This fantastic debut novel absolutely blew my socks off, it was vibrant, funny, poignant, immensely relatable and had me laughing out loud and blinking away tears too. I think it’s so relatable because I’m sure I’m not the only one to frequently question whether I have lived my life well, and sometimes feel that it’s all just lacking something exciting.

Emily is such a funny character, she says the strangest things seemingly without engaging her brain, but then in a professional setting she can move effortlessly into commanding her audience in an instant. I loved the friendship she has with Kaz, who she has been friends with since she was little. The connection she makes with Josh is really hot, but this is so much more than a romance.

The story moves between the present and the past, back when her twin Claire was still alive. As the 20th anniversary of her twin’s death approaches, Emily becomes almost fixated on whether the right twin died, because she is convinced that Claire, who was good at everything, would have been a more extraordinary adult. The ‘Life List’ Emily creates in order to make changes in her life is perhaps influenced by her views on what Claire would have been like had she lived. Some of them really were unlikely choices for Emily to make, like deciding to run a tough mudder when she didn’t even run, which ended up with some hilarious moments.

I loved the characters, particularly Leon, Sandra and Kaz, and her students at school provided some entertaining moments.

This book was my first read of 2023 and I think it entirely possible that I will be still thinking about it at the end of the year. It was a beautifully poignant yet hilarious look at love and grief, and how what may seem like an ordinary life can actually be truly extraordinary. With this as an exceptional debut novel, I cannot wait to see what Rebecca Ryan writes next.

I really enjoyed this book. It was so beautifully written, the characters are adorable and the storyline is fantastic. Would definitely recommend.

This is Rebecca Ryan’s debut book and well you wouldn’t think so. She writes like a seasoned author Emily is very relatable. Without being too obvious she is just your average person. She has an average job and lives what she perceives as a very boring life. I think we have all been there thinking that we should be more than we are. Emily has the added pressure that she believes her twin sister would have had an amazing life had she not passed away when they were 8 years old.

Emily’s life list made me laugh so much. The tough mudder scenes were some of my favourites. I had to stop reading to catch my breath because I was giggling so much. This book shows us how grief can keep affecting us even 20 years down the line. My mum passed away when I was 9 years old and even now at 33 grief can, at times, overwhelm me. I completely understand how Emily was feeling with a big anniversary looming and her family dealing with their grief differently to her. It can be easier to bury your head in the sand.

This book was laugh out loud funny while also being very poignant. This is a beautiful book about life and grief but peppered with some of the funniest scenes I have ever read. An excellent debut and I cannot wait for more from Rebecca.

This was the book I needed to get me out of the rut I had found myself in and I could not put this book down. Emily finds herself at a time in her life when everything around her makes her feel average and now she is striving to do so much more with her life.
It made me laugh out loud with the things that Emily did but you also feel so much for her and you are willing her to start to love herself like we had begun to love her. There are sad parts of the book and you can see that Emily is striving for so much more than she has already but she is an extraordinary character! Fair from the average person she thinks.
It has a Bridget Jones feel about it and honestly is a pure joy to read.

This is such a treat of a book to read, especially in those early days of the New Year when everyone is trying to reinvent themselves! Emily is convinced that she's the most average person in the UK, average name, height, weight, age, location, job- you name it, she is it. Her only interesting fact is her twin sister Claire, who passed away when they were eight. She cant help thinking that Claire would have made more of her life if she'd still been around.

Emily decides that enough is enough and sets about making a Life list to change things up, with self improvement challenges every month. She is resolutely set against falling in love as she's at the average age to meet her life partner and doesnt want to fall into another cliche. But she keeps running into the handsome and funny Josh....

My (extra) ordinary Life is written so lightly and is such an easy read that it would be a great book to take on holiday - and the message of self-acceptance and not comparing yourself against others (especially a twin sister) is beautifully told and one we could all remind ourselves of!

Definitely recommended - 5 stars from me

Oh how I loved this book and Emily in particular. It was so relatable how she felt that her life wasn’t just ordinary but couldn’t be any more ordinary. The pun in the book title is rather clever. I’m sure many of us have felt that our lives are boring at times and made resolutions to improve ourselves in many ways. This is particularly true at this time of year of course and some of Emily’s Life List goals were perhaps a bit overly optimistic, mostly because she wasn’t being true to herself.

The book was filled with humour and made me laugh out loud quite a lot. The situations Emily gets herself into sometimes were quite funny. The bootcamp provided funny moments as well as when Emily decided to become vegan and did a rather pretentious cookery class. It sometimes seemed she just couldn’t stop opening her mouth and speaking without thinking which really was so entertaining. The kids she taught in her classes at school often made me laugh. The wonderful friendship with her friend Kaz was hilarious to read about at times.

The author brought a perfect emotional touch to the book too as she explored how grief affected Emily’s life and how she often felt guilty that she wasn’t living as she imagined her twin would want her to. I really got the sense of how difficult it was for Emily losing her twin even though they’d actually been quite different. With them being ‘mirror twins’, seeing what must have felt like her sister any time she looked in the mirror must have been incredibly hard.

The romance in the book is perfectly judged too. Emily was determined she absolutely was not going to meet her soulmate at a time which would add to her averageness. So when someone who clearly was her soulmate came along, she did everything she could to make sure they wouldn’t get together.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent debut novel. Emily went from having what she considered to be an extra-ordinary life to one which was more her and more extraordinary than she could possibly have imagined. It’s warm, funny and poignant and full of great characters. Bravo, Rebecca Ryan – I look forward to reading what you write next.

I’m so glad I received this book to read via NetGalley.

The characters were relatable and likeable and so well written. There were sad moments for sure but once I finished reading I was so glad that I had. It was funny, made me laugh and almost cry too. Emily was such a great character to centre this book on and she was written so well that I could picture her vividly in my head.

I was hooked on this book and I can’t wait to see what the author releases next.

This book was so good. Read it in 1 sitting so much more than a average romance book. I think everyone can relate to feeling this way ay some stage of their lives.

I think we have had a moment in life where we think my life is boring, and that we are absolutely average with nothing special about us (I’m hoping that this isn’t just me). Our main character Emily is going through this very dilemma. After watching a documentary about the life of an average person, she believes that her life is boring. What ensues is her personal challenge to make herself and her life more extraordinary.

Emily reminds me a little of Bridget Jones, a character with no filter and anything she says is hilarious. To the outside world and to her friends and family she is special, but suffering from low self esteem she doesn’t see it for herself. With the 20th anniversary of her twin sister’s death approaching, Emily is consumed with the idea of what if her sister had lived. She fully believes that her sister would have been able to live a much better life. Her grief throughout the book is palpable and her journey through her life list and grief makes this book special.

My (extra)Ordinary Life by Rebecca Ryan

3.5 STARS

An interesting and poignant story, filled with moments of humour and sadness.

Whilst overall a solid read, something was missing for me but would recommend to others.

Definitely a case of me not the book. Was well written but the main theme made me too sad to continue on with it unfortunately

“Maybe living isn’t something we should all be thinking about so much, but something we should just do.”

Loved this book, couldn’t put it down and devoured it in a day. It was surprisingly motivational and thought provoking. I fell in love with the main character and couldn’t help cheering her on.

If you need cheering up and some unashamed escapism, this is perfect! This author is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance! Buy it……..

I found the start of this book hard to get into at first but oh my gosh when it did get going, I was absolutely HOOKED.

This book explores the concept of grief in a really unique and interesting way - interwoven with plenty of humour throughout. I think we’ve all felt a bit meh about our lives at one point or another, and I found this to be a refreshing read as a result.

Emily is a complex character whose traits begin to make sense to us as we realise her determination to make her life more interesting and above average related directly to the loss of her twin sister, Claire, as a child.

Her thought processes and reactions to certain events genuinely made me laugh out loud - and even cry - at points throughout the book. It felt even closer to home given that the protagonist has the same name/is the same age as me!

*Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a very funny and also very moving story, I loved it.

Emily is twenty-eight. She's a teacher, she shares a flat with her friend Kaz, and she feels her life is - average. It isn't, but the thing that makes it particularly not average is the thing she tries hard not to think about; the death of her twin, Claire, when they were eight. Twenty years later she's stuffed full of avoided feelings and the conviction that she's essentially failing at being the person she thinks Claire would have been. She writes a Life List of things to achieve over the next six months and sets out to achieve them. Some of these are easier than others - 'being helpful' by volunteering, and 'going vegan' (despite set-backs - some quite dramatic) are maybe more straightforward than 'being inspirational', for example.

Emily's a very endearing and funny character, although the thought of signing up for a Tough Mudder without finding out what that might involve seems like the sort of thing that gets you exactly what you deserve. As a reflection on the complexity of grief it's really well done, and, like I say, very amusing.

Having heard Rebecca read from it I had the whole thing in a West Yorkshire accent in my head. Very much recommended.

This was lovely, inspiring and a little emotional. After watching a documentary which describes the average human, Emily starts to realise that she is very average and she creates a life list to try and remove herself from the mundane. She gives herself 6 months to become more spontaneous, adventurous, considerate while trying to avoid meeting her soulmate – because getting married by 31 would fit the average, of course. I would argue that this is more women’s fiction rather than romance. There is a love story there and you do get a HEA but the focus is less on Emily’s relationship with Josh and more on her dealing with grief she’s suppressed for 20 years. I loved Emily’s character arc as she becomes more confident and authentic to herself, as the list begins to serve her rather than the other way around. I also really enjoyed the side characters and Emily’s relationships with them.

4.5*

I think this might be one of my favourite books this year. I laughed a lot and I cried a lot and I loved every moment of reading this. Emily’s voice (as child and an adult) was captured perfectly by the author. Her grief and the way it shaped her was present from start to finish and I felt the author handled that sense of loss in an achingly real way. As a character Emily was heartbreaking, funny, dry, random, weird, sad and amazingly relatable (her thought processes were hilarious and sometimes scarily familiar). Loved her life list and the journey to living her life fully, her own way and without fear. Her relationships with those around her were such a highlight as well. Loved the kids at the school, Leon and Sandra. Josh was just lovely 🥰 and Kaz was a 🌟🌟🌟!! Oh my days everyone should have a supportive wonderful ride or die friend like Kaz in their lives. The love, understanding and friendship between her and Emily was just perfect. A cracking first novel from this author. I really look forward to reading more of her work. (5 ⭐️)

After the tragic death of her twin sister, Claire, when they were just 8 years old, Emily has found herself feeling lost ever since. On the surface her ordinary life seems perfectly fine but what if she doesn’t want to be ordinary? Claire wasn’t ordinary so why is Emily?

She then sets off to complete a list of tasks to help make her life more exciting - but one thing is definitely not on the list… and that’s falling in love.

I absolutely adored this book, one of my favourite reads of the year! It came to me at such a perfect time in my life, it was like a warm hug that tells you that everything is going to be ok - and it’s ok if your life is ordinary! There is so much beauty in ordinary things.

I did cry in points so be warned despite the fun cartoon character it cuts deep in parts and can really be quite sad too! I loved Emily as a main character, she reminded me of me, which i’m not sure is a good thing but I loved her anyway.

The side characters were great and interesting too - I loved them too. There is nothing I didn’t like about this book.

I can not express how much I enjoyed this read. If you want the Bridget Jones character type, you will love Emily Turner! As a debut, the author has set her standards high, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

An emotional rollercoaster, which will have you both laughing and crying, this story of personal discovery and development, is a total delight. Engaging, addictive, and easily a one-sitting read, I can not recommend this enough.

A wholehearted must-read for 2023, pre-order this today!

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK, for a gifted copy of this book.

@currentlyreading__
Book 81 of 2022

Wanting a nice cosy read at this time of year, I opted for this ARC by @becsryanauthor. Thank you so much to Rebecca, the publisher Simon and Schuster UK and @NetGalley for the advanced copy ahead of publication on 5th January 2023. This debut is one to get on your pre order list and Rebecca is an author I will certainly have on my radar for all future books.

Emily Turner knows she is average and she's been fine with that fact for quite some time but after watching a documentary about the average person she becomes quite overwhelmed at just how average she is and it's not just about being average, she is not happy with the life she has.

With interspersing flashbacks of Emily's childhood, her current funk is clearly a result of trauma. Filled with emotional scenes of Emily's early years, Rebecca clearly shows what effect grief has had on the adult Emily.

Determined to make a change, The Life List is born. Emily, with the help of her Year 11 form class, make a list of what makes for a successful life. And off she goes - Tough Mudder, a bungee jump, travelling and exploring the possibility of love.

With a cast of lovely characters (Kaz, Josh, Brian, Leon and Bruce to name a few) 'My Extra(ordinary) Life' is memorable and life-affirming. As emotional as some scenes are, Rebecca has the ability to make you sob and then laugh all within the same chapter.

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