The Happiness List by Annie Lyons

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What they say: Life is about to change forever…

Heather is finally back on Hope Street after running from the memories for so long. She hasn’t bumped into many neighbours yet but with her upcoming wedding to plan there’s plenty to keep her busy!

Fran is still trying to get used to a life without her husband by her side. It’s hard enough raising two children on her own – she doesn’t have time to even think about dating…

Pamela is fed up with being taken for granted by her grown-up children and grumbling husband. She’s ready to shake things up a little, but will her family even notice?

So when the three women hear about a ‘happiness course’ starting on Hope Street, surely it’s the perfect opportunity to let their hair down, laugh with new friends and maybe even change their lives in ways they never expected…

Don’t miss The Happiness List, a delightfully uplifting story from bestselling author Annie Lyons, coming soon!

The Review: You might remember (or maybe not) that I was particular gushy over these two books Life or something Like it  or this book’s predecessor  The Choir On Hope Street 

and so when I heard about this I hit preorder straight away (I know I act like I’m not clicking a button but more punching something equivalent to the big red button on ‘The Voice,’ but that’s how I feel when I’m buying books. More like ‘yes! That’s the one!’)

And boy was it. This is the book of three different people all out looking for a way to be happy, whether known or unknown to themselves. I was thrilled to distinguish between all three straight away, they all had isms that made me remember who they were, their ages etc. It’s very unusual to have a book where all three characters are so different and yet you want to read every single one of them and don’t find your eyes reaching to find a specific one, but that was what I had here and this, put with their exceptional friendship, was excellent.

The happiness course itself, with it’s range of things to do and fabulous array of characters, was something I’d thing about doing myself should one ever come to Ireland. In particular when they got to comedy week I nearly swooned, as one of my own ways to get back to happy is to sit down to watch stand up on Comedy Central and just laugh myself silly. And of course, as you would guess, not only was there laughter, there was tears. I bawled my eyes out in this book. In particular of course, Fran, who was just going through the motions of life without her husband, really got to me and my skin prickled with the realisation that not only had she not let him go (fair enough), she was also having little chats with him to keep him there. I have to add that the tears wasn’t just book related, it’s been a tough few weeks/months (2018 for me will be a year of almighty, humongous  highs and scary lows), but this book (and another which I’ll review in a few days) was cathartic for me.

I have to finish by saying I once put at the end of a review that if Cressida McLoughlin did a writing course I would be there, front row. It turns out Annie Lyons DOES do creative writing courses, and I nearly fell over when I read this and it compounds my belief that, writing wise, I belong in the UK more than Ireland (disclaimer: I adore Ireland, will always live here, and am sure I’ve just committed all kinds of treason, it’s just Ireland and rom coms/ chick lit do not go together, and most writing here is all kinds of literary or just plain flowery, and just not me). Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yes! One of my favourite books this year. Oh and special mention for Georg by the by!

Rating: 5/5

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