Twice In A Lifetime follows the life of Amelia, a woman in her forties who suddenly finds herself alone when her husband suddenly ups and leaves her. As she adjusts to life as a single mother of her twin boys who are now eight years old, Amelia finds herself desperately craving some more excitement and magic in her life.

With very little excitement taking place in the small Welsh town she calls home, it doesn’t look as though anything will be changing for her anytime soon, that is until Amelia comes across the number she was given twenty years ago by an incredibly handsome stranger.

Turning to her best friend Sian for advice, Amelia soon finds herself going on a rather unexpected journey as they track down the mystery man from all those years ago, a journey that takes her all the way to New York to meet up with Pierre. As they spend time with one another, Amelia can’t help but question whether he is in fact the one that got away, and whether she could possibly experience love again.

This story is a charming tale of love, loss and the importance of friendship. With some utterly hilarious moments alongside those that make your heart feel so warm and full it could burst. The writing style is gorgeous and really draws you in to the lives of the characters the author has created. I particularly loved how the female lead in this book was a woman in her forties who was thriving! this is something you don’t see very often within this genre.

The characters were brought to life wonderfully, each of them having their own unique set of traits and flaws that allows you to relate to them on a new level entirely. The dialogue between the cast of vibrant characters is marvellous and flows effortlessly throughout. This was a delightful read that I read in one sitting!.

The story follows Amelia in her journey as a 48 year old divorcee with two twins, she remembers an old crush she met 20 years ago in NYC and with the help of her best friend starts looking for him.
The premise sounded interesting, but unfortunately it got repetitive and quite predictable for me early in the story.
I liked how Jensen portrayed raw emotions at the beginning, the uncertainty, helplessness and broken heart that someone experiencing a divorce might feel, but I couldn’t connect with Amelia or any other characters after that.
I really wanted to love this one, but I just wasn’t invested in the story and it left me wanting more.

Thank you Helga Jensen, NetGalley and Hera Books for providing an eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This review will be posted on June 23rd on my Instagram profile: @bm.bookish.girl

Unfortunately I couldn’t finish this.

On the plus side, this features a heroine nearer my age. It started off well, but went downhill. I couldn’t believe the naivety at times. I gave up reading this book when she didn’t twig that sharing her card details with a stranger was a good idea and still not twigging when her account is overdrawn - HELLO?!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed Twice in a Lifetime! It was so funny, cute and many twists and turns that will definitely catch you off guard! Would recommend!

So this was a very cute story. I loved it and finished it in one sitting. I loved the story and how she is able to find love again.
I highly recommend this super adorable book.

I thought this book started out strong and was cute, but then about 30% in, I found it to be predictable and the main character to be annoying. I enjoy strong female leads, and she was clueless and gullible. I feel like that may have been the case in the 1970s, but come on. It's 2021. Women are smart and aware. She may be intellectual, but her cluelessness with the outside world was annoying to me. I did not find it lifting up women, but I found it to be a stereotype. I thought that the clues left by the author made the plot twist to be predictable. I was not surprised at all. In addition, the medical problems at the end were not needed for the book. They added more conflict that was unnecessary. I see that some people gave this book rave reviews for the debut novel, but I recommend a pass.

"Twice in a Lifetime", by Helga Jensen, has the type of storyline I'm drawn to: a lonely divorced mom is looking for love, only to find it with her longsuffering, faithful best friend who has been there all along. Unfortunately, I just couldn't enjoy this book. Every character in the book is making bad choices! From Amelia, who meets someone online and overlooks obvious read flags, to Sian, who pretends to be Amelia online, to Jamie, who confesses his love and then takes it back! Even the ex-husband and kids are making awful decisions. There wasn't anyone in this book that I could root for, because I was so frustrated at the horrible choices they kept making. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Super cute story that will make you feel good. Easy to read and enjoy. Does not take a lot of effort to flow with the storyline.

Amelia has had a rough year. She found out her husband has been cheating on her, and is now getting married to his mistress, and her mother has passed away. She's in need of a pick-me-up when her best friend encourages her to try to find the mysterious man that gave her his number almost 20 years ago. As Amelia gets swept up in the magic of finding this long lost soulmate, she can't help but wonder if things are moving too fast.

While the premise was cute, I unfortunately found this book clunky and hard to get through. I didn't connect with Amelia, who complained and complained but never seemed to do anything about her situation. She also was constantly ragging on her own body, which I understand is something most women are uncomfortable with, but it got to be way too much. She was also incredibly naive, which meant I didn't feel bad for her when things started to go south.

The writing style also felt a little clunky to me. Things were unnecessarily repeated or some entirely missing. The story was predictable, as soon as the idea of Patrick was introduced I knew exactly what the ending would be. While I love me a predictable romance, this was just too much.

I'm bummed that this wasn't the cute love story that I wanted, but I think someone that is closer to Amelia's age (mid-forties) or perhaps also going through a divorce could find her more relatable and therefore enjoy her story more.

Newly single Welsh mom takes a bite out of life: loved the writer's wit and style😊

4.5🌟 stars plus
I loved the author's perspective and the persona she developed in single mum, forty-something Amelia. She's a trusting person and a lovely mother, protective of her twin boys, and so easily out maneuvered by her hyper but well-meaning BFF Sian. Sian plots and plans to get Amelia her new, perfect man and Amelia quickly finds herself sucked into the whole idea of a distantly remembered stranger being the fated love of her life. Whoa! But the story grabbed me and kept me enthusiastically turning the pages just waiting for the whole scheme to go pear-shaped.

Loved the selection of characters, the pace and the retro references, the poignant notes struck as Amelia deals with her mother's death, her tight-fisted ex, the antics her twins get up to, and the ever-supportive Jamie, the man you can count on in a crisis. One blip to mar the story: the author mixed up the plot of a famous Broadway musical, but she's got too good a tale to let that ruin the aftereffect of a truly enjoyable novel with a happy, hopeful ending. I am looking forward to Jensen's next offering😊.

Thanks to Hera Books and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

This was an awesome book! I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters were so entertaining! Definitely give it a try

This is a well written story about a woman in her late forties starting anew after her divorce. Her husband cheated on her with an refound Facebook friend and now she is alone with her 2 twin boys.

She remembers an encounter 20 years ago with a man named Patrick in New York and decides he is the one that might have gotten away. With the help of her best friend an internet search is started, which produces said Patrick. But is he indeed the One that got away or is there someone else she just needs to see?

Overall a well-written story with humor. The only thing is: I thought Amelia and also her best friend were not written like their age. Amelia had this naivité I did not expect and her best friend had some bad ideas. I could have done without the whole Patrick thing. What did she see in him?!
I did like the ending!

I only got 20% into this book before closing and reviewing it. The story was written well and the main character was funny. That said I kept putting it down and figured I should review what I had so far.

Very cute. Rather predictable as you know who the goodies and the baddies are from the start, it doesn’t matter a jot though. Amelia’s husband leaves her for Tanja the tart and she, with a lot of push from friends, decides to look up a stranger with a one off chance encounter from her youth. That this means a trip to the States and handing over her credit card details doesn’t phase her, however is the handsome Romeo really the one her fortune teller told her about?

Loved the story! Having a main character that seemed so down because of the things that happened to her, but then chased her dreams was great! Then the twist! Such a great read!

This story had a great premise, but it was too hard for me to relate to an older character. The idea of going to NY to reconnect with a long lost person is a great idea, but it just feel flat for me.

I hate to say this about any book but I found it boring and I ended up not finishing it at 30%. For me, the storyline fell flat and it did not hold my interest. I’m sure for others this will be their new favorite, but it just wasn’t the book for me.

I wish I could say I loved this one. The premise was good. I loved that the lead character was older. However, at times it just fell a little flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hera books for the chance to read this early and provide an honest review. (Happy almost publication day!)

It took me nearly a month to get through. I probably read 3 to 4 books in between this one as it just didn’t grab my attention from the get-go. But when I finally made it to 40%, I finished the book in one day. Sadly, it didn’t live up to the hype in my mind, based on the description.

Amelia is funny and real at times, raw and emotional. But mainly naïve. I think this bothered me because she was now raising two boys and could have been more fierce or stood up to her patronizing ex-husband. There was mention of mobile phones, current online games for kids and social media, yet she knew none of it enough for today’s world. So when her best friend decides to put up a social media post on her behalf, how wrong could this go?? Horribly! In dating, our protagonist was made to appear so dumb. I felt awkward for her. I knew what was happening from the very start…there was no element of surprise for me, not even at the end.
I was bummed that the concept of Patrick was old and brought me flashbacks of episodes of Maury Povich and Dr Phil.
The most fun I had with this book were the references to music/albums in the 80s.

I just did not connect to this as I had hoped.

What I loved about this well-written and laugh-out-loud funny story, Twice in a Lifetime, was that the protagonist was a little older than those in a lot of romantic comedies. With many books in this genre, it’s like you reach a certain age and you’re not allowed to find true love and happiness, or have to start being sensible or something. What’s all that about? Well, that’s not the case here! Being in the same age bracket as Amelia myself (okay she’s a teeny bit younger than me), it was truly refreshing to find such a relatable protagonist.

The author’s colloquial writing style and fantastic characterisation drew me right into the story, and it was easy to route for Amelia. Some of the things she does will have you screaming ‘no, don’t do it’! but at the same time, you just know she has to make those mistakes to find true happiness.

There are loads of moments where I was literally rolling about on the floor laughing. I totally loved Amelia – I think we share exactly the same sense of humour! This was a fantastic debut and I look forward to reading more from this up and coming author.

I recommend this book for fans of Kim Nash, Carole Matthews, and Cathy Bramley.