Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Leni’s family tries to piece together her last weeks following Leni being knocked off her bike. Alice her sister discovers things that lead to more questions to be answered and life starts to get complicated.

The other members of the family seem to be falling apart. Can the family start to overcome the secrets they uncover and move forward?

I absolutely loved this book. When Alice loses her sister Leni in tragic circumstances, she tries to piece together the events leading up to her sister's death. Instead of finding answers, she has more questions. A beautifully written story about loss and grief. The family must move forward and they take us on their journey. Lucy Diamond is a brilliant author who never disappoints me.

Wow, a beautifully written, heartbreaking story. This book is all about families, grief, and how everyone deals with things in their own way. I loved it, even if I did need tissues!

35 year old Leni McKenzie is celebrating her birthday in the usual way. With roast chicken and her family. Soon after she is killed in an accident and the repercussions haunt her parents and siblings. Finally realising that being open will help is a huge breakthrough. This becomes a real feelgood family read. #netgalley #thebestdaysofourlives

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the review copy!

“The Best Days of Our Lives” by Lucy Diamond is a cute romance book. It is a story of hope and love. A story on finding peace and seeking for the best in life.

It is a heartbreaking, but also a cute story. This story truly explores the different stages of grief. It is a story on life and death, but most importantly, it is a story on just how important relationships are.

Lucy Diamond is a beautiful writer. She writes incredible storylines and fantastic settings. Her stories are always on point. I do not know why I keep being surprised when I read her books, but every time I do, I am overwhelmed and surprised by her beautiful writing style.

Something else I also absolutely love about Lucy Diamond as a writer, is her ability to develop characters. They seem as if they were normal human beings.

If you want to read a cute, sweet and absolutely heartbreaking story, “The Best Days of Our Lives” by Lucy Diamond is the story for you. Although, remember to bring tissues. Cause this one will make you cry.

A family processing a death. A daughter and a sister. It was simply beautifully written the stages of grief, I very much enjoyed this heartwarming story.

The Best Days of Our Lives by Lucy Diamond a beautifully written book from start to finish but you may need some tissues handy.

Leni McKenzie is 35 years old....... She was a daughter, a sister and a best friend. However, her family will never the same again as their world was turned up side down!!! when Leni was knocked off her bike and was killed.

Leni and her sister Alice were best friends as well as siblings.Alice always thought they were close and she knew everything about Leni
But, as the days went by and Alice was coming to terms with her grief
she tries to put together the last few weeks of Leni's life.......Only to find secrets she did not know about her.

The whole family is falling apart. Belinda, Alice’s mum, has developed an unhealthy obsession with a clairvoyant, and Tony, her dad, is stressed about becoming a father all over again, what with three failed marriages stacking up behind him.

Will, the youngest McKenzie, he’s in denial, having hopped onto a plane to Thailand days after the funeral. Secretly, he’s tormented by the part he played in Leni’s death … and the thing about secrets is, they always come out eventually..........

WoW this book is so good and will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. I loved it I highly recommend The Best days of our Lives.

The Best Days of Our Lives by Lucy Diamond is a story about grief and how we all handle the death of someone close to us in totally different ways.
When 35 year old Leni McKenzie falls off her bike and is run over and dies, the whole family is devastated.. Leni was the eldest of three and Alice and her used to be very close. Will, her younger brother deals with her death by going off to Thailand and avoiding mentioning or thinking of her death.
Belinda, Leni’s mum has developed an unhealthy obsession with an online clairvoyant and is spending large amounts on phone calls to her number. Tony, her dad is stressed about becoming a father again, with three failed marriages stacked behind him.
The storyline shows how they all eventually come together to remember Leni with love and fondness, love and laughter.
Highly recommended

The Best Days of Ours Lives is both a beautiful but also heartbreaking read. In Lucy Diamond’s latest novel we are introduced to the McKenzie family who are all struggling to come to terms with a shocking and unexpected loss. We follow them throughout the following year as they to come to terms with their grief. This is a story about family, love, heartbreak, healing, and finding your own path through grief.

Given the nature of this book it may be triggering for some, there is loss of a sibling and the loss of an adult child. There are also issues relating to infertility and complications in pregnancy. Whilst these are very heavy issues Diamond handles them with the upmost care and respect.

Through the novel we follow the four people closest to Leni, her mum Belinda, father Tony and sister and brother Alice and Will. Each is dealing with their grief in very different ways throughout the story. The way Diamond weaves each characters stories throughout works so well. Never do you feel lost or confused by what is happening. This is a story about grief, love and healing and as such the journey the family goes on is very special and yet also difficult. Diamond’s analogies of the butterfly having to fight it’s way out if it’s chrysalis and the way a river will learn to flow around a pebble we’re absolutely beautiful ways to explore how we might move forward after tragedy.

This was a beautiful story that contained so much heart and lightness amongst its tragedy, such is the skill and warmth of Diamond’s writing. Its characters were written with depth and real humanity and as such their grief was raw and palpable and yet this is a novel that still manages to leave you uplifted by the end.

A heartfelt family drama, with plenty of tears and plenty of laughs. A great variety of dynamic characters and a perfect summer read

Grab your napkins and brace yourself for a very emotional, heartbreaking, bumpy road ahead! 'The best day of our lives' is a beautiful story about love (in so many ways), grief, strength and overcoming your pain to build something amazing out of it...

I absolutely loved the author's writing - her words are fluid and poetic, which makes the story engaging and deeply passionate. As for character depth and development, hands down to Lucy Diamond! She's just great.
How can you not love Alice, Will, Belinda, Tony throughout this journey?

I highly recommend it - I'm sure it'll touch everyone (especially those who may have struggled or may have been struggling with grief)

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley and I'm very thankful for having had the opportunity to read such a great book.

It seems I will be in the minority with my review, I score this as 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.
This is not my usual genre of novel, and I struggled to get into it, as I was unsure where the story was going. It does take concentration to focus on the many different characters, and their convoluted relationships within the ‘Mackenzie family’ circle.
I applaud the author’s intent of describing the pain and hurt felt by all members of a family when a much loved part of that family is killed so suddenly and shockingly. The ripple effect spread throughout Leni and Alice’s immediate and extended family circle, But the narrative felt slow and ponderous at times, there were big chunks where nothing much happened to anyone. It was all about their feelings, which became a bit tedious. I skim read these parts.
I found the closing chapters to be completely implausible. Sadly real life is not like this, with everyone smiling happily at the late Leni’s ‘ birthday’ party, all conflicts resolved lovingly and without any rancour or ill feeling. It was just too saccharin sweet and unbelievable for me,
And what about ‘watching out for the mouse’ ? What was that about? It was never explained, apart from who it was, but not what he was up to?
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

A heart warming family drama with a delightful cast of characters. Highly recommended, and a perfect holiday read.

This is the first book I have read by Lucy Diamond. She is an impressive writer. Her characters are real and very well developed. This book is about the grief experienced by a family when one of them is tragically killed. We delve into each of their stories of how they reacted and coped. It is not without humour.

I’ve read and enjoyed many of Lucy Diamonds novels. This one is a deeper, more intense offering. The loss of a family member is difficult especially a premature and unexpected one. Grief, loss and family dynamics combine into a beautiful and moving story. Highly recommended.

What a book! I'm sure I've loved every book I've ever read by Lucy Diamond, but i think this one has to be my new favourite.

I really enjoyed the format in which it was written; so not only could we see things from both past and present, from multiple viewpoints, we could see their shared exchanges / joint moments in the format of texts etc.

This book took me on a journey because I got to see/feel so many real emotions, as exhibited by the characters within. We also get to see the family working through their grief and finding themselves after such a devastating loss. It really hit home the importance of family togetherness and how it is always good to be open/honest with yourself and others.

I did get a little confused between the introduction and the first chapter, as it took me a little while to realise the sisters / perspectives had switched.

Love Lucy Diamond books and this is no exception. Alice and her older sister Leni are best friend as well as sister than the unimaginable happens when Leni is knocked off her bike. It then tells the story of how her family deals with Leni not being there

This book is all about how a family each get through the loss of their daughter/sister after her shock death in an accident, but I wouldn't call it a sad book, even with that subject matter.

Each family member (Mum Belinda, Dad Tony, sister Alice and brother Will) deals with the grief of losing Leni in their own way. Belinda through consulting a clairvoyant and spending ridiculous amounts of money to 'talk' to her daughter, Will by running off to Thailand to sell tourist 'rubbish' on the beach and Alice by becoming obsessed about Leni's last few days and what she was doing from appointments in her diary that aren't very clear. The only one with any sense was dad Tony.

Belinda and Tony had split up many years ago and had different partners, Tony having had more than one significant other over the years, but now currently settled with a younger partner who is pregnant, so he's about to become a dad again. Tony sets up a WhatsApp group to try and talk to everyone again and get them all talking to each other, which was an actual stroke of genius on his part as things start to slowly resolve themselves. Tony was initially painted as the 'bad' guy a bit in the break-up of their marriage, but circumstances are not exactly as initially portrayed and I really liked his character, and his partner Jackie, who I would have liked to see more of in the story.

Everyone blamed themselves in their own way for Leni's death, even though it was no-one's fault. The only one who annoyed me was Alice, as what Leni was up to in her last days consumed her to the point of obsession and took over her whole life.

By the end though everyone had slowly worked through their grief and guilt and come out the other side as a much closer family, which was really nice to see. A very enjoyable book.

I have read a few of Lucy Diamonds books and this one was slightly different, a lot deeper than my previous reads. A bit of a slow burn at first, I wasn’t sure if I would get into it but I did & it’s an emotional rollercoaster.

Dealing with the loss of Leni the Mckenzie family are all coping in their own ways, this book follows each of them and the stories all intertwine. (Which I am always a fan of)

Thanks to Quercus books and NetGalley for a digital ARC

Deeply moving……The Best Days of Our Lives is beautifully written; the nuances and differences between everyone's grief is sensitively illustrated and Lucy Diamond masters the fine lines from each of their perspectives.