The Happiness Project - by Pippa James

The blurb: 

Prepare to be captivated by one of the most poignant and uplifting books you will read this year, perfect for readers who loved One Day in December and The Keeper of Lost Things. 

1) Exercise more 
2) Eat healthily 
3) Learn how to live again… 

Forty-year-old Alison Lund has always carefully planned everything in her well-ordered life, from colour co-ordinating her beautiful house to persuading her excitable son Alexander that sticker charts are more fun than misbehaving. But Alison’s perfect world has just fallen apart… 

Her head is left spinning when her beloved larger than life mother-in-law, Maggie, passes away and Alison is left heartbroken. Every afternoon they’d talk and laugh over a pot of tea, she was the glue that kept Alison together through the first few tough years of motherhood. And now Alison is trying to figure out a future without her. 

With a little help from her two best friends, Alison resolves to be more Maggie. After an emotional New Year’s Eve get together, the three women create a happiness project, challenging themselves to step outside their comfort zones and make the most of every single day. 

Daring to do things differently, can Alison learn to live more spontaneously and find happiness along the way? Or will letting go be harder than she ever imagined? 

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

The book follows three women: Alison, Frankie and Kate. They are all mothers. Kate has two kids and the third one is on the way. Frankie is very chaotic and a single mom. And then we have Alison, who’s mother-in-law passes away and now she has to do all by herself. 

The three friends decide to have a fresh start at the beginning of the year and come up with a plan. It’s all connected to live, health, jobs etc. 

I liked the idea of the book, but I think I just expected something completely different. I couldn’t warm to the characters and that made it really hard. 

I have to be honest, I struggled with this book. I really had difficulties getting into the story, I couldn’t relate to the characters and I feel like the title is a bit misleading. I really wanted to like it and give it a chance. I finished it, but couldn’t really warm up to the storyline. It’s well written and structured, but there was no real excitement for me and it was just not gripping. 

The friendship aspect was the strongest part of this book. I think the author really grasped it and included it in the story. 

Rating:

Pippa James on Twitter: @PippaJamesbooks 

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