Anna Bell is a must-read author for me.
Every time she brings out a new book, it becomes my favourite of hers and it has happened again!

Lucy was born on the 29th of February so, being a leap year baby, she likes to make every REAL birthday special.
On her 20th, her boyfriend takes her to France on a day trip which is the opposite of what Lucy had dreamed it would be.
Just when she is about to give up on the day, she meets Noah, a fellow leapling, and a beautiful and long friendship begins.
Each leap year, Lucy and Noah do something memorable to mark their birthday but there is always something stopping them from moving their relationship past one of just friends.
We follow them, and their close friend group, over the next 20 years of leap year birthdays, seeing where they are and how much they have changed within that time.
An amazing and adorable story, packed with incredible characters, laughs, loves, fall outs and heartaches.

TW - dementia and a small amount of pandemic mentions, due to the timeline.

Loved this! Just my kind of story, set over a long period of time as we meet up with Noah and Lucy on their shared leap year birthday. A great paced story, romantic and thought provoking, with a great bunch of supporting characters in their friendship group. Sad in places but a great, satisfying ending. Highly recommended!

I enjoyed this . The two main characters meet as uni students and you follow their lives . They were both born on a leap ,year. It has its moments but you get the right ending in the end. Funny it is coming out in a leap year.. A good Saturday afternoon read

I loved the idea of this book, I am fascinated how it is to have your birthday once in a four years, really. I don't know anybody with their birthday on 29th February, do you?
It started good, although I was already desperate with our main character and her boyfriend. Oh boy. But whatever, Lucy felt nice and her friends were simply the best.

The idea of telling the story every 4 years, on Lucy and Noah's brithday, with only rough and short updates and blick into the characters` lives in between in the form of messages was really well developed, you really got the idea of what has happened in those 4 years, however, after second birthday, it started to feel tired. And I started to feel tired with the main characters, to be honest. While at the beginning it was light - hearted, the story turned out to be filled with the feelings of negativity. I know, I know, that's life for you, but life is also good and nice sometimes. I just didn't like this overwhelming feeling of sadness in this story, you know? Sure, Anna Bell has masterfully dealed with break - ups, children, disappointment, illness, relationships coming and going, but it all felt so down, so... sad. And it started to feel repetitive, this will they/won't they.

Nevertheless, it is a well - plotted story, down to earth and true to life. Really well written, thoughtful and I liked how the characters' point of views changed and grew with them. Sadly not the perfect read for me, but for sure one that you won't like to miss!

A cute and cosy read.

Lucy and Noah meet by chance on February 29th, their leap year birthday that comes around only once every four years. They put their instant chemistry down to both being leapings and embark on the rest of their lives, remaining nothing more than best friends.

The story chronicles the following twenty years of their lives through the elation of the highs and the heartbreak of the lows as friendships, relationships, sickness, marriages, divorces, babies and everything else life throws at them comes along.

Whilst frustrating (in the best way possible) at times, the story is quick paced enough to keep you going and twists and turns enough to make you want to keep reading.

It’s smartly written, using text and email exchanges to show the passing of time quickly, whilst keeping you in the loop of what’s been happening during the gaps.

I’d recommend getting cosy with your feet up and getting stuck into this one, you won’t regret it.

Another great book from Anna Bell which I will recommend to others.
Thanks for the chance to read & review it.

I loved this book. Noah and Lucy are great characters, and I think the only thing that could have made it better would be to have dual POV from them both. But it's told from Lucy's POV and the main part of the story is told every 4yrs on the leap year when her and Noah share their birthday.

In the years in between, we get a rough update by text, email, voicemails and WhatsApp group messages.

It was clear from the beginning that Noah and Lucy would end up together but it would take them 20yrs to get there. Their second big birthday, they were both single but unfortunately Noah had not long split up from his girlfriend and they were both drunk when he tried to kiss her, which is not how Lucy wanted their first kiss to go. He then gets together with Lucy's friend and they go on to get married. But another big birthday or so later and Noah is single again, trying to kiss her again and Lucy stops him again. He's not even divorced yet and she doesn't want to be the rebound.

It takes some hard truths and some time away for both of them to realise what they want. On their 40th birthday, which is also a big birthday, Noah leads Lucy on a treasure hunt through New York City to himself and finally they're both at points where they're ready to make this work.

This is a well written story that also takes into account the other things in life people have to deal with - break ups, kids, relationship difficulty and illness. But I think it handles it all well and makes the story easier to relate to.

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for tye opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I am a HUGE fan of Anna Bell’s writing and I have read all of her books, so I knew I was in for a treat with this one 😍 I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes her books so special, but she just has all the right ingredients that make for the most dreamy stories about the most likeable characters. I always come away from an Anna Bell book with a humongous smile on my face, and a few tears at the end of this one too!!

Lucy and Noah are leapling babies - born on the 29th February in the same year. They meet in 2004 on the day of their 20th (but actually only 5th 😅) birthday, when Lucy’s awful university boyfriend ‘treats’ her to a booze cruise to Calais. Despite the massive lack of thought, it was probably the best thing he could ever do for Lucy, because it was how she met Noah. There’s an instant bond and connection between the two of them, although Noah does have a girlfriend at the time so nothing is acted upon. They stay in touch and their friendship groups end up merging into one. Each part of the story focuses on their leap year birthdays, with small snippets of what goes in in between in the form of texts/emails/messages.

From the reader’s point of view, it is very clear that Lucy and Noah belong together. And whilst they both have the same thoughts at some points, miscommunication and life circumstances mean that they simply don’t act on their feelings. They remain firm friends and the special connection between them never dims, but will they ever end up together? Or is it just not meant to be?

I loved the whole cast of characters in this book, they were such a great bunch. I loved that we got to see them all have their ups and downs. I thought that the Alzheimer’s storyline was particularly poignant and very well tackled. Equally, I liked how the author addressed COVID/lockdowns in a way that we could all relate to! Overall, this was such a lovely journey to be a part of - ups and downs but what is life without those?

I would 100% recommend this book and all of Anna Bell’s other books too!

This was such a lovely read. Lucy and Noah have a chance meeting and realise they share the same very special birthday - both leaplings, they soon become good friends and the book then catches up with them every four years on their leapling birthdays. In that respect it was a similar type of format to 'One Day'.

There is a lot of comedic moments but as the story pans a period of c. 2o years it does come with themes of family life - from dementia, marriage and divorce so at times does pack a punch.

This however is essentially a love story so it does come with its own happy endings, which is just what I needed! All in all I would recommend this to a friend, it's a lovely story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Whilst I loved this story, I was frustrated by how long it took for the two main characters to get together. They could have got together years ago if they'd been honest with each other. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book. Loved the premise of the leap year birthday celebrations. The ending was so romantic - loved it. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Meeting someone who has the same birthday is not unusual unless you are born on 29th February, a leapling!
A surprise trip on her birthday has an excited Lucy, reality and disappointment means she is on a university booze trip to Calais. Meeting Noah on the trip and finding out he shares her birthday leads to a life long friendship.
A truly heartwarming story about friendship, love, career and circumstances must align.
Follow Lucy, Noah and the whole friendship group as they navigate life, love and career choices.

Once upon a time there was a five-star read and this is it. I knew I needed to read this, its Anna Bell, who writes funny, and thoughtful, but its also a leap day story, and I love leap day. I know a leap day birthday and we both bemoan our terrible birthday dates. The paperback of this will certainly be added to her birthday pile. Weirdly the only leap day tradition is the one part that I was cursing, but there is so much more to this story that the traditions. You will fall for Noah and Lucy, and as you follow their journey, be engrossed in watching Lucy lead a life that many struggle with and lots will empathise with. Its such a well plotted story, the flow through the years is just beautifully done, you can’t help but feel the years passing, and maybe it’s because I am a similar age to the main characters remember what I was doing at those moments, and my goodness were there some moments. This was like a look back through the highlights of my life as well as that of Lucy and Noah, maybe that’s why I adored this story so much, I don’t know, but I do know that this is one of those stories that will capture your attention and not let it go.

Sometimes you need a well plotted and cute romantic story and this one of those story that makes you smile, root for the characters, and hope for a HEA.
Love it
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Another great one by Anna Bell! I'm not a romcom fan at all generally speaking, but her books are the only ones I read of the genre, so I think that says a lot about how good I think they are.

I loved the concept of this book - two people with the same (leap-year) birthday meet at uni. From then on, the story is told in sections, every 4 years when the group of friends meet up for the birthday celebration. The writing is engaging and you get to know the characters well over a long period of time, so it's nice to see how / where they end up in the final parts.

Just an FYI - unless I misunderstood, there is a potential error regarding the gas fire at the mum's house (around 63% in) that may need removing or making clearer to the reader. It says "I stared at the gas fire, watching the flames dance" but a few pages later there's a line saying "she doesn’t have gas". Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book.

I enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure I loved it ans much as I think I should have done…. absolutely loved the ending- actually my dream date!! But honestly I was getting a bit irritated by Noah and Lucy. Towards their 32nd/ 36th birthdays. It felt like they didn’t really communicate much outside of their actual birthday.! Which I guess was the point. I just really wanted them to be together and was frustrated at how long it took. A reminder that life is too short not to be honest I guess.
I did really enjoy the book. Those 2 birthdays just irritated me a bit and I found myself thinking just get on with it!!! I did love that the pandemic was only referenced and not dwelt on.

Oooo my favourite trope. I really loved everything about this. Easy to read, hard to put down. You won’t be disappointed with this.

*There is a slight typo on the issue that i got. For the messages, there is a message from November 2019 and then a whatsapp from January 2019 which I assume should be January 2020. This may have already been noted but just an FYI*

This book, gosh I love the way it is formatted. The way that life changes so much between the 4 years and is based majorly around what each of the friends (specifically Lucy & Noah) are doing on each leap year really just shows how much life can change within a 4 year period. This does remind me of Love, Rosie but honestly in the best way. The way their lives move on but something just keeps pulling them back together for each leap year, I adore.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. This was a lovely book. I was invested in Noah and Lucy's story and enjoyed the supporting characters as well. I really enjoy books popping into characters' lives on a specific day over a number of years, and this was no exception.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book. Once Upon A Leap Year follows the lives of Lucy and Noah - both born on February 29th - from when they meet at university. Life throws them challenges and changes along the way, both surrounded by a core group of friends who grow together. The book was written from an interesting perspective - peaking into the characters lives every four years and exploring just how much can chance in those years. An enjoyable read!

This is the first book I’ve read by Anna Bell and I’m in shock…that I’ve never read one of her books before!

This book had me intrigued from the start. It’s divided into six parts and takes place over two decades. Lucy and Noah met whilst both in relationships and found out they share the same birthday - February 29th. They merge their friendship groups and meet up every 4 years. The group go through the various trials and tribulations that people often do in their 20’s and 30’s.

It was really lovely to read about their lives continuing over the years, they all had such happy times but some sad moments, too. One of my favourite parts of the book were the text and email exchanges at the end of every part.

One of the most important parts of this book for me, was the representation of dementia. It’s something that is rarely spoken about in romance books, and having closely worked with people suffering with dementia, I feel like the author has done a fantastic job of writing about it. I’m astonished at the compassion shown in the writing.

When this book comes out on the 1st February, please read it - it’s amazing!