I feel that this time of year, when the damp and rain get into your very bones, staying in with a cheerful, romantic read is much the preferred choice!

That’s not to say that there isn’t drama in Katey Lovell’s The Singalong Society for Singletons, but it’s nothing that’s not resolved by the end and is somewhat lightened by the back drop of my favourite thing – musicals!

The book is set over a series of Friday nights, which is a great idea as the stuff that’s happened to the gang in the week is recapped, rather than gone over in huge detail – the group is big enough that the flow of the book would suffer if you saw the events in their lives play out in between their meetings.

Apart from the emphasis on musicals – which I completely loved – I liked that each of the characters grew from their participation in the club. Whether it was finding new strength within themselves, falling in love or learning to be a more accepting part of a partnership, each of the characters was light years away from who they had been at the start of the story.

We all need a bit of positive thinking right now and this book fits the bill in every way – even if musicals are not your thing, there is lots to love here and I recommend it.

As soon as I got the email from the publisher telling me about The Singalong Society for Singletons, I knew I had to read it! If you didn’t already know I do love a good musical, so to read a book with musicals as one of the topics was definitely going to be right up my alley. I was so excited to read it and wanted to get stuck in straight away.

Monique (or Mon) and Issy are best friends, flatmates, teachers and also big lovers of musicals. Most of their Friday nights consist of wine, a few snacks and a dvd of a musical. When Mon’s boyfriend of 10 years moves away to America and her sister Hope moves in after having problems with her partner, their Friday nights change! They soon become known as ‘The Singalong Society for Singletons’. A place where they can get together, sing along to some of their favourite tracks and forget about worries which include work and love. However, when Issy invites some new faces to join the group, things start to change.

What I really loved about this book was the pacing and timing of it. I liked how each chapter was set out on a Friday night and that you got the name of the musical as the chapter name. I found that to be really original and I must admit that as soon as I saw what musical it was I was singing in my head. As I am also a big lover of musicals I really enjoyed getting into each characters head and trying to work out why their favourite musical was what it was. At times it was obvious but at other times it was less so. It was also so realistic as I could most certainly imagine a group of women doing what the characters in the book were doing in the real world.

Despite being about musicals, there were also other themes mentioned that I thought were just as important. Themes such as love, friendship, work and long distance relationship. I really enjoyed the friendship element, I just loved reading about the closeness that Mon, Issy, Hope and Connie have and that no matter what you could tell they were always going to be there for each other. It was also quite heartbreaking to go into Mon’s inner monologue about her worries about her long distance ‘relationship’. It was written in such a way that you could sympathise with her and just wanted to make things better for you.

If I was going to say anything negative about this book it would be that I found some of the romances that blossomed to be quite rushed. Especially with regards to Issy. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it, but in some ways it seemed a bit flustered.

I throughly enjoyed The Singalong Society for Singletons and found it to be a breath of fresh air. Katey Lovell managed to turn a story that is set in just one living room into something unique, original and outstanding. It’s certainly a book that I will be remembering.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book but then I'm afraid it went downhill from there. I love Disney and to read them watching musicals was interesting but then got boring after a couple of chapters. Reading about dreary winter nights was annoying! I understand Justin going to America for a year but Mon's dreariness over it all was painful to read. And then when Liam came along god help us. It was obvious Isy was pregnant when she started to be sick, anyone would have thought that, with her being in a new relationship too. And when she announced it I thought it was weird to tell everyone and not Mon individually seeing as they are supposed to be the best of friends. And then Justin came back to surprise her and in the same evening they broke up!! What's up with that!! All that moping around for nothing. And then getting together with Liam at the end... I'm sorry I didn't enjoy this book very much but I would look out for her next one, to see what it's like. Thank you for letting me read and review this book, sorry for the negative response.

You may remember by review of Three Men and A Maybe (review here) where I said that it was just a bit of a standy outy one for me (no it’s not an actual phrase and yes, I am still going to use it;)) and I’m happy to say that this pretty much matched it in terms of a book with that smile out loud factor. I really, really enjoyed this. As you can see it’s the story of Monique (I’d take her to be the main character in it anyhoo, although the blurb seems to say differently!), who opens the story with the planning of a proposal (beautifully and brilliantly done), that doesn’t quite go to plan.

Trying to figure out what to do, her and her housemate, Issy (who I love!) happen upon an excellent (and it really is!) idea, that instead of doing the whole pub/ night club thing, they’ll start up a Friday night get together where they watch their favourite musicals and sing along to them. I have to jump back a little actually, because the real start of the book is the list of musicals, which excited me so much (I’m not a theatre goer, I enjoy the film version more, I know, this is sacriligous to say, but I do!) as it had Singing In The Rain in there, Frozen (must be watched even if you don’t have kids!), Little shop of horrors and so much more. The cast listing told us the characters of the book and I was interested to see who had a leading role, and who was sidelined.

The characters were perfection (I adored issy AND Connie AND Hope!), each with very different personalities that matched and clashed in just the right places (I have to admit my least favourite was Monique as I found her to be a tad self absorbed, you’ll see that from the fact that she’s the only one I didn’t mention above and I feel guilty for that, I really do!), and all with something going on (I loved that each of the characters had their own issues, which were vivid and funny, dramatic and sad). I have to admit I did wonder how this would work out romance-wise, and I wasn’t disappointed when the male party was introduced (superbly done, in my humble opinion!)

I won’t lie, this is more of a book for later in the year, and I regret I didn’t review this earlier (damn rural internet!), possibly nearer to Christmas, but you can bookmark or buy at any time of the year so, in that respect, I’m setting you up for a good Winter read. This is one for the die hard musical fan, who will appreciate the nod to the musical that is named at the beginning of each chapter, or the person, like me, who isn’t totally, but just appreciates a bright, sparkly story that has just enough grit to hold it’s own joined with an excellent host of characters. Thanks to Netgalley for this book in return for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5

Another book I have had sat on my Kindle for a few months now is the debut novel from author Katey Lovell. I loved the cover for this book as soon as I saw it, and the book sounded right up my street too. The main characters of this story are Monique and Issy, a couple of teachers who like to let their hair down when the school week has finished. Together with their sister and another friend, the group sets up a Friday night movie club, and you can probably guess what it's called! With a couple of new male additions, the group gathers steam, and enjoy lots of movies every week, with a lot of singing along the way. Will Monique decide she wants to wait around for her boyfriend's return, or is singledom becoming an attractive prospect?

The idea of this book is great, and sounds just like something I would be up for! I'm not one for going out, but I do love a good movie night in, and I don't mind some singing being thrown in too! The movies mentioned throughout this book are ones we would all have heard of, although there were a few in there that I haven't personally seen. Of course, there were the obvious ones like 'Frozen', 'Mamma Mia' and 'Chicago', but there were some of the old classics in there too... 'Singing in the Rain', and 'Grease' make an appearance, and it made me want to watch some of these again for myself.

I loved the addition of some male characters into the book too, and the fact they enjoyed the musicals as much as the girls was great. Clearly there was some chemistry there between Ray, Liam and a couple of the girls, and I enjoyed watching it play out, hoping that they might have a happy ending despite the fact I knew Mon was waiting around for her boyfriend to return from America from a year long job transfer! I was surprised she waited behind for him, especially given the things she saw on his social media, but there we go, each to their own!

This book was a really fun read from start to finish, and I thoroughly enjoyed Katey Lovell's writing. As well as the fun elements of the movies and the singing, there were some more serious things going on as well, such as Mon and Issy's jobs as teachers, something I enjoyed reading about especially as I work in the sector myself. There was also their friend Connie's trip abroad, Issy's personal secrets she really doesn't want to reveal, and Hope's relationship dramas thrown in. I loved the friendships between the women, they were genuine and caring, and I loved how supportive they were of each other. It was a joyful read from beginning to end, and I loved it. I will definitely be looking for more from Katey Lovell. I can definitely recommend this for a light-hearted, fun read to leave you with a smile on your face!

Since July my love of musicals has been growing and growing and growing, so to see a book incorporating lots of incredible musicals made me extremely happy. This is a lovely and very enjoyable read and in fact, now that I have had time to think about it more I've decided to take my review from a 3* rating to a 4* because it was such a wonderful idea for a book and carried out so well too. I loved all of the characters; although I cannot say I got particularly attached to anyone and didn't feel like we really knew Justin very well, so it was very clear what direction Mon's love life was going in. Nevertheless, each chapter made me eager to watch the musicals myself and definitely made me fall in love with the idea of a Singalong Society and the end of each chapter made me excited to read the next one.