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! Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this novel, which I have reviewed honestly.

This was cute and fun. The premise was a good one. I liked the adventures and the character growth throughout. There were many touching moments. I was happy with the way things wrapped up. This provided a nice break from all the murder mysteries. It was a quick, light and happy break for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for a review.

I was so ready to fall in love with this book based on the synopsis. Unfortunately for me, this story turned out to be a miss. The story maintained a very staid pace. The characters lacked a level of depth that I could connect to nor did I find any portion to be particularly humorous.

I like cute and cozy books that take place in little English towns, I really do. I usually intersperse thrillers and more literary works with meet-cute women's fiction and have often been delighted. But this slow-moving novel's heroine was just...vanilla. So very vanilla.

We meet Lily as she's getting jilted at the altar and immediately fast-forward several years to Lily being promoted to Editor in Chief of the town newspaper and tasked with having to grow readership and revenue. There is so much internal dialogue and description of events - skydiving, an obstacle course, a night in a 'haunted' hotel etc - that the growth and description of every character but Lily gets lost. Even the romance between Lily and the consultant, Christopher, and the complicated relationship with her rockstar mother fail to liven the book up. Some of her colleagues seemed interesting and it would have been great to have had more scenes and dialogue with them than Lily's thoughts and conversations with her cat.

I have a hard time with not finishing books, especially books where nothing is wrong per-say, but I can advise against this particular one. There are just too many in this genre that tug at the heart more than For Once In My Life.

Thanks to Netgalley for this preview!

I enjoyed this book , but it just didn't grab me as much as the previous One Way or Another which I absolutely adored . It might have been the subject matter that grabbed my interest . I did warm to Lily as she takes on more and more challenges for her bucket list and I would recommend it , just not the fizz I expected . Still , 4 stars from me and I will look forward to her next .

A very fun story...lots of laughs :c)

My review has been posted to my blog & Goodreads. Review has also been tweeted as usual. Thank you! :c)

Unfortunately for me it just didn't grab me, I couldn't connect to the characters or the plot, maybe it's just me this week but it felt like it lacked comedy and the expected tug on the emotions, I just felt bored reading about office politics

Romantic, fun, yet something felt missing... I wasn't able to empathize with Lily or invest in her story, no matter how relatable her struggles seemed to be.
However, "For once in my life" is definitely both an enjoyable and easy read, ideal to pass the time.

This book made me laugh out loud in several places! I really felt like I was there with the main character, and could totally relate to her clumsiness at times! It was such a wonderful, fun read. Would definitely recommend!

Lily Buckley’s life falls apart when her groom-to-be tells her at the altar that he is in love with her best friend. She finds solace in her job as a journalist, which she loves, but even there things are not as rosy. The powers that be send in Christopher to help save the paper, after Lily convinces them to give them another chance. Enters Buckley’s Bucket List. Lily agrees to step out of her comfort zone to write four articles that will hopefully boost the paper’s circulation. Christopher comes up with some hair-raising ideas.

I enjoyed the writing. The author managed to describe Lily’s emotions really well. There are some excellent descriptions of Lily’s fear and her thoughts trying to rationalize her decisions while she is attempting her bucket list challenges. Lily is a lot insecure and scared of taking a chance on life and love. The only place where she seems confident is at work. Christopher is a combination of geek and risk-taker. I liked them both. They supported each other really well and got to know each other as the story went on.

I had great fun reading this story. Would definitely recommend it as an easy and fun romantic read.

I also posted a review on Goodreads.

What a gorgeous read! I really enjoyed this and would really recommend it.
The story follows Lily after she has been jilted at the alter 3 years earlier. Now the newspaper she works for is in trouble. So now she is starting a bucket list for her new feature article. I love the concept of bucket lists and Lily takes this and embraces it fully and through it changes her life. Great read!

I was a bit disappointed in how this novel turned out. From the description I hoped this would be about a spunky journalist that takes the world by storm with her ideas and develops a hot relationship with her co-worker. I expected a rom-com and got a very lukewarm story about a woman who gets jilted by her fiance and takes the initiative to save her job while completing a bucket list. I didn't laugh once nor was impressed with her adventures. The story just filled the pages with mindless babble and her interaction with the consultant felt more like a friendship than romance.
Disappointing.
I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a charming novel about Lily who was dumped by her fiance minutes before their wedding. The novel novel takes place 3 years after her non-wedding. We find Lilly working at the Newbridge Gazette which is a now failing local newspaper. Within the first chapters, Lilly becomes acting Editor in Chief with a 4 week deadline to turn things around. First on her agenda is a series of stories about her completing a daring "bucket" list. The story is basically about how Lilly finds her grit and love as she completes the bucket list. The love interest is a consultant named Christopher who is also trying to prove himself. There are many cute characters and funny situations. I did find myself getting a bit bored at times and started fast clicking through some parts, hence the 4-star review.

Thanks for the early review copy!

I picked this up because of the cover and it was great read. It was well-written with a good main character. I recommend this book to fans of adult contemporary fiction.

For Once In My Life had me feeling so many things! I read this so quickly I almost didn’t have time to process my feelings because I was dying to know how everything would end. This book had me feeling happy and anxious and I love reads that make you sit there with a smile on your face! It was so fun going on this journey with Lily, who’s life isn’t exactly where she thought it would be, which is so incredibly relatable that I was rooting for her!
This is a great read for taking on a holiday, or when you just want to feel all of the happy-butterflies in your tummy.

This copy was provided to me by Netgalley for the purposes of this review.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't read this author before. What I got was more than I had hoped for! It starts out with the main character being jilted at the alter. She puts her life back together and then finds herself in a newspaper on the bring of closing. She takes it upon herself to rally her co-workers and work with the new specialist brought in by the owners to revamp things. She does things she never expected in a kind of a "bucket list" as part of a series of essays in the paper. I won't spoil it for you, but it is a bit of a humerus, romance/women's literature. I read it all in one day/evening. I was disappointed when it ended.

For Once in My Life, Colleen Coleman

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance, Women's Fiction

Ah no, not another Women's Fiction :-( I hate the way we rule out 50% of potential readers with this discriminatory genre...

Having got that out – well, a wonderful read. I adored Lily and her friends. After being left at the alter she's thrown herself into her job, really enjoys the way the local paper she writes for is part of the community. She's battling the Editor though, when his predecessor left he's been onto cost cutting articles and increasing ads and they are losing readers rapidly.
Then after a quick visit from HQ she's made editor temporarily, with a short time to bring sales up or the paper closes. HQ have left Christopher to help her, he wants a bigger role in the company and this is his test, help Lily pull things up. They come up with Buckley's Bucket List, something adrenaline filled and adventurous Lily will do each week.
I love the way the team all pull together, clearly they think well of Lily but until now none of them really act as a unit, as friends, but now Lily has them so full of ideas and enthusiasm. I enjoyed seeing how the List become profitable for the paper, not just from the column increasing readers, but from the tie ins with local producers bringing sponsorship and ads, and how now the staff felt now that their input was valued they had such great ideas.
It was also interesting to see how a paper bases news outlet coped with becoming a paper and online outlet, and how lily relished the interaction with readers. It all felt very real.

Of course Chris is gorgeous, good looking, ambitious and kind, he really helps Lily when she's struggling with the challenges, and the attraction between them was very real feeling. Still, the course of True Love n'eer did run smooth and all that, and just when things are going well they suddenly aren't.
There are some great characters here, some fabulous humour and an enjoyable romance. Its as much about learning ourselves as romance though, with Lily's situation with her work, family and love life paralleling that of so many of us. I'd have liked a stronger side of romance but that's just me....its a perfect story as it is, though it's unlikely to be a re-reader for me because of the subtle romance angle.

Stars: five, a wonderful, fun filled story.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

2.8/5

I enjoyed Don't Stop Me Now before, it wasn't my favourite, but it has its moments. However, For Once in My Life fell flat for me.

Lily Buckley's life is hitting a pause button ever since her fiance left her in the altar three years ago. Now that she had the chance to moving her career forwards, she needed to leave her comfort zone, not only in her working life, but also personal life. Could Lily conquer them all?

For Once in My Life is a good book to pass the time. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect to any character and so, I didn't care for them at all.

I'd recommend the book for those who are looking for an easy read, beach read, even the year's end read.

"For Once in My Life" mini-review:::

I am so upset, because I ended up not loving this!!! The prose was awkward, including dialogue, imagery, and plot. For this reason, I was unable to invest in the characters. Without that, books feel lost to me.

However, I do love that cover and it was a solid, 3-star read. This is a great book to read if you don't want to feel overly invested or addicted to picking it up, but you do want to casually read a funny narrative!

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Jilted at the altar Lily is devastated, throwing herself into her job as a journalist, even this has its challenges.

When the paper brings in “experts” to help the paper Lily gains a new job title of Editor in Chief. One of the experts Christopher starts encouraging Lily to come out of her shell.

This was a wonderfully written rom com.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc!