How I loved Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny. The humour is deft and delicious, and the story veers between laugh out loud and heartbreaking. The plot and characters are beautifully crafted, and reading this book is pure joy.

This book is just such a joy to read. It's not so much a gobble-it-up-in-one-sitting book, but a lovely slow burn that gave me such warm feelings. I felt so absorbed into Jane's world and I genuinely cared for her. The atmosphere from start to finish gave me such warm fuzzies, its as an absolute joy to learn about Jane's slightly off-centre version of domestic bliss, a situation in which she did not expect to find herself. As she grows into this new role she has created for herself, her character develops into someone for whom I genuinely want the best for. The novel is just so wholesome- a welcome break from the uncertainty in which we live.

I really enjoyed this story about Jane a teacher and her family and friends as she goes through her life from 2002 to 2019.
So much happens in those 17 years relationships develop, her family expands and she deals with all sorts of emotions and trials.
She has to deal with a tragedy and some drama but also so many happy occasions and people.
Her little family is not a conventional one but it seems to work.

This is the most joyful, funny, life-affirming book. Primary-school teacher Jane moves to small-town Michigan, where she meets Duncan, a charmer who can’t go to a restaurant without bumping into someone he’s shagged. A tragedy upends their lives - can Jane find her way back to happiness? Heiny has this rare combination of wit with a big heart - I loved it. Thanks to NetGalley, 4th Estate and William Collins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is not my usual type of novel but I absolutely loved it. Real life with all its imperfections, mistakes and muddling through. It shows that love can flourish in lots of different ways and can take all forms. Thoroughly enjoyable and memorable.

Jane moves to a small town which has a very close knit community. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, there are few secrets and everyone is interlinked in some way. She meets and falls in love with Duncan, befriends and cares for his assistant Jimmy, manages a friendship with Duncans’s ex Aggie and her husband Gary and becomes best friends with the local mandolin teacher Freida.

The books follows approximately 10 years of Jane’s life and is definitely character driven rather than plot driven, there isn’t a real storyline; you follow this group over a period of time. I felt though that given it was character driven most of the characters came across as shallow. There wasn’t a huge amount of insight or depth and so many opportunities to have developed that more were missed.

This is an ideal book if you want something’s lighthearted and humorous.

Review of Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny

This is the first book I have read by this author and enjoyed the story. Based aroung teacher Jane who starts a relationship with Duncan who has bascially hooked up with everybody else. With this being a small town Jane can't move without bumping into one of his hookups or his ex wife. How can a relationship work under these conditions? Fun story.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.
Personally, I felt it was a little slow moving and difficult to get through.

Objectively, the writing style was lyrical and warm.
I would also say that most People wouldn't have an issue with the pacing, it just wasn't my style.

I liked the characters, I felt they were individual and were introduced nicely to the book.



Thank you to NetGalley & 4th Estate books for an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jane meets Duncan soon after arriving in Boyne City. Falling for him is easy, but Duncan isn’t the settling down type. Everywhere Jane looks, there’s an ex with a prior claim to him. She does her best to move on, but a tragic accident sees Jane and Duncan taking on responsibilities neither of them planned for. An enjoyable taste of small-town American life by the author of Standard Deviation, Early Morning Riser is ideal for lazy summer afternoons.

What a wonderful read. So funny and heat warming. This is the first book I have read by Katherine Heiny and I will certainly be reading more. Lots of laugh out moments and very relatable at times, Brilliant characters, did not want this one to end.

I loved this book and raced through it in a day ,as I was so keen to find out what happened to the characters. It’s a quirky ,funny story about Jane ,a primary school teacher who moves to a small town in Northern Michigan and quickly develops a relationship with the charming and handsome Duncan ,who seems to have slept with every woman in a 100 mile radius of the town.Duncan has an eclectic group of friends ,including his ex-wife Aggie ,her husband Gary and Jimmy ,who helps him out in his workshop,and it’s this group ,along with Jane’s friend Freida ,who entertain and delight throughout the story.Jane’s mother is also a wonderful character study .The scenes in Jane’s classroom are so authentic-and as a primary teacher,I can speak from experience-and the chapter about the trip to the farm made me laugh out loud.It’s heartwarming and poignant in some parts ,but also very funny ,and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

Early Morning Riser is both funny and wise. Jane, a second-grade teacher is doing her best but life, a failed

engagement and a horrible accident get in the way. Eventually, she marries Duncan, her ex-boyfriend and ex

to many other women! Jane helps friends and family and along the way creates her own family unit. An uplifting

story full of happy, sad, and realistic moments.. Above all, it's about love..

'Jane easily falls in love with Duncan: he's charming, good-natured, and handsome. He has also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan.' So begins the blurb and you think its another rom-com, chick-lit sort of book.

Not at all!

This is an amazing book, full of thought-provoking, heart-rending and laugh out loud moments and some fascinating, well-rounded characters.

Jane is very human, with flaws and issues. She has a mother who is, to say the least, difficult. She falls for Duncan, but has to take him and his constant parade of ex-girlfriends, many for whom he still does chores, plus his ex-wife living nearby.

And then there's Jimmy, the catalyst and central character in this tale. Jimmy is 'slow', but he is full of heart and love. He works with Duncan, and we begin to see Duncan as a really nice chap, who gives this lad a job he can manage but keep his dignity. The town loves Jimmy, and is protective of him.

I can say no more without spoilers, but it is an amazing read, and a tale that will stay with me for a long time. One of the best things I've read in a long time (and I read around 2/3 books a week).

Thank you to NetGalley and Fourth Estate for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book spans many years which I enjoyed. It starts in 2002 when Jane moved to Boyne City to teach second grade. Very quickly she met Duncan who she fell instantly for and they began a relationship. Very early on Jane knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him but Duncan had been married before and had no intention of remarrying. He was also a man who moved from one woman to another very quickly. They separated and Jane met Luke. She decided to be her own wedding planner which was exhausting. The day before the wedding an accident occurred which had devastating effects on Jimmy. Jimmy was a sweet man but a little slow – everyone loved him. Because of the car accident in which Jimmy’s mother died, Jane felt the guilt as she had asked her mother to drive Mrs Jellicoe home. Jane’s relationship with her mother was fraught as her mother did not mince her words even if they were hurtful. Due to the accident the wedding was postponed and as time went on Luke decided he could not wait any longer for Jane to continue with the relationship and marriage. Eventually Jane and Duncan got back together and then out of the blue Duncan suggested they marry – not the most flattering of proposals – but Jane was thrilled. The story continues through their lives, two children come along. Jimmy always lived with Jane and Duncan partly through Jane’s guilt but mainly because he just fitted into their family and due to someone befriending Jimmy and causing him to lose his home. Leap forward several years and you see a happy family who have endured ups and downs but have come through them – lovely story

What a strange, quirky and delightful book.

I don’t think the back blurb gives any relevance or direction to the novel whatsoever though.

It was written in a very different style - short staccato sentences rather than a flowing story, but it was a really lovely story & beautiful insights. I really enjoyed it but I was waiting for this pivotal moment... it had already passed me by when I realised that was it!

Why would anyone marry Gary....?

When I read Standard Deviation I knew that I had to look out for anything and everything that Katherine Heiny wrote. Early Morning Riser is masterly and an absolute joy of a read. I think Heiny’s style of writing is very similar to that of Anne Tyler, sharing an ability to detail the minutia of existence, to create a strong sense of place, to make small stories great, to fashion characters who step off the pages and inhabit your life and to spin words like gold. At the start of the novel I had the same gorgeous feeling I have every time I embark on an Anne Tyler novel. This is the story of Jane who has moved into town and almost immediately meets Duncan who has something of a reputation with the ladies. Jane falls in love, but Duncan has no plans to settle down. Jane finds someone else. One day she hands her car keys to her Mum and everyone’s life changes. This book has deep seams of comedy and pathos, of philosophy and observations on life. It is so beautifully paced and you just slip into it. I absolutely loved the characters, particularly Jane, Jimmy and Duncan. Duncan is kind and charming, helpful but difficult to pin down..Jane is loving, devoted, an amazing and inventive teacher. Jimmy is one of those characters that I will never every forget. I would recommend everyone read this book to find Jimmy. I loved all the scenes in school, the quiet comedy of the children in the class and how they respond on a school trip or when visitors arrive to discuss their professions. I laughed and I cried and I didn’t want to let go of a single one of these characters. I want to share this book with everyone!. With thanks to Netgalley, 4th Estate and William Collins for my digital copy of this amazing book.

Starting this review with a public service announcement. The title and the blurb of this book have only the tiniest bit of relevance to the story. If you like romance with a regular bad boy, then don’t read this book. Honestly, I found it misleading and felt slightly cheated. It needs a sticker on it saying ‘not as described’.

Despite all of the above, I enjoyed this book. It’s romantic, sweet, funny at moment and full of small town charm.

Written in chronological order, in which years and years are skipped over at a time. I personally found this confusing. You’d start a new chapter with unknown characters and little explanation. It would only be when you were pages in that you understood what was going on and where you were.

The book centres on three characters; Jane, Duncan and Jimmy. Jane is in a relationship with the handsome, charismatic Duncan, who is known to many women in the town…..and beyond. Jimmy is the intellectually disabled son of an older woman in town that works with Duncan and Jane has taken under her wing.

“Just let him hold her until the world slowly righted itself, and she could go on.”

This book didn’t draw me in and I can honestly say it doesn’t inspire me to read another one of Heiny’s books. For me the characters weren’t well-rounded, and due to the time lapses, I didn’t really understand how they had gotten into the situations they found themselves in.

ALL this being said, you should only ever use my reviews as a guide.

This book has rave reviews from others.

Pick it up and see what you think.

Sometimes I need a book that's full of pace and intrigue. Sometimes I want a mystery and a clever plot.......and sometimes, I don't. What I loved about 'Early Morning Riser' was how immersed the reader gets in the people, their odd ways and strange behaviours, whilst - with a couple of very noteworthy exceptions - not very much actually happens.

These characters are all multi-dimensional. There's not a cardboard cut-out amongst the entire cast. Everybody has their strengths and their issues. People put up with others that they don't necessarily like, but they all fit together like an intricate jigsaw. Jane is a primary school teacher who gets involved with Duncan, the world's tardiest furniture repair man who has slept with so many women in their small town (and surrounding towns) that Jane never knows when they'll bump into another ex-lover. His assistant Jimmy has learning difficulties. Duncan's ex-wife Aggie interferes but has a husband so far on the autistic spectrum that you can't help but respect her for how she deals with him.

I've just finished the book with a big smile on my face but I'm struggling to say WHY. This book reminds me of other American authors who do a great job of painting small town life. This reads like an early Anne Tyler (I find she's gone off the boil a bit later) or Adriana Trigiani. I was transported back 30 years to when I was working my way through Trigiani's Big Cherry Holler books. I have friends in Massachussetts who live in a town just like this one and live similarly quite but endearing and charming lives.

Not much happens but I didn't care. I wanted an invitation to Taco Tuesday and a session listening to Frieda the mandolin player.

Highly recommended. With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this very enjoyable read.

Wow! I loved this book!

Jane is a teacher of small children in smalltown Michigan and we follow as her life plays out in both small detail and also the bigger picture over several years. It is a very witty read, Katherine Heiny's dry sense of humour really comes through and whilst at times you feel that this is quite a lighthearted tale of family life, it really is quite deep. There is tragedy but told with such tenderness, it is a charming and also an emotional read. Jimmy is a beautifully drawn character and it's from him that Jane, and of course us readers, learns from. We learn about life, expectations and assumptions. We get to know all the characters in this book, their lives and eccentricities. Oh, Jane's mother and the things she says! Some of the ways Jane describes the kids she teaches had me laughing aloud as well. The turn of phrase in this book is marvellous! It's a portrayal of smalltown life with some much bigger portrayals of what it is to be a 'family' and just what paths life can take. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would very highly receommend it. I'm off to read Standard Deviation now!

Jane falls in love with Duncan, a renowned womaniser. Aftera series of unfortunate events, his employee, jimmy ,comes to livewith them. Can Jane cope with Duncan's past, Jimmy and a growing family? Some sadness, some laugh out loud moments, I really enjoyed this book.