"Polly often wondered whether, if someone were to cut through Ward Hunt, they'd find 'greed' running through him like a stick of Blackpool rock."
Published in the UK in 2024 as The Happiest Ever After, this book has a brand-new US title—The Accidental Rewrite—and it's out today!
I absolutely adored listening to this. It was cute, sad, fun, and absolutely hilarious—I was giggling all the way through. Polly is awesome. She's put up with a lot, and now, finally, it's time for her to put herself first—though, of course, it doesn't quite go to plan.
I love books with UK references, like Mrs Bucket (Bouquet), Kew Gardens, and sticks of rock! I even had to explain to a US friend what a stick of rock is (candy found in seaside towns throughout the UK). Pink mint is the best, by the way!
Colleen Prendergast was brilliant narrating this one. With her gorgeous northern accent, her voice is still spinning through my head even as I write this review. I'm definitely going to look for more audiobooks she's narrated, even if I don't usually read that genre. 😁
I haven’t read enough books by Milly Johnson yet, but that will soon be rectified—back catalogue, here we come!
Thank you to Libro FM and Harper Muse for the opportunity to listen to and review The Accidental Rewrite by Milly Johnson.
About the Book
What if it was possible to start over again? To leave everything behind, forget all that went before, and live the life you'd always dreamed of?
Polly Potter is losing the plot of her life. At work, her jerk of a boss is making her days unbearable. At home, she's trapped in an unappreciated relationship with a man-child of a partner. She's left completely drained by always putting others first. Amid this chaos, Polly finds solace in one place: the pages of her novel, where she shapes the world of the fearless and triumphant Sabrina Anderson, a character who embodies everything Polly wishes she could be. And thus a plan is born: Polly Potter is going to stop writing the life she wants and start living it.
Just as she makes her move--quitting her job, leaving her partner, and embarking on a road trip to start over--fate turns everything upside down. A wild turn of events leaves her far from home along the Yorkshire coast, in the hospital, waking up from a concussion, believing her name is Sabrina Anderson. She doesn't know where she's come from, but she feels she could heal in that seaside town, with the fresh air, seagulls, and a few kind strangers who take her into their lives. And into the heart of their joyful, boisterous Italian family restaurant--run by Teddy, the warmhearted son of her new landlady. When the restaurant is threatened, she knows she has the skills to help--and as her memory slowly returns, she must choose between Sabrina's life or Polly's. With her identity in question, Polly wonders: what if this new life could truly be hers? What if she could rewrite her story with a happier ending?
Hello. My name is Milly Johnson and I’m an international novelist (Sunday Times bestseller – ahem. I would have been a number 1 and not a number 2 if Richard Osman hadn’t blocked up the top spot!), newspaper columnist, poet, after-dinner speaker, professional joke writer (and winner of a Come Dine With Me week!).
I come from Barnsley in South Yorkshire where I’ve lived all my life – apart from four years at University in Exeter doing Drama and Education (St Lukes in case you’re asking) and thirteen years in Haworth in West Yorkshire, where I went hoping to catch some Bronte writing magic. I married there, had my children before coming back to my OG home part of the county.
