Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

Elena Swan is 29 and works for a biscuit company in Manchester, together with her friend and temporary housemate Rory Bunker. She is convinced that she will die on her 30th birthday because on her tenth birthday she made a pact with a fortune teller to swap her life for that of her mother who was critically ill in hospital. Her mother survived and since then Elena has been overcautious, not taking any risks. It's only when Rory moves in with his two stick insects Brandy and Snap a month before her birthday and she has three accidents that are near misses on her life that she starts living a little more until she goes too far and takes unnecessary risks while bungee jumping and driving too fast.

This beautiful story about complex characters is told in dual POV with Rory's part told through his quirky diary entries full of numbers of the day. We learn so much about both their families, backgrounds and childhood traumas. Rory does a lot of extreme sports but realises that there is a specific reason why, and Elena is a lot more adventurous and daring inside than her cautious actions make you believe. 

I loved how they started looking after their elderly widowed neighbour Tahoor, bringing him out of his shell while not letting him get away with his old-fashioned views about the roles of men and women. Also, how sweet is it how attached Elena got to Brandy and Snap and even bought them a bigger tank! I also loved the short trip to Paris.

Rory is a lovely guy who does his best to help Elena with trying to find the old fortune teller and he is the one who finally figures out what's really going on. As MMC's go, he's a smasher. Elena's battling with a childhood promise makes her a bit irrational in the run-up to her fateful birthday, but she is a big book lover and therefore obviously a good person, and she had even me convinced about the concept of broken biscuits!

However, we were left waiting way too long to clear up some mysteries about ten year old Elena's night in the woods, Rory's Mum and where Elena goes when she disappears (although the latter is very cute).

Also, this is a British author writing a book in a British setting, so why is the most often used word in it "takeout"? Those people sure eat a lot of take-away!

This was my first book by Samantha Tonge but it won't be my last after she surprised me by incorporating mental health issues including OCD with knowledge and skill.

Altogether, this is an intelligent, life-affirming read for the cold season with a beautiful cover and great characters. Recommended.