I initially found this book quite difficult to get into and kept putting it down. It took my a while to get through because of this. There are parts of this book that really are laugh out loud funny and overall it has an enjoyable story. However I found it hard to connect with the book and can’t quite figure out why it didn’t work for me. I think this is the the type of book that you will either love or not get on with so well as was unfortunately the case for me.
Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Started out good then went downhill for me.
Maggie`s marriage ended after 608 days and at 29 has to change her life but her behaviour was terrible, stalking her husband and treating her friends horrendously which makes you dislike her more and more.
Definitely not for me.

I found this one quite hard to get into, though it picked up pace as the story got going. I loved Maggie and the way she makes mistakes and rebuilds herself. It gave me quite a few giggles and I grew attached to the characters.
Thank you for this advanced copy.

Really Good Actually by Monica Heisey.
I give this book 3.75 stars
Maggie’s marriage has ended just 608 days after it started, but she’s fine – she’s doing really good actually ! At the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.
Soon she’s taking up ‘sadness hobbies’ and getting back out there, sex-wise, oversharing in the group chat and drinking with her new divorced friend Amy. As Maggie throws herself headlong into the chaos of her first year of divorce, she finds herself questioning everything, including: Why do we still get married? Did I fail before I even got started? How many Night Burgers until I’m happy?

An interesting and raw read with heartache and humour about losing your way in life after a divorce.I really wanted to love this book but I couldn’t connect with the main character Maggie at all. I think I’m probably the wrong generation to be reading it.
Don’t let this deter you from picking it up I think this will be relatable to lots and appeal to many!
With thanks to Netgalley,Monica Heisey and 4th Estate Books for my chance to read and review this

DNF 25%

I usually try to finish every book, even the ones I'm not particularly enjoing. But sometimes I really can't.
Really Good, Actually was one of them. The blurb hinted a funny story, instead it was flat with an annoying, self-centered main character. I simply couldn't relate with her. The writing style wasn't captivating either, so it was hard to continue the reading.

I agree with other reviewers that it's hard to warm to the main character. It was unfortunate, because I did think it was funny in places, but it was a brutal hit for me that I think I'm just a bit too old (at 36!) to connect with her.

I have no problem with dislikeable characters, but they have to have something going for them. I felt like there was too much self-pity to connect with this one.

Maggie and Jon have been together since university – almost a decade – but, when they finally marry, it doesn’t last and after 608 days it’s over. Maggie and Jon are divorcing.

I was really looking forward to reading this novel which is being lauded as “hilarious and painfully relatable”, “laugh out loud funny” and “razor sharp”. I really wanted to like it, but in reality it isn’t any of these things.
The focus is squarely on how Maggie deals with the emotional fallout of the divorce, especially as she is clearly not handling it at all well, despite her protestation that she is Reall Good Actually. You’d have to be completely heartless not to think that Maggie deserves some sympathy, but she mostly comes across as irritating, self-obsessed and unlikeable.

The book is exhausting to read in many ways. Partly due to its format (no chapters and not a great deal of dialogue), but mainly because of the constant repetition of Maggie’s self-destructive and negative behaviours. Overcoming the heartbreak of a failed marriage is like grieving, and we all know that this process is not linear, but in terms of the narrative arc you can’t keep having your main character regressing or repeating the same actions without a detrimental effect upon it and sadly that it is what happens here. It literally wears the reader out and their patience becomes as tried as that of Maggie’s closest friends.

Maggie is drawn with a strong voice and there is a definite sense of her character. It is well observed and there are some funny bits. In the main though, it isn’t hilarious or laugh out loud funny to see a character have what is effectively a full-blown breakdown. At least the ending is hopeful and there are signs of personal growth and development for Maggie at the close of the novel which is a real positive.

Really Good Actually is a novel with a good premise that sadly loses its way in its execution. A firmer editorial hand was needed to shape the story, give it a more satisfying arc, tone down the truly painful aspects (which are too painful in a comic novel), reduce its length (it really is too long), and develop the plotline a smidge.
I was so sorry not to have enjoyed this novel as much as I wanted to.

Thank you to Netgalley and Fourth Estate for an e-ARC in exchange for a fair review.

This book had my feeling in a rollercoaster I laughed many times and was near tears with parts too.
Picking up your life after your divorce and pushing forward to make yourself better it’s long a journey.
I would recommend this read.

Sadly this wasn't for me although I think maybe that was the point and even more sadly I'm just not the right (young) demographic for this. It was funny but at times it felt like a long stand up sketch with some of the scenes simply included for laughs as opposed to relevance to the storyline. The humour was quite crude at times too but again perhaps not so for the target market. The main problem for me, however, was that it's a year / whole plot dedicated to Maggie bemoaning the breakdown of her marriage which becomes very repetitive.

This is a lovely, lighthearted book about a very young woman coping with divorce - badly!

It’s feels very therapeutic, nothing much really happens, it kind of just plods along discussing feelings. crying, and trying to find out who she is.

It was a nice light read but personally it wasn’t for me. Fans of Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella, etc will enjoy this book.

My thanks to Netgalley. My review is based on an advance copy that was sent to me by the publisher.

Gosh Maggie was going through a tough time and although I’m not (yet!) going through a divorce I could identify with a LOT of the trials and tribulations of millennial life. It was fascinating living through her processing this separation and having to find out who she was after growing up with her husband. The dating world sounded terrifying too… I felt totally absorbed and found it a funny read overall.

I managed to get 20% through this book but was sadly a DNF. As far as I could gather, the plot was minimal and the constant self pity from an unlikeable character was just too much. I couldn’t see any change coming and had to abandon.

Maggie’s marriage has ended. 608 days after it started to be precise but she’s fine. In fact she’s doing really good, actually.

Alone for the first time in her life she can’t afford her rent and her PhD is going nowhere but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her newly divorced state.

Before long she’s taking up hobbies and getting back out there. Maggie throws herself into the first year of divorce where she finds herself questioning everything including why did she get married and did she throw the towel in too soon.

I have tried so very hard not to DNF this book but I have got 67% through and I just can’t finish it. I’m sorry but I had high expectations for this. I really disliked Maggie as a character. I’m sure that others will adore this book but it’s taken me weeks and weeks to read it and that’s not like me at all. I usually devour books.

I was drawn to this book after seeing that Monica Heisey has written for Schitt's Creek, a wonderful and funny sitcom, and hoped that that humour would translate to the page. Thankfully, Heisey debut novel is really funny, actually!

Really Good, Actually follows Maggie. a twenty-nine-year-old who's marriage collapses. What follows is a desperate search for figuring out who she is and how she can move on with her life. Much of the conflict resolves around this quest which ends up feeling a bit repetitive and one-note. Thankfully, Maggie's constant whinging is balanced in equal parts by humour and wit, otherwise this book would have fallen flat very quickly.

In the past, I have found it notoriously difficult to find books that are genuinely funny, but Heisey had me laughing out loud in public on multiple occasions and, whilst Maggie can be a frustrating protagonist, she is also very relatable, to the point where this almost reads like a memoir. All in all, a funny and authentic exploration of heartbreak, young adulthood, and coming to terms with life not always going your way.

Many thanks to 4th Estate and NetGalley for providing me with a Digital Review Copy.

Quietly amusing and the author managed to make me care about the unlikeable "heroine," Maggie, by the end. I liked the lists and her gradual insight, but did feel it was too long and would maybe have been funnier and held my interest more if the middle in particular had been cut down a bit.
Thank you to netgalley and 4th Estate for an advance copy of this book

"Thinking outside of a comparative context was a challenge. I was less of a partier than Jon had been, but could I really call myself a homebody in my own right? In marriage I had traded in my essential traits for a series of comparisons: I was the Cranky One, the Bookish One, the One Who Cares Of the Towels Are Damp. I wanted a placed where I could figure out who I might be next, but every potential landlord or roommate wanted to know About Me now."

Dealing with an unexpected, impending divorce from Jon, 29 year old Maggie, living in Toronto is lost. Firstly the positives: It started strong with a hilarious, if slightly unhinged, stream of consciousness from Maggie. It ended well, with Maggie gaining more self-awareness with support from her brilliant circle of friends. Parts are engaging with the focus on character development and the blunt descriptions of everyday life and Maggie's voice is strong.

My criticisms: It was drawn-out, the plot is minimal and I found the lack of chapters exhausting. I suspect Maggie is supposed to be loveable, but dysfunctional, but over time I found her self-centred and wallowing in self-pity. It took too long for her to come into her own and she spent much of it stalking her ex and being unpleasant to her well-meaning friends, who rightly become weary of her. I wanted there to be more explanation for Maggie's behavior, some context to make it make sense, or even a different perspective.

Ultimately I think this will be adored by many the same age as Maggie, but for this 43 year old she was funny, but rather irritating. I went through an engagement, rather than marriage, breakup aged 26, so could relate to some, but not most of Maggie's experiences. Elements are witty, and pithy, but it's also repetitive, frustrating and try-hard. A strong and hilariously sharp voice, this lost its way for me.

When I went into this I half expected a standard rom-com, girl breaks up with boy, self-discovery and meets guy who sweeps her off her feet - instead, I got, what read like, an actual take on modern relationships. I found this was more like a series of vignettes than a cohesive story but I enjoyed it nevertheless. If you’re looking for humour laced with realism in relationships then go for it!

Delightful and funny book following Maggie who at 29 is getting divorced. you feel for Maggie as she starts to date and take up hobbies
This is a modern story of with some funny moments and very witty.
Thanks to NetGalley & 4th Estate for a advanced copy for a honest review.

Despite having a long-term relationship prior to marrying, Maggie and Jon don’t even make it to their second wedding anniversary before separating. It hits Maggie hard and she struggles in every area of her life. I dare say her reaction may be true to life, but I’m afraid I found the extent of her struggles wearying. Even her closest friends at one point find her difficult to cope with, which made me feel better about my own reaction.

She turns to sex and drugs as a strategy to help her move on. I don’t know if I’m getting prudish as I get older, but I just found the completely casual attitude really off-putting and affected my feelings of sympathy for her.

I did, however, feel the need to keep reading to see how things worked out for Maggie, so her story did touch me.

Wow! What an amazing book!!
Would love to read more from the author.
Thankyou netgalley for the Arc!