Blog Tour Review / The Woman who Upped and Left by Fiona Gibson

Forget about having it all. Sometimes you just want to leave it all behind.


Audrey is often seized by the urge to walk out of her house without looking back – but she can’t possibly do that.


She is a single parent. She is needed. She has a job, a home, responsibilities…and a slothful teenage son’s pants to pick up.


But no one likes being taken for granted – Audrey least of all – so the time has come for drastic action. And no one’s going to stand in her way…




Published:     25th February 2016
Publisher:  Avon
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...  Despite the fact that the main character in this book, Audrey, has quite a lot of 'downs' before she got to the 'ups' in her life in this book, I found it really fun to read.  You have Audrey who at the beginning of the book is single mum having her grown up son (I would say he is late teens to early twenties, definitely left school type age) living at home with her, not working, not going to school and certainly not helping with anything really.  He also has a girlfriend who practically lives with them and is equally as bad.  It's not hard to see that Audrey needs a break from it all, to have some fun.  When she won Dinner Lady of the Year she had first chosen the £5,000 price but upon learning from her son what he wanted out of the money (the list having been given to her with her birthday card and no present) she decides that she is no longer going to go for the money as her prize but a trip away to a cookery class.  It was such fun following her journey through escaping from it all and learning something new.  If I had to pick a favourite part of this book, honestly it would have to be when she arrives at the hotel and discovers the mini bar, that was funny!

What I was not fond of with this story...  I know that there are certain characters in this book who are meant to be completely arses but they did wind me up a bit in this book.  Certainly the son who seems to take advantage of his mum in every way and was definitely in for a bit of an awakening when his mum goes away to the cookery school and leaves him to fend for himself.  There is also another character that I really didn't like and that is one of Audrey's 'boyfriend'.  What a horrible character but he was meant to be so that was ok! 

In summary...  This was a really fun story, following Audrey through her lows at the beginning to picking herself up again at the cookery school and all that happens afterwards.

Book Review / As Good as it Gets? by Fiona Gibson

A warm, funny read for fans of Outnumbered and the novels of Fern Britton, Fiona writes about life as it really is.

“Midlife crisis? WHAT midlife crisis?!”

Charlotte Bristow is worried about her husband Will. With her 16-year-old daughter Rosie newly signed to a top modelling agency, and Will recently out of a job, things are changing in their household.

As Will dusts down his old leather trousers and starts partying with their new, fun neighbours, Charlotte begins to wonder what on earth is going on.

So when Fraser, Charlotte’s ex – and father of Rosie – suddenly arrives back on the scene, she starts to imagine what might have been…

Published:     26th February 2015
Publisher:  Avon Books
Author Website:  Click here
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

My Review

OK, so I gave this book two stars.  I didn't completely hate it.  The writing was really good and I really liked the characters but the problem I had reading this particular book was the fact that when I read the description of the book it read as though the main character Charlotte's life is not quite what she seemed and then her ex comes back into her life and things change but when reading the book the character of Fraser does not actually feature in the story until at least halfway through the book.  The first half I felt was a good introduction to the characters and the situations that were happening at that time but felt that it went on to long.  To be honest, it was the characters and the style of writing that kept me going until the end together with the fact that I was curious about how the story was going to end.

I am sad that I probably won't pick up this book again but I will definitely check out this author more to see if I get on better with one of her other books as it may just be this particular type of story that didn't suit me well.

About the Author
(From Goodreads)

Fiona is an author and journalist who has written for many UK publications including The Observer, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Red, New Woman, Top Sante and Elle. She writes a monthly column for Sainsbury’s magazine and is a Contributing Editor at Red magazine.

Fiona lives in Scotland with her husband, their twin sons and daughter. She likes to draw, run 10k races, play her saxophone and lie in the bath with a big glass of wine, although not all at once.