Happy publication day, Colleen Coleman! #ForOnceInMyLife is available to buy as of TODAY! I am so excited to kick off the blog blitz today with my review. Many thanks to Bookouture for the blitz invite and ARC.
Twenty-nine-year-old Lily Buckley planned to be happily married and in her dream job by now. Instead she’s been single since being left at the altar three years ago, and works at her local paper, writing about giant vegetables at the village fete and a dog who looks exactly like Chewbacca.
Not quite what she was dreaming of.
So when Lily’s given the opportunity to write her own column it’s exactly what she’s always wanted – except what she has to write about. She has to do one thing every week that scares her.
With encouragement from sexy colleague – and adrenalin-junkie – Christopher, Lily agrees. From sky-diving to haunted houses, Lily is going to be pushed to her limit. But Lily is hiding something – the thing that she fears the most of all…
Ever since her heart was broken Lily has been afraid of falling in love again. Will fear hold her back once more – or can Christopher help her to finally find happiness?
What does TWG think?
Move over Beyonce, there’s a new sassy lady in town!!
Lily has never felt….good enough. She’s never felt….worthy. She has never felt like she belongs. Ever since she had her heart smashed into a pulp, Lily decided to take the number 20 bus to ‘I’ll never fall in love again’. Some of you might be familiar with it. Hell, some of you might even be familiar with Lily’s feelings. Haven’t we all felt like that at one point in our lives? I certainly have! I’ve never felt good enough for anyone, I’ve never felt worthy, and recently thanks to my character being tarnished, I feel like I cannot be myself. Just like Lily. I’ll be honest – I didn’t want to relate to her. I didn’t want to find myself nodding along when she expressed her thoughts and feelings, purely because of the negativity that is shown towards people who don’t feel good enough. I’m sure you’ll understand if you have been in that position.
Anyway, sorry, I’m veering off a little. With no wedding to plan, no honeymoon to embark on, and no pitter patter of tiny feet coming her way, Lily threw herself into her job only to watch her safety net fall down around her. Well, do you honestly think that she would have let that happen?
For once in HER life, Lily embarks on tasks which scare the bejeezus out of her so that she can then write about it for her colomn. A work type bucket list if you will. Bonkers? Perhaps. Thought provoking? Definitely! I know and you know that Lily could have easily turned round and told her colleagues where to go, but she didn’t. She took their ideas, grabbed them by their youknowwhats and gave it her all despite being scared shizzleless. It was as though Lily was sticking two fingers up to the person who wronged her several years ago, by showing them that she didn’t need them in her life to actually live it. It’s one thing to sit there and think about doing adrenanlin inducing things, but it’s a completely different ball game to go and actually do them and to allow yourself to be proud of your own accomplishments.
At the start of the book, Lily was a very guarded and unsure type of character. A person who wanted her loved ones to be happy before she even made herself happy. A person who, deep down, knew she was worth more than she gave herself credit for, but had absolutely no idea how to believe it herself. But, by the time I reached the end of the story, I had watched Lily grow and flourish before my very own eyes and yes, I actually felt quite emotional watching that happen because I had had faith in her from the beginning.
Colleen Coleman doesn’t just write novels which make me snort attractively like a pig wearing a bow, nor does she just write books which are laced with copious amounts of sassy wit. No. She writes novels from the heart, speaking to her readers through relatable situations with relatable characters, and boy does she do it brilliantly.
‘For Once in My Life’ is a brilliant, life-affirming novel which is guaranteed to give you a kick up the toosh when it comes to having faith in yourself and what you deserve. I thought the whole concept with Christopher was very, very clever, and I loved how it all came together so naturally as though it was meant to happen all along.
I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again; move over Beyonce!! Lily is about to steal your sassy crown! Wow – the sass alone is enough to re-ignite fire in bellies, that’s for sure!
Colleen Coleman never disappoints – in actual fact she gets better and better with every new release!
I loooooooooved it and everything it stood for. Poignant, hilarious, sassy, thoughtful, heart-warming – an all round belter of a book! Amazing!
Buy now!
About the author.
Colleen was born in Canada and raised in Ireland. She is the winner of the much-coveted Novelicious Undiscovered People’s Choice Award launched to find the next ‘chick-lit star’.
She spent years teaching English and Philosophy before finally taking a deep breath, scrunching both eyes shut, putting her pen to paper and vowing not to lift it again until she wrote the words ‘the end’. As a result, her first novel, Don’t Stop Me Now was born.
Colleen lives between London, Ireland and Cyprus with her very patient husband and very,very chatty twin daughters.
Author Social Media Links:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/CollColemanAuth/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CollColemanAuth
WEBSITE: www.colleencolemanbooks.com
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