I really enjoyed this book, there were a few inaccuracies about the law and London geography that I spotted but it didn't spoil my enjoyment (and maybe they will get fixed before the book comes out?).

Molly Faulkner lives in a ramshackle house with too much land for a home but not enough for a proper farm with her three children: Lucy, Minna and Nico. Life is a constant struggle for money and Molly is a bit of a wheeler-dealer: raising lambs; packaging and selling lavender soap; selling horses and ponies; selling mail-order underwear, anything to keep the bailiff (who is at least a friendly woman) from the door. it doesn't help that most of her animals are verging on elderly and she hasn't quite lost her city girl soft-heartedness towards animals which means her vet bills are astronomical. Unfortunately the best vet in the area charges like a rhino and dislikes Molly ever since she stood him up for a date. Molly's husband David died just six weeks after they moved to the country and so she has stuck it out for five long years for his sake. The house is a mess, Nico and his mates hang out all the time drinking and smoking weed, Minna is alternately ecstatic and in tears over her love-rat boyfriend Toxic Ted, and Lucy is living in a tiny flat in London.

Then, out of the blue, Molly hears that David's uncle has died and she has inherited a small fortune. Enough to move back to London. Suddenly her thoughts are filled with memories of their previous life in Wandsworth, her former job in PR and the days of wearing high heels and designer clothes. But have five years in the country changed Molly?

In fact, she has inherited a lovely house in South Kensington and meets Felix, a devastatingly handsome artist and art dealer could her life be about to change? And then a blast from Molly's past comes back ...

Although this is the first Catherine Alliott book I have reviewed on GR I am pretty sure I have read at least one previously. If crazy mothers who read palms in a broken down caravan, annoying teenage sons, grumps vets and devastatingly handsome artists are up your street this is the book for you!

Everything you expect from Catherine Alliott. A light hearted look at love and family life and the paths life and circumstances can take us. The perfect way to spend the afternoon on the sofa.

A brilliant, well written romantic romp through many acres of fields in Herefordshire and through the city of London..

With laugh out loud moments and with the odd tear. This really is a fan book.

Haven't been able to put this down. As usual great writing from Catherine Alliot, you won't be disappointed! Well drawn characters. The story follows the hapless Molly, living in the country - one of her husband's dreams. Sadly her husband dies and leaves Molly wondering how to overcome a myriad of problems. Out of the blue a distant relative dies and leaves Molly in a quandry.......The problems change and include one very dishy man!! A great read read. Very enjoyable, highly recommend.

It has been a while since I last read a Catherine Alliott, which is something I do need to rectify, as I do tend to enjoy her books. This latest release About Last Night was no exception.

There really are a lot of contrasts in this story, with it predominately being set in very rural Herefordshire, and the rest in London. Molly is unsure if she wants her life in Herefordshire anymore, she is sick of never having any money, being so remote, but she feels it was her fault that her husband died 5 years ago, and this was his rural dream.

Molly has three grown up children, Lucy, Minna and Nico, all of which have various thoughts on Molly's life and what she should do, especially when she happens into a very surprise inheritance.

It was the whole story around the inheritance that is what interested me most about this book. It is not straightforward, its a distant relative that Molly wasn't aware of, and there are people living in the house already. She wants to do the right thing but even that isn't as simple as it seems, any everyone and their dog appears to have an opinion on it.

There are many things to like about this book, its rural setting and some of the mentions of the animals were amusing. Some of what the children came out with was outright rude towards their mother, but funny at the same time. There is some deceit as well as at least 3 potential men that Molly could become involved with.

We learn about why David, her husband insisted on moving to Herefordshire, which gave a lot of vital background information, and I enjoyed reading that bit. I also loved the whole of the last 30% or so, as everything starts ramping up to conclusions.

About Last Night was just an enjoyable story, that kept me entertained and reminded me that I really enjoy the authors work.

Thank you so much to Michael Joseph and Netgalley for this copy of the book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I'm a big fan of what I think of as the more cheerful end of the spectrum of women's fiction: Katie Fforde, Fiona Walker, Jill Mansell...and Catherine Alliott. I don't want to read about tragedy, illness and death - I'm looking for escapism! Unfortunately, recently there has been a trend for miserable storylines worming their way into otherwise promising books, so I approached this one with caution.

However, I can honestly say that this one is a breath of fresh air. The plot might slightly lack credibility, but it's fun and quirky and mostly cheerful; any tragedy is firmly in the past and it's more about moving on and enjoying life. Carpe diem and all that jazz!

The book has lots of things to recommend it. For me, the main draw was that the characters are interesting and varied: the sulky vet, the charming playboy, the disapproving teenage children. It sounds a bit cliched written like that, but it all seemed quite true to life, albeit a cheerful, Technicolour version. You read it just knowing that all is going to be fine with the world, something that is very much welcome in these uncertain times.

Overall, if you're looking for a big slice of sunny escapism in the company of a lively cast then you might just have found your next read. Enjoy!

Brilliant book. Excellent main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

I was quite a few pages in before I could become really engrossed in this novel. It is a light read so good for bedtime reading. Parts of the plot were weak in my opinion and I found the main character a bit wishy washy at times but that's okay. (But I have no idea why she let her children treat her or indeed why they treated her with disrespect, not to mention bad language. It seemed out of place and unnecessary to the story.)

The back story was nice and juicy and I wished we'd been dealt some of that from the start so that it wasn't back story at all..

I think anyone reading the title might expect some more tension but they may be disappointed when they discover what indeed happened last night.

The book does have some dynamic parts and you will find yourself wanting to know the outcome, the writing is compelling enough in that respect. I think this book will suit anyone wanting an easy going tale of family, love and betrayal and who don't mind dialogue in which young people use the word 'golly'.

Molly loves living in London, she enjoys her job and her friends until an event makes her husband David decide to uproot the family and move to Herefordshire to live his dream of the good life. Within weeks of moving David is dead and she is left to cope on her own with three children and a smallholding of animals, which she has no interest in caring for.

Out of the blue Molly receives news of an inheritance, David’s uncle has died without leaving a will and Molly inherits his house and has to decide whether she should stay in the country or move her family back to London.

This was an enjoyable read, which follows Molly trying to work out what is the right thing to do with a little help from her children. It was interesting to see the complexities of the relationship between Molly and her children. It was an entertaining and heartwarming book, but also touched on some more serious subjects.

About last night is a heartwarming amusing story of Molly a widowed mother of 3 teenagers living on a small holding in rural Hertfordshire, purchased when her husband David had enough of working in London and also due to another occurrence (no spoilers) unfortunately David died soon after the move so Molly has been left to cope with bringing up the children and running the small holding. Always in debt with bailiffs ever present she despairs of ever having the good life they'd envisaged .
Then out of the blue she receives news of an inheritance and so the real story starts, enjoyable, some laugh out loud moments and above all just a really great read.
My only quibble is that when the happy ending came it felt very rushed, all over in a few pages, not that it wasn't a good ending but it wasn't great, a small epilogue of their future would have left a bigger smile on my face!

A terrifically well written book written with subtle comedy throughout.. To me a book that proves that getting out of my comfort zone in terms of subject matter whilst trying a new author can be a very enjoyable experience, I will look out for more Catherine Alliott in future

I love Catherine Alliott, and have read most (if not all) of her novels - I really enjoyed this new book. My only negative would be that I wanted to shake Molly sometimes, but I suppose thats the point - if she was strong & forthright you wouldn't get to read along with her capers, but I could feel my blood pressure rising as I wanted to shout at her sometimes!
It was nice to have a change of pace back & forth to the big city, and Felix was wonderfully characterised.

Really enjoyable read! And I could smell a sequel, Paddy has more to give I'm sure.

A light and easy read. The story line was good and flowed well and kept one guessing how it would progress. I did get a little exasperated with Molly, the main character, for a woman who was obviously been to university, had good jobs in London and was the mother of late teen/grown up children she seemed to act like a giddy teenager herself at times and didn't use common sense at all. In fact, one section I had to skim over as I just wanted to shake her but when she wasn't being a little lacking in common sense was a likeable character. She seemed very blinkered and quite self centred at times. She had, reluctantly, moved to the country, been widowed, responsible for several animals and children, plus some money making schemes so one would have thought she'd have been a little more savvy but all this went out of the window once she came into an inheritance. There were some quite comical moments in the book particularly the stories involving her parents and the aforementioned teenagers, particularly the hapless son and friends, over reacting younger daughter and moody elder one. It all worked out in the end, without spoiling any details, which for this type of read is almost expected and has a feel good ending but with a few loose ends. Perhaps leaving open to see how the story progresses for a future book which I would probably pick up as a light holiday read to see what happens

Forgive me for giving a somewhat negative review. I don't like to do that. However, I have to say that I did not find this story funny or inspiring. In fact I found it irritating.
It opens well with a description of the land, the barn, the fields surrounding Molly's home. Suddenly widowed and left with three awful teenagers, she is desperately trying to keep ends together by taking lodgers, selling underwear and soap, and coping with hens and horses. Not to mention a mother who tells fortunes in a Caravan in one of the fields.
And teenagers, who seem to spend their lives making hers a misery, doing little but demand food and leaving detritus all over the place for Mum to clear up while they variously smoked pot, threw out sarcastic remarks, or generally bullied their mother..She does pause at one moment to wonder 'why their lives were so much more important than hers'.
Everything changes when she receives an inheritance from an almost unknown relative of her late husband, who has apparently left her a house in London.
Tangles ensue, a smooth Frenchman reappears in her life, another charming man who is out for all he can get appears on the scene. Her drink is spiked,she is persuaded that she has signed an important paper. To say more would be to give away the plot.
And always there is in the background, Paddy, the faithful vet with whom she has had argument after argument.
Yes there were some lovely descriptive writings. But all in all I couldn't actually like the characters in the story and spent a lot of time wanting to smack some of them!

Thoroughly recommend this book. I always read Catherine Alliott's books as they are published and have never been disappointed.

It did take me a few chapters to get in to this story as I did not like the main character's children at all. I longed to be able to jump into the pages and give them all a good telling off. They did however grow on me as the story developed. This book had many 'laugh out loud' moments and many moments where I wanted to be able to 'speak' to the main character as she seemed to jump from one disaster to another - always a good sign when a reader feels so involved with the characters and plot of a book. Great entertainment.

This book was a little hard to get into
as it was rather
confusing for me at the beginning. It was quite a steady read with a twist to it. This is the first book I have read by Catherine Alliott and I would class it as an easy read, perfect to take on holiday

About Last Night . . .
Catherine Alliott
Book Review: ♥ ♥ ♥
Molly swapped her City life in London for the countryside in Herefordshire. Now she is living the dream but not her own. Her Husband David was the one who wanted the farm life, but unfortunately, he is now deceased, and Molly is left living in his memory.

She is given the opportunity to trade the country back to the city. This book is about getting a second chance and being brave enough to take it.


I liked this book however it was slow paced.
3 Stars out of 5.

*I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Kindle Edition £9.49 or £9.09 Hardback, 400 pages
Expected publication: March 9th, 2017

I really enjoyed this ARC (thank you net galley) in the same way I adore Bridget Jones. The book manages to be entertaining, but touch on serious subjects such as fraud, marital infidelity and grief.

Molly is a great character. She's flawed and a little gullible, but her heart is in the right place. She is trying to do the best for her children and rural small holding following the death of her husband 5 years earlier, but is struggling. When an escape in the form of an unexpected windfall lands in her lap she can't help but imagine a life for herself back in the glitz and glamour of London.

There are some laugh out loud moments as Molly tries to deal with the unexpected problem of someone living in the house she has inherited. Some really touching moments as Molly attempts to keep up with the glamorous women she seems to be surrounded by as she dips her toes back into the dating scene.

Really good, escapist fun with a really feel good ending. I'm smiling just thinking about it actually.

I would love to see this made into a film or tv series.

(review added to goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1907306293?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1)

I enjoyed this book,it's like a normal life full of up and downs,she had a bad start when her husband died and she was left with the kids and a farm,but life gets better for them,I enjoyed the book,couldn't put it down wanted to know if all went well