough to re-ignite fire in bellies, that’s for sure!

Colleen Coleman never disappoints – in actual fact she gets better and better with every new release!

I loooooooooved it and everything it stood for. Poignant, hilarious, sassy, thoughtful, heart-warming – an all round belter of a book! Amazing!

The editor JJ Oakes told her the first day all Lily needed was a genuine interest in people, the courage to follow her instincts, and a knack at getting to the point. Lily had worked at the Newbridge Gazette and it now was her seven year anniversary. Her job was awesome and the whole news crew felt it also. They were a team, a family, in it together, doing what they loved. This was where Lily found her calling, where her first article had been published, where she had met her first group of real friends. It was where Lily’s life really began. That was a lie as lately things weren’t awesome. They had been weird right after JJ Oakes had retired and Gareth took over as editor- in- chief. All Lily’s old friends and colleagues have left already. Gareth ran the newspaper into the ground and would ;listen to no one's ideas but his own. The paper had already lost it’s best staff and a lot of its subscribers. But Lily didn’t want to go anywhere else. Everything Lily wanted was there: great job, great community, great town. Lily went to check on an article on a ninety eight year old man who had won the lottery and nearly died the next day. Oreo had been the Dalmatian Adam had taken with him when he had left- her ex fiance who literally left her at the altar to be with her ex best friend Hannah. She missed Oreo more than Adam most days. Lily’s mother lived in another state and was not maternal. Lily had been ten with her mother left her with her grandmother to pursue a singing career. Lily’s mother had been successful and now lived in the states. Then Gareth herd the higher ups were coming and he up and quit and everyone was happier for it. Lily decided to step in as editor-in-chief and talked everyone into staying there. They said Lily can have her own column she was to do things once a week that she was scared to do for four weeks to see if she could get subscribers back. From skydiving to an assault course and a couple things in between. The higher ups sent a consultant- Christopher- to watch over things and make it a good newspaper again. Christopher helps Lily get through the the things she needs to do to write her column. Lily and Christopher start to get close but can Lily let down the walls around her heart that she had built after Adam had shattered her heart. Would she take the chance…?
I couldn’t really get into this book. . This dragged for me. I don’t think Lily should still miss Adam in any way after three years - Oreo yes- Adam no he took off for her best friend and literally left her at the altar. I can understand her be afraid to try again but missing him no way. This book just wasn’t for me.

Whenever I want to read a book that will make me laugh, feel inspired and leave me in a total feel good mood, I know I can count on Colleen Coleman. There’s always something empowering about her books, she writes about relatable women who go on these fun journeys of self discovery and never fail to lift me up.
This begins on Lily’s wedding day when she is left at the altar in an utterly humiliating fashion. Fast forward three years and while Lily believes she’s happy and satisfied with her life, she really isn’t. She’s stuck in a rut, her life is like Groundhog Day and I think we can all relate to that on some level. When she gets assigned to write a series of articles about her going on bucket list adventures she sets off on an unexpected path that may just lead to a life change and some much needed romance.
The developing relationship between Lily and Christopher was adorable and sweet and most importantly, realistic. It wasn’t love at first sight perfection but instead was genuine and believable. Per usual, this had great messages about taking risks and not being afraid to just live your life. While the romance was important to the story, it was more of a subplot with the main focus on Lily herself and how she grew as a person. Recommended for anyone wanting a happy read that makes you want to get out in the world and just enjoy life.
For Once In My Life in three words: Delightful, Inspiring and Positive.

Lily Buckley was dumped at the altar three years ago, and now works for a local newspaper. When her boss suddenly leaves, Lily is given the job of Editor in Chief and alongside handsome colleague and consultant, Christopher is tasked with the job of increasing reader numbers and saving the little local paper. Coming up with a ‘bucket list’ column, Lily is forced to confront some of her worse fears in front of her friends, colleagues and the whole town.....all in the name of keeping the newspaper afloat!

I was excited to read this one as I have read other books by this author which I really enjoyed. The idea of the story being based around a local newspaper, I thought, was really original and I can’t remember reading another book like this for a long time. Lily is the perfect main character. She seems like the kind of person that you would just love to know, and whilst she’s had a bad few years following being dumped at the altar, she’s such a positive character and obviously has made her more determined to get the best out of life. I also loved the relationship she had with her colleagues following her becoming Editor in Chief and she certainly knew how to make them feel valued!

The bucket list has been done before in books that I’ve read, but everyone puts their own spin onto it. This author had it spot on for this book! The items on the list were suitably challenging for Lily and whilst they were funny to read about, it also made me have more admiration for the character in her determination to overcome her fears. It certainly made me think more about myself and maybe I should have a bucket list (although my list would be very different to Lily’s!)

Christopher is the possible love interest in this story, and I have to admit he does sound rather lovely! I won’t tell you if they get it together or not, but I will say that the two characters worked really well together and seemed like the perfect combination – but as we know in books like these, the path of true love never runs smoothly!

This is a lovely easy, fun to read story of friends and family, love and friendship, learning to push yourself and overcoming your fears and finally forgiving and forgetting. It sounds like an awful lot of things in one book, but it was just the right amount and it all fitted together so nicely! Filled with plenty of laugh out loud moments, it had me reading it with a smile on my face and is certainly the perfect read for any chick lit fans! Would definitely recommend!

What an engaging story! I laughed out loud on many occasions. A real treasure of this genre. Couldn’t put it down! You need to read this.

For Once In My Life is the story of Lily, a women who lives in charming small-town and works at her villages’ local paper. With the advancement of technology, the paper is going under and it is the last in a string of disappointments for Lily after being left at the alter by her no-good fiancée and her cheating best friend. When Christopher, the corporate liaison responsible for fresh new ideas, develops a plan to have Lily complete bucket list items for an innovative new column, her boring life takes a turn for the adventurous.

A good romance novel can’t succeed without a great book boyfriend, and Christopher succeeds! I loved that Christopher is kind, funny, and supportive; there was no alpha male drama involved in this romance and that was such a breath of fresh air. I wish he would have been introduced earlier in the story, as I found the backstory for Lily a little long. I loved seeing the adventurous side of Lily emerge gradually and I found her humor and drive to be delightful. I was hoping for a more conclusive ending; what happened to their jobs? How did they make it work? Overall, however, it was the clean and sweet romance I love, and I look forward to more from Colleen Coleman.

A cute book with likable characters. Really enjoyed it!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author. All opinions are my own.

At the start of the book Lily is getting ready for her wedding day only things don’t go to plan and just as she reaches the alter she finds out that her fiancé Adam has been having an affair with her best friend Hannah. Finding this out knocked her confidence and her belief that she could be happy so she buried herself in her career as a reporter for the local paper. When she is thrust into the role of Editor in Chief she finds herself working hard to save the paper and keep her career and life on track.
I liked Lily, despite what life had thrown at her (including a high maintenance absent mother) she has a determination to see things through and make them succeed. She had a knack of making all of the staff at the paper feel valued and gave them the belief they could do anything. Her complete and utter melt down as she prepared for the first of her bucket list challenges devised to save the paper had me chuckling as to be honest I could understand where she was coming from…. You will have to read for yourself exactly what that challenge and the other 3 actually are but I loved the idea of 2 and 3 and could totally see myself doing them. Rather than brushing over them Colleen Coleman took you along for the ride so you got to see both the good and the bad in each challenge and I think that’s why I could see myself giving them a go and I have come to the conclusion that everyone should have a bucket list of things that will challenge them.
As she finally understands her relationship with her mother she is able to truly let go of the past and take that final risk that could cost her something far worse that her job but alternatively might give her something far better. Sometimes there are things in life worth taking the risk for, it’s just a case of are you brave enough to take that risk.
This is definitely a light and fun read and one well worth curling up on the sofa and ignoring everything else. Not having read any books by this author before but only having heard good things I was not disappointed and will certainly keep an eye out for future reads.

What a cute book, a really easy read with likeable characters you can really care about.

In order to try and raise reader numbers and save a failing local newspaper, the idea is struck that Lily writes a feature every week based on a bucket list, which in reality turns into a challenge list.

It is whilst completing these challenges that Lily fights some of her fears and learns a little about love, growing up and moving on with her life.

My only criticism of this book is we really didn’t learn enough about Christopher and The attraction just seemed to grow very quickly, the story could have benefited from a bit more character development and background.

Thank you to the author, Bookouture and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sometimes you don't know how covers connect with contents with this one is a perfect choice. You can see that the main character Lily is on a long and very winding road. The question is : will she finds what she is hoping and looking for? The answer can be found in the book, of course, but I am not going to reveal it. You will have to find out for yourself.

This story is about thinking you had it all and being very disappointed. It's about losing the ability to trust people and hiding yourself, about learning to live again and and letting go of the fear of getting hurt.

The book made me laugh out loud and made my heart melt. Love, laughter, sadness, disappointment are some of the emotions the story is build on. The author has a way of making you listen to what she has to say. I enjoyed it very much.

Thank you, Colleen Coleman, Bookouture and Netgalley.

Lily is trying to save her journalism job and spice up her life by doing something that frightens her and writing is about it each week. She's had a tough go- she was jilted (but really should be over it by now), her boss left, and now she's working with Christopher the consultant to turn her newspaper around. She's also got positives, which she doesn't always recognize. There's some adventure and of course romance. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I've read this plot before with more appealing characters.

This was a really easy fun read. It was fast-paced, and I can’t believe how quickly I read it!
The storyline was very unrealistic, though, that a newspaper could be saved in such a genial manner, seemed a bit preposterous. However, the way the book was written made you just ‘go with it’. You get swept away with all the silliness and the unbelievable situations. The characters are likeable, and you want them to succeed.
It had some laugh out loud moments and some cringe behind your sofa moments too, it was the perfect chick-lit book that I needed at the moment. It also made me rethink my bucket list as some of the things on there are what Lily’s boss would certainly class as ‘boring’ and un-newsworthy!

For Once in My Life by Colleen Coleman a five-star read that will make you get your bucket list written. I will be honest and was thinking that this was a four-star read for a lot of the story, but then the end blew me away, it went from being a great read to a fantastic read and one of my favourites by this author. Lily Buckley is someone I would happily read a four-page spread about every week, she was a great honest character, she was someone who faced life and ran away from it like most of us do, but that wasn’t all she did. There were some great secondary characters in the staff of the Newbridge Gazette. This is definitely one of those reads you need if your life.

I very nearly gave this book a three but in the end It deserved more. I enjoyed it , not on a deep level or a side splitting level. Just as a nice story that kept me entertained for a few hours . a light hearted story with likeable people in it..

The synopsis of this story is slightly misleading and it's done in first person, which can be very tricky to handle. I feel like the author made a good attempt, but I never really connected with Lily. I appreciate that she picked herself up from a horrible thing that happened to her and moved on, but her constant super-happy-peppy-optimism seemed forced. Her mother was a complete trainwreck and didn't really seem to have a point to the story; it was like an afterthought explanation of Lily's life and/or personality, but never really fit to me. She was basically a toddler in an adult's body, which is never entertaining and the reconciliation at the end felt so fake after earlier behaviors and explanations. As for the love interest, I never really connected with Christopher either, but I think that's the downfall of first person narrative. The overall feel of the book felt outdated! In 2018, I can't imagine there being ANY print newspapers that haven't jumped online and with social media. The idea of a consultant coming in so late to the game to save a print newspaper is just silly. Despite all this, the bucket list items (except #4, geez, that is so formulaic) and articles were fun to read and the gang at the newspaper was entertaining.

I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.