One Good Thing: From the bestselling author of Confessions of a 40 something F##k Up

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Olivia's world changes when she adopts an old abandoned dog and through him she connects with other people in the community and learns, through Harry, to leave the hurt of the past behind and live for the moment. I don’t think my words can’t really do justice to this wholesome, emotional and utterly endearing contemporary romance. So, if your looking for something sweet and uplifting for your next read then look no further, you won’t be disappointed! Je to príbeh, v ktorom si každý môže niečo nájsť. Je to príbeh, ktorý môžete čítať vtedy, keď cítite beznádej zo života a potrebujete povzbudiť, pretože toto je proste krásne a heartwarming. Tak trochu mi to pripomínalo Oveho tým, ako spája spolu rôznorodých ľudí, ktorí navonok spolu nič spoločné nemajú.

In life, nothing is certain. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something can happen to change the course of everything . . . If you’ve ever cried at a John Lewis Christmas ad then you need this book in your life. It is a beautifully sentimental tale of one woman transforming her new home and with it her life and herself and how a scruffy dog called Harry will show her the way. Auch der Schreibstil von Alexandra Potter hat mir gut gefallen, denn er ist flüssig, stellenweise lustig, emotzional und dadurch, dass auch die anderen Charaktere ihre eigenen Kapitel haben, abwechslungsreich. So lernt mal viele der Charaktere besser kennen, was superist, denn irgendwie gehören sie alle zusammen. Mir hat es gefallen, dass es eine Weile gedauert hat, bis die Charaktere einander vertraut haben und auch, wie sie miteinander umgegangen sind - das hat die Autorin wirklich toll beschrieben. Nur an einer Stelle am Ende ging es mir leider etwas zu schnell - da ging es aber anderen Lesenden wieder ganz anders.

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One Good Thing is a highly engaging and heartwarming story of starting over, finding that 'one good thing' in your life that keeps you going everyday. That reason to get out of bed and face each new day. Liv is a wonderful woman and I thought she grew to be so strong as the book went on as though she was telling herself “I am coming through this on top of the world”. I like being able to read and follow the developments from heartbreak to happiness. Das Buch hat es auf Platz 1 meiner Bestenliste geschafft und ich habe mir sofort das andere Werk der Autorin gekauft. Vôbec neviem, prečo som chcela skúsiť čítať od autorky niečo ďalšie. Neprišlo mi to nevyhnutné. No som strašne rada, že som sa k tejto dostala. Po jej priemerných knihách, hoci zaujímavým nápadom totiž napísala niečo, čo je v podstate jednoduché a predsa veľmi bohaté. I don’t want to write this review. Because then I have to admit I’ve actually finished this book, and have finished reading the intertwined stories of Liv, Ben, Valentine, Stanley and Maya. Oh and Harry! Who could forget Harry!

He wasn’t the only one I fell in love with either, there was Valentine who is feeling lonely now his wife has succumbed to Alzheimer’s and gone into care. He reminded me so much of my grandad that every time he appeared I was either smiling with fondness or crying my heart out. Then there was little Stanley, his dad Ben the builder and misunderstood teenager Maya. I loved them all and I am bereft to have left them now I have finished the book. Grief does play quite a big role in the story as several characters are struggling with their own grief or loss; for Liv it’s the loss of her former life and the certainty that her marriage brought, for Valentine it’s grieving his wife as her dementia steals more of her each day and the loneliness of living without her, for Stanley it’s the idea of his mum now being a star in heaven and for Maya is the fear and uncertainty of growing up. But, each character journey into overcoming that grief (or sense of loss) was soo inspiring.The prose is sincere and vivid. The characters are quirky, genuine, and supportive. And the plot is an astute, absorbing tale that takes you on a heart-wrenching rollercoaster ride of love, loss, friendship, family, community, thoughtfulness, dementia, grief, companionship, new love, and moving on.

But Liv soon discovers she isn’t the only one in need of a new beginning. On their daily walks around the village, they meet Valentine, an old man who suffers from loneliness who sits by the window and Stanley, a little boy who is scared of everyone, hides behind the garden gate and Maya, a teenager who is angry at everyone and everything. But slowly things start to change… In der ganzen Geschichte herrscht so eine angenehme Atmosphäre, was es mir fast unmöglich machte, das Buch aus der Hand zu legen. Ich habe alle Protagonisten in mein Herz geschlossen und es war so berührend, teilweise auch traurig, ihre Lebensgeschichten zu erfahren. There’s so much to enjoy in this simple tale, not least the delightful cast of diverse characters. As well as Liv, we get septuagenarian Valentine, whose wife is in a care home with Alzheimer’s, rebellious teenager Maya, and seven year-old Stanley, who’s trying to get used to the idea of his mum being a star in heaven. Yes, they are all clichés, but it is exactly this that makes them so wonderfully human and relatable. The story revolves around Liv, a middle-aged divorcée, who abandons her home and teaching career in London, and heads off to the Yorkshire Dales to reinvent herself. Liv is bruised, lonely and adrift, and struggling to adjust to her new circumstances, when she adopts aging rescue dog, Harry. And it’s Harry that turns out to be her ‘one good thing’.

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Each of the characters Liv meets along the way have all lost something or someone in their life and the story is of a coming together of community, of helping each other along lonely paths, that really needn’t be lonely if only people can accept others’ offers of help. Someone Great is best watched casually, perhaps with a pile of laundry at your feet or while you complete some other mundane house chore. Like Set It Up and the rest of the Netflix rom-com set, it’s compulsively watchable, with a plot that gets better the less you think about it. Jenny, Blair, and Erin’s chemistry is breezy, and the film is at its best when it relies on their friendship for cheap laughs. Case in point: The clothing montage — a staple of early aughts rom-coms — feels like a natural extension of a night out as the trio takes shots and swaps outfits while rapping along to “The Jump Off” by Lil’ Kim.