The Year Of Taking Chances By Lucy Diamond

[amazon_link id=”1447257782″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Year Of Taking Chances’ is the latest book by Lucy Diamond.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and Gemma and Spencer Bailey are throwing a house party. There’s music, dancing, champagne and all their best friends under one roof. It’s going to be a night to remember. Also at the party is Caitlin, who has returned to the village to pack up her much-missed mum’s house and to figure out what to do with her life; and Saffron, a PR executive who’s keeping a secret which no amount of spin can change. The three women bond over Gemma’s dodgy cocktails and fortune cookies, and vow to make this year their best one yet. But as the following months unfold, Gemma, Saffron and Caitlin find themselves tested to their limits by shocking new developments. Family, love, work, home – all the things they’ve taken for granted – are thrown into disarray. Under pressure, they are each forced to rethink their lives and start over. But dare they take a chance on something new?

It’s been a while since I read a book by Lucy Diamond, so ‘The Year Of Taking Chances’ was a lovely, uplifting return to the author.

The story begins on New Year’s Eve when Gemma, Caitlin and Saffron meet for the first time and over a mutual love for broken resolutions and fortune cookies, they embark on a strong friendship unaware of how much they will rely on each other during the coming year. The story is seen through the perspective of the three ladies, all with their own troubles and worries which does make her quite heartwarming and gripping reading. Gemma’ life is far from perfect, having once dreamt of a life where she would be a famous clothes designer, instead she is housewife, who’s teenage boy is ashamed of her and her once, sweet husband has suffered a terrible accident resulting in him being bed bound and angry. Stressed with no money coming in, Gemma finds herself at her wits end until an unlikely hero comes in the form of Saffron. A busy single PR woman, who has become pregnant a bit later in life. Unsure of what she should do, she travels to Larkmead for some fresh air and hoping to clear her head, unaware that Bunty, one of clients follows her, needy and self centred she feels that the world revolves around her until one day Saffron introduces her to Gemma, who sees one of Gemma’s creations and suddenly everyone wants to be wearing Gemma’s dresses and she is seriously in demand and finally Caitlin has returned to the village to sort out her mum’s house and recover from a messy breakup. She finds solace in Gemma’ s and Saffron’s friendship and finds confidence and creativity with their help and the attention from Harry, the handsome hunk of the village.

One character that I particularly enjoyed was loud and brash Bunty, Saffron’s celebrity client. She added an insection of lightheartedness into the story, as she dealt with cheating exes and regularly came up with crazy ideas to put her back into the spotlight. She was a delight to read!

This story is so sweet and I found it to be the perfect book to curl up with. The three friends are marvellous characters, frivolous, strong and fun, they genuinely made me smile as their friendship developed through the course of the story. As the year goes by, each of the women are faced with their problems and as one person broke down, the other two friends were there to provide comforting words and shoulders to cry on. Faced with trials and tribulations, the three friends pulled together in the face of adversity and in conjunction create a witty and sentimental tale that makes for heartfelt reading.

With a beautifully eye-catching pastel blue cover complemented with a charming narrative and dialogue that flows at a relaxing and intriguing pace, ‘The Year Of Taking Chances’ is a powerful and inspirational story about friendship, following dreams and new beginnings.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1447257782″ target=”_blank” ]The Year of Taking Chances from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.