Book Review: The Kicking The Bucket List.

It was with a contented sigh that I finished The Kicking The Bucket List by Cathy Hopkins.

I was going to say a “happy sigh” because I enjoyed it so much but, while the story has a fitting ending, there is a tinge of sadness to it so that word didn’t seem right.

The book is a lovely, warm read with a lot of heart and it flows so easily even though it tackles some huge subjects such as love, relationships and possibly the biggest, death.

Afterwards I felt like I learned a lot of things about mindfullness, meditation and life lessons in general but never that I was being taught, it was all cleverly weaved into the plot.

Here’s the blurb.

‘Oh, I wish I could see your faces now. How are you going to refuse the last wish of your dead mother?’

Meet the daughters of Iris Parker. Dee; sensitive and big-hearted; Rose uptight and controlled and Fleur the reckless free spirit.

At the reading of their mother’s will, the three estranged sisters discover that their inheritance comes with very tricky strings attached. If they are to inherit her wealth, they must spend a series of weekends together over the course of a year and carry out their mother’s ‘bucket list’.

But one year doesn’t seem like nearly enough time for them to move past the decades-old squabbles and misunderstandings. Can they grow up for once and see that Iris’s bucket list is about so much more than any of them realise…

I only have a brother and I have no idea what growing up with sisters is like but I imagine it just the way Cathy describes.

Along with the happy memories and family jokes there are old hurts stacked up along with new arguments and bouts of jealousy to contend with.

Luckily Iris has a plan to mend those fences and along with her two friends comes up with tasks to turn her single flowers back into a bouquet.

It’s Daisy/Dee who tells us the majority of the story but there is input from Fleur and Rose too, which helps to carry the tale along nicely.

This is Cathy’s first book for the adult market – not that you can tell – and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Format: Kindle.

Price: £3.99.

My rating: Four stars.

With thanks to the publisher (via NetGalley) for the ARC in return for an honest review.