I am reading slowly, as it is not my native language, but so far I am enjoying the story, it is light and fun.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, the description sounded right up my street. Sadly, I just couldn’t get into it. I tried three times and made it to a third of the way through before I gave up which is enormously rare for me.
It just seemed a little silly/far fetched and just wasn’t to my taste. Hopefully others will enjoy it more. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

I won't be posting this review online. I just couldn't get into this book. To me, it read more like a draft than a finished, polished story.
I had a hard time believing that a woman who JUST got divorced is going to have a best friend pushing her to set up an online dating account ASAP. Especially when the new divorcee has children to focus on. That didn't make either character very likable.
I'm all for second chance romance, but this didn't seem like there was even a first chance. Someone gets in a cab after you, gives you their number, and that's the man you're going to turn to twenty years later when your life falls apart?
I liked the tone of the writing, but I wish the plot had been tightened up.
Not my favorite.

I'll start with the fact that Helga Jensen is a skilled writer. The sentences flow, and I delighted in reading her words and descriptions. This book just felt fun. The problem for me set in with the characters. The main character, having just gone through a trauma and admist a messy divorce, looks back on a missed connection of twenty years previously. The story follows what what-if. The problem for me, was that the main character felt a bit flat, as if she couldn't see what was in front of her due to the fact she had her nose buried in a script. Her love interest read the same; a caricature who I found it hard to believe. So while the story wasn't a complete dud, i've read better romcoms.

This book follows the story of Amelia, a recently divorced mom of two, as she searches for a mystery man she met 20 years earlier on a trip to New York. Once she finds him, everything starts to unravel as she learns about her own dreams, as well as who and what is truly important in her life.

I wanted to love this book. I truly did. However, the entire book felt like it was written as stream of consciousness. That alone made it difficult for me to truly get into it. Additionally, I found the plot to be very cliché and predictable. On that note, however, it made it a very fast read, with a quick pace.

I think where Jensen excelled with this book was in her character development. Though following many commonly seen tropes, she made the characters their own. I found Amelia to be likable, and found myself rooting for her to figure it out. While at time I wanted to shake her and tell her “he’s obviously not right for you!!”, I did develop a fondness for her. Also, Jensen did a wonderful job with pacing, as mentioned earlier. I did not find a moment where the story lagged.

Unfortunately, I will need to say I wouldn’t recommend this to a friend, unless they were looking for a quick and easy romance read. While Jensen herself seems like a lovely woman, who took terrible life circumstances and turned them into her dream, I believe there is still some growth she needs to do as an author.

Loved it! Reminded me of the shopaholics series and had a few laugh out loud moments. It was somewhat predictable at times but enjoyable nonetheless. It follows the story of amelia who was recently divorced from her husband and we follow along her journey as she goes to NYC to look for "the one who got away" chick flick literature at its best.

I love this book so much!
Amelia is the mother of twin boys, recently divorced and mostly a sensible woman. She struggles with getting to terms with how her life has turned out. When Amelia finds the phone number of a gorgeous man she once met in New York years earlier, her best friend Sian gets the ball rolling, looking for him. And despite all of Amelias attempts to stop what's going on, she soon finds herself in a huge mess. It's hilarious!

This book got me through a difficult time, (tax season), by providing a wonderful distraction and a lots of laughs. Amelia is such a lovely person who tries so hard, you can't help falling in love with her. There are twists that I did not see coming, and I loved the surprises. All I wanted was for it not to end! Helga Jensen knows how to tell a good story that stands out in the crowd. It's right there on my top romcoms list now. That's a five stars from me!
Thank you, Helga Jensen and Hera for letting me read the ARC

I was granted a free copy of this text in exchange for an honest review for Netgalley. Twice in a Lifetime was a sweet book about second chances and looking for love at all ages. Very predictable and cliche, but good for a short read to clear one's head on a rainy day.

Amelia is a relatable character. She is a mother of two looking for love who happens to find a phone number of a man she never called, and begins a journey of searching for love while balancing her family and other priorities.

Overall, Twice in a Lifetime is an enjoyable, light read. This book is perfectly paired with a soft blanket and mug of tea. If you are a fan of Sophia Kinsella, you will enjoy this. You will root for Amelia throughout.

I would love to thank Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an e-ARC copy for an honest review.

This book is just wonderful to read! So easy to get into, fast-paced and will get you hooked in so fast! The author made the main character so easy to love! This book is such a comfort read and the whole plot of the book is just so cute

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I came in really wanting to like Twice in a Lifetime: the jacket description seemed like exactly the kind of book I would enjoy. My issue was that I just couldn’t find that much in common with Amelia. Amelia’s husband has just left her to be a single mom to two rambunctious boys and she desperately wants to find love again. Packing up her mother’s house she is reminded of a chance encounter she had with a stranger in New York 20 years ago. What would happen if she were to find him again?
I struggled with how naive Amelia seems when it comes to “Internet dating” and the dangers that it possesses. I could not imagine any woman I know jumping on a trans-Atlantic flight to meet a stranger without knowing very basic details about him. Is Amelia caught up in the feeling of wanting to be loved? Maybe, but anything that seems too good to be true, probably is. I also struggled with the fortune-teller’s predictions and immediately realized how the story would go. This was just a little too easy of a read for me. Maybe I didn’t want to feel like I knew all the answers before reading, but unfortunately it was a little too expected.

This was such a cute read. I really enjoyed the pacing of this book and the dialogue. However, I think this book is more tailored for an older audience so I found myself not connecting well with the character. But I loved the romance. Very, very sweet.

***3.5 Stars***
20 years ago and thousands of miles away from her home in Wales, Amelia had what could have been a meet-cute with a perfectly mysterious stranger. Now, recently divorced from her ex-husband and ready to fall in love again, she and her best friend Sian attempt to reconnect with the one that got away, armed only with his 20-year-old phone number, his first name, and the power of social media. As Amelia travels back to New York to meet him in person, accompanied by her best friend Jamie, she's in for the adventure of a lifetime.

Overall, this was a light and fluffy rom com, filled with unpredictably predictable twists and turns and a Serendipity-esque tone. A cute story, I loved Jamie as well as the boys' shenanigans and am now really intrigued about wine with lemonade...I'm a sucker for quite a few of the tropes that popped up along the way (no spoilers!) and was super excited about the premise and set-up of the story.

I did, however, have a few qualms and hang-ups, largely pertaining to character attitudes. I felt that the protagonist and her friends seemed much younger than 48 (calling each other "bestie," saying "omg" out loud, the general naivete in their treatment of strangers, etc.), and Perfect Patrick didn't feel like a middle-aged New York man with the sheer number of "xxxx"s in his texts, which to me read as more European, younger, and feminine. Similarly, and on a more minor scale, I found the timeline of the story difficult to situate (though the 20 years ago is explicitly described as 2000, the Club Penguin reference and the DVDs make what should be 2020 feel more like the early 2010s), and I know the Disney in Florida is "Disney World," not "Disneyland," though I'm not sure if those interpretations might be different outside of America, or if an older reader would run into the same blocks there as I did. I'm sure there are people in other demographics who would fall for this book, but for me, these aspects somewhat compromised the authenticity and coherence in character voices and world building.

Many thanks to Hera Books and NetGalley for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for this free ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I thought it was enjoyable, There are a few humorous moment, a fun read.

First off, I loved the story-- a relatively recently divorced mother finds the phone number of a man she met 20 years ago but never called. Her friend convinces her to appeal to the internet for help in finding him-- and it works! Now she has to try to balance chasing her own happiness with being there for her two sons.
It was sweet and poignant and funny, absolutely a wonderful read.


I did drop a star because the book is set in Wales, with a Welsh protagonist, while Patrick, the love interest, is American-- but his word choices and ways of phrasing sentences were so off (clearly Welsh, not American at all) that I immediately became suspicious of him-- I thought he was a Welsh man pretending to be American. It pulled me out of the story quite a bit and make me suspicious of Patrick from the very first interaction with him (the whole time I was like NO THAT'S NOT HOW AMERICAN'S SPEAK HE'S LYING TO YOU RUN haha).

It was an enjoyable read and easy to get into! A light hearted romance. Loved the love and friendship between the three main characters.

this book was somewhat predictable at times but enjoyable nonetheless. twice in a lifetime follows the story of amelia who was recently divorced from her husband and we follow along her journey as she goes to NYC to look for "the one who got away"

Reading the premise I figured this would be a fun read. The premise, while not original, something that I could get into and enjoy. The blurb reminded me of the switch by beth o'leary so I picked it up. It was only so-so.

The plot
Again, the plot wasn't terribly original, but I'm normally ok with this as long as the writing is entertaining enough or the characters likeable. There was nothing wrong with the writing, or plot, or characters really, but it just wasn't as funny or charming as I was expecting. The main character didn't give you enough to find her funny, but again, nothing was wrong with her. You could see where things were going a mile away, and maybe that what was what stopped me from thoroughly enjoying myself.

The characters
I didn't Sian. I thought that the best friend dynamic could have been better or maybe it was just Amelia not being the best protagonist. The love interest also didn't spark me with enough chemistry to be that engaged. It was all just, fine.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This book has all the feels - wow! I sat down and read this in one sitting as I was unable to put it down. Right from chapter one I was hooked all the way through to the very last sentence. I highly recommend you read this as soon as it's available.

One of the biggest things that I liked about this book was Helga Jensen's writing style. It was quick witted and funny and so many dialogues almost made me laugh out loud. But sadly, I can't say the same about the rest of the book. The main character Amelia feels too shallow and whiny and I found it super hard to read through her POV. Then there's her best friend, Sian, who definitely didn't deserve to be called a friend because she was forcing Amelia to do things she didn't want and making decisions for her without even asking. It was very off putting reading that. I'd say the only likeable character in the book was Jamie who was a sweetheart. I liked the premise, but I really wish more time had been given to show Amelia's struggles with her husband's cheating and also while she was searching for Patrick