The Two Lives of Lydia Bird: A Novel Kindle Edition

I loved One Day in December and was looking forward to reading Josie's new book, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. This book was as emotional and as beautifully written as One Day in December. It reminded me of one of my favorite romantic movies, Sliding Doors. Lydia's life shatters when her fiance, Freddie, dies on her birthday. She struggles with her grief until she accidentally discovers a way to visit a parallel life, where Freddie is alive, and they are still together. Lydia is torn between her life now and what could have been.I liked this book a lot, but I didn't love it as much as One Day in December. The one thing I didn't love is how much time was spent on "what could have been" life. I was more interested in reading about Lydia's "real" life, where she had to cope with her grief and learn to live without Freddie. I wanted to read more about her relationship with Jonah, to see it grow and develop, especially since it played such a pivotal role in Lydia's story.I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy angsty and emotional love stories and anyone who loved Sliding Doors.

I really wanted to enjoy this novel, however it missed the mark for a few reasons. The storyline was relatively unoriginal and I presumed she’d end up w Jacob very early on. The dream-life went on way too long without much purpose, in my opinion. The reader knows she will learn from going there too much and eventually stop. So, why drag it out over a year. I just didn’t think it was a realistic POV on grief, either. My favorite character was definitely Jonah Jones, though. Forced myself to finish it while quickly brushing through the majority of the middle, all pretty predictable. Was hoping to be really moved, and unfortunately found myself bored.

I bought this book because I was intrigued by the premise. I liked Sliding Doors a lot and expected something in a similar vein. As I read I was disappointed. The characters were not well developed nor was the plot. Things felt disjointed and poorly explained. For instance, after Freddie dies, Lydia’s dr. very reluctantly prescribes a month supply of some “holistic” pink sleeping pills as part of a drug trial. No more is ever mentioned of the drug trial or dr visits, yet she somehow takes these pills for over a year. Also, the pills take her in her sleeping life to an alternate existence where it is the same day as it is her waking life but Freddie Is still alive. She never visits this alternate world unless she takes a pill. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if someone who was not recently bereaved took one of those pills. I really enjoy sci-fi elements in a story, but this was just not well done, too much was left unexplained. And she never really talks to anyone in either world about this strange experience of straddling two lives.Nothing of interest really ever happens in this book. Or maybe it was that the characters were so poorly developed and the plot was so loose that I didn’t have any vested interest in what was happening in their lives. And frankly, Freddie isn’t very likeable.I did push through, because I hate to not finish a book. And I am glad that it is finished now so that I can move on to a more interesting read. I wanted to like it, but it was a disappointment. I can not recommend.

There have been other books by this author that I read thanks to a friend's recommendation (borrowed books are always the best ones, right?)...I hadn't heard of this author until then, at which point I knew I had to read everything she had to offer! Her style just flows so easily.At the start of this book, I worried about the format, and whether or not I would tire of spending so much time flip-flopping between Lydia's two lives...but I was so wrong. This book grabbed me. And side note, I share a birthday with Lydia (so funny!).This is a fantastic read and I can't wait to loan it to the friend that got me hooked in the first place. So gladI preordered!

Lydia, Freddie and Jonah were friends since they met at school. On the night of Lydia’s 27th birthday, Freddie is killed in an auto accident - while Jonah is unscathed. Hoping to bring Lydia relief from her grief, her Mother suggests sleeping pills. Their affect is two fold - sleep and time spent in an alternate universe with Freddie. Beautifully written - have tissues ready. Watching how Lydia deals with her grief and the feelings associated with Jonah and other characters in her life.Josie Silver has written another heartbreaker that while a romance it also walks us through the stages of grief.Thinking about One Day in December (I adored it) and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird can you imagine what this talented author will do next.

I was really looking forward to reading this novel because I loved One Day In December so much. I wouldn't consider this book a romance, it's more about a woman losing her fiance and going through the grieving process in a different way - she sees him in a "parallel world" where he's still alive. There's no slow burn romance but you can kind of guess what will happen from the beginning. I wish there were more happy parts or at least an epilogue as to what happens a few years or even months down the road. I really enjoy her writing, she can really make it feel like you're in the moment. However, I'm still disappointed with the end and wish we could have read about a few more joyful moments.

Lydia and Freddie. Freddie and Lydia. They've been together for almost a decade, and Lydia thinks their love is indestructible.But she's wrong. Because on her 27th birthday, Freddie dies in a tragic accident.So now it's just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob 'til her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to live her life well. So, enlisting the help of his best friend and her sister Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world and starts to live - perhaps even to love - again.Then something unbelievable happens, and Lydia gets another chance at her old life with Freddie. But what if there's someone in her new life who wants her to stay?The book is written in 1st person - Lydia is our narrator. The chapters are varied ranging from about the 20 minute mark to just 2 minutes. Each chapter is also dated, so you get a sense of time having passed as you read. The chapters are also split into awake and asleep - I'm trying not to ruin anything, but the asleep chapters are "another chance with Freddie chapters". Which I think structures the novel quite well and helps to get used to the other life Lydia is living as you know what to expect. This book deals with several issues, the obvious one being grief and all that entails and in its many forms. But the book doesn't go into any gory or sexy details, its quite a tame read in that respect.********* slight spoiler *************There is talk of a miscarriage. It doesn't happen to Lydia, it also doesn't go into any explicit details. But it happens to one of the characters and I think that perhaps people would like to know about it.************** end of spoiler ************I enjoyed this book, I liked Lydia. She was just normal and nice and I could see myself being friends with her in real life. I liked the way she dealt with her grief, I don't think she was ever whiny or woe is me about it. I think she dealt with it remarkably well, even though she was a touch selfish at times. But I think that's natural. I also loved all the other characters, there was no one I disliked. Lydia had some amazing people around her and they all tried their best to help her. It was lovely. I also think the author got grief, I loved how Freddie's death affected everyone, not just Lydia, her mum, sister and brother in law were all grieving too.There were a couple of things I disliked about the book. I think it was very heavy on the grief side, there wasn't many happy moments in the novel. Which I found a bit disappointing, I was expecting a few, even with the subject matter, but there seemed to be hardly any. Also, the plot was a bit predictable, as soon as a certain character appeared, I knew how it would end. There wasn't really a villain or any tension to the story either, I mean, everyone, everyone around Lydia was nice and there weren't really any bumps in the road. Everything that could have caused an issue was brushed over or resolved very quickly. Which left me feeling a little underwhelmed.That being said, I did enjoy the book. I found the writing style very easy to read and I liked Lydia and cared enough about her story to want to read to the end.

I’ve just wiped the last tear away after demolishing this book over the weekend!Another amazing and emotional book from Josie (I absolutely loved one day in December)This book is so beautifully written and was a perfect companion on a stormy weekend in February!Lydia bird has just had the unthinkable and has lost the lover of her life. The book resolves around the months following this.She lives in two different worlds and has to learn to live in both.I don’t want to give to much away but if you’ve read one day in December you’llLove this.I fell in love with Lydia Bird and fell further in love with Josie as an author.Can’t wait for your next book.

At first I wasn't so keen on this book because the ending was so obvious by the end of the first chapter or two. I so wanted it to be different, to be unpredictable, but it's not that kind of book. And there were a lot of sections which were just too sickeningly perfect to be true - real life doesn't happen that way (like when Lydia arrived in Croatia and what happened there). HOWEVER, it's beautifully written and the characters are so real and likeable (even in their flaws) that I found myself giving into it and losing myself in the total romance of it. I read this during the coronavirus lockdown, and if you want escapism and happy endings, this is the book for you. Having said that, the thread of grief that runs through it is real, raw and sensitively written. If this gets made into a film (as I think it should) it will be an absolute hit. So read it if you like romance and predictability, but avoid if you prefer something more edgy and surpising.

When Lydia's loses her fiancé and sweetheart since high school, Freddie, in a tragic car accident, she is left completely bereft. However, then something remarkable happens that allows Lydia to find a way back to Freddie, and she is soon living out two alternate realities. In one world she is still with Freddie, planning her wedding, in the other she is slowly moving forward with her life; yet as her two worlds begin to steer further and further away from each other, Lydia finds herself struggling to juggle the two versions of herself, and faces some difficult decisions.I absolutely loved Silver's debut novel One Day in December, and was eagerly looking forward to her next. Luckily Silver does not disappoint with this poignantly rendered follow up. The subject matter at the heart of the book is not exactly light or fluffy reading, and to Silver's credit I thought that she handled Lydia's grief sensitively throughout. In truth the book is really about Lydia's journey through her grief, and Silver devises a clever ploy to do so, and I liked how it was left open to the reader as to whether Lydia's alternate reality was real or a way for her sub-conscious mind to deal with and work through her grief.That being said given the subject nature of the book, some of the chapters did at times make for quite heavy reading, as opposed to something escapist, particularly at the start of the story. Furthermore, given what Lydia was going through, it was understandable that she was not always 100% likeable. At the start of the story I found some of her behaviour towards Jonah in particular a little harsh, however, to Silver's credit, I was always still able to sympathise with Lydia and understand her point of view.The chapters with Freddie in the alternate universe, which are interspersed throughout the story, helped balance out some of the darker moments, especially at the start of the book and almost felt like an escape for the reader, as well as Lydia. These chapters also allow us to get to know Freddie, who is a likeable and vibrant character, and allow us to appreciate better the relationship that Lydia has lost.There are a whole host of supporting characters in the story, including Lydia's sister and mum, and I liked the solid family unit that Silver depicted between these three women.My favourite character, however, was Jonah, Freddie's best friend, who was with him in the accident and is suffering from survivor's guilt. Jonah is quiet and laidback compared to Freddie, keeping his cards close to his chest, however, he's soulful and sweet, his relationship with Lydia complex and rendered really well I thought.As with One Day in December, Silver tells a compelling story, with characters one comes to care about and with heartache and romance in equal measure. I also liked how she explored the way that Lydia changes after Freddie's death. At the start of the story the chapters with Freddie are very rose-tinted, but as the story goes on, Silver portrays a truer albeit less perfect relationship between Lydia and Freddie, and also shows how Lydia has transformed in her life without Freddie. To her credit, she does this in a way that doesn't lessen Lydia and Freddie's relationship, but rather shows how people move on and evolve, shaped by the events and circumstances around them, and the human spirit's resilience to endure. I think the chapters with Lydia on her own in Croatia captured this well, as she came to an acceptance of who she was, and that though Freddie was gone, she was still here, moving forward.Did I enjoy it as much as One Day in December, perhaps not quite, with parts of the book a little stretched for me. Nevertheless, it was still highly engaging with another gorgeously romantic ending. I look forward to Silver's next.

Rosie has cast another magic spell and created a remarkable read .Lydia literally has two lives , characters are people you already know !Charismatic Freddie, Meaningful Jonah , .Too many great characters to fit in but you’ll adore them all .You know when you enjoying a book when you don’t want it to end but sit up till wee hours reading .Get the tissues on stand by . This is a must read