Lessons in Laughing Out Loud by Rowan Coleman

A heart-warming and moving novel for any woman who has ever felt like she has lost herself, from the author of The Memory Book.

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They are everything to each other. Holly calls Willow her rock, her soul mate, her other half. And Willow feels the same about Holly. They are alike in every respect except one - Willow is afraid on the inside. 

From Goodreads

A heart-warming and moving novel for any woman who has ever felt like she has lost herself, from the author of The Memory Book.

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They are everything to each other. Holly calls Willow her rock, her soul mate, her other half. And Willow feels the same about Holly. They are alike in every respect except one - Willow is afraid on the inside. A heart-warming and moving novel for any woman who has ever felt like she has lost herself, from the author of The Memory Book.

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They are everything to each other. Holly calls Willow her rock, her soul mate, her other half. And Willow feels the same about Holly. They are alike in every respect except one - Willow is afraid on the inside. And all because of a secret - one that binds the sisters closely together and yet has meant their adult lives have taken two very different paths.

Willow often feels there are large parts of her missing, qualities she only knows she's lacking because she sees them in her sister. For a very long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time - a moment that meant Willow's life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it's finally time for her to face her fears, and - with Holly's help - learn to laugh out loud once more...  

My thoughts

8/10 or 4 stars from me.
Twin sisters Willow & Holly, are identical and mean so much to one another. However, Willow feels that she isn't in quite the same league as Holly. She feels a lesser person in some ways, she has no real idea why she should feel like this. She wishes she was more like Holly who appears to have everything, but something that happened in her past means that she will always feel this way, unless she can learn to move on and learn to deal with what happened.
The story deals with some touchy issues that if they happened to any of us, would make a huge impact on our lives. Can Willow learn to deal with what happened?
I must admit this book took me a while to read. I didn't find myself grabbing it, at times I read others instead. I found it to be a slow burner and once I'd started to read it in larger chunks I found it engaged my interest more.
I felt sorry for Willow in some ways, but as the story developed I felt happier for her as she appeared to overcome some of the negativity she felt towards herself.
I feel that this would make a good reading group read, as it tackles issues and deals with relationships between people.