Thank you to NetGalley and Hera books for the chance to read this early and provide an honest review. (Happy almost publication day!)

It took me nearly a month to get through. I probably read 3 to 4 books in between this one as it just didn’t grab my attention from the get-go. But when I finally made it to 40%, I finished the book in one day. Sadly, it didn’t live up to the hype in my mind, based on the description.

Amelia is funny and real at times, raw and emotional. But mainly naïve. I think this bothered me because she was now raising two boys and could have been more fierce or stood up to her patronizing ex-husband. There was mention of mobile phones, current online games for kids and social media, yet she knew none of it enough for today’s world. So when her best friend decides to put up a social media post on her behalf, how wrong could this go?? Horribly! In dating, our protagonist was made to appear so dumb. I felt awkward for her. I knew what was happening from the very start…there was no element of surprise for me, not even at the end.
I was bummed that the concept of Patrick was old and brought me flashbacks of episodes of Maury Povich and Dr Phil.
The most fun I had with this book were the references to music/albums in the 80s.

I just did not connect to this as I had hoped.

What I loved about this well-written and laugh-out-loud funny story, Twice in a Lifetime, was that the protagonist was a little older than those in a lot of romantic comedies. With many books in this genre, it’s like you reach a certain age and you’re not allowed to find true love and happiness, or have to start being sensible or something. What’s all that about? Well, that’s not the case here! Being in the same age bracket as Amelia myself (okay she’s a teeny bit younger than me), it was truly refreshing to find such a relatable protagonist.

The author’s colloquial writing style and fantastic characterisation drew me right into the story, and it was easy to route for Amelia. Some of the things she does will have you screaming ‘no, don’t do it’! but at the same time, you just know she has to make those mistakes to find true happiness.

There are loads of moments where I was literally rolling about on the floor laughing. I totally loved Amelia – I think we share exactly the same sense of humour! This was a fantastic debut and I look forward to reading more from this up and coming author.

I recommend this book for fans of Kim Nash, Carole Matthews, and Cathy Bramley.

Not for me! The writing I believe was meant to be quirky and funny but to me was boring and odd. I didn’t find it funny, I didn’t love the characters. DNF @ 10%. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review..

It wasn’t all I hoped it would be as it fell a but short. It lacked in pizzazz? I don’t know it just wasn’t there. The romcom wasn’t it for me this go round.

A super fun, easy read!

After separating from her husband and losing her Mum, Amelia goes in search of 'the one that got away'. Her best friend sets off an internet search looking for a man she met in new york 20 years ago,

This was a really enjoyable read, light-hearted and good fun, Some entertaining observations around break ups made me laugh out loud at the beginning. Overall, a very easy read. The storyline was very predictable but it was no bad thing in terms of a lovely lighthearted story. Don't expect too many surprises though!

Unfortunate this book fell flat for me. I love the concept behind it but just felt there was just something missing for me and it ended up lagging along. There was some humour but i just didn't find the characters particularly engaging.

I'm a huge lover of all things romcom but this one just didn't do it for me. It was cute but not great.

I do love a good romcom - sweet characters, fun stories, and this one certainly was enjoyable. This book was a sweet story that warms the heart. I recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Twice in a Lifetime" and all opinions expressed are my own. Sometimes you wish you never picked a book to read. This is that book. I really did not like it at all.

Amelia's never forgotten Patrick, who she met 20 years ago outside Tiffany in New York, Now 48, she's divorced and raising two boys and in the doldrums. So why use the internet and the power of social media to find Patrick? That's what she does, at the urging of her friends Sian and Jamie. And then, she and Jamie take off to the US to find him, which they do. But is he the answer to her future? No spoilers from me. This is a fast peppy read. I admit annoyance with Amelia and company more than once.but it is nice to see a more, ahem, mature group of women in a rom-com. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It's not often I stop reading before finishing, but sadly this was the case for Twice in a Lifetime. I didn't connect with any of the characters and the storyline felt forced and unnatural. There was A LOT of extraneous dialogue that I just couldn't get past. The idea behind the book was a fun idea, but the execution just didn't happen for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hera Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest option.

This book is described as an uplifting romcom, but sadly for me it missed the mark.
In the beginning I found the book hard to follow along, I think it could have had to do with the writing style.
The writing came across as poorly written and at times confusing to follow along with the story.
I found the characters to be unrealistic, Amelia the main character to be very delusional and she acted extremely immature and nothing like a middle aged mom would. Patrick came across as unbelievable, again a middle aged man wouldn't act like that or say half those things. Sian, Amelia's best friend didn't act like a best friend at all with some of her actions.
Only part I enjoyed was the ending but it was a struggle to get to the ending.
Overall, I found this book hard to follow along, and very unrealistic.

Amelia is a divorced mother of two who works in a bookshop in a small town in Wales. After her husband left her for Tarty Tanja her life has revolved around her twin sons, nutella, pinot grigio and her best friends Jamie and Sian. Full of regrets and nostalgia after clearing out her mother's attic, she recalls the one that got away, the American boy called Patrick she met outside Tiffany's in New York twenty years ago - it was love at first sight but she lost his number. Her 'friend' Sian is determined to find Patrick and makes posts on social media hunting for Patrick which catch the eye of various journalists and generate lots of publicity.

Then Patrick contacts Amelia out of the blue, not only does he remember her but he wants to meet up, he's never forgotten her and life's too short to miss second chances. He's a polo-playing journalist in New York and just as gorgeous as Amelia remembers.

For this sort of novel to work well the characters need to be drawn lightly and I'm afraid that just wasn't the case here. It was blindingly obvious what was going to happen and the clues weren't subtle so, as a reader, I just felt like screaming at my book. I don't think it helped that Amelia was delusional and heaven save me from 'friends' like Sian - I would never have forgiven her for what she did.

However, I am on a bit of a downer with books at the moment so you may find this screamingly funny and a charming romance with a twist. Who knows.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this. Amelia was such a wonderful character. I found her struggles to be very relatable and realistic. While the twist was pretty predictable, it did not take away from the experience. I would have liked for some of the other characters to be a bit more flushed out because I didn't think we really got to know them very well. All in all a very enjoyable read.

When you read the synopsis of this book, you are expecting to be swept away into an uplifting, funny romance novel. Unfortunately, this book fell very short of that for me. There wasn't much that I actually enjoyed about this book.

The writing style: Some of the sentences(context and structure) are just poorly written and feel very immature. As I was reading it, a lot of the dialogue felt fake-I could not imagine a middle-aged woman making some of the statements she was making in the book and made it feel very un-authentic.

The characters: Most of the characters were miserable. Amelia was stuck in a rut(understandably slow) but she makes no effort in the book to do something to make herself happy. There does not always need to be a man to rescue you to make yourself happy. Amelia mentions so much throughout the book-becoming a nurse, joining a running club, but all you see is her worried about finding a man. Sian is the absolute worst. From the beginning, I couldn't stand her and her desire to control the situation. And then there's Patrick...that's a whole topic full of spoilers there but again, just the way his character was written and the dialogue was again not something you'd expect from a middle-aged man. He kept "saying" phrases like "my beautiful princess" "Is my beautiful Amelia happy too"...and just yuck.

The plot holes/red flags(without trying to spoil too much): I don't know how Amelia could not see a million things wrong with the situation she was entering. As you're reading it you are just like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". There is also a huge plot hole with the timeline and weddings that didn't sit well with me.

I loved this book! It was so cute! Even out of something negative Amelia was able to turn her life around and start a new chapter. I would totally recommend to anyone!

Unfortunately I think this was for an older age group than me so I just found it hard to connect with the characters, there wasn't much info given in the synopsis so if I had known I probably wouldn't have chosen it. The cover I think targets more the 20-30 bracket, when in fact the characters in this book are late 40's. Despite this the way the MCs interacted with each other felt really cringey at times, and didn't fit what I would have expected.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish it. The characters just weren’t believable or genuine in my opinion. It was quite silly.

Pretty much read this book in one sitting!

I really enjoyed Amelia’s story, I was rooting for her to find happiness the whole time. (and screaming when I could see things going wrong) Sian and Jamie were great characters too, complex and realistic.

Life isn’t straightforward but what Amelia’s story has taught me is that you will end up where you’re supposed to be in the end.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

The description of this book sounded really appealing to me. Unfortunately I didn't find the actual book that enjoyable. It was a pleasant enough read but it all seemed a bit forced to me. I know rom-coms usually are, but this was just a bit too much in my opinion.