Once in a Lifetime is a coming of age story set in the 1980's. Our characters are in that fun time of their lives in college where they feel like they are becoming adults but the overall responsibilities are still very low. The 4 friends move over summer break to a dumpy moldy apartment in New Hope, PA. Jess, our main lady, gets a job as a waitress to save up money to study abroad in London. As a big fan of the 80's I loved all the culture and music references. Overall though, the story just fell a little flat for me. A note for the publisher - the format of this seems to be rather wonky. Every few pages multiple sentences are jumbled together and the spacing is completely gone. It became rather frustrating to read.

Ambitious 20-year-old art student Jess spends an adventurous summer waitressing for tips in New Hope, PA, a crazy, progressive river town, to save for a semester abroad in New Wave London, England. She falls for a daredevil guitarist, becomes buds with a drag queen, gets into a triangle with the guitarist and the ex who tossed her off when she announced plans for London, and tests her friendships with her avant-garde roommates. In the end she realizes she needs to do what's right for her—not for any guy. The author’s style places the reader in the book in each scene for an entertaining journey.

Overall, it was an okay book. I just wished and expected more from it. The characteristics that I did like were all very mediocre.