Having read and enjoyed the authors previous novels I jumped at the chance to review this one.
I feel that this book is probably his best work so far.
I loved the Rosie Project and enjoyed the Rosie effect but I have to say this latest work is my favourite.
It revolves around the relationships of the eponymous Adam Sharp.
Without giving away the plot Adam is happy in his early middle aged life when suddenly he gets an email from someone who was dear to him many years ago.
As the story unfolds we find out more about the back story and history of the characters lives and slowly the jigsaw pieces fall into place.
Is the grass always greener?
This is a book for anyone who sometimes thinks “what if…”
It is unusual in that it is a gentle, almost romance written from the view point of a man and gives some insight into the way that at least some men’s minds work.
Adam is far from the womanising bed hopper so often portrayed in novels of this type and it was nice for once to actually find a character that I identified with and genuinely felt I liked and hoped that he came out of the story in a better place than where he started out from.
One aspect of the book that is interesting is that the author provides a play list of music to accompany the book and I found it added something extra to the story to listen to the music as it was mentioned through the book.
One thing is for sure the author certainly know his music.
Is it worth upsetting the apple cart?
Well you will have to read the book to find out.

Really enjoyed this book. It is basically a love story but not a soppy love story. Instead it explores the emotions of the joy of finding a love, the sadness but resignation of knowing an end is in sight and the longing and memories that love leaves you with. Excellent read that I could not put down. Will now purchase the rest of his books.

Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

I loved this book, it's like Nick Hornby for a maturer audience. Maybe because I'm more or less the same age as Dooglas, or maybe because I've had some of the same experiences, but something in the writing and the characters resonated. Adam's thoughts are passionately and eloquently expressed, and the whole book had a very believable feel. I was worried at the start that the constant references to music and piano technique would start to grate, but instead it was handled with subtlety and added to Adam's persona.

My only issue, and a minor one, is that you can tell that Graeme Simsion works in IT. All complex matters of the heart were reduced to simple problems, resolvable with a single solution. That's possible in IT, less likely when emotions are involved.

Well worth a read!

An English man; Adam goes to Australia for work experience. Whilst singing and playing a piano in a bar he spots and attractive lady Angelina . This is the beginning of a love affair..
Eventually Adam's time runs out and the couple part company and make new lives in their respective countries.
Twenty years later Adam receives an email from Angelina and all hidden memories resurface.
Will they carry on where they left off?
A good read although at times it did seem very long.

How often do we wonder what would happen if we met our first love again? Adam and Angelina meet again and their love is rekindled. Their memories are tied in with the music he played and brought back happy memories for me as well . I felt I connected with all 3 main characters in the book, and found it hard to stop reading ,to find out if they all lived happily ever after . The ending was realistic and well written.

I loved the idea of this book, you receive an email from a long lost love. I enjoyed how the author made this story sing for me. Even though I'm not of the baby boomer generation, I enjoyed the music listed at the end

An enjoyable enough book to read but there was just something that just didn't quite sit right with the book either - I think perhaps too much musical references especially to songs I don't know.

That was utterly shite. Not even remotely worth it.

I really enjoyed this book. Never knew quite where it was heading, so each page was turned with anticipation.

This book was totally not what I was expecting. Being a sixties child I loved all the references to the music that he played and for readers who did not know the songs it was a good gesture to place them as an additional chapter at the end of the book . I found the storyline to not develop well. At the start the author mixes up the past and the present in a way that lost the flow. The story line is essentially the long term relationship of Adam/Doogie and Angelina.. Although it clearly demonstrates that Adam has a lot more issues that he is trying to deal with. I can understand why some of the scenes from France were added but they muddied the waters for the reader.
I did not enjoy reading this book partly because it felt so disjointed.. The author has tried to tie things together but a lot in the last pages and not filtering them in at better opportunities.

I really loved this book! Witty, sharp and utterly engaging, this was a love story that felt fresh and original!

Thanks to Netgalley, Graeme Simision and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for this advance copy.

Adam Sharp is approaching 50, he has no children and a rather lacklustre relationship with Claire. They're more housemates than lovers. One evening an email simply saying "Hi" arrives from the one he considers to be the one that got the away, Angelina. We are told their love story, fuelled by music, and why she got away. And now over 20 years later she reaches out.

So don't read this if you were hoping for another Rosie Project. That was a laugh out loud novel, this.....well this is more whimsical. It's not an intense love story, nor is it a rom com. It's more of a "is the grass greener" narrative, and asks the question if a wrong choice is made is it possible to go back. It's by far the nicest book I've read for awhile, apart from one strange inclusion of a group encounter (it was weird, it didn't fit into the tone of the book-can't say more without going spoiler mad). The best way I can describe it is that it's like one of those movies you see with Diane Keaton about older love affairs. So quite a gentle and relaxing story and because of this I found it really enjoyable to read, but pretty much instantly forgettable.

I didn't enjoy The Best of Adam Sharp much. It turned out to be the tale of a 50 something man having a mid life crisis, however much he denied it in the first person narrative,

I didn't connect with any of the characters at all. I also found the references to the music of Adam's past boring (and I am of the generation who knows much of it.) After his long lost love, Angelina gets in touch with Adam by email, he goes out to Australia to try and resurrect their love affair. But the recurrence of the affair in sight of Angelina's amenable husband was unrealistic in my view. Towards the end I kept thinking Adam was going to wake up from a dream and realise that his trip to Australia never took place at all.

For me there was no emotional connection to this story at all but thanks go to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review The Best of Adam Sharp.

Interesting book which makes compulsive reading. Wasn't sure which way the story would go and there are several twists in the menage de trois. Had to keep reading to find out what happens at the end and I wasn't disappointed. Will recommend to friends.

Not in the same class as The Rosie Project, sadly. It is a nice enough book about a man still in love with the dream from his past, which drags around with him for the next 20 years, until the past catches up with him, and he can finally make the choice and go forth into his future. A hugely unrealistic Scenario taking up a large part of the book of three People in a love triangle in the French countryside drags the Story down some sexual Fantasy path, and you can't wait for the week to be over. An easy enough read, not a disaster, because the author writes well, but his plot is not as fresh and imaginative as previous efforts.

Adam Sharp lives a comfortable life. He's almost 50 and spends his days with his partner Claire, taking part in pub quizzes and carrying out IT consultancy when he feels likes it. However, there are two things he can't stop thinking about; music and his old relationship with an Australian soap-opera star, Angelina. As we learn more about his old flame, his relationship with Claire deteriorates, and Adam takes Angelina up on the offer to spend a week in France with her and her husband, Charlie.
I found this book incredibly easy to read, and pretty much read the entire thing in one sitting. As is common with books about mid-life crises, this book is more about the adventure than making any real progress; not a lot happens, but it's an enjoyable journey. As a musician I enjoyed the constant references to bands, songs and chords, and the addition of a playlist at the end is something I really liked.

Superb - absolutely superb in its depiction of the moral questions facing Adam. I couldn't put it down until I found out what he decided to do...

Gripping and a real page turner. Will definitely look for this author in future.

Adam Sharp has a decision to make when a former girlfriend contacts him after 20 years. What would you do if the love of your life suddenly got in touch out of the blue? Would you realize that the smoke of the past was shading your current life or would you reach out and chase your halcyon past? In a story of love, music and love of music, The Best of Adam Sharp is an excellent tale of looking back in retrospect and wondering what is the "best of" me or in this case Adam.

The first time I've read a book by this author and I was a bit underwhelmed by it. I skimmed a lot as was bored at times. When Adam went to France I found the whole thing a bit too unbelievable.