I so appreciated this uplifting charming comedy. Prior to starting I had expected its lead character would certainly be called Lily Bennett, yet no. I wanted to like this book so bad, it had all the right ingredients for an amazing feel-good finding yourself love story, but it just didn't meet the mark for me. Thank you to HarperCollins, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! The most life-affirming and uplifting debut you will read this year. Perfect for fans of Jill Mansell, Fiona Gibson and Clare Pooley. After all, how hard can it be to complete the list? Except number nine means that Lydia must open herself up to her past to move on with her future . . .

Jake mistakes Lydia for Lily when he offers to help her complete the list, but tempted to be someone – anyone – other than plain old Lydia Grey for once in her life, Lydia doesn’t correct him. Jake was a super fun, interesting and charming love interest who really brought out the best in her and the ending was truly satisfying as endings go. I felt empathy for Lydia wanting to become more adventurous, attempting the difficult challenges encouraged by Jake who believes that Lydia is Lily Bennett. But Jake also has secrets of his own. Get In Jake Jones, a table tennis pro that has actually recently retired after damaging his wrist. At their first conference Jake thinks that given the name on the listing that she is Lily Bennett. Lydia figures it will be ok “since Jake was just going to be her experience close friend. Did it really matter so much if he never understood her actual name?” This book is fantastic and shares a great message to its readers. Hold onto those who bring out the best of you and let go of the ones who try to change you. This book gives you strangers to lovers, adventure, love, tears, and so many laughs. I have can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard while reading a book.Lydia Grey had become so accustomed to bad dates that she didn’t even flinch at the unexpected warmth of someone else’s tongue in her mouth. The man smelt nice enough, fresh and masculine, and he kissed with a vigour which she was sure came from a place of passion, but something about the rhythm of his movement and the firm grip of his hand on her shoulder left her cold. His name was Matt, or maybe it was Mark – she wasn’t sure. He’d introduced himself, of course, but Lydia had been so distracted that she’d only half heard him. Lydia Grey is 39 when she’s discarded by her partner of twenty years for an Italian supermodel and ultramarathoner. He tells Lydia that she’s uninteresting which their marriage has become stale. How can she contend?

Lydia Grey's life is often dull, as dull as the colour grey when there's no light and shade and atmosphere to it, say like you would see in a painting. It's just plain dull! Even her husband, since left, even though after so many years together, because she had become drab and boring. Lily wasn’t like her. She might not have seen adventure before, but she’d made a plan. She wasn’t standing still, like Lydia. She was moving forwards, grabbing life with two hands and going after the things she wanted. The life she wanted.” Phenomenal . . . I couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait to read more from this awesome author’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved the addition of Lydia's family, with her Polish mother, and her almost silent, English father, and the smorgasbord of characters who make up their family of friends, Adam, Lydia’s husband, has found a new partner and deserted her, leaving Lydia feeling lost and alone unable to move on. She has tried internet dating, but still loving her husband, hasn’t succeeded in finding a new partner.I will say that by no means am I the perfect person with incredibly high morals (I mean who is?? 👀) but, the fact that Lydia or should I say Lily, let the lie about her name go on for so long, frankly had me feeling annoyed and left a sour taste in my mouth. I get that the whole moral of the story is that she found who she was, and that she didnt need to use a fake name to achieve that, but this whole plot point could have been left out entirely in my opinion. I also refuse to believe an almost 40 year old woman could be that clueless and naive about her marriage. But also, Adam was a real piece of work, which I'm truly glad she figured out in the end. She was beginning to develop very real feelings for her very fake boyfriend. Her very fake boyfriend who, as of that moment, still thought she was somebody else.” I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and HarperCollins UK and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased. Despite her heart aching for Jake, there was another issue that temporarily grabbed Lydia’s attention. And she was accompanied on this adventure by her daughter, Ollie, who was an absolute star and an excellent character all the way through. Ollie had found Lily Bennett. This was also a hugely exciting point for me too, and I loved that it appeared towards the end of the book! I loved how there was much more to the original Lily Bennett than we’d thought throughout the whole book, and I thought how everything came together was very clever indeed. Who knew I’d fall in love with yet another character so close to the ending?! Even though it was a late introduction, Lily’s character appeared at a crucial time for Lydia. It made her realise who she really is, what she can achieve and what she’s already achieved, with Jake’s help of course. And hopefully, their meeting would give her the confidence and the drive to do what is right (and also to right some wrongs!) After making herself the perfect wife, and devoting her time to being mum to Ollie, she's found herself alone.

This insightful story takes Lydia and Jake to the great outdoors of England on a venturesome quest to complete the list. I loved the excitement of the escapades amid some beautiful settings. Dyson deftly portrayed Lydia, who had faced losses, as a woman with flaws who made mistakes. With themes of new beginnings and personal growth, along with some surprises, Dyson's writing kept me entertained and interested. I have mixed feelings about the actual premise of the book. Lydia doesn’t tell Jake that she isn’t Lily Bennett until much later in the book. I’m not a fan of relationships that start out with deception, and I thought that she didn’t have a great reason for not telling Jake who she really was early on in the book. I also wondered how she was able to keep her real identity secret from Jake for such a long time.I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.***