Overall I really enjoyed the story and I think the course of Lydia’s real life was well written however I just found it more of a slog to read than I’d expected although I genuinely don’t understand why, I liked the characters, it’s very well written and the story follows a good course. I think many people will enjoy this but for some reason it just didn’t resonate with me.

What a lovely, warm and emotional read. This is such a heart-wrenching book. This story follows Lydia who has lost her fiancée in a tragic car accident, she is coming to terms with losing her soul mate and the grief that comes along with it. It is beautifully written and highlights the importance of surrounding yourself with loved ones during tough times. This is a great read and I thoroughly recommend it.

This was a heart wrenching, sad, but also uplifting book. I loved all the characters and thought it was beautifully written. It was a stroke of genius telling the story in two different dimensions which could have been corny but absolutely wasn’t. I was sorry when the book ended.

I got what this story was trying to do- I just felt like it was unnecessarily long winded in a way that added nothing to the story. I didn't get a sense of any characters personality, not even the main character and I felt like the love story was convoluted- like oh yeah of course your childhood friend that irritated you throghout your long term relationship with your dead partner is the person you fell in love with. I also hated the way the story looked at grief. I think in general, it would have been a stronger story if it was shorter or edited more tightly, or if it maintained the length and had more depth.

One Day in December was one of the best books I read in 2018, so I was extremely excited to read Silver's next book, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. Thankfully, it is as good as I had hoped. The novel centres on Lydia, who loses her fiance in a car accident. Following his death, she starts taking sleeping pills, which transport her to an alternate universe where Freddie (her fiance) is still alive. Lydia struggles to juggle moving forward in real life, with wanting to escape to this place where she gets to experience their wedding and honeymoon. Silver expertly writes about Lydia's grief and acceptance - there's no sugarcoating, which I appreciated. It's a captivating novel that's beautifully written, and I highly recommend picking it up in 2020.

I received an ARC via NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

This book touched my heart and left me an emotional wreck. Having read and loved One day in December, I was so looking forward to reading The two lives of Lydia Bird, and it didn’t disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed it and completely lost myself in it

Thoroughly enjoyed this book despite the fact that it is addressing a very emotional and difficult subject. A young woman - Lydia , fiancee - Freddie, dies in a road accident and his best friend - Jonah who is with him survives. It deals with the immense sense of grief that she experiences and how it affects her close family and her relationship with Jonah. The story explores the depth of feeling that grief can manifest. It also demonstrates that grief is experienced differently by every individual and that there is no set pattern. Lydia copes by taking herself off into another world with Freddie and the author is very good at painting the picture of her experience. Lydia's close family also feel grief stricken as they were all a very close unit but their grief is compounded by seeing Lydia struggle. Sadly in the first instance Lydia finds it hard to spend time with Freddie's best friend Johnah as her association with him had always been with Freddie and her emotional state is very raw.

The book evolves and the author cleverly starts to bring Lydia to a place of acceptance. Acknowledging that she is changed because she loved him and that she was lucky to have experienced that love. Lydia and Jonah discover that the bond each of them had with Freddie would always be there for them to share.

The book has a happy ending and shows that however awful grief is, that time will heal, but not replace the person who is lost but shows us that there is another path.

Where do I start! What a lovely, warm emotional read. Absolutely loved it! The story follows two areas of Lydia's life and it flows so well going from one to the other. Its beautifully written and I found myself laughing out loud one moment then crying another!

This is my first book by Josie Silver and I'm now eager to read her other book. Definitely a top favourite for me and recommended to all.

If you love emotional, family reads, then this is an absolute must!

Thank you Penguin Books and NetGalley.

I loved this book. Had me in tears on only the second page! It's a story about grieving, and how people grieve in their own way, but eventually there is light at the end of the tunnel, and hope for the future.

The Two Lives of Lydia bird was an engaging and emotional read. I rooted for Lydia as she tried to come to terms with the death of the man she loved and adored the cast of characters, especially her family and workmates. Josie Silver writes with skill and the emotion just pours off the pages.

Josie Silver follows the fabulous One Day in December with this in depth study of the heartbreaking grief and loss experienced by Lydia Bird when on her 28th birthday, her fiance, Freddie Hunter dies in a car accident, whilst his best friend, Jonah Jones, whilst injured, lives to walk free. Lydia lived with Freddie in Shropshire, her whole life had revolved around him since they were fourteen years old at school and they were planning their wedding for the following year. To say that Lydia's life falls apart is an understatement, the overwhelming grief is too much for her, and adjusting to life without Freddie is not a scenario she can accept. Silver uses the device of sleeping pills that offer Lydia the surprising pathway through lucid dreaming to continue her life with Freddie. This allows her to escape the harsh, unforgiving landscape of grief and avoid passing through that challenging process sentiently.

However, it means that her waking hours are to endured and survived whilst she lives her real life with the love of her life with Freddie in her sleeping hours. This is, of course, problematic for all those who love Lydia, her mum, and her best friend and older sister, Elle. It takes her some time to become aware that they are supporting her through the wreckage of her life, the guardians of her sanity. Her feelings towards Jonah are complicated and she just can't face him, even though her friendship with him is even longer than that with Freddie. Through the years they have been a close knit trio, even though Lydia had resented him at times. It is Jonah that helps her by getting her to attend a grief workshop when she really did not want to. It takes almost 3 months before a fragile Lydia can make herself go back to work, only to understand that Phil, Ryan, Julia and Dawn have been there for her in ways that had just not crossed her mind.

It begins to dawn on Lydia that she has reasons to live in the real world and slowly acknowledge the hitherto impossible concept that perhaps there will be someone for her after Freddie. It is oh so hard for her to let go of Freddie but having to live without him is beginning to change her, she can no longer be the same woman she used to be, she must inevitably evolve. Josie Silver writes a compulsive tear jerker, of a young woman having to come to terms with her world falling apart, struggling through the process of grief until she is strong enough to pick up the pieces of her life and forge a new path for herself. It is Silver's wonderful writing, with bags of humour and her brilliant characters that make this such a great read and I have no doubt that so many readers will absolutely love this. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.

Lydia has lost her husband in a tragic accident. The book follows the heartbreak that Lydia suffers and her journey subsequently. It examines her relationships with her family and friends in the aftermath and her subsequent illusions that she’s chatting to her love in the afterlife.

Unfortunately as much as I love the books by this author I just cannot click with this. I’ve given it so many chances. It’s very well written, it’s just not my cup of tea! I DNF at 37%. Books (and films) containing afterlife just don’t gel with me at all. It’s very odd but there we have it. I’ve given it 3 stars for the quality of the writing and the amazing ability as ever to be emotional in a tasteful manner. It’s not the authors issue that the subject doesn’t appeal to me.

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird is a heart-breaking and emotional read from start to finish. It took me some time to get through this read as I had to keep taking breaks because it was emotionally draining. I literally couldn't imagine losing my husband and it's one of my biggest fears so this was such a difficult yet thought-provoking read. I think that in itself is a testament to Josie's writing, she writes with such familiarity and honesty that you can literally feel every word. It's completely authentic and heart-wrenching. I feel there is very little I can say to express how deeply this novel has touched me. All I can say is, get the tissues ready and hold your loved ones close tonight.

This is another heart-wrenching and deep story as a well-fitting second novel to Josie's previous book One Day In December which I loved.

It's definitely a sad one that charts the grief process and how someone can begin to try and keep their head above the water of loss or drown in the despair of never getting over what has happened. There were many poignant, profound and authentic pieces of writing in the book that engulfs you in the pain of the main character which at times I found very difficult to read because of how sad it is. This is definitely a difficult book to read if you've experienced such loss, and yet inevitably there are sparks of hope and a way forward. One point I struggled with was the reliance on sleeping tablets that wasn't really handled with the seriousness I was expecting. A GP wouldn't/shouldn't give a year's supply of sleeping pills without follow ups and checks on recovery. They are a serious medication that can quickly become addictive and cause huge amounts of problems and pain for families involved with those addicted and perhaps because I have a personal link to the darker side of prescription medications and how they can negatively impact mental health I was quite conflicted whilst reading this to see how flippantly the reliance on the pink pills is almost glamorised and not challenged as a pretty dangerous coping mechanism for grief. It concerns me what message this puts out there about prescription drug addiction.
There are a fair amount of triggers within this book that certainly plays with your emotions and is a rollercoaster of feelings.
I enjoyed the characters and the tender way each one had a different but powerful reaction to the traumatic event and how this compared to the "alternate" world in parallel, this was cleverly done with skill, I just wish a different angle to the sleeping pills could have been used to navigate the alternate realities.

Josie writes with such warmth and familiarity it’s like tucking yourself in a big blanket. Grief is fully explored in all its guises, with just the right amount of humour and heartbreak. Found myself crying at least three times as Lydia starts to pull herself back into her real life. Didn’t find a GP handing over trial drugs with no assessment or follow up entirely realistic and the story was so well done it didn’t need it.

A heart-wrenching book that I found difficult to read and yet could not put down. The portrayal of the devastation of sudden death was really well written. The twist in the storyline made another heart warming interest! A difficult book to read but the characters were so well developed that it pulled me in and I did not want it to end!

Lydia’s boyfriend (and soon to be husband) dies In the first few pages of the book. The story follows her through her grieving and the unique way she finds of dealing with the desperate pain she is feeling.
As a young widow myself I was impressed with the insight into what it feels like. I identified with a lot of Lydia’s feelings and actions. (Well done to Josie Silver - she certainly did her research and I didn’t feel she minimised or avoided the reality of the situation. Many others do.)
I would recommend the book. I wanted to finish it quickly to find out what happens and found myself caring very much for Lydia and those around her. The cast of supporting characters were well written and I enjoyed them. There was sadness but also a lot of fun.
Thank you to #NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read this lovely book.

An emotional story about love and loss but nonetheless an easy, relaxing read. A romantic plot with underlying hope after devastating loss. Lydia the main character, is at times somewhat selfish and self obsessed in her grief after her fiance dies, putting on family and friends unable to find her way out of her grief. There's a bit of magical fantasy as she discovers a parallel universe courtesy of some sleeping pills, although, I was a little worried how she got rid of them but understand it was part of the plot and essential to the moving forward process.

Another well written stunning novel after One Day in December.

Really, really well written story about life after the loss of a loved one and how much can impact without realising. Absolutely loved this and could not bear to put it down.

Having read and enjoyed Josie Silver’s debut novel, One Day in December, I was excited to start on her second book and also a little apprehensive as to whether it could possibly live up to the success of that first story. I needn’t have worried on that score; this turned out to be an amazing story that had me coming back to it whenever I could until it was finished.

Lydia Bird is utterly devastated when the love of her life and man she is soon to marry, Freddie Hunter, is killed in a car accident on his way home. Her grief is all consuming, and nobody, not even her mum or sister, Elle, can get through to her. Sadly, the accident has also affected her relationship with her one-time best friend, Jonah Jones, who was with Freddie that fateful day, and has also been badly affected by Freddie’s death. After months of worry, her mum persuades her to try some new medication to at least let her get some sleep. These little pink pills seem to Lydia to be her salvation, allowing her while in their influence to put her life with Freddie back on course. As time goes on, however, she starts to wonder if this is really what she wants or whether there is something better for her in her life in the real world.

This is an incredible story dealing with a very difficult subject in such a sensitive way. It is so well written that I felt totally immersed in Lydia’s world every time I sat down to read. In fact, Lydia’s heartbreak over her loss was so real that I found myself crying almost every time I picked up the book until I was half way through; beyond that there were some happy tears as well as sad ones. Her journey from a person almost destroyed by grief to a woman in charge of her life was marvellous to watch. The ending is very much what I hoped for, but I could never be quite sure would happen. This is definitely a book well worth going out and buying, but take heed of my warning about the need for a stack of tissues.