When Doug married Hailey - beautiful,smart aand ten years older - he left his carefree Manhattan life to live in the suburbs with her and her teenage son,Russ. Three years later, at 29, Doug has been a widower for twelve months and just wants to drown in self pity and Jack Daniels. But his family has other ideas....

I loved this book. I'm always wary of blurbs that describe books as 'funny and sad' and they turn out to be neither. In this case,though, the description was accurate. There were some weaknesses in the plot, in particular Doug's relationship with Brooke seemed a bit contrived but there were some passages where the writing was just spot on such as the description of old ladies who go to the cinema in the afternoon. I especially liked the characters of Doug's parents. Jonathan Tropper is a new author to me but I will be looking out for more of his books.

Sending to garibaldisghost following bookswap

Gratefully received today, ta ~ looking forward to reading it soon?!

I bumped this to the top of Mt TBR in readiness for the forthcoming H swap and I'm glad I did. It is a funny, thoughtful and poignant story that I found to be most enjoyable.

RELEASE NOTES:

This is on its way to a fellow BCUK Extra member who won it in the recent H swap game.

Many thanks for this book, it arrived safely this morning (that was quick!!)

Katybean
:o)

I have heard mixed reviews of this book, but have to say - I quite enjoyed it!! I did wonder at first whether it was going to be to 'dark' but I think it covered the subject of grief quite well, and I love how Doug slowly came out of it.

I think his family are proper bonkers - but loved reading about them LOL

Katybean
x

Will leave in the staffroom with a pile of other books I've finished!

Hope you enjoy, and remember to journal x