This book wasn't for me. I didn't like the age gap. I didn't like Bonnie all that much. I did love the cover though!

pleasantly and happily surprised by this one. I loved the message it sends and the characters were super cute. I highly recommend if you're looking for something a little outside of the box.

This was an awesome book, but it was just hard for me to get through. I’m not sure if it was the narrator or just the pace of the book, but it took a while.

I really enjoyed this story. It was well written with a well thought out story line and good character development. Nice settings and good chemistry. Recommend
This was the audio version which was well read, clear and easy to listen to.

Easy read and a fun romcom! It was cute and fun. I am excited to see whatelse this author will come up with!

First of all, let me preface this by saying that I realize that I'm not the target audience for this sort of fiction, being a slightly chubby, middle-aged gay man but I thought I'd share my opinion on this book anyhow. This is my first Tilly Tennant book and I have to say that this book was well-written but...I found that I didn't like the main characters, Bonnie and her horrendously bitchy daughter, Paige. Bonnie is madding, wishy-washy and immature in many ways.

The book in a nutshell: 35-year-old Bonnie works in a green grocer to support herself and daughter Paige. Bonnie has crush on a member of a boy-band and wonders what it would be like if he miraculously fell in love with her. Guess what ? It happens but he turns out to be a vain, spoiled little boy. Max, the cute (age appropriate) veggie delivery guy that calls on her shop every morning wants to date her but she won't give him the time of day. Finally she realizes that she does indeed like the grocery delivery guy and goes out with him a time or two when out of the blue, Paige's father shows up and ruins everything. Poor old Max is dropped like a hot potato without much in the way of an explanation. Surely he must understands that she owes it to her daughter to try to reform a family with her ex that abandoned her two years prior without any forewarning. It really is such a mess. By the end of the book, the main characters have sort of redeemed themselves but still I find myself wanting to give Bonnie a good shake and say, "Wake up, you dummy !"

Thank you to Netgalley, Saga Egmont Audio and Tilly Tennant for an audio arc in return for an honest review.

This is not my usual read but nonetheless, I enjoyed it.
It is a cute book with a good plot.
Thoroughly enjoyed

3.5/5 - Audiobook

Okay, so this wasn't my favorite book, but it was cuter than expected! I think the book blurb is a tad misleading, as it talks about Bonnie and her crush on super star Holder. In reality, its more of a single mom women's fiction novel, than an overt romance. I think the kinda love triangle/ square romance was written in a way that wasn't super frustrating. The only character that drove me crazy was the teenage daughter. Overall, not amazing, but I didn't not like.

Brief Plot: Bonnie is a single mom after her husband up and left her and her teenage daughter 2 years ago. Now she's getting by, and writes letters to a celebrity crush. When fate steps in, she gets to meet this crush, and the encounter doesn't go as planner, she goes with the flow. But as one, an then two romantic interests appear, Bonnie goes from no male interest, to three. Then she's left scrabbling to bring back order into her life.

Thank you Net Galley and Saga Egmont Audio for an eARC audiobook copy of The Time of My Life, by Tilly Tennant, and narrated by Lousie Williams. This is my honest review!

I listened to this on audiobook.

I did enjoy this story, it was fun and entertaining but at the same time it was highly over the top and completely unbelievable in places, re some of the events that happened. So as long as you don’t take the story too seriously, it is an easy light hearted fun read.

The characters are all a bit of a mix bags, some you like, some you don’t but that comes with any story. My main gripe was with the main character herself, Bonnie, I really didn’t like her responses or how she acted in some of the situations that came her way, but at least she did come to her senses in the end. My favourite character was probably Max, if he was interested in me, I’d have gone out with him in a heart beat lol. He was certainly one of the good guys, which let’s face it there is certainly not a enough of them in this day and age.

As for the narrator, Louise Williams, I liked her very much, she told the story really well, gave each of the characters their own unique personalities/voice and she made the story easy to follow, so it added to the enjoyment of the story.

NB: This book was previously published as Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn.

Free courtesy of Netgalley

Listened to on audio. I'm not going to lie I'm a massive Tilly Tennant fan, and I love reading her books. This was was read for me and I realise I prefer to read her books myself.

Bonny is a single mam who lives with her 15 year old daughter Paige, after her partner and Paige's father has disappeared without telling either of them why he left and why. Bonny has a bit of a crush on a pop star called Holdan Finn, who is the lead singer in a boy band. She fantasies about meeting him and him falling head over heels in love with her.

She works in a fruit and veg shop with her best friend Linda, who is always trying to get her to say yes to a date with their delivery driver Max.

After winning a competition to meet Holdan band in a radio station, Bonny gets to take her daughter and friend to meet the band and Bonny's whole life changes and takes lots of twist and turns.

Will she ever find true love or will she do what is best for her daughter Paige.

I laughed and I cried. Got frustrated and wanted to slap Bonny for some of her stupid decisions. I would recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a good story that's easy to read/listen to.

This is your typical autobiography in that it provides a lot of great moments/insight into the person and their life but also inevitably glosses over more difficult periods and conflicts. Don Bluth is a deeply religious man (Mormon-LDS) and it is no surprise that this church Sunday school teacher and retired animator/director will infuse much of this book with his faith. At times, I felt like I was listening to an autobiography of Mister Rogers: a genial and kind man who made working in the children's entertainment medium his life's work. But there are some great insights into animation (especial thoughts on hand drawn vs. automated/computer) as well as the industry and the Walt Disney Studios. I listened to the audio version and fully appreciate that it was narrated by Don Bluth himself; as such, I highly recommend the audio version.

The book is told chronologically - from humble origins on farms and small towns in Texas and Utah to the big move to Southern California during the era of the aerospace industry growth. Animation was always his passion and a personal dream to work for Walt Disney came true when the family found themselves in Los Angeles.

Many will likely want to read about his time at Walt Disney Studios. Walt doesn't figure much into the story; Bluth was there right before Disney succumbed to lung cancer. It is a time that isn't documented all that much so it was interesting to see an inside perspective of that transitive period in Disney history. Bluth was there when the studios was in freefall, with shortcuts overtaking quality, computers replacing hand drawn/inked work, and no one was quite sure where to take the animation. In succinct terms, it was the time of The Black Cauldron, Frank Miller, and the loss of so many of the original "9 old men" animators.

As with most autobiographies, the author is never sure why certain individuals work against him or dislike him. With Bluth, who was hard championing a return to more expensive yet higher quality methods for the studios, it is easy to read between the lines that he both alienated himself as well as was too high-handed/authoritative. It is easy to see that there was no future for him at Disney and that he had burned too many bridges.

The golden period of his animation soon happened afterwards, when other studios leapt at the chance to fill the void that the Disney Studios fall had created. Bluth was the perfect person to lead the charge of non-Disney animated feature films and found success first with Steven Spielberg and then more on his own, with the last big hit being Anastasia with 20th Century Fox Animation. But as we know, the movie industry in the 1970s/1980s/1990s was highly volatile and Bluth experienced many ups and downs. The down period and failed films are glossed over here sadly.

The reminiscences of doing non-traditional animation were especial interesting - from working in the early computer game industry with a very controversial figure to make Dragon's Lair to the disappointment of follow up Space Age and countless failed later attempts to revive the franchise by fans. Those who have ever been involved in a fandom know the ups and downs experienced by Bluth in this regard. I also found the time spent in Ireland trying to create an animation studio through Irish funding interesting.

The tone throughout the autobiography is easy-going and reflective. The underlying theme is Bluth's frustration with having to enter the animation industry when it was about cost saving rather than the quality that inspired Bluth in the first place. Bluth's greatest antagonist throughout the book is money/funding, though he rarely calls it out by name.

There are a lot of spiritual observations and at times it can feel preachy. It's not obnoxiously so and this is clearly an autobiography and not an attempt to convert. Bluth believes his talent was God-given, that he was looked over by a guardian angel, and that he can remember times from before he was born. These are all aspects of the man that I do feel need to be there to gain an understanding of his thought processes and to explore the person behind the animation.

In all, I am very glad I had a chance to listen to the audio version. As noted earlier, at times I thought I was listening to Mister Rogers rather than a famous animator/director; perhaps not surprising since Bluth is currently a Sunday school teacher at his church. Bluth never married but donated much of his work to the Savannah College of Art and Design. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I read this three days ago and don’t remember any of it. Super unmemorable super boring at times I don’t know very generic

Cute and well written. Single mama with a teenage daughter, trying to figure out herself and find romance in the process. At times the daughter drove me nuts but as a mom myself, I can relate to the struggles of parenting. Overall I liked the book. I could relate to the storyline and I'd definitely recommend it to a friend.
I enjoyed the audio book as well and think the narrator did a good job. Their influx of the voices was well done.

I had a hard time connecting with this book. It was a quick read but I didn’t connect with the characters. Makes it hard to enjoy the book without connecting to the characters.

This was an interesting and warm romantic comedy. I enjoyed Bonnie’s relationship with her mother and daughter and you can’t help but root for her but I do wish that the beginning introduction to Holden was different. Bonnie seems a lot more intense in her interest for Holden in the beginning, in a way that didn’t really mesh well with the rest of the story. While I think that the interest in Holden was really interesting and that story itself would have been very enjoyable, I just feel like the push to that part of the story should have been ebbed into a bit more to make it connect better.

This was cute and a fast read I actually enjoyed the character development throughout and the chemistry for the characters I thought was pretty good

I enjoyed reading The Time of My Life. Bonnie has been a single mother to her teen-aged daughter Paige for the past two years – ever since her husband packed up on moved away. She hasn’t heard from him since and she’s ready to move on.

Bonnie’s holding it together but simply existing. Finances are tight. While she has friends, there is a noticeable lack of eligible bachelors in her small town. Then, Paige and a friend enter a contest to meet the members of a boy band and win the competition. Bonnie is elated because she’s secretly been writing (but not sending) letters to Holden, one of the members of the band. When the two meet, Bonnie sees the downside of being attracted to a successful musician.

Bonnie’s co-worker and best friend Linda sets her up on a date with Max, a local businessman who does the daily food delivery to their workplace. Bonnie has also felt something towards Max but never wanted to act on it. Soon the two are dating and Bonnie is excited. But nothing ever goes quite right for Bonnie. Holden appears at Bonnie’s door with roses just as Bonnie’s husband has returned home and wants to play happy family.

The reader cannot help but cheer on Bonnie. She’s hardworking, making the best of her situation and trying to create the best home she can for Paige. What didn’t work for me was that Bonnie was attracted to Holden. I question whether or not a responsible woman with a fifteen-year-old would fantasize about being with a man in his early twenties. Was she reliving her own youth? Had Holden been in his thirties it would have been much more believable to me. Having said that, the book was entertaining, had some very funny moments and is one that I would recommend.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Time of My Life which publishes today. The book is narrated by Louise Williams who provides a very good performance. I appreciated the ease of her performance which was easy to listen to. I was able to listen to this audiobook at my usual 1.5x speed. I recommend the audiobook edition of this book to those that enjoy this format.

Single mom Bonnie has a really boring life. Until a famous singer, a great coworker and her ex-husband plan to enamour her . Can she really find love and happiness again after her husband abandoned her and her teenager daughter two years ago? A second chance at love with funny and emotional things happening. Great audiobook

This was an entertaining, quick read. The characters were witty and if you've ever dealt with a teenager you will relate to Bonnie. Paige, her daughter, was a typical teen. She was whiny, sassy, and snippy. Their dynamics felt authentic and I found myself laughing. The female relationships were well-developed. This was a fun, light chick-lit with a romance element as Bonnie meets her celebrity crush, Holden and soon begins to see her friend, Max, the delivery man in a different light. Max was perfect! I loved how they kept running into each other and the way Bonnie’s friend continued to find ways to get them together. As for Holden, their relationship didn’t really play out as much as the blurb led me to believe and the chemistry was lacking. I honestly would have enjoyed the book just as much without this element. But it did add some fun at the end, when the ex reappeared. Yes, I said Ex, leaving Bonnie with 3 men fighting for her attention. My favorite part of the book would have to be Bonnie and Paige’s relationship. This was a fun and light chick-lit book, with a little romance thrown in for us romance lovers.

There are plenty of things that I enjoyed about this book. For instance, the plots for the three separate romances were interesting individually. The narrator did a great job differentiating characters and telling the story. I also loved the grandmother, mother, and daughter relationship. It was great seeing a single mother being represented realistically. We got to see all the ups and downs of their relationship which ultimately led their relationship to where it is now.

I wanted to like this book but, unfortunately, it wasn't for me. I felt like the Holden plotline just didn't fit in with the rest of the story. It seemed like it belonged in a totally different book. It would have been better if the author focused on the other two guys. Also, I just thought it was weird how the mom obsessed over a young pop star in the beginning. I might have liked it more if the Holden plot was an entirely separate book because it was an interesting idea.