Title: You Only Live Once
Author: Maxine Morrey
Genre: Romance
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis
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…
My Review
When Lily’s husband dies in a freak accident, she struggles to cope with losing him and struggles to cope with life in general, and because of this, Lily becomes more and more of a recluse who hardly ever leaves her house. The only person she really sees is her brother, Jack, A very quiet and secluded life becomes her safe space, with no risk of getting hurt. And to Lily, that is exactly what she wants.
That is until her brother offers Lily’s spare room to his friend who needs somewhere to stay for a bit, Lily worries about having someone she doesn’t know in her house, but she also feels like she owes so much to her brother, and feels like she just can’t say no.
It takes a while for Lily to get used to having Jack around, but she soon starts enjoying his company and having someone else around. Jack also enjoys spending time with Lily, and slowly begins to encourage her to step outside of her comfort zone, and do more things that she used to enjoy. Lily begins to realise that you only live once, and it is her time to start living again.
The relationship between Lily and Jack is lovely to see – the only thing I feel was missing is witnessing the romance build between the two of them. As the reader, I feel like I have missed out on all the sweet parts of a brand new relationship and all the romance too. You Only Live Once is a sweet, lovely read, and overall I really enjoyed the story.
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for providing the materials for this post and organising the Blog Tour for You Only Live Once. Be sure to check out the other blogs that participated in this Blog Tour.
