You Only Live Once: The laugh-out-loud, feel-good romantic comedy from Maxine Morrey

Really enjoyed this story about Lily whose husband died tragically and she dealt with his loss by cutting herself off from almost everything to prevent being hurt again. Her brother Felix and his family didn’t give up on her and kept visiting regularly.Isolating yourself doesn’t allow you to move forward, you get stuck in your grief. Then Felix convinced her to let his best friend, Jack, stay in her house until he found somewhere to live. He had lived abroad for years and now newly divorced, he was returning home to live and re-establish his business.Lily didn’t really want to share her large house with anyone, least of all Jack, on whom she’d had a crush as a teenager. Jack was determined to pay his way but Lily refused to accept money however, eventually they came to an agreement that Jack would sort out her overgrown garden as payment.The story progressed gently, breaking down barriers and preconceived ideas until the realisation that letting other people into your life is not a bad thing, in fact it can be good.It was a delightful story, a nice change of pace. I’m looking for some more of this author’s book’s now.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story but felt the ending was a bit rushed. After all the build up between Jack and Lily how they finally got together was more like a footnote and very disappointing. Up till that point it was great.

Laughed and cried all the way through. I love Maxine Morrey books how they make you feel like you know the characters. Such a great read

Maxine Morrey always writes such feel-good books! The story of Lily and Jack is beautiful, a true will they, won't they romance. Their shared history is so cute and cringey. The sense of duty that they both feel, Lily to her late huaband, Jack to his aristocratic family, makes both of their lives difficult.When they end up spending a lot of time together, feelings appear. So does an adorable dog, Clive! I loved him! I genuinely didn't know how this story was going to end, but I have to say that I felt very proud of Lily for overcoming some of her fears.I really enjoyed this book, as I always do with this author.

Great feel good book. Jack and Lily were made for each other. Great writing from the author. Must read book

Started off such a great story, loved the relationship between Lilly and Jack, I couldn't put the book down willing them to get together, sadly their date and how they actually got together was skipped, just felt like a really rushed and flat ending.

I loved this sweet, gentle romance. I grew to know the characters and loved every one of them. I was pleased it didn't have any torrid scenes as that sometimes can take away from beautiful storytelling.

I felt like the start of the book had great depth and the characters were interesting, and then I hit a point in the book where all development stopped and things were just rushed. At one point, I actually checked that I hadn't miss a whole chapter accidentally. It was one of the most frustrating things I have read in a long time.