The most life-affirming and uplifting debut you will read this year. Perfect for fans of Jill Mansell, Fiona Gibson and Clare Pooley. I will say that by no means am I the perfect person with incredibly high morals (I mean who is?? 👀) but, the fact that Lydia or should I say Lily, let the lie about her name go on for so long, frankly had me feeling annoyed and left a sour taste in my mouth. I get that the whole moral of the story is that she found who she was, and that she didnt need to use a fake name to achieve that, but this whole plot point could have been left out entirely in my opinion. I also refuse to believe an almost 40 year old woman could be that clueless and naive about her marriage. But also, Adam was a real piece of work, which I'm truly glad she figured out in the end. She was beginning to develop very real feelings for her very fake boyfriend. Her very fake boyfriend who, as of that moment, still thought she was somebody else.” Jake was a super fun, interesting and charming love interest who really brought out the best in her and the ending was truly satisfying as endings go.

After all, how hard can it be to complete the list? Except number nine means that Lydia must open herself up to her past to move on with her future . . . If you’re looking for a book that will inspire adventure and to get you out of your comfort zone while still getting that Rom Com feel, this is the book for you.

This insightful story takes Lydia and Jake to the great outdoors of England on a venturesome quest to complete the list. I loved the excitement of the escapades amid some beautiful settings. Dyson deftly portrayed Lydia, who had faced losses, as a woman with flaws who made mistakes. With themes of new beginnings and personal growth, along with some surprises, Dyson's writing kept me entertained and interested.

I so appreciated this uplifting charming comedy. Prior to starting I had expected its lead character would certainly be called Lily Bennett, yet no.Lydia Grey is 39 when she’s discarded by her partner of twenty years for an Italian supermodel and ultramarathoner. He tells Lydia that she’s uninteresting which their marriage has become stale. How can she contend? Because Matt-or-Mark had a strange quirk in one of his eyebrows, and from the very beginning Lydia had not been able to take her eyes off it." I loved the addition of Lydia's family, with her Polish mother, and her almost silent, English father, and the smorgasbord of characters who make up their family of friends, Lily wasn’t like her. She might not have seen adventure before, but she’d made a plan. She wasn’t standing still, like Lydia. She was moving forwards, grabbing life with two hands and going after the things she wanted. The life she wanted.”