Begin Again

I just spent a very enjoyable afternoon in the sun devouring this very funny and thoughful novel.

Frankie is on a bad date, on her thirty sixth birthday and wondering why her life hasn't turned out the way she had hoped. Her friends all seem to be moving forward with their lives while she has been in the same flat, the same job, the same singleton for far too long. Her life is so predictable her local kebab shop knows her order by heart. But what she couldn't have predicted was a dropped kebab, a badly fitting shoe, and a fall. A fall that proves terminal.... only that's not the end of the story. Because Frankie is offered the opportunity to see how her life would have turned out had she said yes, not no, at five crucial points in her life. What if she had taken the Tefl job in Mexico? Accepted her university boyfriend's proposal? Forgiven her playboy boyfriend? Shown up for the job interview? Not bailed on her date.... Frankie gets to spend twenty four hours in the life that might have been hers if she had made different choices and at the end she can choose any of those lives or accept her death. And as she experiences each of these alternate lives Frankie realises that the only thing that has been holding her back is Frankie herself.

It's a great concept and really well executed in this eminently readable, humourous and often poignant book. Highly recommended.

I don't think anyone expects a kebab to be their final downfall, or at least not in how it affects Frankie Mackenzie.
She feels stuck in her life. Inn her job, relationship status, and location. Basically, adulthood sucks.
Then after what she feels is a disastrous first date, She meets with an untimely death.
But, lucky (or unlucky) for her, she's granted a second chance at life, but with a twist.
She's given the chance to revisit some major crossroads in her life, to see which change she should have made, and the opportunity to step back into her life with a possibly more positive outcome.
I guess we all have those moments of 'what if?' in our lives. Decisions we wish we had taken rather than the ones we did.
I loved how this story explored how the grass may look greener, but it isn't always, and that we can make our lives what we want from whatever point we decide to make changes.
Frankie's death by kebab incident allows her to reassess her life and what is important to her, and of course, there is the romantic side, too.
Is Toby really the 'one that got away? Should she have stuck with rich playboy Callum? Or is nerdy Oli all that he seems, or more?
I romped through this on one sun-soaked day and enjoyed it immensely!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for an ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. Frankie is a great likeable character and her friends and family are all really well written. I enjoyed reading all the different possibilities for Frankie. Highly recommended.

"Life shouldn't be about filling time, it should be about fulfilling time."

In my own experience, Helly Acton is the Queen of unique speculative, high-concept fiction. So when I was sent her new book with the pitch of “the good place meets sliding doors” you just know I couldn’t wait and Helly did not disappoint.

Begin Again had that same patented immersive storytelling that we’ve come to love, but with a quieter, more nuanced style that felt almost dreamlike and I adored it. It’s a deeply moving, evocative story that reaches in and pulls out that part of you that wants to connect, tenderly exploring the subtle and universal experiences of regret, grief and confusion in a spectacularly uplifting and remarkably relatable story.

We first meet Frankie as she’s about to die in a puddle of kebab sauce that will ruin her favourite white chiffon top, her last day being spent on one of the most embarrassing dates in history. But even though she’s dead when we meet her, she is brimming with life. She was perfectly imperfect — someone watching and comparing her life and trying not be be cynical wondering when she was ever going to get her life together … but then she died. Her narration was friendly and talkative, and full of ridiculously witty humour and terrible puns that had me both rolling my eyes and laughing at the same time.

As we rewind the clock, it’s amazing to see the tiny little moments that change the path of Frankies life that she didn’t even realise at the time — it moves fluidly like a dream between times, with a blindingly compelling and refreshing take on afterlife bureaucracy pushing the story forward in its own time. Each moment is delicate and poetic, asking if it’s love, friends, success, power — or something else entirely that gives us a fulfilled life?

A charming, compelling story of second chances — life affirming and utterly hilarious, this book just felt like one comforting hug and I absolutely loved it.

Well written, likable characters and a delightful storyline. A little predictable but still charming and entertaining. Perfect for fans of this genre and author! Well worth reading.

We’re on a countdown… to what? That would be telling. Celebrity gossip columnist Frankie McKenzie it’s on a first date with Oli Sarpong and she’s VERY hungry. He seems perfectly normal, perfectly nice, clearly from a regular family while hers are well, quirky. Initially, the date seems to have potential but then Frankie makes a wise crack too far and then it all takes a very different turn.

It’s hard to write a review for this one without giving too much away but I enjoyed the different journey with Frankie as we look at snapshots of her life. It’s witty, at times very funny, the concept is clever and has a fresh feel to it for this genre. There are parts that definitely have a nightmarish quality list to the storytelling as Frankie has much to address. However, you can always rely on her to come up with a whip smart remark that takes the sting out of any situations she finds herself in. She is certainly never boring, an over thinker that’s for sure but despite the ups and downs of certain choices she makes, she is a lot of fun to be around.

The novel is reflective, thought-provoking, and I like the premise of the grass being always greener on the other side of the fence. I like the way Helly Acton has written this, the tone she strikes matches the turning points in Frankie’s life. She’s created an interesting crew of friends to surround Frankie and while some of dialogue might be a bit cheesy, it also makes you smile. What more can you ask for??

Ultimately, this is a feel good novel, it’s fun and easy to read with good dialogue and an ending I like. Go Frankie.

With thanks to NetGalley, and especially to Bonnier Books, Zaffre for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

When I read Helly Acton's first book, I had exactly the same thought as I did on opening this one, 'Oh, I love the main character, but not the concept.' I needn't have worried. In both cases, the storytelling was strong enough to win me round by Chapter Three. Like The Shelf, this left me jumping for joy.

Frankie gets a chance to live the lives she never led (the 'Good Place,' style afterlife was still the least interesting part for me, but it wasn't a deal-breaker). I was particularly compelled by the sections that dealt with her life as a WAG to a Kendall Roy-style media publishing heir and her suburban life in Kingston with Toby, a perfectionist whose masked unhappiness with her and his life choices emerges in something approaching coercive control.

Trying to make peace with her hippy mum, her journalistic ambitions and her search for love, Frankie eventually realises that you can't have it all - but you can have a hell of a lot.

I really like the quirky style of writing in this clever, cute book about Frankie and the disaster that is her life! Or was her life. Its sharply written, a very funny read with a hugely likeable character in Frankie. Very enjoyable! You'll be rooting for her from the off!

I adored this book, Frankie’s development in understanding how strong she is as an individual was so empowering to read.

Helly has a talent to weave a tiny bit of fantasy into her books, just enough magic to make her stories addictive and memorable

Frankie is given 4 choices to relive parts of her life as she 's been put in holding. Very different book but loved it

What a gem this was. I thought it was going to be yet another ‘sliding doors’ story.
A ‘what if I’d only…’ but it definitely wasn’t.
I loved the concept of going back to those important crossroads in life and perhaps taking the other road.
The main character Frankie was great.
It’s a recommendation from me, thanks for the advance copy NetGalley

Ahhh, I love a Helly Acton novel: her books guarantee a root-for-able main character, a sense of fun and a twist of the unusual. Begin Again comes out in July and it doesn’t disappoint. It follows Frankie’s adventures after her kebab-related death as she explores what could have been had she followed a different path along 5 major crossroads in her life. A perfect, smile-raising read, especially if you want something light and uplifting to read on your holidays! Bit gutted I didn’t save this one for my own getaway in a few weeks’ time.

The main character is super relatable to such a huge group of people, feeling a bit lost in the life she’s currently in! Getting the chance to go back and see 4 other ways in which her life could have played out, Frankie really sees the Butterfly Effect in action. A really enjoyable book, well written, if not a tad long, and really funny at times! Would recommend to all!

A great concept and I really enjoyed reading this book. Frankie’s life is going nowhere, especially after she slips on a dropped kebab! On reaching the ‘waiting room’ she is offered 5 alternative lives and gets to experience them for 24 hours to see where she would have ended up if she’d made different choices. She can then choose which life to go back to on earth to try again. It’s a great idea, executed brilliantly by the author.

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Not wanting to give too much away about the story but after a freak kebab accident Frankie is give the chance to re-live key moments in her life to see what would have happened had she taken a different route.

Frankie is a lovely character, she's witty and fun an over thinker with an abundance of bad puns there's also a nice mix of other characters.

I like the way that Helly Acton writes and will definitely read more of her books.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier Books for the ARC.

This is the third book I’ve read by Helly Acton and, just like its predecessors, this book was a LOT of fun. I find Helly’s ideas really fresh and quirky and her female leads are always so relatable.

This story follows Frankie who, after a disappointing date, trips and loses her life outside a kebab shop (yeah, I was hooked already by this point). Frankie then gets the opportunity to spend 24 hours in five separate lives which she could have lived had she made a different decision in the past - at the end, she can choose a life and start over, or “begin again”.

A great summer read with lots of humour, a clever plot, interesting characters and good pacing. I really enjoyed it and Helly Acton will continue to be an autobuy author for me.

This was a book chosen from my NetGalley Shelf in the hope that I’d get the review out before publication (which I think same day counts as before). Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC, if you’ve read my reviews before then you know that my reviews are honest, even when I’ve been gifted the book.

I’ve never heard of Helly Acton before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I loved the premise of the book, I’m a real sucker for alternate timeline, amnesia and Freaky Friday tales. Recently I’ve read something similar (click here), so I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this book. Well I was wrong, because I loved this book and it made me think a lot.

I saw the book compared to The Good Place, which is fairly accurate. It has that easy to access vibe, doesn’t appear to take itself too seriously. And then wham, big life lesson. It was a bit of a story of self-love and kindness too. If I had to describe it in a headline (which, if you read the book you’ll know why) it would be:

Hilarious tale leads to blogger overanalysing life choices in quest for meaning

Which I’m not really questioning my every choice in life. But I also kind of am. Which is a bit uncomfortable and a bit optimistic. Not what I expected from this book.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure others will read this for the fun romp that it is. Some may (in the words of the fabulous Ms Elenor Shellstrop) declare the book to be a bit basic. But it’s a book that can lead to philosophical thinking and deliberations. Which, to me, is exactly what I want from a book. I was entertained the whole way through and it made me think. Laughing and becoming more enlivened? Yes please.
I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for more books from this author.

Yet another Helly Acton novel that makes you think about it long after you have finished reading it. This book has strong vibes of Sliding Doors as our heroine Frankie dies in a freak kebab related accident - but then is given the chance to make all of the key decisions in her life again, to see how different her life would have turned out. A fascinating read with the normal humour and heartfelt moments in it.