by Alexandra Potter

“Life isn’t always easy, and the lesson I’ve learned is that you’re not f**king up if life hasn’t worked out how you expected. Because real life is messy and complicated. S**t happens. One size doesn’t fit all. Remove the filters and the hashtags and the motivational messages and we’re all just as scared and confused as the next person. We’re all just living our life, and it might not tick all the boxes or look Insta-perfect, but that’s OK” - Nell’s thoughts after discovering her friends aren’t as Insta-perfect as she’d thought!

I will admit that I have a book addiction… so I had vowed on our recent holiday to stay away from WH Smith and not buy any more books until I’d read some of the ones on my overflowing bookshelf. However, after only a couple of hours sleep and a ridiculously early start to get my teens and I to the airport on time for a 6am flight… once we’d navigated the nightmares of security queues, and I’d taken off my huge snow boots and had my legs scanned… we needed water and this book kind of fell into my hands!

I have to confess that it was the best book purchase I’ve made in ages. After a day of trying to ski down the slopes without being knocked over by someone faster and smarter than me, I could shower and curl up with a chocolate bar and this brilliant novel to read all about the fictional life of Nell… she is someone of a similar age to me. Although our lives are so different (she’s recently single, living with a tricky landlord and looking after his loveable dog in London… whereas I’m widowed, living in the country with teens and a growing herd of horses running my own business) I felt that she is my kind of person!

Despite the things that set us apart… there are so many similarities between Nell and so many of us… not least our age and the fact that often we are pottering around like swans… calm on the surface but flapping madly underneath whilst we wonder how everyone else has got it so together! And, my favourite part of all is that she forms an unlikely friendship with Cricket, an eighty-something widow who is living with the combination of the weight of her recent grief and a desire to reconnect with her spark for life.

Something I liked: No matter whether you are single or not, this book is so relatable… merely on the fact that life rarely turns out as we anticipate. It’s a brilliant book for anyone who is trying to work out how other people have the time to make gluten free brownies, when they are barely managing three portions of food a day!

What I wanted: I was looking for an easy read that was light-hearted and would keep me company in the early mornings with a cuppa before the day got started… and this book delivered. I honestly don’t have a bad word to say about it… I loved it!.

If you give it a read I’d love to hear what you thought of it… so, please email me at emma@rainbowhunting.co.uk.

And as for grief, I love this quote from Cricket in the book:

“It’s true what they say: life does go on and joy does return, and often it’s in the most unexpected of places… but you never get over losing someone; you just get better at coping with it.”