Ashley Farley has done it again!
Julia falls in love with Jack and marries him, much to her wealthy parent's dismay.

They live their lives estranged from her parents because her father forbade the marriage. All is well enough until a freak accident happens and Julia's life is drastically changed.

This story is so very emotional, heartbreaking at times, joyful at other times.

I loved the family story and the friendships in the book as well.

We learn about Julia, now as an adult, and we also learn about Iris, Julia's mother and her earlier life.

I gulped this book in a few hours and went on a roller coaster of emotions.
I did close the book with a smile though.




I really enjoy this author and will read everything she's written.


The book was very well written and the characters were fleshed out and felt like ral people.

Highly recommended!


4 1/2*****

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

***Emotional family and friendship story***

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an enjoyable book.

If you like Southern fiction, then this is for you. This was amazing! I loved the different characters and their thoughts. It was an edge of your seat book for sure.

This is a quintessential women’s fiction told in two perspectives- Julia and Iris and told in three parts. The story centred on faith, love and sorrow, and is sad at times. Some of the side characters were really unlikeable, but that managed to add more depth to the story. I liked the authors writing style and the way she has been able to present the story in a format that isn’t too confusing or dry. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of a mother/ daughter & best friend relation ship. This isn’t a romance novel but a women’s drama fiction that was done well and beautifully written.

Thank you to Lake Union publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

Only One Life by Ashley Farley

I just finished Only One Life by Ashley Farley and the ending left wanting more. Ms. Farley just has to make this a series and let us know what happens to the main characters. This is not the first book (I have read (Magnolia Nights was amazing!) by this author and it won’t be my last.
Ms. Farley writes in a style that is easy to read. Her characters came alive in my mind with her detailed and easy to follow descriptions. While the story line follows many other romance novels, Ashely Farley approaches it from a new viewpoint. You may think a character is going to do something and then he/she doesn’t, they take a new approach.
An estranged mother and daughter reunite after many years apart. This reunion opens up old wounds and brings out dark secrets. Iris has lived a tough life and it takes reuniting with Julia to bring so much to closure.
Read Only One Life and grow to know the characters while hating some and loving some. You will be happy you chose this novel to read!
03.12.19

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Onlu One Life is perfect for readers who enjoy family dramas and southern fiction!

A reunion between an estranged mother and daughter opens a world of secrets in a poignant novel by the bestselling author of Magnolia Nights.

Julia Martin grew up wealthy, but it wasn’t until she met her husband, Jack, that she knew true happiness. He made her feel worthy and loved. Their marriage was also an escape from her sister’s bullying, her father’s scrutiny, and her chilly and enigmatic mother. But when tragedy strikes on the night she gives birth, Julia’s happiness is shattered. She has no choice but to return home to her family’s South Carolina mansion, where the grief and guilt buried in her mother’s past await her.

As a young woman trapped in a bitter marriage, Julia’s mother, Iris, once needed her own means of escape. In Lily, she found a best friend. In the flower shop they opened, she discovered independence. Then came a transgression—unforgivable, unforgettable, and unresolved—that changed Iris’s life forever.

Now, in Iris’s most desperate hour, her only hope is to regain the trust of the daughter she loves—and to share the secrets of the heart that could rebuild a family’s broken bonds.

From the first chapter I was invested in Only One Life.

I love a good southern book full of sweet tea, small towns and drama. That’s what I was expecting and what I got while reading Only One Life but I was not prepared for the emotions my heart would go through as well.

We follow an estranged mother and daughter and I think my favorite part was how it was split up into three parts. We have Julia’s life after being disowned from her family for marrying a man beneath her who she lived a simple, happy life with.

Then we have Iris’s story, Julia’s mother. Her story truly broke my heart and I haven’t read about a strong female character like Iris in a long, long time. Iris carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and you can’t help but feel just down right sad for her.

Although their separate lives are so interesting, I think my favorite is when they are brought together again. Ashley Farley wrote a beautiful book full of family, secrets, lies and friendship.

This was my first book I have read by Farley, but from the emotions I felt once I finished Only One Life, I will defiantly be reading more from her!

great read. thoroughly enjoyed. easy read. good characters. kept me engaged the entire book. will recommend to all. good for my book club. thanks.

I started this book with a lot of hope, but I could not get into it. The characters didn't grab me, and a lot of the dialog felt forced, and just - not there.

I did not finish this one - I stopped about 45% in, as I could not get into the book, and it just wasn't working for me

This was a great book about strained family relationships and fixing them. I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was such a wonderful story! I really am kicking myself for not picking it up sooner. The characters were well developed and were realistic. And the storyline was well written and flowed beautifully through the details of past and present.

I especially love the elements of love, family and forgiveness that were woven into the relationships. Ashley Farley did a phenomenal job with this book.

I really enjoyed reading it, and found it hard to put down.

Julia is happily married to Jack and waiting for the arrival of their much longed for baby when tragedy strikes and Jack dies in an accident on the day the baby is born. Julia was from a wealthy family but was thrown out by her controlling father when she got together with Jack who he didn't approve of, now left penniless and with a baby to support she eventually has to swallow her pride and go back. Her father is still just as overbearing and her sister is of the same mould but gradually Julia starts to build a new relationship with her mother, can she eventually find happiness and get her life back on track.

A lovely story with good characters, her father and sister very horrible but her mother, Lily and Gus were all lovely, probably my favourite of the books that I have read by this author

I love this author's books and this one was no different. The title is very appropriate to the theme of the book - that we only have one life to live so live life to the fullest.

This book deals with a tough subject - emotional abuse. I think this is so much harder to deal with than physical abuse. That is what Iris deals with for 40+ years in her marriage to Max. She has a best friend, Lily, but even Lily doesn't know what is happening in Iris' world.

The book encompasses many lives outside of Iris and Lily. There are children - Alex, Julia, and Gus, and their lives are turned upside down when secrets are revealed.

I found myself rooting for various characters and wasn't sad when others got their just rewards.

I am hoping there might be another book to follow this one that showcases Alex. I think she has a story to tell and considering how this book ended, life may not be as good as she thinks it will be going forward.

Emotions run deep in this wonderful family saga of disharmony and turmoil. Secrets from the past are brought to the surface and I felt as though I was right there through several generations of the story due to Ashley Farley's exceptional writing ability. The characters were well drawn and so real and the family dynamics so engaging that I was kept reading, never losing interest at all. There was heartbreak, joy, love and hope throughout the story. Ashley Farley had really developed her interesting characters, some of whom I loved, whilst others I really didn't like. There was great pacing to the story and I was rooting for the main character, for sure.

I loved how Ashley Farley had written about relationships in the novel - in particular, the challenges and the satisfaction they brought. Only One Life evolved through many difficult circumstances that this family faced including dysfunction, secrets and forgiveness. This was an absolutely delightful must-read for me and one that I highly recommend. I have other books on my e-reader by Ashley Farley and I can't wait to get around to reading them!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

If you like Southern fiction, then this is for you. This was amazing! I loved the different characters and their thoughts. I did not want to put this book down. Definitely a page turner!!!

One of my new favorite books! This author has such a way with words the pages flew by in no time! I can’t wait to see the next work by this author! This was such a joy to read!

The poetic nature of this book was beautiful. I loved how the three parts and different perspectives came together to seamlessly tell this story. This is a book I would read again and again, I loved it!

A quick read tale about family relationships and why people do the things they do. Liked the writing style.

Only One Life opens with a couple who are very much in love, happily pregnant and who does what it takes to make ends meet. Julia grew up with means but when her father learns of her plans to marry "beneath" her, he throws her out. Julia and Jack are excited to be welcoming a baby after many set-backs. But tragedy strikes leaving Julia a single parent with no choice but to go home.

This is a story of a family who learns to trust and forgive.