Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

An excellent read if you are able to stomach this type of book, as it's not for everyone. Well written and one that will remain imprinted on my mind for some time to come. Recommended.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review.

I’d read the description, and I was expecting “laughter and tears” – but this book was a dark and delicious surprise from beginning to end, and really not what I was expecting at all. There’s a wonderful lightness about the writing that immediately draws you in, as you laugh about Lola’s life with her amorous parents, laugh at her disastrous first date at Costa and Pizza Express, and sympathise with the daily drudgery of her life on the supermarket checkout. But things turn very dark and very quickly when she gets to know Angelica – as they quickly become supportive friends, Angelica’s life is the polar opposite of her own, and their closeness impacts on them both and everyone around them. The middle class gloss is just that, concealing dark depths – and the story twists off into directions you really won’t ever be expecting.

The characters are just wonderful – Lola and Angelica themselves, but I particularly loved geeky and awkward blind date Arthur, and parents Helen and Peter with their simmering passion and deep hidden secrets. The writing is so clever – if I say “quirky”, will I put anyone off? The light touch is maintained throughout, totally at odds with much of the subject matter – and that’s such a difficult balancing act to achieve. The story, at times, has a feel of a rather gruesome farce, but sometimes a quite unbearable darkness and nastiness – and still you find yourself smiling, while waiting for the next revelation, wiping away a tear and raging inside at the injustice of it all. The humour is just wonderful, laugh-out-loud at times – but the next shock is never very far away.

I loved this one – totally outside my personal comfort zone in so many ways, but refreshingly different, and so very well written. Go on, give it a try…