I really do not mean to keep DNFing books, it's just I can feel the reading slump coming and I want to avoid it.

The story follows Lily, a widow, who lost her husband and hasn't really be living. She just stays in her house and only interacts with her close family. It isn't until her brothers best friend Jack comes into the picture that she starts opening up, and living her life.

The book is not badly written, it is just slow. I got 48% and I still had no courtship. I might finish this book eventually in another time, but I have other things to read. "

I got an arc of this book through NetGalley.

Pleasant enough chick lit but nothing that really grabs your interest in terms of character or plot development

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I absolutely loved this book.

Lily’s life totally changed after losing her husband. She loved staying on her own rather than mixing with others, including not being with her brother and his family on occasions.

After Jack moves into her house, would she be able to allow him to help overcome her loneliness and change her way of life, more so with her family.

It was lovely to see Jack think about what Lily wanted, and how she still felt about her husband, and that he could have conversations with her about him.

Jack wanted Lily to realise that living the way she was wasn’t something she could do for the rest of her life.

I loved both of them together, it would have been nice to know more about how they met, and their relationship at that time.

I recommend this book.

You Only Live Once by Maxine Morrey
4/5 stars

I was excited to read this book because I was really intrigued to hear about Lily's journey through her grief after she loses her husband suddenly in a tragic accident. I thought Morrey did a wonderful job capturing Lily's grief and fear of the world after the accident as she locks herself away in her house so she doesn't have to face reality. Watching Lily re-discover herself and the things she love while also falling in love all over again was so much fun to read and I couldn't put this book down.

When Jack was first introduced I was expecting the sexual tension to be all that was present between them, and while it was still there I really loved the depth their friendship ended up having. I loved that they were childhood friends who ended up marrying other people just to find their way back to each other. Jack's evolution from supposed village player to being really heartfelt and so self secure was so refreshing and made me love him so much more. I also loved the idea of Jack helping Lily fix up her garden as a metaphor for him helping Lily move on with her life and enjoy it, it was perfect!

The only disappointing part of this story was how quickly Lily and Jack finally got together and how fast the ending wrapped up; it felt like when you're writing an essay and you're about to hit your word limit so you have to finish it very quickly. There was so much great build up and then we got a small paragraph of their first kiss and hook up, we got a small page about them spending the following weeks together as a couple, and then in the span of 2-3 chapters we get their break up and their reunion. It was so short and fast and I found myself disappointed I didn't get to enjoy their blissful couply-ness.

Overall, I enjoyed this read and would recommend to readers who are fans of New Adult, Friends to Lovers, and Contemporary Romance.

This is a lovely tale about a woman slowly recovering from such a deep grief that she had buried herself in the country refusing to see anyone beyond her brother’s family. Then the handsome and charming guy she had a crush on as a girl returns and ends up staying in her house. He becomes first her good friend and then slowly brings her out of her self-imposed isolation.

I found it hard to suspend disbelief that this woman who has basically been in deep freeze for a decade is also a very successful romance novelist whose latest book has been turned into a big motion picture. But I enjoyed reading about the friendship that grew between Lily and Jack. He’s a bit too good to be true, but isn’t that true of most book boyfriends? It all resolves rather easily, but it still is a very enjoyable read as are all of Morrey’s novels.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

A light hearted easy read following the story of Lily and Jack. Lily is unexpectedly m,ade a widow and struggling to get on with life. Jack her brothers friend needs a place to stay.

It was lovely to see lily grow from strength to strength and overcome challenges. Is she able to give her heart to someone else.?

Lily is an author but can't move on after her husband's unexpected death 10 years ago and has sold up in London, moved to the countryside and become a recluse
Jack her childhood crush is moving back to the UK after his marriage broke down
Felix who is Lily's brother offers him a room in Lily's house until he gets back on his feet again without asking her in the hopes it encourages her to start living again
Will it work ?

Let me start by saying I love Maxine’s books. Although i enjoyed this book it felt very rushed and lacking in detail. Things changed quickly without any understanding as to why and many questions left unanswered.

This was my first experience of Maxine Morrey and I really enjoyed her writing style. I felt like she brought the characters of Lily and Jack alive with the little details and descriptions given, and I found myself quickly absorbed in their lives.

It was a rollercoaster of will they/won’t they throughout which had me fighting to put it down. However I don’t think *the kiss* that I’d been waiting for was done justice and it left me wanting more from it! The ending certainly felt rushed, but the build up and the way I fell in love with the characters gave it the four stars for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for a copy of the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of potential based on the description, but unfortunately it fell short for me.

The story progressed slowly and felt unrealistic. As the reader you could sense that there was something budding between Lily and Jack, but there was just no real chemistry between them. We come to understand that Lily is still traumatized 10 years after her husbands unexpected death and that she’s afraid to move on, but suddenly she’s getting naked and making out with Jack. Doesn’t fit knowing how much she struggled with her husbands death. Plus there are chapters where several weeks pass, which could’ve been used to further build the relationship between Jack and Lily. Just didn’t work for me.

The book was nice, but not as great as others by Maxine. Slow burn of will they/won't they and then it's just done without any real answers. Wish there was more for their date

I've been reading Maxine Morrey's books from the start and I've always loved them so it pains me to be even partially negative about one of them. But You Only Live Once just wasn't up to her usual high standard. Don't get me wrong: it's not terrible and I still enjoyed reading it. But it's certainly flawed. At one point, I actually thought there must be a missing chapter. One minute, Lily is getting ready to go out for dinner with Jack and literally in the next breath the scene changes to the next morning with the two of them in Lily's bed. Given that that the whole book has been building up to this change in relationship, I felt cheated that it happened off stage. There was no scene set at the restaurant explaining the change, no conversation about their feelings for one another, in short nothing to make the reader understand. Seeing as how I'm here being critical, I might as well also say that there wasn't enough of Lily's back story to explain her extreme reaction to her husband's death. When I read that it had happened ten years before the opening of the book I was hugely taken-aback.

I want to apologise to Maxine and to Boldwood Books but this is my honest response to the book. In spite of my reactions, I kept on reading and wanted to know the end of the story - well, wanted to read it; I knew how it would end if I'm being honest. And I'm still very much looking forward to reading whatever comes next from Maxine.

I loved the idea of this book. A widow and her childhood crush who also happens to be her brother’s best friend. The storyline was good, the characters believable, the crush showed how he’d grown over time since she’s seen him last. But the timeline of the book was weird. There was too much time spent on daily arguments between the two characters about who owed whom money, but then HUGE pieces of exposition just skipped past with no mention.

SPOILERS:Over 80% of the book is the will they/won’t they build up, then they go to dinner seemingly as friends where it all changed but we have NO IDEA what happened. One minute, Lily is getting ready for the dinner, and the next minute the dinner’s over and Jack is pushing her up against the wall kissing her. What switched at dinner? Also there are pages and pages about how she is not going to keep this dog Clive, and then all of a sudden weeks have past and she has decided to keep him. It just felt oddly rushed in parts.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 follows Lily, who's grappling with survival guilt after her husband died from an accident. And after years of hiding from the society, she begins to realise, with help from her loved ones, that life is a gift not meant to be wasted and slowly opens herself upto the world again and takes a chance on love.

- ~ -

I don't know how to explain the frustration I felt reading this book.

The story was going phenomenaly well with it set in a cozy, calm village, the chemistry between the characters came naturally and without any tension, the dialogues had tinges of the classic British humour we all love but did they just have to go and ruin the kiss??????
Like there was absolutely no build-up to it? I was desperately waiting for a kiss to finally lead to something more between the characters but they just cut right to it? I was not forewarned? I'm so utterly disappointed.

With that in mind, I'd like to say that while the first 75% of the story went smoothly, the remaining portion was again disappointing. There were unnecessary arguments (I usually don't mind when there's an argument between the MCs before the HEA but here it was baseless) and drama that I didn't appreciate.
Also, all the slow burn and patience it took for some development between the main characters wasn't worth it because there were hardly any moments of the two actually in a relationship.

- ~ -

3.37 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing an advance copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Living in virtual isolation after the death of her beloved husband, author Lily is none too pleased when her older brother volunteers her spare room for his oldest friend, Jack Coulsdon-Hart, as he returns to live in England after years abroad in New Zealand. As children, Lily and Jack always butted heads after her confession of a crush on him goes terribly wrong. As adults, they both find themselves burdened in their own ways— Lily with guilt and grief after her husband’s unexpected death and Jack with his parents’ expectations as the heir to an earldom. Jack and Lily find themselves surprisingly well-matched as roommates, quickly building a friendship and eventually perhaps something more. However, with this new relationship, both Jack and Lily realize they have more to lose and must consider whether they can step beyond the scars of their past.

What a wonderful read from Maxine Morrey! You Only Live Once was a lovely story about opening your heart and learning to live (and love) again after tragedy. I always look to Maxine Morrey for lovely, well-written, heart-warming stories, and You Only Live Once was certainly no exception. I will say that this book felt much more like a women’s fiction novel than a romance to me— much of the emotional and narrative energy is focused on how these characters heal from their pasts, forge a friendship, and gain the ability to trust after experiencing previous hurts. Interestingly, most of the romance and actual relationship-building happens off page, and the early days of their casual romantic and sexual relationship are glossed over as the narrative skips forward several weeks. Although I loved learning about Lily and Jack as characters and could see how they were suited for each other based on their characterizations, readers are not privy to much of their romance, and I never felt like I knew this couple as well as I did in some of my favorite Morreys, like The Christmas Project and #NoFilter. All in all, though, I still thought You Only Live Once was a wonderful story and will make a good fit for our digital collection. 4.5 stars.

You Only Live Once
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 6/14/22
Author: Maxine Morrey
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Pages: 301
Goodreads Rating: 3.59

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: When Lily’s husband dies, she moves to the edge of a tiny village, settling into a solitary life, her only real company her brother and his family. When her brother offers her spare room to his oldest friend, Jack, Lily’s reluctant – but knowing how much she owes her family, can’t say no. Slowly but surely, Jack encourages Lily to step outside her comfort zone. But taking risks means facing the consequences, and telling people how she really feels, means Lily might have to face losing them. But as the saying goes - you only live once - and being brave could mean Lily gets a second chance at love.

My Thoughts: The story was narrated in a dual timeline, which I did love. The characters were well developed and had an attraction that I could appreciate, but would have loved to see more of the courtship, as in the dates and the first kiss. While I generally love this author, there were a few things I would love to have seen expanded such as the courtship, I felt like it was rushed in the book and not descriptive enough. However, even saying that, you could feel how much Jack cared for Lily, he truly wanted what was best for her, even it meant that may or may not be him. The author’s writing was intriguing, complex, and was wonderful, even with the above. Overall, I felt this was a good book that I enjoyed.

Thanks to Boldwook Books, Netgalley and the author for an Advance Copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Jack and Lily are old family friends who have suffered losses when they meet again and end up as housemates. More of an exploration of how people process grief than a romantic comedy, this book did not entirely hit the right note for me. If you're looking for laughs and lighthearted banter, this isn't the story for you.

I read Living Your Best Life by the same author and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to reading this book. I really like the sensitivity with which Lily's loss is treated - when people suffer tragedy, there is no 'right time to get over it'. I also really liked the secondary characters, Felix & Poppy. They strike the right balance between love and brutal honesty that is unique to close family members.

I thought the plot started quite slowly and then suddenly seemed to rush to the end - the reader does not get a chance to see the moment Jack & Lily first kiss, despite quite a bit of build up - I felt a bit ripped off by that. I also found all the talk about money and who owed who what a little tedious and un-sexy. I just don't believe that successful people like our two protagonists would waste so much time talking about who is paying the tip.
Despite these few things, I did finish the book and, while the last quarter of the book wrapped everything up too quickly, the ending was satisfying.

I'm still a fan of this author and look forward to reading what comes next.

The ending was predictable, but that's okay, because I knew what I was signing up for. I did think this was unrealistic at times. For Lily to have been a recluse for around ten years, yet was fine at a large event (even going so far as to stand up to a formidable character), well, that doesn't ring true for me. I felt both Lily's brother and Jack bullied Lily. I know they meant well, but they went about it all wrong. And lovely Clive the dog. One thing, you wouldn't (or shouldn't) take your dog out, then fall asleep on the grass whilst your dog is not even on a lead. Hello? Dog theft. A good read though, and I was rooting for Lily and Jack. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having read and enjoyed other books by Maxine Morrey, I was excited to see that she had a new book coming out! "You Only Live Once" centers around Lily, a young widower who becomes a recluse after her husband's death, and Jack, her brother's best friend who is recovering from a painful divorce. Having grown up together, they know a lot about each other, but having seen each other in quite a while. Now, they're older and more battle-worn. However, one thing that hasn't changed is the affection they have for each other. Both Jack and Lily are really easy to like and root for, and the sweet chemistry they have together is so enjoyable. And Clive, the golden retriever, is easy to root for, too!

My only complaint is that we never got to see their firsts: date, kiss, night together, etc. The author just set them up preparing for their first date, we get a quick glimpse after it, and then they're a month into their relationship. I would have enjoyed hearing more about them getting to know each other as a couple. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and enjoyed reading Jack and Lily both come back to life. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

After becoming a young widow, Lily moves to a large estate and becomes the village’s “reclusive writer”, hardly leaving her home. Other than her brother and his family, she sees no one and likes it like that.

Then her brother invites his best friend, Jack, to stay with her when he moves back to England from Australia. Lily is not happy but she slowly warms to Jack. Jack, the future earl, helps her slowly learn to love again. While the plot may be a bit predictable, the details of the story are not.

My favorite excerpt that summarizes the book best is “Jack had been right when he said I was living in the shadows and I had been for far too long. It was time to step into the light, no matter how scary and bright it felt right at this moment.”

You Only Live Once by Maxine Morrey is an enjoyable read and is well written.

Thank you Netgalley & Boldwood Books for the ARC.