Today it is my stop on the blog tour for You Only Live Once by the fabulous Maxine Morrey!
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. A quiet life becomes her safe space, with no risk of getting hurt.
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.
A lodger takes some getting used to but to her surprise, Lily begins to enjoy Jack’s company. 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…
I always find it exciting when Maxine Morrey has a new book due for release, and You Only Live Once was no exception to that rule!
We are introduced to Lily, a reclusive, widowed writer who has achieved amazing success with her novels. She is close to her brother and his family, but beyond that she barely leaves her home. She has struggled with the grief of losing her beloved husband for so long, that she has been determined to protect herself from any further heartache.
When her brothers best friend returns to the village, Lily finds herself with an unexpected new lodger. Jack knows and understand Lily’s reluctance to have him in her safe space, but as they settle into an unlikely routine, they find themselves becoming more and more comfortable in each others company.
Lily and Jack are both such lovely characters, it was easy to fall into their story. Lily’s grief and the ease with which she withdrew from society was both heart wrenching and understandable. Her fear of loss is something that most of us can relate to. Her brother and sister-in-law clearly adored her, but didn’t know how to pull her out of her safe space back into the real world. Enter Jack: The incredibly handsome landscape gardener with his own family issues. When pushed together they find themselves able to help each other in ways they didn’t realise they even needed help with.
I loved this novel. It was so easy to immerse myself in it completely – I was invested in all the characters, the small village setting was perfect with some lovely glamorous socialising thrown in for good measure! I am more than happy to recommend this novel, so go grab yourself a copy (and when you’re finished go to Maxine’s back catalogue – there’s not a single bad novel in there!).
Star Rating
Thank you to Boldwood Books, Maxine Morrey and Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour, and for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
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Author Bio
Maxine Morrey is a bestselling romantic comedy author with twelve books to her name including #NoFilter and Things Are Looking Up. She lives in Dorset.
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