Thanks to Quercus Books, Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Things I enjoyed - cute characters, interesting premise and a light, well-paced read.

Things I did not enjoy as much - the writing felt a bit clunky, the story was formulaic at times and I didn't really connect with the love story between Lara and Ben.

This was a nicer read and was good for the short plane ride I was on to pass the time, but I could guess where the story was going.

This is a solid 3 star read.

A lovely feel good story set over two time periods.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This is a gorgeous read from beginning to end. This book has stolen my heart and been completely unputdownable.

When Lara's daughter Eliza begins to question her about her father Lara must face what she has tried to ignore. This is a well written novel. Easy to read and likeable characters.

Lara thinks she has met the love of her life on a magical night in New York City but something goes wrong. Years later her daughter Eliza has questions about her parentage which force Lara to revisit aspects of her history and character which she thought were gone for good. I enjoyed reading this novel, although I felt it was not Diamond's best work. I liked that she did not shy away from the complicated aspects of the various relationships but I wasn't quite able to fully suspend my disbelief. I thought at times the author was going to go in a more unconventional direction but in the end she rather seemed to bottle out of it.

Lately I have DNF'd several books. I have said that I am Marie Kondo-ing my reading. If it isn't bringing me joy then I am giving up. After several duds I was feeling a bit desperate. I went to a trusted author on my TBR. Lucy Diamond. And oh, how Marie Kondo should shake in her joy feeling boots because I felt it. I felt the joy. Anything Could Happen is chock full of it. It is the cosiest of jumpers on the coldest of days.

In Anything Could Happen we follow the developing story of Lara and her daughter Eliza. In a spurt of impulsivity Eliza goes on the hunt for her father. She has some questions for that man. The only problem is he doesn't know she exists.

We watch as Lara and Eliza find new footing in their relationship after so much has been kept secret and we see Eliza's world expand with new family in it. It was everything that it should be - difficult, uncomfortable, funny, sad, poignant and a plethora of other words but overall it was quintessentially Lucy Diamond - a lovely read.

Can I please recommend reading it alongside the audiobook. It is read by Sally Phillips and she does an excellent job.

Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond is available now.

For more information regarding Lucy Diamond (@LDiamondAuthor) please visit www.lucydiamond.co.uk.

For more information regarding Sally Phillips (@sallyephillips) please visit her Twitter account.

For more information regarding Quercus (@QuercusBooks) please visit www.quercusbooks.co.uk.

This was a nice easy read, albeit predictable and a bit slow in places. I did enjoy it but it just wasn't the best one I've read from Lucy Diamond.

Recommended for a light easy feel good read.

Thank you Netgalley.

Lara and Ben have a spark
Except they only spark once and then they lose contact until eighteen years later.

Elisa is looking for her father and when she finds him his life is turned upside down.
But it’s not a bad thing.

A lovely story of lost chances and that lives can change whatever your age, it’s about grasping opportunities when they are presented. Lovely.

A fabulous read, family saga, lost love and a very determined daughter. Lucy Diamond writes believable, likeable characters whose stores are a pleasure to discover. This book had the added bonus of the backdrop of New York and Cambridge.
Highly recommend and thank you for letting me read this book.

Lucy Diamond, Anything Could Happen tells the relationship of what feels like a main cast off three people married man Ben, his now eighteen years old daughter,  Eliza, whom he's just met and her mother  Lara. But also the smaller 'extras', slightly random parts of friends and relations that pad the story out.For example Kirsten, Ben's wife, who we learn is a midwife and has not been able to have children.  Just like the mother's she looks after who never get to hear their baby's hearts beating when she does there scans in clinic. If this is the detailed characterisation you require this is the book for you!

At eighteen Eliza has found out the man she always believed was her father is not, he was just a " solid and reliable man" to keep them safe. So a mad dash journey to Cambridge that takes 3 hour 38 minuters begins! There is a police pull over and an  ambulance call out all in the first few chapters. 

We are told that Ben and Lara met in a bar in New York and after spending a night together they agree that there is much more to their relationship than just a one night stand and agree to meet up in a bar later that day. But that never happens and how and why we are left to find out very slowly as the novel progresses and the journey literally takes us round the world!

Overall this novel is entertaining but not a quick read as is to well padded for that, but I enjoyed it never the less.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a digital copy of the book in exchaange for a honest review.

Absolutely love this author. She never fails to write a wonderful book. Lovely feel good book to read. It was a joy to read. Lovely characters. Great plot. The book was charming. Very well written. I’d definitely recommend this book

I enjoyed this one, a novel about missed opportunities and ‘what ifs’ in life where anything could happen.

I liked the characters especially when Lara, Ben and Eliza were together. There were some laugh out loud moments along with some heartbreaking moments too.

I loved the journey we were taken on with the story. I wasn’t sure how it was going to to play out in the end but I was happy with the way it turned out.

Thank you to @netgalley and @quercusbooks for my gifted ebook.

Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond is a slow burner of a book which is easy to follow and ultimately develops into an enjoyable and heart-warming read. The pace never deviates from beginning to end hence why I feel it was a slow burner, I kept waiting for a huge twist or turn from the halfway point of the book but that didn’t occur. Instead, we have a relaxed and gentle pace towards the conclusion which ultimately proved satisfying. Anything Could Happen is a real character driven book which asks many questions; Can you rewind and replay the past? Can you ever catch the one that got away? Does anyone really have the perfect family life? What happens when the big secret you have been keeping eventually comes spilling out? This is a story of misunderstandings, miscommunication, regret and above all else connections as one young girl tries to discover her true heritage. Whose genes made her who she is today? For said young woman’s mother the past is coming back to haunt her despite having resolutely and firmly shoved it to the back of her mind a long time ago? Will this haunting of sorts prove to be positive or negative?

‘She’d only just met him and already he felt like everything, a door opening to her future that was suddenly full of bright, shiny colours’. These few words alone instantly sum up the deep attraction and immediate connection that Lara and Ben feel for each other when they randomly meet at a bar in New York. From the brief page or two the reader can tell that this pair although they literally met and dove headlong into something, well they are destined to be with one another. Lara feels all her dreams have come true and she knows what she is doing is reckless but life is for living and if a connection is made that feels real and visceral then she should go for it. Work beckons for Lara and an arrangement is made to meet at an oyster bar that evening at an arranged time in order to continue what they started. Now they have met they do not wish to part but life has a funny manner of getting in the way of the best laid plans and Ben fails to show up for said meeting.

Fast forward 18 years later and life has taken a very different path from the one Lara had envisaged that summer she interned in New York. She is now a single mother to Eliza, who is about to fly the nest to university, and instead of loving her writing as a journalist she is instead a driving instructor driving the same routes day in and day out. Lara had long established an armour around herself but now it’s slipping and the wound is revealed and she discovers it had never healed. It’s wide open and she has to confront things that she has kept hidden. There is literally no getting away from it any longer. She has done her best for Eliza but now her daughter has some new found knowledge which makes her fearless. It changes Eliza and she now feels like her truest, purest self, someone who is unafraid to call out bad behaviour. She will break any rule or social code and I loved how she did this in relation to a couple she babysat for. It was a very minor part of the overall storyline but it showed Eliza’s might and that the time was ripe for her to know everything. The scene with the couple certainly brought a smile to my face, that’s for sure. But what really is driving Eliza is the question - who is her real father? A lesson in school on genes spurs her to discover the truth. She confronts someone and is shocked by what she learns. She turns to Lara for she is the one who holds the key to a secret.

I loved Eliza’s no bullshit attitude. She knew she had been lied to and was now of the age where she wasn’t going to take things lying down. She wanted answers, solid answers and not just Lara fobbing her off to get her to back down. A snap decision from years ago and now the ripples are echoing down. Eliza wants to get to know her real father whom she discovers is Ben. The trouble is Ben doesn’t know of her existence. This is where the many conundrums occur throughout the book. Lara made a decision to go solo and the reasons for which are explained in the book and to me they were justified. But it felt here that things were coming back to bite her and she had no choice but to confront what she had kept bottled away for so long. Eliza sets out on a journey of discovery but so do Ben and Lara. For life has changed for everyone since that fateful meeting in New York. Can that spark be reclaimed? When Ben discovers that he is a father how will this news impact the life he has created for himself now? The entire time you are reading this book you just keep thinking what if Lara and Ben had met at that bar when they were supposed to? Life would have been so different. Is there room for a second chance at love as the title suggests that anything could happen?

But there are so many obstacles in the way and I did feel that both Ben and Lara had moved on but yet now they have something firmly connecting them forever. There was nothing clear cut about anything that occurred once Ben was made aware of his newfound father status. There were so many points of view to consider and all were very well written and presented by the author. So much so that I didn’t know what way I wanted things to turn out. I swayed back and forth between characters several times as there were numerous problems and quite a number of solutions. No doubt about it Eliza had opened up a can of worms that perhaps Lara had wished would have remained resolutely shut but in doing so she took both Ben and Lara on an emotionally charged and turbulent journey which if Eliza had not questioned things than life would have meandered on the way it had been for many years.

We gain an insight into how Ben is viewed as the golden boy of his family but his wife Kirsten feels ostracised and overwhelmed by his sisters and mother. Even more so for the fact that children have never materialised. I have seen other readers comment that they didn’t like Kirsten as a character but I did. I felt she added a bit of spice to the mix and her storyline had a few twists that in any other book I wouldn’t have wanted but here it worked well. She feels betrayed, hurt and lied to and it’s as if now that Eliza has arrived on the scene Lara has given Ben everything he ever wanted. I felt the reactions of every character were real and plausible and could very well occurred in real life. They weren’t over the top nor was the entire concept of the book as a whole. I did think Ben was a bit of a wimp at times and it was as if he wanted nothing to be up scuttled in his life and for it continue on as normal with him in ignorant bliss but on the other hand it came across as if he wanted to establish a decent solid relationship with Eliza and even to test the waters with Lara. To be honest Ben wasn’t my favourite character and I thought the women were far better written.

Anything Could Happen is a good book all about missed opportunities. Although at times some of the chapters felt too long and dragged out. It’s not my favourite by Lucy Diamond but still well worth a read for the range of questions and discussion points it inspires.

I really like Lucy’s books and this one was a treat. Shame I didn’t get around to it earlier than now! Definitely recommend

Beautifully written easy read, perfect for holidays. This author never disappoints with her carefully constructed character and story lines. Thank you

I have yet to comebacross a book of hers that I do not love and this book is no exception. I absolutely loved rhe storyline to this and could not put it down.

Lara and Ben meet for an amazing night in New York, after which Lara falls pregnant, but cannot find Ben, so she raises Eliza alone. Eliza wants to find her father and succeeds, causing chaos in Ben's life. Lara and Ben learn how to parent together while reassessing other relationships and wondering what would have happened if they had found each other earlier. We are kept guessing about which way this will end up as little twists and turns keep the story interesting

An enjoyable read about how life can take turns that change the course of your future. Chance can lead to missed opportunities that have far reaching consequences and a chance discovery years later can maybe help to right some of those wrongs.
Enjoyed the New York scenes and it really makes you think about how your life can change in an instant.

a nice light hearted book to read keeps your interest to the end and you hope it will be a happy ending after so many years which it is

I loved the Beach Cafe series, so was excited to see Lucy back with a standalone book.
Anything Could Happen is a light and easy read, perfect to relax with over a few hours and a cuppa. The storyline was intriguing, although far fetched and predictable in places. To round up, i did enjoy it, just not as much as some of her previous books.

With many thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read this ARC, in return for an honest and unbiased review.