Whinge whinge bicker bicker. Bicker bicker, whinge whinge. Unfortunately I found this book a real slog and a really odd, totally far-fetched story. It started out as the usual girl meets boy plot, but the main character Anna is a completely selfish whinging, whining person that it was no surprise that the relationship started to suffer What followed was just plain odd. 3% chance of survival – how many times did this have to be repeated? We got the message! 2 years, 12 years, 20 years – how many times did this have to be repeated? We got the message! I’m afraid it got really tiresome and quite ridiculous after the accident, with such a totally unbelievable ending that was quite absurd.

It's fair to say that Anna is in a complete funk when she goes on holiday. Dumped and feeling unwanted - a pity party is the way to go. What she doesn't expect is to meet the love of her life quite unexpectedly.

Adam and Anna are a match made in heaven until Anna and her 'plans' start to destroy their solid foundation. Her obsession comes between them, but it's something else entirely that leaves their relationship in tatters.

There's a part of the book about halfway through. I can't go into details because of spoilers, which is a shame because it is an incredibly interesting idea. Personally I felt as if Anna was absolutely crossing boundaries and it was all about her, however the world it explores is futuristic and opens plenty of doors.

Henley gives readers the perfection the majority hopes for when it comes to relationships and romance, whilst simultaneously giving us the more realistic aspect of the same. Love is never perfect. Lives are never lived the way we quite expect.

It's a story that has a magical and inexplicable element to it and it's also one of hope. A tale of loss, being able to forgive oneself and understanding that sometimes life can be fulfilling even when it doesn't turn out the way you planned it. Enjoy the moments you have instead of longing for what could have been.

Thank you for gifting me this! The Life We Almost Had is such a great book, not what I first expected but I did really enjoy the book. I loved the love story.

Definitely pick this up.

Excuse me whilst i try and write this through the tears in my eyes because i am currently a broken mess. The life we almost had is both heart-breaking, endearing and so much more. Its a real rollercoaster and not for the faint hearted but mostly, it is simply beautiful.

Anna was not looking for love, in fact she was fleeing heartbreak after been ditched two weeks before the wedding. A holiday romance is what her best friend reckons she needs but she has already sworn of men. Yet when she meets Adam on her should be honeymoon, fate has other plans and a holiday romance soon becomes more.

Years down the line though, the cracks of the relationship are beginning to show, faced with their own battles and lack of communication neither of the pair are handling it well. Adam takes action and they head off to try and fix themselves, but fate that brought them together has cruel plans this time around. All Anna wants to be with Adam, and this could have life changing consequences for them both.

Beautifully written with such in depth emotions, relationships and subjects. Some of it was hard to read but all was handled in a way that was dealt with such diginity and grace. The emotions throughout the whole book were so raw and honestly i felt a broken woman in parts, but i also felt so much warmth and happiness too.

I honestly thought this was such a stunning book and if you can handle your love stories filled with second chance love, raw and real emotions, grief but also total joy then this is the one for you.

My review is unbiased and honest, thankyou for the review copy.

What an amazing book written under the pseudonym Amelia Henley; very different to the usual thrillers but I absolutely loved it.

In some ways it was similar to Me Before You with the love story and the emotions I felt at the end. I hope there are more books to come from Amelia as I really enjoyed seeing Adam and Anna's romance blossom from a holiday romance and couldn't help but feel emotionally invested.

Three and a half star rating.
Anna and Adam meet on holiday after her broken engagement and fall in love, hoping for a happy ever after. I really loved this book until it took a completely unexpected turn which I wasn’t at all keen on and some of the rest of it was also a bit over the top which lost it the five star rating. Completely realistic descriptions of medical issues and feelings were brilliant. Anna was a bit of a whinger who wanted her own way too much and Adam let her get away with it. A perfect story for anyone who likes having their heartstrings tugged!

This story was not what I was expecting at all from the blurb. It starts off as a boy-meets-girl love story, but then took an unexpected twist that I am still not completely sure about!
Definitely a thinker!

Thank you for gifting me this! The Life We Almost Had is such a great book, not what I first expected but I did really enjoy the book. I loved the love story.

Definitely pick this up.

I expected this to be a typical chick lit love story but it was so much more.
It was very very sad and moving, but also a lovely storyline which really makes you think about your own relationships .
I echo another review where I really thought it was going to turn into a sci-fi book and ruin it for me, but it wasn't at all.
My advice to anyone reading this is, don't forget the tissues as I feel you may need them!

The beginning of Anna and Adam’s relationship is one of the most romantic ever – they meet on holiday, with the sun shining, blue skies and sparkling water - there is simply this lovely chemistry between them. But fast forward a few years and you can see the cracks in this relationship, cracks that could be too strong for them, too difficult to overcome. Will they manage to stay together? Do they want to stay together? Is fate going to interfere?

Now, don’t get me wrong, pretty please. It was a great book, nevertheless I still feel a bit torn about it. I can’t put my finger on what went wrong for me but I couldn’t completely get into it. I was probably expecting something fluffy, based on the lovely pink cover, but the story turned out to be very emotionally packed, tackling many heavy issues and I think you have to be in a suitable mood to enjoy it. I’d go so far and say that yes, it did feel a bit depressing, a bit heavy and the sadness was overwhelming. It also felt a little chopped, with the narration jumping a lot forwards in time – I guess it couldn’t be written differently, that it was intended yet there were moments that I felt a little confused with the sudden changes.

I couldn’t completely warm to Anna and it is probably why I didn’t get into the book so completely, why it didn’t make me feel with her. There were moments that I thought that she really doesn’t deserve Adam’s pure love – always unhappy, always trying to blame the others, not giving Adam a chance. Adam, on the other hand, was a great character, not too perfect but truly realistic and real, trying to come to terms with his wife’s frustration that was so unfair. Yes, later on I learn to feel empathy for both of them, however it was Adam that was the much more likeable and relatable character for me.
The background characters however, especially Nell and Josh, were the ones that truly made the story great for me.

It didn’t make me cry fort he characters, to be honest, yet I appreciated how emotionally powerful the story was. The author has really well captured the feelings of the characters, their desperation, hope and love. I didn’t find all the answers and I also didn’t get it completely with Harry, as for me there was a heavy suggestion that he might have been one of the characters’ child.

The beginning was a little misleading, to be honest – it was quite light – hearted, optimistic and hopelessly romantic, with you keeping everything crossed for Anna and Adam, a match made in heaven. But then it starts to get darker and darker, much more serious in tone and sad. In the end the story turned out to be a tale about unconditional love, love so strong that will allow you to let the other person go, about grief, loss and infertility. It was a very realistic, bitter – sweet portrait of a marriage with its ups and downs, highs and lows.

There is really so much palpable tension in the writing and the story, you really don’t know what’s going to happen and you are waiting for something really, really bad to happen, and it took me by surprise but well, the author is also a well – known psychological thrillers’ writer, so actually it’s not a wonder that she has slipped some of the tense elements into her story. And I think it’s great, as it made the reading quicker and even more thrilling. There was a part in this book that started to feel a bit sci – fi for me to be honest, however I persevered because it also made me incredibly curious and wonder – the idea of having this little bit of time more with the loved one, wow, this was something that had me glued to the pages. I’m not sure if I liked the execution of it very much, I think I would love a clear answer, yes or no, but still, it was interesting and different and so thought – provoking. But until then, well, let’s simply cherish the time that we have with our loved ones that we so often take for granted – and this is the most important message in this poignant, emotional tale.

What a beautifully warm but heartbreaking book Amelia Henley has delivered for her debut! I knew she could write (I’m a huge fan of the books she writes under her own name of Louise Jensen) and that she has a talent for drawing emotions out of her readers with her realistic characters and breathtaking twists but it was wonderful to discover a different side to her creativity. The Life We Almost Had has a surprising storyline that is unlike anything else I’ve read recently. This is a love story with a difference…

When Anna and Adam meet, it’s actually Anna’s wedding day. Whilst her ex-fiancé posts photos on Facebook of his new girlfriend, Anna and her best friend Nell have decided to go on the honeymoon she should have been on. It’s there that she meets Adam and begins a relationship she would never have expected to happen. But when tragedy strikes, she takes a very unexpected path! This was the part of the book that was also unexpected for me! I don’t want to spoil it for others so I won’t say anymore than that!

This is a beautifully written love story about second chances, family and the sacrifices we make for those we love. It had an intriguing storyline that surprised and broke me in equal measure as I became completely immersed in the relationship between Anna and Adam. Written with a passion that rises off the page with every single word, The Life We Almost Had was an absolute joy to read. And I absolutely did not cry…much!

Highly recommended by me.

The Life We Almost Had by Amelia Henley, the pseudonym of psychological thriller writer Louise Jensen, is a romance novel with a difference. It’s about Anna and Adam who meet whilst they are both on holiday in Spain. She is reeling from being dumped at the alter by a man who she is quickly realising was nowhere near good enough for her. They had a romantic honeymoon booked on a Spanish island and has decided that rather than sit at home and mope she’ll go and will take her best friend, Nell, with her instead. It is on their first evening when she meets Adam, the man who is about to change her life.

Adam is also on holiday with a friend, Josh, but is making himself scarce whilst Josh, erm, entertains a young lady in their apartment. Sat alone in the hotel bar nursing a beer he see Anna and is immediately enraptured with her. They embark on a summer romance, for her it is a fling to get over her ex who didn’t treat her with kindness and for him it is a last hurrah before he goes travelling. But things become serious and they fall in love.

If this sounds like it’s a light-hearted romance book then you’d be wrong. Yes there is a love story at the heart of it but it also addresses some huge issues; abandonment, bereavement, grief, infertility and loss to name just a few. Told in retrospect, the book opens with Anna reflecting on her relationship with Adam. It is seven years since they first met and from Anna’s musings we know that they are estranged, but we don’t know why or how.

Amelia Henley does a great job in exploring a long term relationship and its ebbs and flows. The romance between Adam and Anna is incredibly fairy-tale in its beginnings and it would have been so easy to have made it quite a one note read but their relationship is really tested. I found it really refreshing to read as often romance novels end when the couple get together but in The Life We Almost Had we are privy to what happens after the Happy Ever After.

It explores what happens in a long term relationship when challenges are thrown your way and examines what happens when it is tested by something like infertility. This drives a wedge between Adam and Anna as they retreat further into their own thoughts. They each blame themselves, they fail to communicate and they gradually drift further and further apart. Amelia Henley also cleverly uses this subject matter to take a look at how female friendships change when children come on the scene. It is an insightful exploration of how there is a sense of loss, loneliness and isolation from both sides.

This is an emotionally overwhelming book, and I have to admit to finding it quite difficult to read in places. There was one plot point in particular which I wasn’t anticipating which I really struggled with, this is by no means a criticism of the book or the writing, it just really upset me. I don’t want to be all cloak and dagger but neither do I want to spoil it for anybody, so I’ll just say that you may need to brace yourself. This isn’t a light and frothy read and is really quite dark at times but is ultimately rewarding.

That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable, because it is. It is well-researched and well-written and I read in two sittings because I had to know what would happen next. It is a real page turner and if you like your romance novels with a bit of meat then this could be the book for you. Just make sure you have some tissues to hand.

I requested this book as an ARC on Netgalley and I was lucky enough to be sent it.
It was definitely different to what I imagined it to be but I couldn’t stop turning the pages.
Everyone wants love and a happy ending, will Adam and Anna become that old cliche or will something or someone snatch it away?

This is a story of love. Of Adam and Anna's relationship which is love at first sight when they meet as Anna arrives in Spain on her honeymoon. Without a husband who has dumped her just before the wedding. Anna and Adam get together and a beautiful love story ensues and continues when they get home. Life isn't all plain sailing and they end up back in Alricia trying to rescue themselves and their love, when it all goes wrong. We know from the start something ends their relationship but it wasn't in any way what I was expecting. What happens is maybe somewhat far fetched, or just love pure and simple, but it grips the heartstrings. A story of connection and true love. I loved the relationships with their friends too. #netgalley #thelifewealmosthad

It is no secret that Amelia Henley is the pen name of a well known writer who usually writes thrillers, so having read a few of her thrillers, I was interested to see how she would approach a different genre. Her writing is absolutely amazing and I loved the way that she took me to different places, introduced me to some wonderful characters and made me feel every emotion as it radiated from the page.

Amelia Henley has said in interviews about The Life We Almost Had that it is not a conventional love story. She is right, but that doesn't mean it is any less engaging. From the very first page, I felt completely invested in Adam and Anna's story and I was willing for things to work out well for them. Both Adam and Anna are characters I could relate to easily, particularly as we find out more about their backgrounds and what leads them to Alircia on the day they meet each other. They are brilliantly drawn and it is clear that these characters have a special place in the author's heart.

There is a scientific element to The Life We Almost Had that doesn't often appear in novels of this genre. Science is not my forte, but I found the ideas that Henley brought to the story absolutely fascinating and she has clearly undertaken a huge amount of research to ensure that this aspect of the story works well.

The Life We Almost Had is set in the fictional resort of Alircia. Although it is fictional, Henley's descriptions of it are so vivid that I felt as though I was on holiday there myself. It provided a beautiful backdrop to this wonderfully emotional story.

I finished The Life We Almost Had as an emotional wreck and I have to admit that I ugly cried my way through the vast majority of it. It is rare that a novel touches me in this way so it is definitely one that will stay with me for a long time.

This wasn't what I was expecting from a love story. Its clear from the beginning that the love would not be sustained, and I liked that art reflected real life. Sometimes love isn't enough and real life is challenging. The story of how Anna and Adam fall in love was lovely and I loved how you can find love in the most unexpected place and time. Their love was challenged by their inability to have a child and it affected not only their relationship with each other but also their friends and family. This feel very real.

However, the second part of the story felt disconnected from the first, and while unpredictable also required the reader to suspend belief. Without wanting to spoil the plot, something happens to challenge the couple over and above their childlessness and there were just too many holes and things that didn't make sense. After the big plot development, I wish the book had taken a different direction.

This is a beautiful story of love and heartbreak. Although there were times when the story was slow and I found myself skimming rather than reading the overall story leaves you emotional and feeling so many of the emotions you imagine Anna going through.

In case you didn’t already know, Amelia Henley also writes thrillers under the name Louise Jensen. As a big fan of Louise’s books, I was keen to check out her alter ego. The Life We Almost Had is about as different to these thrillers as it is possible to be, but it is just as captivating.

The instant connection between Adam and Anna was so perfect and beautiful, but knowing from the outset that somewhere something was going to go wrong meant I was reading with a sense of trepidation, my stomach full of butterflies.

Seeing how Adam viewed Anna in the early days of their relationship was a timely reminder that what we think of as our own flaws are seen from a completely different perspective by others, and are often considered our most endearing features.

The Life We Almost Had is a book that is so full of emotion that my heart actually hurt reading it. I don’t think I have cried so much at a book since reading Emma Cooper’s The Songs of Us.

This story is about Anna and Adam and this love story. centred around them and the people in their lives. Then one of the characters Is in an accident and the story continues with how they carry on. I enjoyed the story and the characters were believable. It is important to remember when reading this book that it’s about the life we almost had., not how you would like it to turn out. Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to review this book.

Without a doubt one of the most powerful love stories you will read this year.

When Anna and Adam meet for the first time, you can literally see the sparks fly. A chance meeting where the odds are against them but this reinforces what real love is all about. It maybe a love story but as with any relationship, it has it’s ups and downs and we get to ride along this bumpy journey of which smashed my heart into tiny little pieces.

I don’t want to give to much away but the author touches on some quite sensitive subjects which made it a hard read in places. My heart went out to Anna and all that she is going through. She was such a realistic character and I have a feeling that women that have been through similar to what she has will be able to relate to her.

Adam definitely stole a piece of my heart. His love for Anna put my heart through the wringer. He is such the sweetest of characters of which at times I felt for this sensitive man who at times has to bear the brunt of his wife’s frustrations. I felt empathy for both of them. Even though their close friends Nell and Josh are in the background throughout, they play such a pivotal part in the story.

The Life We Almost Had is a story that broke me as well as my heart. I read the last part of the book through tears and heart wrenching sobs. For an author to grab my emotions in such a way is testament to what a wonderful writer they are. This is a love story and characters who will stay with me for a very long time. Heart-breakingly beautiful.