The Gift of a Lifetime by Melissa Hill

This one didn't work for me, unfortunately, I was looking for a fun, festive, light-hearted tale, but even the magic of Christmas in New York couldn't fix it for me. I'm not happy with who set up the treasure hunt, and I thought it wasn't nice. The clues were sometimes confusing and/or complicated. The entire story, the characters, the twist, etc... absolutely nothing sat well with me. Disappointing.

If you're a die hard movie fan, you will love this book. There are a lot of movie references and scenes of movies. Since I'm not, this book was hard to get through. Beth is a very loveable character, enjoying her love of movies, but very naive when it comes to Danny. Danny is so distant that it is hard to like him. The revelation about Danny was shocking. The book was to slow for me. Recommended to movie lovers.

I have enjoyed books by Melissa Hill in the past, so I have been looking forward to read this but unfortunately it couldn't live up to my expectations.

The first third of the book was more or less boring. The story was dragging and it took forever until it really started, the moment when Beth got that mysterious letter. At that point the story suddenly got more interesting and I was as curious as Beth to find out about it. I really enjoyed the Scavenger Hunt through New York.
Despite the story picking up, there were still moments in the plot which were immensely dragging. As much as I enjoyed the movie references, the constant babbling about it got boring after some time.

The relationship of Beth and Danny felt absolutely distant and I could never warm up with Danny. The revelation at the end was kind of shocking and I couldn't understand that kind of beahviour. It definitely kind of ruined the idea of the book for me.

"The Gift of a Lifetime" was enjoyable and boring at the same time, so my rating is going to set in the middle of the ranking.

Well what can I say, another triumph of a book by Melissa Hill!! I love reading Melissa's books, I've read a few! I have read the majority of this book today and couldn't put it down, I just had to find out who the clues were from thinking (as everyone else would have) that Danny was having an affair and I cried at the end when he revealed to Beth that he had cancer. That was one shock that I wasn't expecting, I kind of want to read the book again knowing the ending and seeing how it would have been interpreted differently as it was well written for readers to think he was cheating! I didn't expect that it was him. I struggled with the beginning bit of the book if I'm honest, learning about Danny and Beth got a little boring for me but as it got going a couple of chapters in I couldn't put it down! I'm glad in the end that they did get married and he made it to the wedding, I would have liked to have read him showing her her Grandmothers shoes with Beth knowing it was a proposal but it was a good final chapter to the book. I would highly recommend this book to everyone and thank you for letting me read and review this book, I can't wait for Melissa's next one!

Having been a big Melissa Hill fan for years I could not wait to get my hands on her latest offering especially after coming off the back of "A Gift to Remember" which I could not put down. I did initially find this one difficult to get into as I really could not identify with Beth and her obsession for movies. Honestly I did find her rather annoying and too naïve at the start but I persevered and around the midway point I did start to find the story intriguing.

The movie treasure hunt did offer a level of mystery to the book which I glad was explained because the clues would have been lost on me if they were left unexplained. It did leave me questioning who was behind the mystery hunt and as always Melissa Hill had me led up the proverbial garden path as I thought it was someone different from who it actually was.

Beth's relationship with her boyfriend Danny takes a lot of the spotlight in this book. His mysterious and secretive ways did make me dislike him a lot but again Melissa Hill worked her magic and changed everything.

The plot twist at the end was definitely surprising. and it made up for a disappointing and slow start.. I do recommend sticking with the book as it does pick up pace midway. As an extra point I now know some movie trivia that I didn't know before hand.

Wow! This book is definitely a keeper. It is well written and kept me interested and guessing until the very last page. It was also a clean read with very little language and no descriptive sex. Just a well written book.

Beth and Danny have been together for seven years but their relationship has become a little too comfortable and the spark that was once there seems to be waining. Beth has a coworker, Ryan, who is showing a great deal of attention towards her and is definitely interested in pursuing a relationship with her but she is torn because even though she and Danny aren't as close as they once were, she is still committed to their relationship but she begins to wonder about Danny. He is acting distant and closed off. Something is wrong and she needs to find out what it is but is hesitant to start down that path.

Beth begins receiving clues that seem to be channeling her love of romantic movies that were filmed in New York City. But who is sending them? Could it be Danny? or Ryan? or someone else? She needs to follow this through to its conclusion because she is certain it will lead her to the love of a lifetime.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.