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Book Review of The First Day of the Rest of My Life

The First Day of the Rest of My Life
SteveTheDM avatar reviewed on + 204 more book reviews


Full disclosure: I received this book (for free) via the Goodreads First-Reads program, which gets books into the hands of readers, with the hopes of us writing reviews and starting buzz. What's odd about this one is that this book was published in 2011, and the giveaway was in 2014. Which doesn't seem to do much for generating early buzz at all.

At any rate: "The First Day of the Rest of My Life" is the the story of life-coach Madeline O'Shea coming to terms with her childhood and living a fuller and richer life.

And wow, that summary sounded incredibly boring.

This book was out of genre for me (I usually read sci-fi and thrillers), but I loved it. As far as I'm concerned, Lamb did an outstanding job with this one. I loved the slow reveal of details through the bulk of the book; I loved the characterisations presented; I loved the picture of the world she built.

There is a section of hard-to-read (in the emotionally difficult sense) backstory, wherein we learn the horrors that O'Shea suffered as a child, and I noticed that a number of other reviewers were put off by this section. It's tough. It's trigger-warning worthy. I don't think it's overdone, but like I said, it's not light and easy to read, either. If that's going to make you stop reading and not get to the end, then it's probably best to let the book remain on the shelf.

But if you can get through it, the book is fantastic. I really enjoyed it.

5 of 5 stars.