Given the subject matter of The Best Days of Our Lives, the new book by Lucy Diamond, you’d be forgiven for thinking this story would be all doom and gloom and extremely difficult to read. Especially as we all know dealing with the aftermath of losing a loved one can be a challenge and have such a long and devastating impact. But thankfully this story wasn’t all misery, anguish and sadness as it could have easily descended into this vein. Instead, the author provides the reader with a snapshot into the year of a family following the loss of their sister Leni and in doing so provides moments of hope and courage to all who read the book. I appreciated the honesty throughout and although the characters are each fractured and torn apart by their loss they have to learn to come to terms with the fate that has befallen them. Through many experiences and an extensive journey they learn lots about themselves and several secrets are also revealed too.

I’ll be entirely honest and say I found this book too long and it could have done with less chapters in order to condense the story a bit more. I struggled to get through the first half or so but found once I reached perhaps around the 55% mark I finally started to really engage with each individual character. I think because at this point things started to happen and the secrets and issues that each person had been hiding started to come to the fore. Connections were being made and hearts were being opened and everyone was learning to be real and honest otherwise what was the point. Yes, the first half for me dragged but as the family stumbled towards acceptance and in doing so grew and matured and at the same time I felt there was a turning point and the my earlier misgivings began to disappear.

A brief introduction has the reader meeting Leni as she is about to celebrate her 35th birthday with her family. She has constant reminders of what she had but once lost as she sees her family members doing well in life or she thinks. Leni is no longer with her husband and her long held hopes of becoming a mother are just a pipe dream. Fast forward five and a half months later and Leni’s family are deep in the grieving process although they are trying to hide their true feelings from each other particularly her brother Will. This leads to all sorts of complications as the months progress the family become ever more fractured. But this fracturing needs to occur in order for them to try and begin the acceptance process and find their way back to each other again. This is extremely difficult as Leni was taken from them so prematurely when she had an accident whilst on her bike.

What follows are chapters from each family’s members viewpoint, her sister Alice, her brother Will, her mother Belinda and her father Tony. As there were so many characters to get to know I thought things might become quite confusing but it was easy to follow each of their individual storylines and I enjoyed seeing how at some point they were bound to come together. The absence of Leni is felt keenly by her family and by the reader too. You are desperate to get to know her and to read things from her perspective but you know this can’t occur but the further the story develops you do get a sense of who she was and how integral she was to the family and how loved she was.

Since Leni’s death, Alice has fallen apart and it comes to a climax when she quits her job rather than deal with her anger issues as tentatively suggested by her boss. Her marriage is over as her husband can’t cope with what she has turned into and all the solid structures once in place in her life are gone. As Alice says ’The world spun off it’s axis and everything went dark’ and this how every family member feels. I could see instantly that Alice was filled with both rage and regret at what had happened and also guilt the reason for which becomes apparent fairly early on. She feels she didn’t know Leni in her last few weeks of life and so when she finds her diary with some unusual entries she sets about learning more. This was the catalyst for Alice starting some self-healing but really can we ever truly reach that end point in relation to this especially when all we want is that person back in our lives? Leni’s death forces Alice to rebuild things in her own life and I loved the metaphor of the butterfly showing her struggle and the symbolism of the peacock feathers throughout the book. It worked really well and didn’t seem out of the ordinary or over the top.’Sometimes the act of getting through a trauma can give you strength you didn’t have before-strength to fly’.

Belinda is dealing with her grief in a different way and her partner Ray is extremely worried about her. Hours spent talking to Leni through a psychic hotline may be bringing Belinda comfort but deep down surely she must know that this is not real at all? She may be finding short term comfort but long-term acceptance seems very far away. As her ex-husband Tony seems to have had a revelation/wake up call when it comes to his own life situation Belinda starts to realise things from the past which she desperately wanted kept hidden could be about to break through the surface. Can a lid be kept on something she and someone else have been sitting on for years? Or will a new can of worms be opened up?

As for Will, when Leni died he fled. He can’t deal with the emotions her loss has stirred up and instead he spends his days selling knock off gear on the beaches of Thailand. Initially, I got the sense the other family members were willing to leave him off to his own devices as they were too caught up in their own misery and grief. Of course, you can understand this but I felt Will was crying out for help. That the show of doing well in Thailand and enjoying the good life was just that of bravado. Will, needs a little bit of love in his life and to crack open his false exterior and reveal what is truly haunting him. Only then will he begin to travel on the road to acceptance and full family reunification.

I never thought I would be saying this but Tony was my favourite character throughout the entire story. Normally, I don’t overly connect with male characters but there was just something about him that made me very fond of him. Tony is starting a new chapter in his life. Becoming a Dad for the fourth time with his new partner Jackie. He can’t believe this is happening and is not overly keen to get involved with preparations thinking everything will be just as it was when his older kids were born. Tony is sweet and a bit gormless and slowly bit by bit as he starts to wake up and understand that he needs to change he comes to a realisation that the family that he left behind when his marriage broke down, that maybe it’s not too late to make amends with them. He establishes a family WhatsApp group in order to get everyone talking and despite his best intentions it seems that no one is that overly keen to engage with him. But I admired him for his persistence and the fact he admitted to himself that things needed to change and with a new arrival due he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes as he had done with his older children. He is devastated by the loss of Leni but without this occurring I don’t think he would have undergone the transformative journey which I enjoyed following. He tries so hard to repair family bridges and I found myself rooting for him all the way.

The Best Days of Our Lives has a sad and difficult event that forms the core of the book from which all the other events and situations involving the characters evolve from. Despite this, it is an uplifting read and there are many important life lessons to be learnt from it. Overall, I did enjoy the story and found it to be inspiring and helpful. We are provided with a satisfactory ending with many explanations given and loose ends tied up which I was glad we weren’t provided with an ambiguous ending. I would recommend this book as it was enjoyable whilst reading but as for being one of the more memorable books I have read recently perhaps maybe not but I appreciate what I took from it at the time.

This was an unexpectedly lovely read with quite a difficult subject matter. Without spoilers this is a book about grief and family andhow we deal with everything that goes with it. From the guilt of did you do enough to moving on and maybe there is a bit of light at the end and maybe even finding your happy ever after.

I do love a Lucy Diamond book & look forward to new releases.

The book begins with it being Leni's birthday & her family are together to celebrate. So much changes & Leni's sister Alice is trying to get on with her life but it's not easy!

This story will make you laugh & cry. I loved Alice & empathised with her so much. What a wonderful sister!
Enjoy this great book which deals with grief & it's consequences.

This was a great book. Full of emotion and a lot of pulling of heartstrings. I immersed myself in it fully and really enjoyed it. I do love Lucy’s books and this one is up there with some of her others. I recommend this one. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This is my first Lucy Diamond and unsure why i have never picked up her books before! This is a wonderful book and so well written, i really enjoyed reading this and was totally hooked. I would definately recommend this book and cant wait to read more of this author!

An emotional story of how everyone deals with grief differently, especially in the same family.

Although a sad topic it was beautifully written and humourous in places!

I’ve read quite a few of Lucy Diamond’s books & enjoyed them all.
This was a beautiful read that may be a bit slow to start with but stay with it as it will come together.
Alice & her family are struggling to come to terms with the unexpected loss of their sister/daughter 35 year old Leni McKenzie.
Did they know her as well as they thought?
Leni’s sister Alice is trying to piece together the weeks leading up to Leni being knocked off her bike.
She needs answers but one thing leads to another & she has more questions than answers.
Will Lenis brother can’t handle Leni’s death & feels somehow responsible.
He clears off to Thailand after the funeral as he is in bits over her death.
Belinda Leni’s mum has become obsessed with a clairvoyant in order to get close to her dead daughter.
Leni’s dad Tony who is divorced from Belinda is stressing out at becoming a father again while trying to overcome the death of his eldest Daughter.
An emotional read with some hard topics that will draw you in.
Some heartwarming uplifting moments as we hear some of the memories that people share on the internet page that was set up for Leni.
We all deal with grief in our own way & this family is no exception.
It emerges into a beautiful story as they each find their way of coming to terms with their loss.
This was a lovely story that draws you in.

I was thrilled to have been chosen to review Lucy Diamond’s upcoming release, as I’m a huge fan of her books.

The story focuses on the various experiences of grief within one family, with each of the main characters individually coping with the fallout from the loss of their daughter/sister, Leni. I liked the way the characters’ storylines and thoughts were neatly interwoven, not only emphasising the family theme, but also the fact that each member related back to a core event shortly before Leni’s passing.

I also enjoyed how realistic the plot was in terms of family dynamics and how there is no one-size-fits-all approach to grief. An enjoyable read - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars!

*Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I found this an emotional book, however it is well written and very relatable characters. Another excellent book by Lucy.

There are so many glorious things I could say about this book. Firstly, there’s something about a Lucy Diamond novel that makes you feel warm and fuzzy, whilst dealing with hard topics, pulling on your heart strings, with a plethora of characters you like and there’s usually a ‘baddie’ thrown in for good measure!

In this story we follow the family of Leni, a wonderfully spirited woman who loses her life in her thirties to a RTC. The book follows their grief, loss, and it focuses on remembrance and love in all its forms.

I honestly think this is one of Lucy’s best books to date- and I’ve been reading them for a decade. The writing is emotive and I couldn’t stop scribbling quotes that I just felt were so moving and perfectly written for the themes of the book.

‘Our tears say you were important to me, I remember you, I loved you.’

As someone’s who’s suffered family and friend bereavements, I could connect with a lot of what the characters were going through and I loved the way these were so delicately handled.

Although in true Lucy Diamond fashion, there’s always a bit of humour thrown in for good measure..

‘have you thought about planting a tree love?… it’s a lot less dramatic on the whole’.

Just gorgeous. I loved it.


I think I really did fly a bit just then. Did you see?

I enjoy reading Lucy Diamond's books and I was delighted to receive an early preview copy of this book.
I found this book to be a little slow to begin with, and it's sometimes difficult when books start with what is often the ending. This book starts with the death of Leni.
As the story starts we learn how Leni's family each struggle with their grief and guilt separately. As the story progresses we see how they are trying to come together.
This is a very emotional story, but although there is death and grief there is also fun and humour in the recollections of Leni growing up. It also has uplifting moments too.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book and I would definitely recommend it. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC.

Such a beautiful read. After an unexpected loss, we follow a family finding their way. From new partners and family members to grief & acceptance, Lucy Diamond is a great author- you completely fall in love with her characters.

Leni was the older sister to Alice and Will and Belinda and Tony's daughter, she was tragically killed one when she was knocked off her bike one evening.
Alice is devastated and can't move on so is trying to piece together where Leni was going and what she was doing before she died
Will has fled abroad and is blaming himself for Leni's death as he didn't fix her bike for her
Belinda and Tony are divorced. Belinda and her partner who is Leni's mum has decided that the memories are too much decides to sell up but is also spending a fortune on a scam medium who is supposedly talking to Leni
Tony, Leni's dad has remarried again whose new wife and is expecting a baby is estranged from the family but is trying to reconnect
Will they all be able to come together and celebrate Leni's life or is it too late?
A lovely read

A great book by Lucy Diamond. When Leni is tragically killed from being knocked off her bike it turns her families life’s upside down. This book is a tale about glueing the pieces back together. I expected a sad story but instead Diamond wrote a story which was honest, witty (I particularly enjoyed the stories from a Leni growing up). The book is sensitive to how each person deals with grief.

Another brilliant book by Lucy Diamond. I look forward to the next book.

Awww, Lucy Diamond does it again. A beautiful story written with heart and depth, that embraces you and lifts you up.

At first, I must admit I felt there was a little too much heaviness, and it felt a little slow. But then it all made sense. It was meant to be slow, in the same way that grief can't be rushed. And building the story gradually meant we got to know each character really well. To see them all deal with grief in their own way, and to see them come together, was just beautiful. Like butterflies emerging from their chrysalis', they learned to fly. And by the way, the butterfly part in this book blew me away. What an absolutely perfect metaphor for the human struggle:

'Sometimes the act of getting through a trauma can give you a strength you didn't have before'.

I've loved all Lucy's books, and this is another triumph.

Books about grief seem to have their moment right now and it's ok, though I think I'd rather read about cupcakes and bookshop in Cornwall. Whatever. This one was written by Lucy Diamond, so I had to give it a go. Last few books by this author didn't gel with me so much, but "The Best Days of Our Lives" turned out to be a poignant yet funny, touching story about a family dealing with the worst - with grief.

I had a problem with Leni, though, because the picture of her, painted by the characters, was totally different to this what the author showed us in the first chapter. I didn't like her too much, to be honest. The story, on the whole, was very character driven and the author did a good job with describing them, yet I still think that Leni was really the weakest link and I'm guessing it shouldn't be like this, I was supposed to like her and because I didn't, well, the whole story was already from the beginning spoiled for me.
The different family dynamics in the book were also really well captured. The patchwork family was interesting and I enjoyed following on their journey to accepting not only the fact that one of them is dead, but accepting themselves, just like they are.

However, I had a feeling that the story, all the feelings and emotions are a bit over the top. It was a bit overdone and the characters' behaviour was too extreme, to over the top.

It is a sad story but it's also uplifting and I truly enjoyed the glimmers of hope. It will make you appreciate your beloved ones more.

Fab book - really enjoyed it! I am never disappointed with a Lucy Diamond story, having read several of her other books. A really lovely family story, despite the tragic precis of the book, which is around the death of Leni. It tells how eventually the McKenzie disjointed family comes back together to remember and celebrate their daughter and sister. They were all independently struggling to come to terms with her loss for different reasons but in the end, it was so heart warming to see how they helped each other out.

A wonderful story of the journey of a lovely family to a new place of acceptance following a tragic event in their lives.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review, which is what I have given.

Another brilliant read from Lucy Diamond, this had me crying, giggling and left me feeling so uplifted. I adored all of the characters and will absolutely be rereading this one again!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy before publication date! 😊

I am a big fan of Lucy Diamond’s writing, and I’m yet to read a book by her that I haven’t enjoyed. This one was no exception. We are introduced to the McKenzie family on Leni’s 35th birthday. We meet her Mum Belinda, sister Alice, brother Will, and hear about her unreliable dad, Tony. Unfortunately, just a few weeks after this less than successful get together, Leni sadly dies in a tragic bike accident, and the story follows Belinda, Alice, Will and Tony as they navigate their way through their grief and their own personal feelings towards the part that they feel they played in Leni’s life and death.

This book is very character driven and we really get to know the main characters well. They are all so likeable, even Tony, who at first I was a bit unsure of. It becomes clear that all of them are fighting their own secret demons and are struggling to come to terms with Leni’s death. I think that grief is explored really well in this book, and through the different family members, we see how everyone deals with grief differently.

I loved that the supporting characters (Jackie, Ray, Jacob etc) really complemented the story, and I liked that characters such as Jackie and Ray were actually nice and weren’t made out to have that evil step parent vibe!

This book was very sad as ultimately it follows a family in the months after losing a daughter/sister, but it was uplifting and inspiring too. It did have sprinkles of humour (thanks Hamish!!) throughout, and ultimately it portrayed real life for many families.

I read this book in less than 8 hours which tells you how much it captivated me. I’m not surprised at how much I loved it because I always do love Lucy Diamond’s writing. Release day for this book is this coming Thursday and I would definitely recommend it! 😊

Thank you to Patrice and Ella at Quercus Books for a finished copy of The Best Days of our Lives by Lucy Diamond (and a bar of chocolate). I’ve been a regular reader of Lucy’s books for many years and you can read my last review here : https://mentoringmumof2bookreviews.home.blog/2022/07/21/anything-could-happen-by-lucy-diamond-2/ I’m sharing a mini review today – The Best Days of Our Lives will be published in hardback and ebook tomorrow.

As the synopsis above hints, the McKenzie family are dealing with the grief of losing Leni. Alice wants to know what her sister was doing in those last few weeks, after they fell out at Leni’s birthday. Will doesn’t want to think about his sister, because he blames himself for her death. Their parents are also dealing with their grief – all apart from each other.

Having lost a brother suddenly 7 years ago, the grief you experience is very different to the death of an elderly relative. You lose someone who you grew up with and I understood how Alice felt, trying to piece together those last few weeks.

Lucy Diamond writes believable characters who are trying to move forward with their lives after a tragic event. I read this beautifully written and emotional book over 24 hours, with a sleep in the middle, totally immersed in the story. I’m happy to recommend this 5 star book to readers of my reviews.