But I admired him for his persistence and the fact he admitted to himself that things needed to change and with a new arrival due he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes as he had done with his older children. This book will stay with me for a long time ,(so much so I won’t start reading another book for a while ) it touched my heart and made me realise that everyone has their own experiences and moving on is entirely individual. It’s unsurprising that the parent’s and children’s stories link as they’ve all lost the same person, but there are some secondary characters that pop up here and there that help tie it all together. The last couple of chapters could each be THE happy ending, yet Lucy Diamond granted us one after another chapter just to make sure every member of the McKenzie clan was truly, genuinely okay - missing their sister and daughter every moment in their lives, but full of hope for their future, because they were privileged to had Leni in their lives. I love books by Lucy Diamond and this one was just as good as the others I’ve read, with lots of characters to keep you interested.

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. Lucy Diamond's books are always a great read in the family-drama type genre, and this was no exception. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.After Leni McKenzie died in an accident, we follow the McKenzies navigating through life in which their beloved sister and daughter no longer exists.

I absolutely loved the author's writing - her words are fluid and poetic, which makes the story engaging and deeply passionate. Lucy is the Sunday Times bestselling author of eighteen novels including The Beach C afé and Anything Could Happen . I read English at Leeds University then moved to London and worked for various publishers before I packed it all in to go travelling around the world for a year and a half. 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.He made mistakes in the past, but as he begins to realise he didn’t quite live up to being a particularly good dad, he is determined to make amends now that he’s lost one daughter. 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. This is a story about sister Alice finding out about Leni’s last few weeks of her life and she discovers that Alice didn’t know everything about her sister than she thought she did. Human flaws and the burden of grief are not hidden away, as we see the impact of Leni passing on her siblings and parents - with every emotion shared. Each dealt with the loss in a different way, but it was nice to see them leaning in each other and coming together, achieving something that Leni would have loved to have happened.

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.

This is a story about a fractured family, torn apart by deceit and who, through unimaginable tragedy, learn to appreciate each other as individuals and the roles that they play in each other's lives.

Through many experiences and an extensive journey they learn lots about themselves and several secrets are also revealed too. Belinda is dealing with her grief in a different way and her partner Ray is extremely worried about her. Given the subject matter of The Best Days of Our Lives, the new book by Lucy Diamond, you’d be forgiven for thinking this story would be all doom and gloom and extremely difficult to read. A brief introduction has the reader meeting Leni as she is about to celebrate her 35th birthday with her family.

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 – the perfect gift this Christmas. 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 - the perfect gift this Christmas. Evolving from distant and uninvolved to becoming Father of the Year over the course of a book is an impressive feat. Tony, Leni’s dad, is a classic example of this, and I really admired and loved his character by the end. UK popular contemporary fiction author Lucy Diamond pens a family drama saga that fans will appreciate.