The Best Days of Our Lives: the big-hearted and uplifting new novel from the bestselling author of Anything Could Happen

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We are provided with a satisfactory ending with many explanations given and loose ends tied up which I was glad we weren’t provided with an ambiguous ending. Alice her sister discovers things that lead to more questions to be answered and life starts to get complicated. The book is full of likeable characters, and whilst some you may not warm to immediately, they do all redeem themselves by the end of the book. As the sisters grew they inevitably parted ways to follow different paths but always knew that they had each other's backs. I could see instantly that Alice was filled with both rage and regret at what had happened and also guilt the reason for which becomes apparent fairly early on.

I really liked the flashbacks to Leno on the memorial page, the stories showed how Leni touched so many lives, selflessly at times. Set over the course of one life-changing year, The Best Days of Our Lives is a warm, big-hearted and poignant story, full of hope, heartache and love. Each family member (Mum Belinda, Dad Tony, sister Alice and brother Will) deals with the grief of losing Leni in their own way. Last few books by this author didn't gel with me so much, but "The Best Days of Our Lives" turned out to be a poignant yet funny, touching story about a family dealing with the worst - with grief. Belinda through consulting a clairvoyant and spending ridiculous amounts of money to 'talk' to her daughter, Will by running off to Thailand to sell tourist 'rubbish' on the beach and Alice by becoming obsessed about Leni's last few days and what she was doing from appointments in her diary that aren't very clear.Her seventeenth novel, Anything Could Happen, is out as an ebook this December and published in hardback January 2022. As you would imagine the whole family have been deeply affected by the loss of their sibling/daughter/friend as each attempts to come to terms with their grief in different ways. There are lots of different family dynamics within the book, yet the author deals with these in an uncomplicated and simple way, creating and resolving deep rooted family issues. Her sister Alice, mum Belinda, dad Tony and younger brother Will all experience their loss differently and they also deal with it in their own individual way.

I never thought I would be saying this but Tony was my favourite character throughout the entire story. I’m afraid it didn’t grab me like her previous books and I found it difficult to get into, although it did improve towards the end. Alice, her sister is angry, she’s lost a friend, and more so they were at odds with each other in the run up to Leni’s death. A touching read, with some light-hearted moments (I particularly liked Hamish the cat’s part in this! Sometimes the act of getting through a trauma can give you strength you didn’t have before-strength to fly’.

He can’t believe this is happening and is not overly keen to get involved with preparations thinking everything will be just as it was when his older kids were born. Initially, I got the sense the other family members were willing to leave him off to his own devices as they were too caught up in their own misery and grief. The different imprints that the central incident has on all the main protagonists is thoroughly explored and differs widely but comes across as very real, giving the readers something that they can relate to, as I doubt they're will be a Lucy Diamond reader who won't have found themselves in this situation regardless of the part they played. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

Since Leni’s death, Alice has fallen apart and it comes to a climax when she quits her job rather than deal with her anger issues as tentatively suggested by her boss. I absolutely loved the author's writing - her words are fluid and poetic, which makes the story engaging and deeply passionate. I’ve never read anything from Lucy Diamond before, but I’m definitely going to dive into her previous work. Shortly after her 35th birthday, Lina is out riding at night when she's knocked off her bike and instantly killed by a passing car.

Hours spent talking to Leni through a psychic hotline may be bringing Belinda comfort but deep down surely she must know that this is not real at all? The different family dynamics in the book are truly relatable and I was left rooting for them all to resolve their issues together. This was a beautiful story that contained so much heart and lightness amongst its tragedy, such is the skill and warmth of Diamond’s writing. The big-hearted, hopeful new novel from the bestselling author of The Beach Cafe and Anything Could Happen - perfect for summer reads.

I now live in Bath with my husband and three young children and divide my time between writing and looking after them.In the hope of coming to terms with her grief, she tries to piece together Leni’s last weeks – but her discoveries only lead to more questions. What follows are chapters from each family’s members viewpoint, her sister Alice, her brother Will, her mother Belinda and her father Tony. This was the catalyst for Alice starting some self-healing but really can we ever truly reach that end point in relation to this especially when all we want is that person back in our lives?