I liked this book. The breezy, light-hearted narration is in strong contrast to the serious business of the psychological crisis and depression of Maggie, as she comes to terms with her divorce. She is an unreliable storyteller as what she tells herself (and the reader) is at odds with the reactions of her friends. Despite that, Maggie is still likeable (largely due to her ready wit) and you therefore hope she gets her life back together.

One of my favourite reads of the year. Heartbreaking, honest and at times, absolutely batshit, Maggie is that friend that you’re rooting for but also kind of want to whack with a rolled up newspaper. Read it in less than 24 hours, I just had to keep coming back to it. It was really good, actually.

(not) really good, actually.
tMaggie is going through a sort of a crisis. She is getting divorced from her husband Jon, after only 608 days of being married to him. Jon doesn't seem to take it hard, and even though he promised they would break it off nicely and stay in touch, he has decided to ignore all of her calls, texts and emails. Which she sends a lot of. I got a feeling that she was harassing him with them. Soon after, she is thrown into a confusing divorce process, when all of her emotional troubles begin.
We follow Maggie through the first year of her divorce, as she goes through periods of self-hate, gets back out there dating-wise, tries to make divorcee friends, and deals with being alone for the first time.
During the first part of this book, I found Maggie funny and I thought the book was setting up to be pretty interesting. However, as I went on, it got worse. Maggie was becoming incredibly annoying, crossing so many boundaries with other people that I found myself uncomfortable, especially during her random rants and 'speeches'. Most of the time, they had nothing to do with the previous conversation, and just seemed to be ways for the author to try to keep the book, or Maggie, quirky or maybe even somewhat interesting. I was hoping this would be a fun and lighthearted book about the process of getting through divorce and finding yourself, but unfortunately it fell flat.

Let me out!!! This was like being stuck in a locked room with an over privileged person who rabbits on ceaselessly about themselves with their verbalised racing thoughts who never pauses for breath. I found it all tortuous. I though the endelss babble would slow up and a considered storyline would emerge, but it never did. Navel gazing of someone who had no redeeming qualities.

Stayed up far too late reading “Really Good, Actually”. It’s very funny and relatable and it just flows. Monica Heisey succeeds in creating a self-destructive, selfish heroine who’s also a likeable human. Maggie’s short lived marriage and impending divorce is absolutely awful for her and completely boring and nightmarish for everyone else. Her many, many unhealthy coping skills and stubborn denial that her marriage is over are both sad and funny. Her eventual climb out of the pit of her misery is well worth waiting for.

I requested to review this book (thanks for the approval) as the blurb and the early 'celebrity' reviews sounded very promising with reviewers mentioning it being hilarious, heart-warming, addictive, laugh-out-loud funny, and razor sharp. It was based on this that I requested to review it, whereas I usually just pick books from the Read Now section on NetGalley.

Oh dear, I was feeling my age when I was reading this book. I was getting more and more annoyed by Maggie and her entitled self-centered outlook on life, the many rants, stupid decisions, and why oh why, did I need to know her search history?

It's likely to be a fantastic book for some, probably of similar age as the main characters in the book, but unfortunately this wasn't one for me, sorry. I can still appreciate the effort that went into writing it, the characters that was created, and the blunt and well-paced retelling of everyday life.

Maggie and Jon started dating at the age of nineteen. They've been together for ten years, married for the last two. When Maggie suddenly asks "Is this working?" the relationship meets an abrupt end. Newly single Maggie struggles to come to terms with being on the road to divorce at the age of twenty-nine.

I really struggled with this book, I'm obviously the wrong demographic. You're probably asking why I bothered with it. The blurb from the publisher said it was "hilarious and addictive" and "laugh-out-loud funny, razor sharp and painfully relatable". The relatable is probably why this book didn't grab me. The lead character, Maggie, is half my age and struggling with being alone for the first time in her life.

I could not find any redeeming qualities in Maggie, she's completely self-centred and comes across as unhinged a lot of the time. When her ex-husband starts ghosting her you do have some sympathy but towards the end of the book you gain a greater understanding of the relationship and that sympathy quickly disappears.

There are some positives in the story. Maggie is fortunate to have a solid friendship group but even they begin to give up on her eventually. Toronto, where the story is set, comes across as vibrant, bohemian and safe.

Author Monica Heisey was a script writer for Schitt's Creek and because of this I desperately wanted to enjoy this book, hence my continuing to the end rather than giving up. I also found quite a lot of the narrative very Canadian/American which didn't translate well to the UK.

I am sure that a younger demographic, who are relaxed using social media and dating via apps will get far more pleasure from this novel than I did.

The rambling narration of newly separated Maggie, who breaks up from her husband 608 days after their wedding. Convincing everyone she is fine, Maggie goes about putting her life back together. She throws herself into new experiences and new friendships, with a lot to learn about modern love, friendship and happiness along the way. Entertaining and fresh.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC to review!

4.25 stars!

All I have to say with this is I loved it. The way it’s written, personal, blunt but with humor is fantastic. I laughed, I scoffed, I even cried at one point. This was a great read and I’m so happy to discover Monica Heisey and can’t wait to see what’s next.

I felt that the story repeated itself in a way of conversations with her friends and stuff, that felt it happened a bit too often with the same type of conversation, but regardless of this, and that’s just my preference, I loved it!

Maggie is 28, and suffering the effects of a broken down relationship. Her rent is too expensive, and she is lost and lonely being on her own.
The book is written from Maggie’s viewpoint, but she makes all the wrong choices and it becomes frustrating when she seems to sink into a deep depression without any form of support.
The humour is wry and quirky in places, but doesn’t make up for the lack of plotline. I couldn’t empathise with Maggie, and wouldn’t recommend this book.

Oh wow! This can be the most impactful debut I've read all year, I literally devoured it in a day. Loved loved loved it. Maggie is a questionable character, but so relatable! And Monica's narration is witty and captures digital and modern love perfectly.

This was OK/ Good.

Maggie may be relatable to lots of people who are going through a seperation at a younger age. You can definalty sense how lost she feels.

She reminded me alittle of Bridget Jones with one disaster after another and there was some really funny moments in the book.

I think Maggie is going to be one of those characters you either love or hate. Maybe not hate as that's a strong word, but she's alot! I kinda like FMCs like that. We can't all be the same!

I was glad to see she finally got herself together towards the end though. This story showed the true meaning of friendships.

I would have also liked a stronger epilogue.

I really couldn't get on with this. It's hard to persevere with a book when the main character is irritating beyond belief.

Really enjoyed it, actually! I was excited when I saw this book from one of the Schitt's Creek creators, and I was not disappointed! I have so many highlighted passages where I either chuckled or laughed out loud I wish I could paste them all here. The language and the tone were perfect and hit the spot. I have to admit I have recently read quite of few books in the similar genre and tone to this and It felt like another one of those at the start but it did progress nicely. This reads like a mix of Bridget Jones and Everything I know about Love - perfect combo! Great read to get anyone out of a reading rut.

Sadly, not for me. I foind myself getting very bored with the series of disasters that Maggie made of her life. In the end I lost patience and gave up.
Thank you for the chance to read and review this book, but sadly not one I enjoyed.

Maggie is a twenty eight year 9ld, soon to be divorced, University post graduate. I found the book initially quite tedious or perhaps it was just the character. As the book moved on, although humorous in parts, Maggie becomes quite deranged and decides to sleep with anyone she encounters.
This of course does not solve her problems. Her friends gradually drop her and she obviously needs help.

Really Good, Actually is a novel about a woman in her late twenties who suddenly finds herself separated from her husband and unsure where to go next. Maggie's marriage is over, she's got an unfinished PhD and expensive rent, and her friends aren't interested in the new hobbies she's taking up out of sadness. As Maggie stumbles further and further away from anything she planned, refusing therapy and trying to make her ex-husband reply to her, she starts to question marriage, relationships, and everything.

The book is from Maggie's perspective, with interjected lists like her Google searches and messages she receives, and you do get drawn into her viewpoint, to the extent that it gets very frustrating watching her make questionable choices and not communicate with her friends. It very much falls into that category of book where after a big life event, especially a break up, the protagonist thinks they're doing fine when really they need some support and to realise the spiral they're in. The narrative doesn't really have a plot beyond Maggie's life, though there are distinct sections like when she gets really into dating apps or when she falls out with people, and this suits the genre, focusing more on character development and moments.

There's lots of references and commentary on modern life, which I think might be funnier for people who find Maggie and her friends "relatable" as those elements didn't quite work for me, despite being the same age as her. The book has a range of characters, though I did find myself forgetting who a lot of them were (doesn't help that there's purposefully two friends of hers with the same name) as characters blurred into one. I felt like both Maggie's career as someone vaguely in academia but without having got anywhere and her sexuality as someone who is bi but seems to have some hangups about it needed to be addressed more, as both seemed to be quite important in an underlying way and it would've made sense for her to come to some kind of realisations about these by the end.

I was interested in Really Good, Actually after seeing that Heisey was a screenwriter on Schitt's Creek, as I imagine many people will, but it's not really a genre I would necessarily read much of otherwise so I didn't engage hugely with the witty look at relationships and things falling apart after a young divorce. It's a decent book, but personally it dragged a bit for me, though I think plenty of people will enjoy Maggie's voice and escapades.