One Good Thing: From the bestselling author of Confessions of a 40 something F##k Up

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Valentine is such a lovely guy, watching life go by through his window feeling lost and afraid. His story will feel familiar to people, his wife suffering with dementia and not knowing who he is anymore. It was a struggle to read, but Liv and Harry come along - the friendship bond between them is beautiful and it was truly amazing to see the impact they had on him. This was a gifted book in exchange for my honest review. With gifted books, I always feel such a pressure to ‘like’ them, because if I don’t, I feel ungrateful. There was none of that with this book. I genuinely loved it, I didn’t want to stop reading, but I also didn’t want to read it too fast because I didn’t want it to end! If I could rate it higher than five stars I honestly would. It was such a feel good book, about starting again, and I just honestly loved it so much. I really connected with this on a personal level, grief and dementia are both things I’ve struggled to deal with in life with family members and I just felt SO connected to these characters and felt as though I was going through the heartbreak with them. What I loved most was the happy and uplifting moments that would always follow. That one good thing. The story revolves around Liv, a middle-aged divorcée, who abandons her home and teaching career in London, and heads off to the Yorkshire Dales to reinvent herself. Liv is bruised, lonely and adrift, and struggling to adjust to her new circumstances, when she adopts aging rescue dog, Harry. And it’s Harry that turns out to be her ‘one good thing’. Overall, One Good Thing is a beautifully written novel that made my heart fill with joy and break with heartache. It’s a sentimental, comforting, compelling tale by Potter that ultimately reminds you that kindness is incredibly powerful and life is truly what you make it.

If you’re looking for a book to lift you up and make you realise there are good people in the world (even if they are fictitious) then this is the book for you. It’s full of warmth and humour revolving around some of the residents in a Yorkshire village where Liv (Olivia) has arrived. Lost and feeling rejected after her divorce, she’s decided to return to the place where she grew up many years ago in an attempt to make a new life for herself. In life, nothing is certain. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something can happen to change the course of everything . . . Make no mistake: Someone Great isn’t earth-shattering cinema. It’s not even the best rom-com to come out of the past couple of years. But it is a soothing, easy film to return to when pandemic life feels a little too daunting. I’d had my eye on this book for a while and was so happy when my copy arrived from Waterstones. I loved everything about it, the characters were just wonderful, I loved how the layout of the book was set out, the unique chapter headings, how the chapters focused on the different characters and being able to get to know them. I really feel like this book needs a sequel. (Please?!) It tied up in the end, but I really want to know what happens to them all. I got so invested in this story, I got tears at the sad parts, I got tears at the happy parts. I know it sounds silly to be so ‘into’ a book, but I really was. The fact that it was also set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, I loved too, as it’s one of my favourite parts of the world to be in!It has humour, sadness, hope and a real positive feel to the book. I also loved hearing all the descriptions of the building work and renovations to the cottage Liv moved into. With some evocative descriptions, a picture of chaos, dust and rubble is transformed over time into something that sounded idyllic. Just like the cottage renovations, with time, Liv rebuilds her own life into something much better than it ever was, while helping others in the village to see there is still life after loss, it’s just a different life.

Die Charaktere habe ich tatsächlich fast alle ins Herz geschlossen, etwas was ich nach dem Klappentext gar nicht gedacht hätte. Besonders toll ist natürlich Harry, der es eigentlich war, der sie alle zusammengeführt hat. Ein Hoch auf tolle tierische Begleiter in Büchern (und natürlich auch im echten Leben). Liv wird nach und nach klar, was sie eigentlich möchte und schafft es nach und nach auch wieder andern Mitmenschen mehr zu vertrauen. Valentine... oh man, sehr emotionale Geschichte. Über Ben habe ich gerne gelesen - vielleicht hätte ich sogar gerne noch mehr über ihn gelesen. Und dann wären da natürlich auch noch all die anderen Personen im Dorf, die doch irgendwie alle eine wichtige Rolle gespielt haben. But Liv discovers she’s not the only one looking for a new beginning in her walks with Harry, meets some incredible people: Valentine (an old man suffering from loneliness), Stanley (a little boy who’s scared of everyone) and Maya (a rebellious teen mad at the world). But slowly, with Harry’s help things start to change for the better…One Good Thing is the new heartwarming, hilarious alternative love story, from the author of Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up, Alexandra Potter