Sometimes it’s really hard to read about someone’s grief. To see it, raw, naked and unedited. That’s what I felt when I began reading this book. And to read it in (what I hope will be) the final weeks of self-isolation due to the Covid19 crisis, made it that much more emotional. Throughout the book was something we all desperately need right now, and that is hope. Awake or asleep, reality or fantasy, I’ll take hope anywhere I find it. As does Lydia. You can’t blame her. This book made me take a closer look at my life. It made me realize that, while not perfect, it’s perfect for me.

Maybe you should read this book. It might help you too.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review..

I really enjoyed this book and it was the perfect read to get me out of a slump. That being said, it wasn’t perfect. I was very intrigued by the idea of the two lives. In the book, Lydia takes sleeping pills that transport her to a parallel life. While in theory it is very interesting, I felt like it could have been executed better and explored further. There was a lot in that plotline that was only touched on, and it’s resolution was very anticlimactic.

My favorite part of the book was the sweet relationships Lydia had in her life. It was a great exploration of a support system, and I appreciated the realistic path Lydia went down in her grieving.

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Gosh, I wasnt prepared to read this book emotionally. The story which is so eloquently written, deep and emotionally. Lydia moves through her grief of losing her one true love, Freddy on her birthday. But she found that with her magic pink pills, she is able to visit a world where Freddy is still alive, in her dreams. Lydia slowly finds herself moving on when her dreams become even further than the real life she's living.

This was a slow burn. And the first 30% I almost quit because I knew my heart couldn't handle the back and forth with grief if Lydia. But the last 30% was so moving and that there is love and life after a great loss. It really was a beautiful story.

I loved One Day in December, so I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of Josie Silver’s newest book! The Two Lives of Lydia Bird follows Lydia as she lives two parallel lives, one while awake and her husband has passed away in a car accident; and a second secret life where the crash never happened, and Lydia is still planning her wedding. It was an interesting concept, and as long as you can suspend your disbelief it was really enjoyable to read!

A story of love and loss, it tears at your heartstrings throughout. While the beginning was a bit slow for me, once things got going - I didn't want the story to end. The book did a really good job of describing grief and what it is to live that, not often found in fiction. It wasn't the same type of grief I dealt with, the loss of a parent, but that same struggle to find your footing again was absolutely true for any grief. I felt for Lydia, and while the story wasn't the romance I thought it would be - I was cheering for Lydia along the way. There was a great cast of secondary characters as well who nicely rounded out everything along the way. There were a lot of tough topics brought up, and it was done well but this was a bit heavier of a book than "One Day in December" by the same author. I'd happily read anything Josie Silver writes.

The Two Live of Lydia Bird is about Lydia learning to cope with her grief from losing her fiance and move on without him. She's been having trouble sleeping ever since he died and is prescribed sleeping pills, which she soon learns allows her to see him in her dreams every time she takes them. From then on, she uses them to see how her life would have turned out had her fiance not died and celebrate important milestones with him, but it's not long before her two lives diverge and she realizes just how much his passing has changed her from the person she was with him.

Josie Silver is a great writer and I really enjoyed this look at grief and coping in a somewhat lighthearted way. This is definitely women's fiction and not romance since the focus is Lydia's grief and character development, but it does have a happy ending even though it was not the ending that I wanted to see.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for my copy to review.

TW: loss of a loved one via car accident, miscarriage

*** 4 Stars ***

Without risking giving too much away about this, I knew what was coming from the beginning of this as a girl I went to high school with, a very similar story occurred. I'm very conflicted and am still processing this tragic but beautiful story. When I thought about the girl in high school, the real life version of this I know, maybe I was falsely judging something I didn't understand. After reading this, my opinions have changed and I just get it.
This was a slow burn for me, lots of character development and by the end I loved Lydia Bird, I wanted good things for her, I wanted a happy ending. I'd say the first 50-75% of this, I would have rated a 3/5, but it grew on me and really enjoyed this book the deeper I got.

Special Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The pace was very slow and there wasn’t really a lot that made me feel connected to Lydia it feel like I had to get back to this story to finish it. However, I have not experienced this kind of grief so I think that is something to be considered. While the story is not boring, it also is one I think that people can enjoy and immerse themselves into it more if they have had a similar experience.
The book was well written and the characters were interesting however. I just did not make any real connection to the book.

This is a sweet book, although not as emotional as I was expecting or hoping it would be. There are some excellent points made throughout about grieving and the fact that "it takes as long as it takes" and we shouldn't try to put a timeline on our own or others' grief.
No real surprises, but nothing that made me not like the book either. It's just a comforting tale that kept me interested and will please readers of women's fiction.

Okay, so this book took me a few tries to get into it. I first picked it up and only got a couple chapters in, the I picked it up again and a few more chapters got read. This kept happening all the way through half of the book. It wasn’t u til the second half that I really started to get into it. This was emotional and I liked the story overall but the first part of the story, I just couldn’t connect to it. I had the same experience with this book as I did with Josies last book One Day In December. Overall, I enjoyed the second half of this book but just wish the first half had more. 3/5 stars

I loved One Day in December and was looking forward to reading Josie's new book, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. This book was as emotional and as beautifully written as One Day in December. It reminded me of one of my favorite romantic movies,

I liked this book a lot, but I didn't love it as much as One Day in December. The one thing I didn't love is how much time was spent on "what could have been" life. I was more interested in reading about Lydia's "real" life, where she had to cope with her grief and learn to live without Freddie. I wanted to read more about her relationship with Jonah, to see it grow and develop, especially since it played such a pivotal role in Lydia's story.

I was uncertain about this novel at first, with its implausible ‘Awake’, ‘Asleep’ structure: double worlds or alternative universes or whatever you want to call it. However, I was inexorably drawn in and, after a few chapters, I fell in love with the writing, the story, the characters.

A young woman faces the sudden loss of her boyfriend/future husband and struggles to cope with her grief. Lydia has family support from her mother and sister but, naturally, she feels completely alone in her experience of losing the love of her life.

When her mother insists that the doctor prescribe something to help Lydia sleep, after almost two months of insomnia and brief naps on the sofa, her sister gently guides her to the bed she hasn’t slept in since the accident that killed Freddie and hands her a little pink pill. That night, Lydia discovers she can visit another world in her dreams where her love is very much alive.

Alternating between Awake and Asleep, it’s quite the journey for both Lydia and the reader as she comes to terms with her loss and her pain over the next couple of years. Added to this is her estrangement from her and Freddie’s best friend who had been in the car with him but survived the accident.

I liked how the emotions and struggles were not sugar-coated. They were very deep and raw and we get to see Lydia’s growth within herself throughout, although it is not a quick or smooth or easy process, just like real life. Unlike real life, in some cases, there is a beautiful resolution of forgiveness and love at the end. Very satisfying after going through so many struggles along with the protagonist. I highly recommend this well-written, enjoyable novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House – Ballantine and the author for providing me with a free eARC of this book.

*Somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.

I honestly feel kind of bad rating this so low, but I can’t truthfully give it more. I LOVED One Day in December by this author, so so much. I burned through it, loved the love story.

The opposite happened with this book. I found myself skimming and dragging my feet to finish it. It just didn’t reel me in at all.

I should have known I wouldn’t love it when I saw the premise. The thing is, I hate when any type of fiction spends time on dreams. They’re not real, they have no consequence on the actual plot — I just think they’re a waste of time. A good portion of this book was our main character dreaming about a rather unremarkable life with her fiancé, who is dead. And I just didn’t care that much about that dream world.

I struggled to connect with her dream life with her fiancé, Freddie, because while she’s known him for 8 years, we as readers barely got to know him. He died right at the very beginning. It’s just hard to mourn characters you never got to know first, in my opinion, and a lot of this book was the protagonist, Lydia Bird, mourning Freddie, who we didn’t know. I couldn’t get attached.

***SPOILERS FOR THE ROMANCE START HERE***

My other issue is that I feel the synopsis was a bit misleading. There wasn’t really any romantic development in this book, despite it kind of being marketed as her finding love again and someone asking her to stay in the land of reality and not dreams. That just...wasn’t what happened. The new relationship felt VERY tacked on at the end. There wasn’t much development or build-up at all, not much angst or pining or anything. And Jonah — the “friend” in the synopsis advertised as wanting her to stay in her life of reality — hardly made any kind of pushes to show that he wanted that. They honestly didn’t interact that often, and he didn’t even KNOW about her dream world.

I don’t think I’d be so disappointed if I hadn’t felt misled by the way this book was advertised. I was expecting a melancholy slow burn romance, and that just wasn’t what it was. I struggled to finish this book, and didn’t really enjoy it or feel any sense of satisfaction at the end. I wasn’t invested enough to, and I’m so sad I felt this way. This was a very anticipated release for me this year and it just didn’t deliver.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a digital ARC of this book. This review is my honest opinion in exchange for the copy. (Sorry it’s out so late. Like I said, I had a hard time finishing it)

This book was more serious than I anticipated, so I ended up deciding to DNF at 15%. I did enjoy the writing, but didn’t feel like the story was really going anywhere. The pacing was slow & didn’t really draw me in.

While I liked the idea for this book, I didn’t really enjoy the story. Because we had no idea who Lydia was or what her relationship was with Freddie (he dies immediately) it was hard to feel an emotional connection to her sorrow. However, as the book moved on, I started to like her and felt that her story of learning to live again after a loss felt very real. But then I thought the story took a really fast and strange left turn out of nowhere, and I ended up not like Lydia. And I guessed the ending at the very beginning of the book. I just didn’t emotionally connect with this story.

Ugh. I don’t even know where to start with this review. I enjoyed the writing and the side characters but I had some issues with Lydia and how she basically abused sleeping pills to keep visiting her dead fiancé and it’s never addressed. She also didn’t really consider how her actions impacted those around her and really only cared when it affected her.

I knew the ending before I finished the first chapter because it’s how every book like this ends.

That said, this was a bittersweet book with a hopeful (predictable) ending.

You and me, we’re all the time, and we’re always, and we’re everywhere. If I live a million lifetimes, I’ll find you in all of them, Freddie Hunter.”

“The thing about losing the love of your life is that you get to make up what would have happened afterward. You’re entitled to dream that all of your tomorrows would have been perfect, because you loved him so much....”

The author of One Day in December has again offered us a powerful love story anchored by what-ifs. Lydia Bird believes she will always be with Freddie Hunter until a car accident on her 28th birthday changes everything. When given the opportunity to once again have her old life with Freddie, Lydia must choose between that chance or the the tentative steps she has made toward accepting her new reality and new relationships. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird is the emotional journey of beautiful characters through love, grief, and recovery. A lovely book devoured in one sitting.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley.

I knew The Two Lives of Lydia Bird was going to be an emotional read for me after reading the synopsis. This definitely held true. We follow Lydia through the process of heartbreak and grief after the tragic loss of her fiancé, Freddie. She is rightly having a hard time coping and moving on with life through her grief. Her mother urges her to go to the doctor to get sleep pills. Lydia finally agrees and little did she know the pink pills would transport her to a world where she and Freddie to be together again. The problem is that she is living two separate lives and there is someone in her awake life, her real life, that wants her to stay.

This was a brilliant idea for a novel and was well executed by Josie Silver. I was so emotionally invested in Lydia and could feel her grief. The loss of Freddie was so devastating and ultimately changed who Lydia was as a person, she was a hardened version of herself as she learns to live and move on with her grief.

The relationships in the book were wonderful as well. Lydia's relationship with her sister and her mother were fabulous and you can feel the closeness of "The Bird Girls". The relationship between Jonah (Freddie and Lydia's childhood friend/Freddie's best friend) and Lydia was unique and familiar. Even the relationships with coworkers and her brother in law were so well-written.

Overall, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird was an incredible and emotional read that kept me engaged throughout its entirety. I was so happy with the ending and Lydia's development throughout the 18 months after Freddie's death. Josie Silver did a phenomenal job navigating this difficult troupe.

If you have ever wondered about "the road not take" - and let's be honest, we all have at one time or another - this book will suck you in. Josie Silver gives us a view of what Lydia Bird's life would be like based on the choices she has made. So engrossing that I read it in one day.

When her fiancé Freddie dies on her birthday, Lydia Bird's world collapses: the childhood sweethearts had bought a house and were planning a life. Now Lydia's not eating, bathing, or sleeping, so when her mom gets her a prescription for insomnia, Lydia's all in. With the pretty pink pills, Lydia's not only catching z's, but sleeping opens an invisible door to a world where Freddie is still alive. But the real world calls and grief is an odd thing, which world will she choose?