Congratulations, Josie Silver! Your follow up to the mega-hit 'One Day in December' is for me, even better; I wouldn't change a thing and that is very unusual.

The story is beautifully unfurled with enough to keep you guessing and wondering quite what is going on in Lydia's life and how it will all come to a head. Josie's style is so easily readable and the emotional rollercoaster she takes you on is neither overly saccharine nor unbelievably dramatic - I like that she just lets the characters be and go at their own pace (sometimes 'oh so frustratingly' for the reader) and work it out, like in life.

It also begs the question, do we subconsciously know more than we admit about our 'other halves' but just don't want to confront it or even acknowledge it.

The storyline was excellently edited too. Just the right length and degree of struggle, grief, disbelief and sheer wanting things to be different.

Bring on the next one!

I absolutely adored this book and I am so grateful to have had the chance to read it through NetGalley.
This is a book I believe everyone can relate to in some way; it beautifully touches on love, loss, pain, strength and all of the emotions we as humans have to go through at some point in our lives all whilst trying to maintain life as we know it as it keeps going around us.
I won’t include any spoilers in this review, as I think anyone who reads this book needs to take the emotional journey with Lydia Bird page by page and experience it all personally for themselves.
All I can say is I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who loves to be swept away in fiction but by an author who does an exceptional job of also ‘keeping it real’.
Beautiful book that I am sad to have finished - the characters really do become a part of your life!

Very good. This book is just so good as it takes you on such an emotional journey you feel like you are one of the characters and you experience every emotion within you and just keep wanting more once it's finished. Josie Silver is such a wonderful author and she is getting better with each book. Grab yourself a copy either on Kindle (30th Jan 2020) or Paperback (3rd March 2020).

Just as good as her first book, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird is charming, romantic and captivating.

Lydia draws you in and you can’t help but fall in love with her.

This book is heartbreaking but beautiful.

I predicted the ending a couple of chapters in but it unfolds in a way that doesn’t make you begrudge it. It could have easily slipped into the realms of cheese but it avoided it effortlessly.

4.5 stars, will recommend to others and will feel wonderfully happy reminiscing about the book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Josie Silver and Penguin for my ARC, I can’t wait for the next book.

This is a fabulous book. Very well written with realistic characters. It's a tear jerker, for.sure, but its much more than that. Written in the first person, Lydia tells us us of her love for Freddie, and their life together. Her world is torn apart when he dies in a car accident. The first few chapters chart her grieving process, and are very painful to read.. The story is one of love, loss and living though it to find a better future. I highly recommend it.
I'm most grateful to the Publishers and to Netgalley for an ARC, in return for an honest review.

It is Lydia Bird's 27th birthday and she's annoyed with her fiancé, Freddie because he's going to be late for her birthday dinner. Two hours later she's devastated because he's been killed in a car accident. How will she pick up her life when the only man she's ever loved is gone forever. Except he's not. She starts on a trial of new sleeping pills and finds that they take her into a parallel universe where Freddie is still alive.

This is a very good novel about coping with grief and coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. It is funny with realistic dialogue and full of really well developed characters including one of the grumpiest cats you'll ever meet. Turpin deserves a book of his own! The characters are rounded with flaws that endear you to them and you enjoy spending time with them. This book kept me up half the night, not something that often happens. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

I loved this book. Lydia loses the love of her life but through the briefing process finds herself. She learns that friendship and family are important and are what pulls you through the difficult times until ultimately she finds love again. A great poignant romantic read. I would recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

Perfection. That is the one word I would use to describe The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.

This novel has stolen my heart with it’s beautiful storyline, with the intensity of emotions it awoke in me.
I honestly can’t even remember when was the last time I fell in love with the book so hard…

If I’m not mistaken, it was back in 2018 when I read One Day in December, that was one of my favourite reads that year.

If nothing (but it’s not nothing, it’s everything) this book showed just how amazing Josie Silver of a writer is.
She wrote two novels, and they both were stunningly written with emotional, heart shaking but beautiful plots, and characters one can’t help but get attached to.
I now am sure I don’t want to ever miss a piece of work written by this incredible author! I want to support her as long as my eyes can see, as long as my brain can recognize the sentences…

I loved the magical element that is the foundation of the story, but also how it affected the main character and the way the story developed.

The story is written in first person, with Lydia as a narrator.
It is beautifully written and even though the book has more than 400 pages it didn’t feel like it.
I wished it was longer, so I could spend more time in this world, with these wonderful characters.

I rarely cry while reading, but this book made me shed some tears.
That one scene, with lighting up candles, was especially emotional. It was my favourite scene in the whole story.

The story wrapped up in the most satisfying way. I hoped it would end up that way, and when it did, I was overwhelmed in a good way. I approve it 100%.

I will mention only one more thing: I want to praise Josie Silver for mentioning my county, Croatia. I was in Makarska many times in my life and I loved reading about it in one of the most beautiful books.

In the end, if I could make you want to read one book from my recommendations list, I would chose this one, because I am sure it will touch many hearts and I hope it will move yours too.
I am so thankful I had an opportunity to read this wonderful novel and I truly believe I will carry it in that part of my heart reserved only for favourite stories, for the rest of my life.

Wow, Josie Silver has done it again with her novel, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. I was hooked from the start with this amazing story. Beginning with a tragedy, she never thought she would recover from, it follows the lives of Lydia and her fiancé along with their best friend.
When tragedy strikes, blame and recriminations ensue and the process of healing cannot even begin.
Is there any way back from two parallel worlds?

DO NOT TRY AND READ THIS BOOK ON YOUR LUNCHBREAK AT WORK!! .. It's an overwhelmingly emotional read, I cried absolute buckets .. all the way through! but it's also a captivating read one you won't want to put down. (Just make sure the tissues are close to hand before you start to read!)

Lydia is gloriously in love with her childhood sweetheart Freddie. On the way to her birthday dinner, he takes a detour to pick up Jonah, his and Lydia's best friend since school, and tragically dies in a car accident. In an instant Lydia's world falls apart.

Lydia is overcome with grief and struggles with her daily life. She finally gets some little pink pills from her doctor and realises when she takes these and sleeps she gets to be with Freddie again in a parallel life where he hasn't died and everything is still on track for their wedding.

The journey with Lydia, sharing the grief of her real life and her bittersweet moments in her dream life, was written so well eloquently describing how grief can affect you. You get taken on all her highs and lows, her guilt and finally her hope for the future. All the characters in the book were relatable and they all played their part intertwining in Lydia's life perfectly. The little comic touches throughout the book are perfectly placed giving the story a natural ebb and flow.

I really, really want to go into great detail about this book but that would spoil it for anyone reading it and for me this is a must read of 2020.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books (UK) for the ARC

I loved this book. It was heartbreaking, unusual and totally compelling- what an imaginative piece of writing by Josie Silver. She managed to write the story so sensitively and I truly didn’t know how it would unfold - I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to happen! Somehow she negotiated the heartbreak so realistically (not withstanding the dreams!) and managed to reach a really satisfying conclusion. I really liked One Day in December, I loved The Two Lives of Lydia Bird - what a fab author Josie Silver is!

Lydia and Freddie are a childhood romance with longevity and fast heading towards marriage when he is cruelly taken from her in an accident also involving their mutual friend.
The story switches between 2 realities, the truth and a dream world that Lydia feels she visits in her (pill induced) sleep where Freddie is still alive and they are planning their wedding. Lydia starts to rely on those pills to take her to a happier place to the detriment of her real world life.
The raw emotions displayed by Lydia in her real world hit hard as do some of the emotions she goes through in her dreamworld. One or two scenes in each world brought a tear to my eyes as the descriptions were so powerful and one or two a wry smile as Lydia dips her toes back into life with some cringeworthy results and alongside some quirky colleagues.
A great story, sensitively written from a grief perspective but with plenty of feel good moments to keep the emotional balance just right.

I really enjoyed this book. Following Lydia's journey in the aftermath of Freddie's unexpected death it deals with the issues sensitively and comassionately. I would recommend for everyone.

This book is sensitively written and gets you right in the feels.

I cried a lot and enjoyed reading it as it gave me the warm fuzzies which are usually lacking in the sort of books I read.

Thanks Netgalley for the introduction to this author.

This was a really nice, gentle read. It was really well written and I really felt for the main character. I loved how it was never boring and even though it was about a person navigating their grief it never became too downcast. One criticism would be that I felt the ending was a little too abrupt but apart from that it was great!

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver a five-star read that may just be the best read of 2020. I adored One day in December so had such high hopes of this story, and I was not disappointed, Josie Silver writes about grief and loss in such a caring and compassionate way, they just made it so easy to understand where Lydia is coming from, you feel her heart breaking, you will cry buckets along side her. This is a great story and one that you can’t miss, there is a story within the story, and you will not see the twist coming, its brilliantly done. If you read one novel in 2020 make it this one, I know you won’t be disappointed, and I am sure much like me you will be going back for a re-read.

An enjoyable but a bit of a slow read. I really felt for Lydia and just wanted to give her a hug but felt the story dragged on a bit in the middle and the ending was just perfect and exactly how it should have ended.

Oh wow! I don’t know where to start! Initially this book caught my attention and I was enjoying it. Then I must admit I felt a little bit like it dragged in the middle... but I am so glad I persevered though as within a few more chapters and I was captured again and loving it! A pure and gorgeous love story

I loved this book. I am a complete sucker for a parallel universe story, and this one is fantastic. It made me laugh and cry, and if the ending doesn't have you in tears then we can't be friends. More books from Josie Silver please.

A beautifully written book about love, grief, and change.

Lydia’s story is heartbreaking, but reading her journey to a more confident women taking control of her life was wonderful.

The story does tug at the heartstrings filling you with sadness but Josie Silver writes about grief with sensitively and understanding leaving you with a lightness of heart and a feeling of hope.