I wanted to like this more but it read, to me at least, more as self help than as a novel. The bottom line is that Claude is retraining Camille to think positive thoughts and make a difference in her own life. There are some chuckles but more often than not the advice (for want of a better word) was solemnly delivered and executed. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is short, as befits the genre, and it is encouraging. Try it if you're looking for a positive read.

I feel sad a lot mainly because I get into deep depression and its hard to pull myself out. But there are always books to read and some of them can really help when you are lost in despair.

Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Have Only One by Raphaëlle Giordano is a very good, entertaining story that is easy to read in a few hours and will leave you feeling happier than when you sat down.

Here’s what you need to know:

At thirty-eight and a quarter years old, Paris native Camille has everything she needs to be happy, or so it seems: a good job, a loving husband, a wonderful son. Why then does she feel as if happiness has slipped through her fingers? All she wants is to find the path to joy.

When Claude, a French Sean Connery look-alike and routinologist, offers his unique advice to help get her there, she seizes the opportunity with both hands. Camille’s journey is full of surprising escapades, creative capers, and deep meaning, as she sets out to transform her life and realize her dreams one step at a time . . .

A charming, feel-good, and universal story of one woman’s journey from boredom and dissatisfaction to happiness and fulfilment–for fans of Hector and The Search for Happiness, The Little Paris Bookshop, and Eat, Pray, Love.

I want to read more books like this, charming and happy! It will help lift you from a sad mood and perhaps give you a way of looking at the world differently too.

2.5 Stars - On paper this is exactly my kind of book. As I read it though, I just wanted it to be over. It felt like a “then this happened... then this happened” kind of book, but with very very little narrative. I felt like it was pretty hard for me to connect with the main character, Camille. I felt like I didn't get to understand her very well. The story was very padded with various self help and psychological or new age techniques. I love self-help books, but I really struggled to stay interested in this book as a story. I’ll give it a half point back for the “chain” bit at the ending. I wanted to love this book, I was really excited for it, but it just didn't work for me.

Well, I can see that this book might have a certain appeal to people who liked books like "The Secret" or who subscribe heavily to the idea of putting things out into the Universe and such. I am a big believer in the power of positivity and good karma, so maybe not too far off of this, but even so, I found my eyes rolling wildly in my head from time to time during my reading.

This book had been recommended by someone in an online group I belong to and it was very thought provoking for her. It may well be for many, it just didn't speak to me personally.

What a great way to use fiction to show readers how to live a more positive life! Great read! You can see how a few small changes in your life can certainly help it to be a better one!

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher and am voluntarily reviewing it.

I picked this novel up because of the strange title and enjoyed it. I will be checking out more from this author in the future.

I couldn’t quite connect with the main character of this thoughtful, and therefore was not able to even get halfway through it. I think something maybe got lost in the translation from the French, because a couple of million people in France evidently read this and loved it. But for me, it felt more like a very simplistic self-help book than a novel and that’s just not what I was looking for, nor was the description worded accurately.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I would read this everyday if I could. So inspiring as a must read for anyone who wants to change their life. The philosophy of acting if and being excited has been life changing.

This book was blurbed with the recommendation: for fans of The Alchemist, Little Paris Bookshop and Eat, Pray, Love. In my opinion, these recommendations were quite off the mark and led me to believe that this book would be something quite different than it is. The tone of the book was perplexing to me. Unlike The Alchemist and Eat, Pray, Love, this book reads as if it is being tougue-in-cheek. The way in which the plot points arise, it's difficult to see this as a serious novel. Rather, it appears to be a book that is blatantly mocking the books that the blurbs compared it to. I agree with the reviewers that it appears to be a parody. Unfortunately, even if it were a parody it doesn't really hit the mark. Ultimately, I abandoned this one before the end.

This was an odd one. It was billed as a funny novel but it read more like a self-help parody? Was something lost in translation? I would suggest the publisher address this before the book launch. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what I expected and not something I was interested in reading, to be honest.

I was excited to get this review copy. I thought the cover was cute. Unfortunately I made it only to 40% and needed to call it a day. This reads like a Dr. Phil type self help book not a fiction story. Maybe it’s just lost in translation for me.

I received an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
This one was hard for me to rate because there were times when I did not understand what I was supposed to be reading – is this a parody of positive psychology? Is this some sort of dogmatic literature for a French cult? It didn't quite work for me as a novel, however I do think that these tips will help you build a happier life, although nothing is as easy as it seems to be laid out in these pages. You'd probably be better off going to actual therapy than reading this book.