A really engrossing book written with warmth and subtle humour. I have read all of Anna's books and this is the best one so far.

Lucy is a leaping (born on 29th Feb). At university she is expecting to celebrate with her boyfriend on a romantic trip to Paris, but instead they end up in Calais buying cheap booze. She storms off after an argument and by chance meets Noah, a fellow leaping. The book follows their leap year birthdays over 20 years, looking at the highs and lows of growing up.

I absolutely love the premise of this book. Watching a group of friends grow up over 20 years is a really interesting idea and the author did a really good job of capturing the changes of things like technology. We get to know the characters and their lives, and a lot of work has been put in to building back story and anecdotes of the years we aren’t shown in the book. We very much only follow a handful of days every four years but have texts, emails and calls in between to see how life has moved on which I really enjoyed.

This book is more contemporary fiction than it is a romance which I didn’t realise going in and is why it’s not a higher rating for me, but I can really see an audience for this book. It hits on some hard topics which I usually avoid, TW particularly for dementia and the pandemic. The former hit me really hard as it’s VERY real in this book. Thankfully (for me) the pandemic was skimmed over.

I think the downside is that because we only see Lucy and Noah together for a couple of days every few years it’s hard to completely be involved in their relationship. It was hard for me at first to see the development of Lucy falling for Noah, and then the development of the final birthday comes around quickly with a rushed plot point that happens in the in between years. I’d have liked a bit more Lucy and Noah time to really feel invested.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the concept of ‘leaplings’ happening to meet on their actual birthday and then going on to celebrate their feb 29th birthdays together each time. I thought the gaps would be too big but Anna Bell wrote it very cleverly with some texts and emails in between and enough to catch up on their lives and the other characters in between. Very well written and I simply fell in love with Noah and Lucy. Highly recommend

When your birthday only occurs 1/4 years you need to make it special. However, Lucy’s boyfriend’s idea of special is a booze run to Calais and not the romantic day in Paris she envision. What are the chances she would meet another leapling though? An immediate friendship springs between the two as if seems fate has brought them together and their friendship groups collide.
We revisit the group every four years on Lucy and Noah’s birthday, with snippets of what’s app, messages and phone calls shared inbetween. It was a really nice journey through their lives and the ebb and flow of friendships and romances felt so relatable and realistic. This book was a total breeze to read and definitely had me desperate for Lucy and Noah to take stock and realise what was right in front of them!!

I found myself thinking about the characters after I had finished reading the book, a proper book hangover!
Lucy and Noah meet on their 4th birthday - well, their 20th really but they are “leaplings” born on 29th February and this is turning out to be Lucy’s worst birthday yet. After mistakenly thinking her boyfriend has a romantic trip planned, she is frustrated to find that she is a spare part on his venture to Calais to pick up a load of cheap booze. A twist of fate has Lucy and Noah spend the day together and they become fast friends. Both seeing other people, the tentative feelings they have for each other remain buried and they form a friendship group, meeting up when they can and making a point to spend their 4 yearly birthdays together. As they start to grow up and realise what they want in life, it becomes increasingly obvious (well especially to the reader) that they belong together. Nobody knows them like each other.
I found myself so frustrated that the characters wouldn’t admit how they felt for each other but they are each other’s constant and it seemingly felt like too big a risk.
I adored this book, the way the characters are written and the fleeting glances at each other had me so invested in their story.

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

ONCE UPON A LEAP YEAR by
📝 @anna_bell_writes
🗣️ @hqstories

PUB DATE - FEBRUARY 1ST

#DropTheSynop 👇

29th February 2000. Lucy’s never met another leapling until she encounters Noah also spending his once-in-four-years birthday on a disappointing day trip to Calais. There’s a spark that Lucy is sure Noah must feel too, and their friends insist they have amazing chemistry, but they’re both with other people. It can never be more than platonic and that’s OK.

Over the next twenty years, they’re at each other’s side through all of life’s big moments – weddings, babies, new jobs, family illness – but Lucy can never shake the feeling that they were meant to meet. . .

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

Thank you #HQStories for sending out this beaut of a read for review 💞

Sometimes you just need a heartwarming read, something to uplift your spirits, and I think this book has come at the perfect time of year, so grab your blanket and hot drink, cos let's face it, we still need these ATM 🥶 and get stuck in.

Now, I'm not huge on romance so I was a bit wary going in, but I shouldn't have worried because romance wasn't the big deal here, it had a tinkling, don't get me wrong, but friendship and daily going's on (well, every four years) were the very essence.

I'm mindful I may have made this read sound boring, but let me assure you, boring it is not. Simply, it's just one of those books where you can't say too much about it without giving away spoilers, and I don't want to do that.

Read it and see, you'll thank me for it!

- Leanne 😊

This was a sweet, slow burn romance with a concept that fans of Where Rainbows End/Love, Rosie will enjoy! It follows Lucy and Noah, leaplings (those born on the 29th February), who serendipitously meet during a disastrous birthday trip to Calais and instantly click, becoming the best of friends. There’s times when Lucy thinks they could be more, but life has a tendency of getting in the way and they are both in relationships with other people- it’s a classic case of right person wrong time.

The book is high concept, depicting their birthday celebrations every leap year from them meeting as University Students to 2024 with a few emails, texts, group chats and social media posts to catch you up on their lives in between their actual birthdays which was a really fun narrative device! But I would have liked this to have used more epistolary content to pad out the narrative and give a bit more of a sense of what happened in between the leap years. This book also depicted life realistically, showing the reality of friendship, family, love, loss and even lockdown and overall it was an enjoyable chick lit read

What a beautiful book. I started this yesterday and knew right from the start I was going to love it. It’s the perfect palate cleanser and just left me wanting more. I adored how Lucy and Noah’s friendship blossomed throughout the years and the fact that through life and all the ups and downs it still stayed strong.

I loved this book and was quickly absorbed into the narrative. The structure gave me goosebumps and I loved how we caught up with Lucy and her friends every four years, with text messages and emails showing the development in everyone’s lives in the space in between. Brilliantly written, I couldn’t get enough of this story.

I think it helped that I found the characters all so relatable. There are so many of my favourite places referenced in this book that I felt like I knew Lucy and her university housemates. Furthermore, reading this book with a February 29th just around the corner felt like it was meant to be and I especially loved how the book finished just a few weeks from now.

At first, it seems that Lucy is having a miserable time on a trip that her boyfriend arranged for her. Yet, the trip to Calais changes her life forever and sees her meeting Noah for the first time. There is an instant attraction but, as both are in relationships, they move into the friend-zone phase and seem to be outwardly content with their almost brother-sister connection. Except that Lucy cannot deny she has more than friendly feelings towards Noah.

This is a romantic story that shows how Lucy is keen to make that step into new territory with Noah but doesn’t want to risk her friendship or the dynamics of their friendship group. She is forever putting others before her and I admired her selfless behaviour. However, even Lucy begins to recognise that this can be at a detriment to her own happiness and it takes several leap years before we see Lucy take more ownership over her own life.

I loved how we are kept in contact with all of the characters over the twenty-odd years that this story takes place. The inter-years when there is not a leap year gave certain clues about how the characters were changing over time. Not only did it feel like I was growing up with them, but I enjoyed how Bell would refer to key events in the leap year that followed. Nothing was left ambiguous and it was a delight to read.

I felt quite sad when I had finished this book because I enjoyed it so much. There are some really poignant moments in the story and I think Bell handles them really sensitively. The relationship that Lucy has with her mother was particularly touching and seeing that change over the years added another emotional level to this aspect of the story, not to mention the reference to the pandemic and how Lucy and her friends adapt.

This was a great read and I highly enjoyed it. There is a magical touch of romance and friendship with a group of characters that I am sure many readers will be able to relate to.

With thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Anna bell has a way of writing that just takes hold of you and wraps you in a hug. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy and safe. Even though she does this she packs in emotion into her novels and this isn’t any exception. I was shocked when something happened that I had tears rolling down my face. I can’t say why as it’s spoilers. It was powerful, emotional and this is a book that will stay with me.

Lucy and Noah both share a birthday, and through the years we see their lives changing and in a blink of an eye everything and everyone changes.

The only thing I’d say I would’ve liked more than just a few texts at the end of each year about everyone’s life. I felt too much was missed and I felt there was things in there that could have made an amazing book perfect. I know it had to jump four years because of the leap birthdays but I would’ve liked a few chapters after the texts to convey the changes. So much happened in some years that I felt I was missing out on a big part of the story.

Thanks goes to the publishers and net galley for providing me with a copy in exchange for honest review and thank you Anna bell for writing such a beautiful book.

Out 1st February

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
I loved the idea of a book based on leaplings and I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating their official birthday with both Lucy and Noah over the 20 year time span. An easy, relatable, emotional read with a bit of everything thrown in. I really liked it

This was such a sweet read for me. Really enjoyable read. Read it it one sittiing. Thanksa to Netgally for this book
3,5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed Once Upon a Leap Year. The journey following Lucy and Noah over many years mainly focusing on their February Leap day birthdays was well executed. The snippets of WhatsApp conversations, voicemails and messages between the leap years added key bits of information to tide the reader over. The storyline is perfect for fans of ‘One Day’ or ‘One Day in December’ where there is a lot of tension and lust carried by the main characters but they struggle to find their time. The supporting cast of friends all added interest to the story.

Lucy is a Leapling, someone born on 29 February. On a birthday day trip booze cruise to France in 2020 organised by her clueless boyfriend she meets another Leapling, Noah. The two of them spend the day wandering around Calais and nearly miss the coach back to the ferry. The two of them have an instant rapport, despite Noah being a hopeless romantic and Lucy being what she calls a realist. Over time, both being at the same university, Noah and Lucy develop a great friendship, something Lucy doesn't want to spoil with romance which might get awkward.

Over the next twenty years we see Lucy and Noah and their friends evolve and encounter all of life's experiences like marriage, childbirth, illness, divorce, but the timing is never right and Lucy begins to wonder, was she right to keep Noah at arm's length and has she missed out on what the wider world had to offer her?

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of books by Anna Bell previously so I was keen to read this, but unfortunately something didn't really work for me, it felt too similar to something I had read/seen before and didn't have anything new to say - other than the fact that Noah and Lucy shared the same birthday.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this book

Lucy and Noah are both Leaplings, being born on 29th February. They meet when they are both at college, and the story follows their lives over the next 20 years, picking it up every 4 years when it's their "official birthday"! They both remain best friends throughout the years, joined by their unusual birthday, but it's obvious that one (or both) would like their to be something else to their relationship.

I really enjoyed this book and connected with both Lucy and Noah's stories. The story is told from Lucy's perspective and we get to see where they are in their lives every four years. I really liked both their characters and wanted them to just get together as it was obvious that was what should have happened right from the beginning. The storyline did slow up a little through the middle of the book for me, but it was still enjoyable to read. I loved going through their lives, watching their mistakes, regrets and hopes for the future and it was well written with plenty of emotion and laughs in the right places.

The storyline does cross over into the COVID times we all went through and this and Lucy's mum's storyline left me quite tearful. The supporting characters are likeable and you get to know them well over the course of the story. I love how it is written, meeting up with the main characters every four years and found this really clever! This was a heart-warming, light hearted read which I would recommend.

It is very, very rare that I will finish a book within a day. I could not put this book down and finished it in a few hours. I was hooked from page one. Following Noah and Lucy's life over twenty years broke my heart, made me laugh and eventually had me swooning. With strong supporting characters and all too relatable issues (lockdown quizzes are not a thing anybody needs to be reminded of), Once Upon a Leap Year is a book I will wholeheartedly be recommending to people and I will definitely reread at some point in the future.

Oh this book was so cute even if Lucy and Noah made me want to scream in frustration for almost the full 20 year span of this book! I release that might sound off putting but I really did enjoy this book, and the little group of friends that we followed!
This also made me stand by my belief that I am yet to meet a fictional Noah that I don’t love!

This is the story of two people, both born on 29th Feb in the same year. They meet on a bus trip to Calais and the book spans the years from Uni days to hitting 40.
The main characters are Lucy and Noah, who, along with their friends go through many upheavals and changes but ultimately you know where this is going. It’s a little reminiscent of David Nichols One Day. The ending is clever, and I liked the plot throughout. I think that as we don’t hear Noah’s voice through the book, we don’t get a true sense of him but I don’t mind that as there are so many books like that, it becomes a bit samey.
The story of Lucy’s Mum is told with sensitivity and warmth.
I really enjoyed the book and although you can foresee the outcome, it’s still a lovely book to curl up with. I have read one other book by the author which I also enjoyed.

This was so much fun. Not many romances would undertake a 20 year love story but the premise of this one was a perfect vehicle. Noah and Lucy both meet on their leap year birthday. From there, we check in with them every 4 years as their birthday rolls around. And along the way, we experience 20 years of life for them and their friend group - new jobs, marriages, break ups, moves across the country and across the world.

It was an enjoyable cast of characters and the dynamic between Noah and Laura always felt organic. Enjoyed it so much more than I expected.