The Two Lives of Lydia Bird (Book Review)

This is NOT a romance. But it is a nice exploration of grief and the pitfalls of holding on too long. Though it, unfortunately, goes on a little too long.

Lydia Bird is happy. She's engaged to the love of her life, has a great relationship with her mother and sister, and has a job that she's happy to go to every day. The only thing she doesn't love is sharing her fiancé's attention with their mutual friend (his bestie) Jonah Jones. Other than constantly being a trio instead of a duo, Lydia is living her best life.

Until Freddie is killed in an accident and she's left devastated.

Her sister and mother are her constant companions, floating around her peripheral to make sure she's taken care of since she's hardly capable of taking care of herself.

Then she's prescribed the pink pills for sleep, pills that somehow open the door to a life where Freddie isn't dead. Where they're still happily engaged. Where her heart isn't shattered into a million pieces.

Lydia uses this world to escape her cold, waking world, the one where she's alone and hurting, the one where everyone begins to think she needs to start moving on even though she's nowhere near ready.

But how long can she keep avoiding her pain and the people she loves without truly losing everything?

Again, this is NOT a romance. There are romantic elements, but they're few and far between. I wasn't even fully satisfied with the ending because I didn't feel like it was given the time it deserved.

I'm a fan of parallel timelines, dual timelines, time loops, and time travel, so I was all-in on this story right away, and, for the most part, I really enjoyed my time in Lydia's worlds.

What I loved:

- Parallel universe

- Close family ties

- Unrequited love

- Finding self

- Overcoming grief

What I disliked:

- The "romance" wasn't given enough time

- It was 40 pages too long

- The ending didn't deliver on the feels because the romance build up was too subtle

This was an enjoyable read. Sad, but enjoyable. If you're a fan of parallel timelines and seeing a character overcome their biggest devastation, this is the story for you.