Bee often feels unseen by the world and people around her. Stemming from her self absorbed parents Bee has self-esteem issues that have had a knock effect on her love life., Stuck in an underpaid, undervalued job, Bee is just plodding along through life. The one constant in her life is her best friend Luca.

Friends since he pulled her pigtails in infant school they have remained in each other’s lives across the years. Whilst Luca is popular with the ladies he wants to settle down and find ‘The One’, which in reality is Bee – but he has just never confessed his feelings for her hoping she would see the man in front of her in a new light.

Their friends challenge them to join a dating app, although Bee and Luca think that it is a waste of time. Bee is betting that he’ll be the only one to find love by Christmas. With Bee’s dates somewhat disastrous it makes her take stock of her life and start making changes. But when Luca drops the L-word, what will Bee make of it all?

This wasn't for me. Even though the characters were relatable, the ending was waaaaay to obvious from the beginning. Nonetheless, that beginning was actually decent, I liked it but then I kept reading and I got a little bit boring. Besides, Luca was a jerk sometimes, and Bee's thoughts were repetitive. So in the end, I wanted to know how the story would end, but I didn't feel the connection I expected.

I really enjoyed this story. I must admit it was blatantly obvious from the beginning how the story would end, but the journey it took you on to get there was great. Quite honestly I did feel a bit sad at times when the backgrounds and ineloquent words were getting between them, but as this is the human condition, it came across very natural. I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book

A friends to lovers/slow burn read. I found this book boring and difficult to connect with. I believe it’s use of English/British slang. The use of language is what threw me off. I was actually asking myself, “who says dowdy?” It was very dry to me as an American but it could be me not knowing slang or terms.

It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I felt the story dragged on forever and literally nothing exciting happened until the very end. The ending was expected nothing I didn’t see coming.

Having been a fan of Maxine Morrey’s books, I was really excited to have the opportunity to read this book early thanks to Net Galley and publishers - and the book did not disappoint.

I couldn’t put the book down and read it start to finish in a day. The book was the perfect chance to escape the ‘real world’ and get caught up in Bee, Luca, Tia and Jono’s online dating shenanigans. I did feel the ending was slightly rushed and would have loved just one more chapter.
Thanks again for the chance to read this book early, I really enjoyed!

Living Your Best Life by Maxine Morrey was a sweet read. This was a first time read by this author. The main characters, Bee and Luca, focused their story of friends to lovers with both the up's and down's, fun, drama, and everything else in a good romance. The characters were very relatable as well which always makes a book easier to read.

Familiar trope, best guy/girl friends and how they get to the point of being romantic partners. I liked this book although Bea has a lot of issues from being the child of self absorbed parents who didn't pay her attention. Liked all the friend dynamics between the group. I think the book could have been shorter but overall it was an enjoyable read.

oh yes oh yes!!!!! 5 stars out of 5 for me for this book!!!!!! This was a first time for me to read a Maxine Morrey book, I really had my doubts about this one. I wasn't really sure if i was going to read it or not to be honest and I finally decided I will give it a try... oh boy! I did well to read it! This book is a page-turner! I just couldn't put it down! It's excellent and so well-written! So fun to read too! and there is so much suspense and tension! There is so much going on in this book, I can guarantee you that you will never get bored!!!! Please please please, grab this book! You will not regret it!!!

Thanks to Netgalley, Boldwood Books and the author for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is the first book by this author I have read and I devoured it in one sitting. This is a lovely feel good romance about a young woman with self esteem issues and a group of friends who try to get her to see her worth. Bee is a smart and competent woman who seems to be stuck in a bit of a rut - she is undervalued at work and has given up on relationships. Her best friend, Luca, never seems to be short of a date and has seemed to like it that way until now - he says he's going to find The One, using a dating app.

Luca's hot, rich and an extremely nice guy, so Bee doesn't think it would be a problem for him to find love but she absolutely does not believe she can, and she's pretty sure the app won't help.

But through a series of interesting experiences Bee discovers that she may not be as invisible as she thought she was and that maybe there is someone out there for her too - maybe that person has been there all the time.

I really loved the chemistry between Luca and Bee and their banter was priceless. There was plenty of pining and angst and times when I really wanted to shout at Bee to open her eyes!! I did think that it wrapped up too quickly in the end - I didn't get much of a feeling for how Luca got to where he did regarding his feelings for Bee. And I would have liked to see his perspective on things - the story is all told from Bee's point of view.

And Bee seemed pretty ignorant about what was going on around her - sometimes unrealistically so. But in the end this was an engaging sweet romantic comedy and I did enjoy reading it.

I loved this book, it was a good story even though we knew from page 1 that Bee and Luca were going to be together which goes to show that online dating can be the nudge to look around and see what's already there

What a cute story!! Read this one in one sitting which is rare for me! My first book to read by this author but not my last! Highly recommend!

Very lovely book, I always choose the books of his covers, and this one didn't disappointed me, lovely reading.

Another absolutely wonderful book from Maxine Morrey. She has this amazing ability to not only entertain you with her romcoms and help you escape, but to really make you think about your own life. I absolutely loved it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the advance read of this title.
I really enjoyed this title, a nice easy read romance with a satisfying ending. I liked both the main characters. Luca quite obviously was a close friend to Bee and not just platonically?
I recommend this book and it is worthy of 5 stars from me

I've been meaning to try this author for a while now... I already had a title on my kindle, but I really liked the sound of Living Your Best Life so I decided to read her newest story first. From what I could see, it sounded right up my alley and I had high hopes that this story was going to be a winner for me. Imagine my surprise when I ended up struggling considerably instead! Especially considering I was in the mood for some romance and I've been enjoying the genre more and more in recent years. I'm keeping this review short to avoid turning it in a full blown rant, but below you can find why this story didn't work for me personally.

First of all, I have to say that I usually do like the friends-to-lovers trope, as they tend to go mild on the sexy scenes and it's fun seeing the friendship turn into something more. Sadly, in this particular case I can't say that I was a fan of how the trope was developed. It was so blatantly obvious that the two were into each other, and while that alone wasn't enough to be a dealbreaker, the fact that Bee constantly looks down on herself and repeats that she is 'not good enough' for Luca is. And then I'm not even talking about how Luca finally 'revealed' his feelings without any consideration for Bee or respect for her feelings... A huge no-no for me.

On top of this, the story includes major pet peeves like a love triangle and a cheating element, which were both a letdown for me. Especially the cheating element I felt was completely unnecessary and especially how everything was handled... It made me want to throw my kindle against the wall, and that would not have been pretty. The main characters Bee and Luca in general are completely frustrating and while initially I thought they had promise, I soon stopped caring about them due to their behavior. And then I'm not even talking about the cliches with the superhot male lead, an Italian loving food, the female lead looking down on herself etc etc.

I also felt that the pace of the story was considerably slow, and things in general could have moved a lot faster. Except for the ending, which was actually super abrupt and not at all satisfying. As you might have guessed, Living Your Best Life and me most definitely didn't get along and I came close to just DNFing it more than once. All in all sadly not the fun romance read I was hoping it would be!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥🔥 (kissing and closed door sex scenes)

Bee and Luca are the only ones in their friend group who aren't in a committed relationship. This prompts their friend Tia to give them a challenge: see if you can find love on a dating app by Christmas. Soon the dating challenge starts to put a strain on Bee and Luca's friendship, though, and Bee realizes that she needs to step out of her comfort zone in order to get what she wants out of life. Will this challenge ruin their friendship, or will they find that true love was closer than they realized?

This book started off great. Bee and Luca's friendship was really sweet, and I loved how Luca was always looking out for her and encouraging her. It was clear that he wanted more from their relationship, but as the book went on I got frustrated with his inability to communicate this to Bee. Instead he was very secretive about things and seemed to almost be frustrated with Bee for not realizing on her own that he was in love with her. I liked how he helped her in a really bad situation at the end of the book and how that finally led to some romantic development, but I wish it hadn't taken so long to get to that point. Instead the storyline dragged a bit, and their conversations seemed very repetitive. I do enjoy friends to lovers and slow burn romance, but this one just fell a bit flat for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

3.5 stars for a quick, happy read.

Bee & Luca's story of friends to lovers with all the required fun and drama included... Both MCs were good. They did have their flaws, which made them relatable to real life characters... The secondary characters were good too..

While the story and writing were good, one aspect made me feel less satisfied - the way it ended quickly and the epilogue... When I finished this book I wanted a bit more of their HEA...

Overall, a good read.

Easy read with relatable characters. I don’t think there was one I didn’t like in this story.
The only downside to it was that there were no real twists and turns. The ending was easily guessed at, but still well worth reading.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bee suffers from nearly crippling insecurity and negative self-talk due to a negligent mother and hard childhood. Thankfully, her best friend Luca and his family, filled in where her mother didn't. Nudged and encouraged by her friends, we follow Bee on her journey to improving her life and finally breaking free from her past. Jumpstarted by an online dating challenge set up by her best friend, Bee gets back out there and starts leading her life rather than merely accepting what is handed to her. This is a cute story, but definitely a slow burn.

I'm always eagerly awaiting Maxine Morrey's next book and I've not been let down yet. It took me slightly longer to settle in to Living Your Best Life than with some of her books. But once I was settled I was there for the duration. In fact I read all the way through the night and finished it in one sitting. Luca, Bee, Tia and their friends and colleagues were believable characters, flawed as we all are but with many redeeming traits. Luca and Bee, the only two members of a longtime friendship group still to be single in their mid thirties are challenged to try online dating. What ensues is this book. Yes, the ending is predictable but the route to it is not.