One Thousand Stars and You: Take the romantic trip of a lifetime

Really enjoyable story about living your life as you want, and not worrying about what other people think you should be doing, because in the end we only have one life so enjoy it and be happy. Alice is a bit of a thrill-seeking sort of character, but after falling from a roof when she was younger and cutting her face open, leaving a large scar, she has tried to rein in those tendencies so her family and friends don't worry about her so much - even though she still does adventurous things on the odd occasion without them knowing about it. Max used to be in the army, but got caught in an explosion and was badly injured, so again is trying to do everything he 'should' do so his family don't worry any more for him as he feels he's put them through enough. Both of them are denying their real personalities through trying to keep everyone around them happy, even though they aren't entirely happy themselves. Alice and a couple of her friends, Steph and Maureen, are all turning 30 within 3 days of each other and so decide on a holiday together to Sri Lanka, getting away to do their own thing and, in Alice's situation, getting to do things without her Mother and partner, Richard, worrying about her every two seconds. Once there they meet Max and his best friend Jamal, who are also getting away from it all on a tour around Sri Lanka, Max trying to do things he used to do much more easily. They didn't start off knowing each other but once they met, and Jamal and Steph especially hit it off, they met up around Sri Lanka at various places. Alice and Max got on so well with each other, but Alice had a partner at home and so they were just friends, even though Alice was feeling a bit stifled in her relationship with Rich, and I can't say I blame her, I found him very annoying and over-protective/boring too. Eventually though they worked through their feelings and what they really wanted out of life, and Alice especially made some big changes which were long overdue and started to make herself happier instead of just going with the flow and trying to keep everyone around her happy, albeit with a few hurdles along the way. Enjoyable, though-provoking book, with some great descriptions of Sri Lanka, which sounded such a friendly and lovely place to visit.

Fabulous, emotional, heart warming and so enjoyable I couldn't put it down - read in 1 go Highly recommended.