User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
this is a complicated book for me to rate and review.
my immediate reaction is that i enjoyed it - hence the 4 stars. i must be a glutton for heartache, because ‘loss of a significant other’ is a romance trope i actually quite enjoy, even though it breaks my heart every single time. there is just something so comforting about seeing someone deal with unimaginable grief and become stronger because of it. the heart surely is a resilient thing.
that being said, if i took the time to dissect and nitpick this much more thoroughly, i would find some aspects of the story that are a tad problematic (mainly how freddies character is handled towards the end). but i think i will just keep my thoughts focused on the positives of this book and see it for the heartfelt and touching story that it can be. because this truly is a great representation of grief and coping and learning to love again.
↠ 3.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
5 Lovely Lyrical Magical Stars
Do you believe in Magic? In the possibility of getting back the life you lost?
For Lydia Bird, that possibility becomes a reality when her best friend and fiancé Freddie Hunter passes away in a car crash and she discovers a magical way to “be” with him again. Best Friends, the love of each other's lives, and hopeless romantics. Lydia and Freddie had it all, until one day, that love was taken away from them, leaving Lydia’s life in shambles. Her mother, her sister and Jonah Jones (her other best friend), are left to pick up the pieces. Lydia doesn’t know how she’ll survive, until “it” happens. Until she discovers a lovely and captivating way to “be” with Freddie. What happens when her “real” life calls to her? The place where she has begun to find her true self, to let go and begin again.
Torn in two, Lydia must make a choice. In “The Two Lives of Lydia Bird” I found myself completely taken in, hypnotized and mesmerized, by Lydia, the idea of magic and true love. Tears fell and I no ability to stop them. I fell for Lydia, Freddie, Jonah, Elle, Ryan and all of Lydia’s coworkers. This novel cast a spell over me and then some. It is lovely, lyrical, heartwarming and heart-wrenching and I loved it with all of my heart. I loved “One Day in December” - Josie Silver’s debut, and was eagerly awaiting her follow up and this does not disappoint.
This was a delightful buddy read with Kaceey, (of course)! Thanks for sharing in this magical read with me Kaceey!
A Huge thank you goes out to Colleen Nuccio at Random Publishing House - Ballantine, NetGalley and Josie Silver for the arc.
Published on Goodreads and NetGalley on 12.25.19.
Rating: really liked it
Perfection. That is the one word I would use to describe The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.
This novel has stolen my heart with it’s beautiful storyline, with the intensity of emotions it awoke in me.
I honestly can’t even remember when was the last time I fell in love with the book so hard…
If I’m not mistaken, it was back in 2018 when I read One Day in December, that was one of my favourite reads that year.
If nothing (but it’s not nothing, it’s everything) this book showed just how amazing Josie Silver of a writer is.
She wrote two novels, and they both were stunningly written with emotional, heart shaking but beautiful plots, and characters one can’t help but get attached to.
I now am sure I don’t want to ever miss a piece of work written by this incredible author! I want to support her as long as my eyes can see, as long as my brain can recognize the sentences…
I loved the magical element that is the foundation of the story, but also how it affected the main character and the way the story developed.
The story is written in first person, with Lydia as a narrator.
It is beautifully written and even though the book has more than 400 pages it didn’t feel like it.
I wished it was longer, so I could spend more time in this world, with these wonderful characters.
I rarely cry while reading, but this book made me shed some tears.
That one scene, with lighting up candles, was especially emotional. It was my favourite scene in the whole story.
The story wrapped up in the most satisfying way. I hoped it would end up that way, and when it did, I was overwhelmed in a good way. I approve it 100%.
I will mention only one more thing: I want to praise Josie Silver for mentioning my county, Croatia. I was in Makarska many times in my life and I loved reading about it in one of the most beautiful books.
In the end, if I could make you want to read one book from my recommendations list, I would chose this one, because I am sure it will touch many hearts and I hope it will move yours too.
I am so thankful I had an opportunity to read this wonderful novel and I truly believe I will carry it in that part of my heart reserved only for favourite stories, for the rest of my life.
Read this and more reviews on my blog https://bookdustmagic.com
Rating: really liked it
I read to 53%, and was completely bored so I started skimming. I then read the last 5% and realized I could not care less what happened between 53% and the ending so I set it aside.
I enjoyed the authors last book but this one was not for me. I’m leaving it unrated.
Rating: really liked it
A beautiful, hypnotic love story! Lucky Lydia! She has it all. Let’s start with her charming Fiancé Freddy, then there’s her best friend (and Freddies’) since they were school kids, Jonah. And let’s not forget her dear mom and sister. She’s positively over-the-moon happy with her picture-perfect life.
Today is Lydias’ Birthday. But there won’t be anything happy about this day. Life is about to take a serious turn for the worst after her Freddie is involved in a tragic accident
Lydia is in the grips of immense grief and finds it quite impossible to move on.
Finally her sister steps in, taking her to get some much needed help. First step... sleep! If Lydia can just sleep a few hours then maybe the healing process can begin.
She’s given a prescription for a trial medication. One that will let her sleep deeply and dream vividly! But are these really just dreams?! Is she still able to have the life she always wanted?
When I read Josie Silver’s previous book
One Day In December I was captivated. So when I saw her latest release was available, I was first in line! And yup…I loved this one even more!
Josie Silver writes from the heart. A profound love story that touched my soul and left me once again in a puddle of tears. An absolute must read for 2020!
A buddy read with Susanne that we both loved💖
Thank you to NetGalley Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Josie Silver for an ARC to read and review
Rating: really liked it
Josie Silver follows the fabulous One Day in December with this in depth study of the heartbreaking grief and loss experienced by Lydia Bird when on her 28th birthday, her fiance, Freddie Hunter dies in a car accident, whilst his best friend, Jonah Jones, whilst injured, lives to walk free. Lydia lived with Freddie in Shropshire, her whole life had revolved around him since they were fourteen years old at school and they were planning their wedding for the following year. To say that Lydia's life falls apart is an understatement, the overwhelming grief is too much for her, and adjusting to life without Freddie is not a scenario she can accept. Silver uses the device of sleeping pills that offer Lydia the surprising pathway through lucid dreaming to continue her life with Freddie. This allows her to escape the harsh, unforgiving landscape of grief and avoid passing through that challenging process sentiently.
However, it means that her waking hours are to be endured and survived whilst she lives her real life with the love of her life with Freddie in her sleeping hours. This is, of course, problematic for all those who love Lydia, her mum, and her best friend and older sister, Elle. It takes her some time to become aware that they are supporting her through the wreckage of her life, the guardians of her sanity. Her feelings towards Jonah are complicated and she just can't face him, even though her friendship with him is even longer than that with Freddie. Through the years they have been a close knit trio, even though Lydia had resented him at times. It is Jonah that helps her by getting her to attend a grief workshop when she really did not want to. It takes almost 3 months before a fragile Lydia can make herself go back to work, only to understand that Phil, Ryan, Julia and Dawn have been there for her in ways that had just not crossed her mind.
It begins to dawn on Lydia that she has reasons to live in the real world and slowly acknowledge the hitherto impossible concept that perhaps there will be someone for her after Freddie. It is oh so hard for her to let go of Freddie but having to live without him is beginning to change her, she can no longer be the same woman she used to be, she must inevitably evolve. Josie Silver writes a compulsive tear jerker, of a young woman having to come to terms with her world falling apart, struggling through the process of grief until she is strong enough to pick up the pieces of her life and forge a new path for herself. It is Silver's wonderful writing, with bags of humour and her brilliant characters that makes this such a great read and I have no doubt that so many readers will absolutely love this. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.
Rating: really liked it
This was pretty much exactly what you would expect it to be and it was (mostly) delightful! My only real complaint about this one is that it almost felt like it went on a little long for my personal tastes. I was completely gripped for the first half (seriously, I was crying like every other chapter), but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the last third of the book lost my attention at times because the story dragged on for a bit too long. Overall, this wasn't a perfect book, but it was a surprisingly fun read given the subject matter and I do recommend if you're into romance and journeys of self discovery.
TW: death of a loved one, miscarriage, drug use (sleeping pills)
Rating: really liked it
it’s like one day in december but somehow even less palatable
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars
Lydia thought she and Freddie would be together forever. Happily, ever after was her goal. But life had other plans. On her twenty-eighth birthday, Freddie died in a car accident. Initially, she shuts down and doesn't want to move on, doesn't want to go out. Her sister and Mother try everything. Finally, Lydia agrees to get some sleep in her room and NOT the couch. This is where things get interesting. In her dreams, Freddie is alive, and they continue living their lives together.
Soon, Lydia begins to go out into the world, but she also can't wait to get back and go to sleep. Finally, with the help of Jonah, her sister, and Mother, Lydia begins to live again. How can she move on? What will life be like without Freddie? Will she ever be able to live again?
I loved One Day in December and couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. This one lacked the magic and pull of that book, but I still found this one to be enjoyable. Mainly because I could relate to Lydia in this book. In my 20's I was engaged, and my fiancé died in a car accident, so this one hit close to home with me. Lydia's grief resonated with me and I could relate to her grieving process. I thought Josie Silver did a great job with this.
I will say that this one got a little slow in the middle and I struggled to maintain attention. I would have liked it to move a little bit faster at this point. The highlights for me were how grief as handled and the "dream world" that Lydia lived in with Freddie. I also loved the relationship between Lydia, her mother, and sister.
This book deals with loss, grief, moving on, starting over, family and love.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
Rating: really liked it
Gotta love a book that has you sobbing in the wee hours of the morning!! Such was the case with Josie Silver's new book,
The Two Lives of Lydia Silver .
Life can change in a split second. One second Lydia was waiting for her fiancé, Freddie, to arrive at her birthday dinner; the next second she learns that he was killed in a car accident on the way.
"It's probably for the best if the last time you do something momentous passes you by unheralded: the last time my mother collected me at the school gate, her hand reassuring around my smaller one, the last time my father remembered my birthday. The last time I spoke to Freddie Hunter as he dashed back to see me on my twenty-eighth birthday. Do you know what the last words he said to me were? Over and out."
Lydia and Freddie have been a part of each other’s lives since high school, and she has loved him since she was 14. She doesn’t know how to get through a day, let alone the rest of her life without him, but her family and friends try to help her navigate her grief.
One day she discovers a world where Freddie is still alive, and there, her life goes on from that fatal night. She cherishes every additional moment with Freddie and gets to envision picking out her wedding dress, the simple moments of sharing a life together. Little by little, though, she begins to see that even the fairytale life she's witnessing has its rough spots in unexpected places.
As she takes tentative steps to regain control of her life, she has to decide: live for what could have been despite its challenges, or live for now, and be present for those who love you. It’s a difficult decision for Lydia to make.
"There isn't a handy grief blueprint. You don't get over losing someone you love in six months or two years or twenty, but you do have to find a way to carry on living without feeling as if everything that comes afterward is second best."
Sure, the premise of the book is a little unrealistic, but I just found it so moving and beautifully told. I didn’t always love Lydia’s character but I just loved this story, and I so enjoy the way Josie Silver writes, having been totally besotted with her debut novel,
One Day in December .
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Rating: really liked it
Well this was a hell of an emotional roller coaster! I spent much of the book confused and then BAM 💥 it clicked and it brought me to tears… anyone that has suffered a loss can relate. The ending is .... fabulous ❤️
This is a very emotionally charged read for me. Like I said, most of the book had me confused and a bit frustrated until I figured out what was really going on with Lydia Bird. Now nobody truly knows what is going on with a character, except the author themselves. So we all have a personal perception of what we think unless it is completely spelled out for us. So this was my take on Lydia and it crushed me and then the ending made me smile.
So odd to struggle a bit throughout a book and then have it be a 5 star read. I know, it seems weird but hear me out. The book is split into chapters of "asleep" and "awake." I loved the awake chapters but the asleep chapters...well I was scratching my head going umm ok. Until I figured out what the sleep chapters really meant- or so I think.
Lydia would fall asleep and dream her fiancee Freddie was alive and well and they were living their life. In the awake chapters, Lydia would have to face the grim reality - that Freddie died suddenly while on the way to her birthday party. There is no Freddie and Lydia.
As many of us, I have faced a loss of a loved one that tore my heart out, destroyed my life. Everyone deals with grief differently. For me, sleep was like an escape from the terrible reality. Then there is the moment when you wake in the morning and you lie in bed for a minute and you are groggy still. You spend every single moment thinking of your loved one and this is the one moment in the day that your mind doesn't remember that they are gone...and then it does and you think "oh yeah." I feel like Lydia's sleep chapters were the same. It was her way of dealing with her grief. As time goes on she slowly needs this escape less and less.
Realizing this and then the ending was so heart touching that it quickly got bumped up to a 5 star read for me. Lydia Bird I loved you even though your story stirred up way too many feels. A beautiful story and I loved, loved, loved this ending.
Rating: really liked it
'The Two Lives of Lydia Bird' is the new novel by Josie Silver, the author of last year's women's fiction sensation 'One Day in December'. I enjoyed One Day in December but this book...
This book is on another level compared to that! It is thoroughly gripping and truly emotional.
The story follows the titular Lydia Bird as she struggles to deal with life in the aftermath of her fiancé Freddie's sudden and tragic death. In the waking world we see Lydia shut down and find herself listlessly moving through her life. She is given pills to help her to sleep and these pills somehow cause her to experience what I can best describe as lucid dreaming episodes in which her life with Freddie continues as normal past his death.
Lydia is torn between these two worlds and somehow needs to find her way through to a place where she can begin to rebuild her life.
This book is really brilliant how in how it creates a perfectly believable alternate life for Lydia that never felt strangely far-fetched. The narrative choices of this novel are wonderful at how they illustrate grief, loss and how such a monumentally life changing life event forces you to become a new version of yourself.
It was so moving to read about Lydia's struggles in her waking life and how these struggles began to subtly change her relationship with Freddie in the lucid dreaming world. I really loved Lydia as a character. I felt she was beautifully complex and quite an authentic feeling character in that she never felt overly perfect (i.e. a special snowflake style character) but instead had flaws which made her feel all the more relatable.
I also really adored the relationships that the author created between Lydia and all the other characters. Each relationship be it her romantic relationship with Freddie, her familial relationships with her mum and sister, or her friendship with life long friend (and Freddie's bestie) Jonah all felt unique and interesting to read about as the author really expertly and sensitively created relationships that at times were deepened and at others strained by the all encompassing grief that Lydia was going through.
The pacing of this story was nigh on perfect too. I loved how the author took us on an approximate 18 month journey with Lydia in this book as it really helped to show how grief impacts a person in both the short and long term. Nothing felt rushed nor did it feel too slow. And to me the ending was incredibly satisfying and had the perfect tone of both sadness and optimism for the future; perfectly bittersweet.
I would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy getting swept away by emotional women's fiction.
four and a half stars*An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
For more reviews and book related chat check out my blog
Rating: really liked it
"The Two Lives of Lydia Bird" by Josie Silver is a story of loss, grief and finding hope for the future!
Lydia Bird is in love with her Fiancé Freddie Hunter! They've been together forever! Well, almost forever, since they were 14 years old.
Today is Lydia's twenty-eighth birthday and she's expecting Freddie any minute now to celebrate together. One problem though, Freddie dies in a tragic car accident and never arrives.
Now Lydia is without Freddie, all alone, crying her eyes out and hiding from the world. She's paralyzed with grief. She doesn't want to eat. She can't seem to sleep. If only she could...
Lydia is finally given a prescription for a trial medication to help her sleep. Glorious, glorious restful, dreamy sleep!
Oh! The dreams she dreams! Dreams with Freddie. It feels like she's awake continuing her life where Freddie is still alive. A life where she can talk to him, touch him, be with him!
But, then she wakes up and it's back to life without Freddie, with only her grief...
Protagonist Lydia gives her first person POV in chapters of 'Awake' describing her struggling life without Freddie and in chapters of 'Asleep' describing her dreamy life with Freddie still alive.
Can Lydia continue to live in two parallel worlds indefinitely? Does Lydia believe Freddie would want this for her? Wouldn't he want her to live a full and happy life without him? Perhaps even find love again?
Lydia is by far my favorite character as she leads the reader through this book. Her daily struggles without Freddie are realistic and heartbreaking. Her nightly dreams of what life could have been if Freddie hadn't died feel realistic, too. After all, missing the life Lydia felt she was destined to live is part of her grief, too, right?
Jonah Jones, Freddie's BFF, who was actually friends with Lydia before he met Freddie, is also a favorite character. The loss he feels for his best friend is palpable, his grief genuine, raw and personal.
Elle, Lydia's sister is in this story to be the great support that Lydia needs. Everyone needs a sister like Elle, who is always there for you, holding you up so you don't fall, giving you hope when you have none.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Olivia Vinall really made the character of Lydia come to life. She added appropriate voice inflections to peak interest and emotion and her voicing of all characters was quite distinguishable. But most undoubtedly, she was the voice of Lydia for sure!
I loved the way the author handles the topics of loss, grief and opening your heart again. This is Lydia's story, but it is just as much Elle's and Jonah's story, too! They shared it every step of the way with Lydia and she was lucky to have them both!
Oh! And, then there's that ending! It's the best!
I highly recommend this book to those who love Women's Fiction! It's a very worthwhile read!
4.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
Lydia is an interesting character. I loved her relationship with her sister and mom. ❤️ I imagine how lost I’d be, if the love of my life died. Obviously I’d be devastated. 💔 But I have too much tethering me to my reality (kids, family) to understand the ‘check out of life’ idea. In any case, this was an interesting theory of alternate reality versus mental break.
Rating: really liked it
This is a Women's Fiction/Chick-Lit/Magical Realism, but I do not feel this is a romance. I really loved this book. This is story of good-bye and letting someone go after they pass away. I love all the characters, and the magical realism part I really loved. I listen to the audiobook of this book, and I loved the audiobook.
