A fun uplifting tale of Keira’s journey through breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Her relationship with her cancer ladies running club friends and her old school friends is definitely the highlight of the book. On the downside, the side story line about her business and the villainous partner who is trying to perform a take over while Keira is bravely facing chemotherapy and surgery verges on the ridiculous. It’s distracting and predicable. I also found her husband fairly unlikeable due to his appalling lack of support towards Keira. Overall a good read if you can gloss over the husband and business plot line!

An emotional and uplifting read. I really loved this book, I connected with the characters in this book and loved the friendship that they shared. Girl power at its best!

Such a feel good book. I am not a cancer sufferer or survivor but cancer has touched me and my family. I applaud the frankness and honesty that shone through. I thoroughly enjoyed this!

This was a lovely read- full of hope with a big dose of reality. Keira’s story reflects that of many women and I think it would be a comforting read to anyone going through the cancer journey. A chance encounter with a runner in the park on the day Keira receives the news that turns her world on its head comes at just the right time. The cancer ladies running club is born. A great support network in more ways than one. It’s not all sweetness and plain sailing and we go through some of Keira’s ups and downs with her and her family. You know her business partner is undermining Keira and ruining her business and I was willing her to see this and do something about it. Good to read a book with supportive friends and family (problems and all). Sad and sweet and real. #netgalley #cancerladiesrunningclub

Nothing raises the middle finger to a debilitating illness quite like engaging in a fitness programme- especially if you’ve never paid much attention to exercise before.

Keira’s life seems perfect. She’s got three children, a devoted husband and her own business. But underneath the surface, it’s falling apart- and then she receives the news that she has cancer. But when she meets Tamsin, she discovers a new way to adjust to her new life: by joining the Cancer Ladies’ Running Club, the only place where everybody else knows what you’re going through.

This is the perfect blend of genres and emotions: emotional and serious when it needs to be, lightened at times with comic relief, like Keira’s daughter getting the dog drunk by accident. It’s a book about the healing power of friendship, the various ways in which life can screw you over and how you can work through it. People still have lives when they have cancer, and this illustrates that perfectly.

What a heartfelt and inspiring book this is! I'm sure many women in Keira's position will relate to it. It is a testament to what friendship can do when you are faced with your worst fears. Highly recommend this book.

Keira has a wonderful life full of amazing friends, a devoted and gorgeous husband, lovely kids (well, as lovely kids as really are), a business she loves and of course the obligatory family dog. What could possibly go wrong?

Cancer. Cancer can go wrong. And then it seems to take everything with it.

This book is about more than a woman simply adjusting to life with a cancer diagnosis, or surviving treatment. I will not say more about the book itself, it deserves to be read if you want to find out more. However, I will just say that this was an exceptionally well written tale.

There are parts that are really hard to read, but only because you know they are so true. It might be fiction, but there is a realness and rawness to the words that kind of grab you by the collar and shake you about a bit.
It takes quite a lot for me to well up, but I did on multiple occasions with this. The author has done a brilliant job of really pulling you in. Equally, many of those tears were for joy, hope and the sheer beauty of what I was reading. It wasn’t actually all that sad – just very, very exceptional.

The Stars
A really beautiful, heart-warming and thought provoking read.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it wasn’t downbeat or sugar and spice about cancer. It was instead an interesting and funny, entertaining book about having cancer and how we deal with that reality in different ways.
It made you laugh, cry and cheer the different characters on as you read more of the book and got to know the people behind the statistics. The people who support the cancer victims and the ones who are beside them every step of the way.
It was an interesting and entertaining read.
Highly recommended.

Felt like I could relate to bits of the book. One that made me feel lots of different emotions. It's an honest and frank reflection on Keira's journey with Cancer.

Three and a half stars.

Keira pretty much has it all: a happy marriage to Ian, a solicitor; three children; joint owner of a family store selling high end gifts; and owner of a beloved, if flatulent, family dog.

Then a cancer diagnosis changes everything, suddenly things at work are looking rocky and Keira's partner Lorna and her husband Pierre seem to be undermining Keira, added to which Keira's favourite employee Moira has taken a month's leave of absence without warning.

Ian's work is stressful, he's trying for promotion, and his new assistant is a glamorous young woman with whom he has giggly late night calls and works late into the evenings and weekends. Added to which Ian's parents are becoming increasingly infirm.

Feel Keira's frustration when fellow mums at the schoolgate arrange a rota to bring the family meals, at a time when Keira feels perfectly capable of making her own meals, other children refuse to touch her because they think cancer is catching, and her own business partner seems to think a cancer diagnosis means Keira is incapable of making decisions or even lifting boxes.

The one shining light in this dark time is a woman Keira randomly meets while sitting outside the oncology clinic waiting for her diagnosis. At first Keira is judgemental about Tamsin with her heavy make-up and tattoos but when she treats cancer as no big deal and offers to run with Keira once a week the Cancer Ladies Running Club is born. Soon there are four women, all in different stages of cancer treatment, meeting once a week in the only place where everyone knows what you are going through.

However, all that maybe makes this sound a bit worthy, a bit heavy going, and it really isn't. This is just as much women's fiction (I think what I am trying to say is that you could remove Keira's cancer diagnosis from the book and it would still work as a novel), the everyday ins-and-outs of marriage with children and competing careers and elderly parents.

I have to say I thought the plot line with Keira's business partner rang a false note, it was too cartoon villainish. Also, as a forensic accountant I can assure you that we don't do covert copying of computers, we use digital forensic specialists for that, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales does not provide that sort of training. But that is a minor niggle.

Overall, this is a book about the power of friendship, how a random act of kindness can have huge consequences and that life doesn't miraculously become perfect just because you have cancer, kids still argue, parents are still difficult, dogs still need walking and the house still needs cleaning.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

Summary:

When Keira first receives her breast cancer diagnosis, she doesn't expect to join a running group with three women going through their own cancer diagnoses.

She struggles with the concept of giving up work, or telling her family the news. Cancer is not the club she signed up for.

However, it is precisely this club of women who run that gives Keira the hope that her life will change, but change for the better.


Keira won't let herself be defined by cancer, and through the help of this unlikely group of friends, she will reclaim her business, her family and most importantly, her life.


Review:

An uplifting, inspiring and heartbreaking novel of finding your group and your own power.
This book was just incredible. I am always hesitant when reading a book about a topic such as cancer, as it is clear when an author just doesn’t have any personal understanding.

Having my mum go through breast cancer, I get annoyed when the situation is over-exaggerated, or the personal feelings and emotions are not shown.
This book represented cancer and the day to say struggles perfectly.

The characters who are presented as facing different diagnoses and stages tug on your heartstrings and really demonstrate the fight women who have cancer have to face.


This book is so much more than cancer though. The career struggles and familial arguments that Keira, Anna, Tamsin, Sian and so many other characters cope with. It really hits home how those living with cancer still have to live their daily lives, as well as the strain that this can have.


I am so grateful that this novel explores this topic so naturally and I am thankful I was given the opportunity to read this incredible story of love, loss and strength in the face of hopelessness.

An absolute page turner that is heart felt, no holds barred and really tells you how it is when undergoing treatment for breast cancer. You can feel the terror, the pain, the nausea and the frustration along with the author. You can also feel the wonderful support of the friendships that developed from starting in such a bad place. The running club was not about running, it was about helping each other, and empowerment at a time when you have no control over your own body. Along side of all this she has a sneaky business associate to contend with and a chaotic family that she is trying to hold together. A great read full of heart.

Despite this book being about cancer I thought it was a very heartwarming and uplifting read. Emotional at times but also story of new friendships and hope. Very well written. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have cancer, it doesn’t matter if you don’t run, this is a brilliantly uplifting book which will have you cheering for Keira and her friends. It shows the struggles they all go through, not just in terms of the diagnosis or the treatment, but in the way they are treated by others, from their nearest and dearest close friends and family to colleagues and strangers. Definitely a book about relationships and the trials and tribulations these women go through. A brilliant book.

Oh my goodness, what a book!!! I have to say that when I started this book, I wasn’t feeling it. However, the further I got into the book, the more I loved it. I read this in the space of basically 24 hours and I loved it. I fell in love with the characters and completely understood all of Kiera’s general worries but, going through the cancer treatment with her was so emotional in all of the right ways. You can empathise with her family life and really get an understanding of how tough the treatment is for breast cancer. Well done to Josie Lloyd for writing such a beautiful book.

Really enjoyed this book. Steady paced, great characters, I was absorbed and empathetic throughout. Will be reading more Lloyd books in the future!

I really enjoyed this. The hope and encouragement the running club provides throughout the most difficult time is nothing short of inspirational. Definitely recommended.

I had mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it was a really good personal experience of a woman finding out she has cancer and going through the treatment and meeting a group of incredible woman. On the other hand I found the ‘sub plots’ really contrived and annoying.

Positives points are that the friendships between the woman who start the running club are wonderful – even though they could have been explored more and been given more depth – and the support they give each other is fantastic.
The information of the processes she goes through with the cancer treatment is just enough for it not to be a ‘medical’ book of treatment.
The progress of the running club and what it comes to represent and their own achievements are inspiring.
Her two old friends from uni that are really supportive and fun at the beginning of the book don’t continue to be visible throughout and seem to get side stepped, which was a shame as I though they would be there more with their silly ‘lightening the mood’ moments.

But, alongside this was differing sub plots and people I really didn’t like. A silly plot around Keira’s business, her business partner, partners husband and the co workers. Also one co worker that she has know for many years, and worked there when her Father owned the business, leaves abruptly. She feels hurt but never thinks of going round to her house to ask her what happened!
Her family were characters I really didn’t like, and I couldn’t quite see how they would behave as they did when she was going through this really hard time. Her Husband Tom was selfish as were all the children. Even her Mother had a sulk and didn’t support her, as well as the Mother in Law being selfish and demanding of her Son’s time! They were all really selfish but came sort of good in the end which seemed to be rushed at the end of the book.
There was also a silly part about Tom’s co worker which was resolved in a ridiculous way and it was totally unnecessary.

I really wanted to like this book more but it felt like there was too many things just thrown into the story for no good reason. If it had dealt with less contrived sub plots and concentrated on closer relationships, family, the running ladies and the cancer treatment it would have had more depth.

Overall I would still say it’s good book but if it had been a first draft it would have needed more work. I can however see it becoming a film due to the nature of the subject and the wonderful idea of the running club for ladies with cancer.

A frank, emotional but engaging story about living with cancer, female friendship, and hope. Having recently emerged from Cancer World, I wasn't at all sure I wanted to revisit it even in fiction form but once I started reading I found it hard to put down. Alongside the inspiring running club story line is a crime element as certain characters use Keira's situation as an opportunity to further their own interests. I don't know that I'd recommend this book to someone who's just been diagnosed because Keira's surgery and treatment, based on the author's experience, are graphically detailed and pretty horrifying - and might turn out to be much worse than you need to go through anyway. But I identified with a lot of Keira's feelings and recognised some of the unhelpful responses from other people including the bizarre compulsion to regale her with tragic tales, so if you're supporting someone with a diagnosis, this book might help

When requesting to read this on Netgalley, I was hoping I would be accepted to read this and I'm so glad I did as it was a great 5 star read!!

Whilst reading this book I wondered how will I be able review this wonderful amazing book without giving the whole storyline away.
I loved every single character Josie wrote about but my favs had to be Kiera, Tasmin and Sian. The other ladies I did enjoy reading about but I just loved them three.


About 10% in, I had a feeling that Lorna and Pierre where up to no good. I'm glad my instinct was correct! I loved the scene where Kiera stood up for herself and he whole time I was reading that i though this would be a great tv series.

And I cannot write this review without mentioning the amazing running club, it made me want to find some running trainers and go join them. I loved the race and it was the kind of book you feel like you was at the park watching them do the run.