The Two Lives Of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver // Book Review

The Two Lives Of Lydia Bird
Josie Silver
Published by Ballantine Books on March 3rd, 2020
369 pages
Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Kindle ~ Audiobook ~ Book Depository

Lydia and Freddie. Freddie and Lydia. They'd been together for more than a decade, and Lydia thought their love was indestructible.

But she was wrong. On her twenty-eighth birthday, Freddie died in a car accident.

So now it's just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob until her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to try to live fully, happily, even without him. So, enlisting the help of his best friend, Jonah, and her sister, Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world, open to life--and perhaps even love--again.

But then something inexplicable happens that gives her another chance at her old life with Freddie. A life where none of the tragic events of the past few months have happened.

Lydia is pulled again and again across the doorway of her past, living two lives, impossibly, at once. But there's an emotional toll to returning to a world where Freddie, alive, still owns her heart. Because there's someone in her new life, her real life, who wants her to stay.

Overall Thoughts:

I honestly didn't think I was going to like this book. I saw that it had some mixed reviews. I'm not one to really look at reviews for books before I read them. Unfortunately, I saw a couple of booktubers talking about it and so I kind of was off-putted. I'm glad I stuck through this story though! My main gripe about The Two Lives Of Lydia Bird is that is was a bit too long. I feel like a couple of chapters could have been knocked off from this story and it would have been okay!

I really enjoyed my time reading this story. I laughed. I cried. This book is beautiful. It was written so well. I was so addicted to this story and it had the ending I was hoping for! I will definitely pick up more of Josie Silver in the future.

☆☆☆☆

Spoilers below this line!

---

Story

This story is beautiful. Lydia loses her fiance, Freddie. He was swinging by to pick up his best friend, Jonah, for Lydia's birthday dinner. He wrecks the car and passes away, Jonah survives. This is the story of Lydia trying to make it without the love of her life. She sees a therapist that gives her medication to help her sleep. This medication, it does more than help Lydia sleep. She can now see Freddie. It's not necessarily said whether or not this is some kind of magic pill or just a side effect. With this being a contemporary novel, I'm assuming it's just a side effect.

She can now see Freddie when she sleeps. Her two lives aren't identical, though. She has to learn new things about herself. She has to change some things from her real life to her dream life.

I really love this idea that this book is giving. I just thought this story was too long. I honestly could have done without any of the scenes where Lydia is at work. Heck, even the scenes where she went to Croatia. I understand that's where she comes to terms that she can't go to the dream world anymore. I just found it kind of pointless.

I really love how this story comes together at the end. I cried when she said goodbye to Freddie for the last time. I love when she realizes that she can be happy with someone again. I'm glad she realizes who she wants to be happy with. This story had the perfect happy ending.

Characters

My heart ached for Lydia throughout this entire book. She did a couple of things I disliked. Like, going to Croatia as soon as her sister had a baby. That's a life changing event and she should have been there to help along, like how her sister was there for her when Freddie died. I feel like it was a selfish move on her part. She grows a lot in this story. From needing to take these sleeping pills in order to try and be happy to sending them down the sink.

I love Jonah, Freddie's best friend. He was also a good friend of Lydia for a long time. Their friendship kind of was pushed to the side when her and Freddie got serious. She felt like he was always the third wheel that Freddie had to invite along. His character is genuine. He really hurts, knowing that he lived in the car accident that killed someone that everyone loved dearly. I'm glad to get to see his growth in this book as well.

You get a really good back story for almost every single side character. Normally, I would really like that. Unfortunately, I feel like it helped make this book drag on. I didn't care about most of the side characters that weren't directly related to Lydia. I definitely didn't need to know everyone's life story!

Romance

I don't really want to call Lydia's dream life the main focus of this book. I know that it's an important part, it just wasn't real. Everything about it felt fake because it wasn't identical to her love with Freddie in real life.

I loved seeing her date for the first time after Freddie. She meets Kris at a silent speed dating thing. I feel like she really opens up after meeting him and seeing him for the short time she did. I feel like without him, she wouldn't have ended up where she did in the end.

In her dream life, Jonah admits to loving her. I don't think he necessarily says as much in real life. I don't know if he's always loved her, but I knew he was the perfect person for her to be happy with. They grow so much in their grief, I'm so glad they ended up together in the end.

I won't say this book is romance heavy. Honestly, I don't think it should be considered a romance novel. This story is not about romance and finding love. It's about grief and how it affects a girl who doesn't think she's going to be happy again. I would just consider it adult fiction, to be honest.

“I found the old me, still in here, and the new me sitting right alongside her. We made friends.”