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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed! I love the alternate-lives trope this novel uses, but because both the fiance's death and the move into the alternate life happen so quickly, it took me ages to connect with the story and the characters emotionally. I couldn't help but compare The Two Lives of Lydia Bird unfavourably to Taylor Jenkins Reid's Forever, Interrupted.
I did enjoy this in the end, and I'll read Josie Silver again, but I can't recommend it.
I did enjoy this in the end, and I'll read Josie Silver again, but I can't recommend it.
Entire book I said
Ruined if she picks Jonah
Could have been 4 stars
Ruined if she picks Jonah
Could have been 4 stars
I loved One Day in December, it was one of my favorite books I read last year. I struggled through this one, almost giving it up at various points. The beginning is a chore, and it gets better at about 50% in. This book is super predictable, and the characters are nothing you haven’t encountered before. It is missing the joy and heart of One Day in December. Probably closer to a 2.5, rounded up because I liked the ending.
"What would you do if you weren’t afraid, Lydia?"
I think I set my sights too high after reading [b:One Day in December|43085231|One Day in December|Josie Silver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543814146l/43085231._SX50_.jpg|56132017] and really enjoying this story. Lydia Bird's story didn't grab me in quite the same way and that was oh so disappointing. I really wanted to like this one, but it just wasn't the same, at all. The story started off alright, but by the end I was feeling some major [b:Eat, Pray, Love|19501|Eat, Pray, Love|Elizabeth Gilbert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503066414l/19501._SY75_.jpg|3352398] vibes and that really turned me off from the story. I found myself speeding up the last little bit of the story just so I could finish it.
We meet Lydia Bird on her birthday, waiting for her husband to get back from picking up his best friend for their birthday dinner. Freddie never makes it home. Lydia is devastated and she eventually gets some sleeping pills from her doctor to help her sleep. When Lydia takes these pills, she ends up traveling to an alternate dimension where Freddie is still alive and she gets to live through the events leading up to her wedding just as she thought she might. In her waking world, Lydia is, understandably, lost. Yet I found myself annoyed with her for not going back to work sooner, for ignoring her mental health for so long, for running off the first time things get tough. Freddie wasn't an entirely likable character for me either, so I just didn't quite feel the same pull to Lydia's dreamworld as I think I was supposed to feel.
All in all, this book fell quite short of my expectations. It didn't help that the synopsis of the book being pushed isn't quite what happens in the book. This is probably one of those books that didn't work for me but it could absolutely work for you.
TW: death of a fiance, miscarriage, depression
I think I set my sights too high after reading [b:One Day in December|43085231|One Day in December|Josie Silver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543814146l/43085231._SX50_.jpg|56132017] and really enjoying this story. Lydia Bird's story didn't grab me in quite the same way and that was oh so disappointing. I really wanted to like this one, but it just wasn't the same, at all. The story started off alright, but by the end I was feeling some major [b:Eat, Pray, Love|19501|Eat, Pray, Love|Elizabeth Gilbert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503066414l/19501._SY75_.jpg|3352398] vibes and that really turned me off from the story. I found myself speeding up the last little bit of the story just so I could finish it.
We meet Lydia Bird on her birthday, waiting for her husband to get back from picking up his best friend for their birthday dinner. Freddie never makes it home. Lydia is devastated and she eventually gets some sleeping pills from her doctor to help her sleep. When Lydia takes these pills, she ends up traveling to an alternate dimension where Freddie is still alive and she gets to live through the events leading up to her wedding just as she thought she might. In her waking world, Lydia is, understandably, lost. Yet I found myself annoyed with her for not going back to work sooner, for ignoring her mental health for so long, for running off the first time things get tough. Freddie wasn't an entirely likable character for me either, so I just didn't quite feel the same pull to Lydia's dreamworld as I think I was supposed to feel.
All in all, this book fell quite short of my expectations. It didn't help that the synopsis of the book being pushed isn't quite what happens in the book. This is probably one of those books that didn't work for me but it could absolutely work for you.
TW: death of a fiance, miscarriage, depression
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book took me a long time to get into. The reader is along the journey of a woman's grieving process after a terrible accident. The story is at times heart warming and devastatingly sad and is all about how life's events change our stories. I'd suggest this book to anyone who wants an introspective and emotionally challenging read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.
Rating 2 1/2 stars
I'm really disappointed that I didn't love this book because I really wanted to love it. I thought the premise was super enticing and it was a big reason I picked it up. It's a story about a girl who gets to live two lives simultaneously, one life where she's slowly grieving the loss of late fiance and another life where he never died at all. I loved the idea of a pseudo-fantasy magical realism approach to death and loss but I just don't feel like it was executed well. I just don't think the author did enough with the premise and it just constantly left me wanting more.
I also was expecting the romance element of the book to be much stronger than it ended up being. There was some romance and it was really sweet but I was lead to believe by the synopsis and the cover that it would play a very large part in the plot but the book really focuses on Lydia's solitary journey of healing and everything else was very secondary.
The book should've definitely been a lot shorter it was just way waaaaay too long. It was so meandering at times and there were multiple spots especially in the middle and near the end that I was just skimming pages because nothing of importance was happening for such long stretches of time. There was no need for a story like this to be as long as it was.
I did enjoy the writing style and I did enjoy the transformative arc that Lydia went through. I am a sucker for arcs like that where the character finds themselves at the end and grows stronger after everything they've been through. But outside of those two aspects this story left me very very underwhelmed.
I'm really disappointed that I didn't love this book because I really wanted to love it. I thought the premise was super enticing and it was a big reason I picked it up. It's a story about a girl who gets to live two lives simultaneously, one life where she's slowly grieving the loss of late fiance and another life where he never died at all. I loved the idea of a pseudo-fantasy magical realism approach to death and loss but I just don't feel like it was executed well. I just don't think the author did enough with the premise and it just constantly left me wanting more.
I also was expecting the romance element of the book to be much stronger than it ended up being. There was some romance and it was really sweet but I was lead to believe by the synopsis and the cover that it would play a very large part in the plot but the book really focuses on Lydia's solitary journey of healing and everything else was very secondary.
The book should've definitely been a lot shorter it was just way waaaaay too long. It was so meandering at times and there were multiple spots especially in the middle and near the end that I was just skimming pages because nothing of importance was happening for such long stretches of time. There was no need for a story like this to be as long as it was.
I did enjoy the writing style and I did enjoy the transformative arc that Lydia went through. I am a sucker for arcs like that where the character finds themselves at the end and grows stronger after everything they've been through. But outside of those two aspects this story left me very very underwhelmed.
emotional
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i enjoyed, although it was a little hard to read. i am so scared about the people in my life close to me passing away and how she wrote this characters grief was done really well. had me crying on and off. sometimes the characters felt a little millennial and cringe but that also just comes with a romance novel sometimes. i loved the ending and was not sure if that was the route she was going to take, but glad it was. grief is strange but also one of the greatest binders. <3