A cheesy read that offered no surprises. Feels like something I have read before and there was nothing new.

Neal Doran's debut, Dan Taylor Is Giving Up On Women, is one of my all-time favourite books. Not What They Were Expecting is his second novel and takes a look at what happens during one of the biggest events of your life - parenthood.

Neal's characters always have a sense of realness to them and a fallibility that draws you in. He writes about rounded, flawed people who don't always know what to say or do, and that's definitely the case in this book. James thinks he's ready to become a dad...and then life happens. He loses his job, his wife's family encounter problems and the road to fatherhood is rockier than he ever imagined. Neal always gives his characters room to make mistakes and try to put them right again, which appeals to me. It give this writing an immersive quality as you can really buy into the people you are reading about. Sometimes I wanted to shout JUST TELL REBECCA WHAT'S GOING ON, but of course that would make for a very short book!