I have read the author's "Rosie" books. Loved the first, not so the second which I thought became a bit overcomplicated. So I was jumped at the chance of a pre publication copy and approached it knowing it wasn't a "Rosie". Without going into the plot too much, the things I liked were the book being divided into two parts; the first setting the current scene and using flashbacks to bring us up to date. I liked Adam, I liked that he played piano. I liked the song or playlist as I knew most of them and they added (slightly) to the atmosphere of scenes. I actually liked the bluntness of the mums in the book (gave some light relief). I even liked the start of the second part and was glad that Adam actually DID something as I felt he was just plodding along through life up to that point just taking what came to him rather than actually making things happen. Anyway, I liked the food and wine matches too (my mouth watered at some). I even liked Angelina up to that point. But from where Charlie went to fetch the lemons, it was all downhill for me I'm afraid. All the characters became pretty unlikeable and there were just too many mind games and second guessing reasons and motives for behaviour and feelings. But I stuck with it and was relieved to reach the end so that I can move on to my next book! I'm still undecided about the author was over the course of 3 books, I've loved all of the first, half of the second and half of the third so, generally speaking, scores a two out of three for me overall (but only 2 out of 5 for this book and all two is mostly for the first part of it). So I'm still looking for him to write another that I like all the way through. By the way, as well as having the playlist in my head whilst reading, I also had people in mind as being Angelina, Adam and Charlie (all British celebs though). For me these were Emilia Fox as Angelina, John Simm as Adam and, even though he's not an actor but just seems so much like Charlie physically ... Paul Hollywood from The Great British Bake Off.

Having enjoyed The Rosie Project and the sequel (though admittedly not as much as the first book) I expected to enjoy this book by Graeme Simsion as well. I was wrong.

The whole book reads as though the author is pining for some long lost love himself and honestly I had to force myself to finish reading the book. Romanticizing the underlying story did not help sell the affair angle to me. Both Angelina and Adam were characters I could not enjoy in the least.

Sorry Graeme, this one was not for me.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.

This was a slightly amusing, very engaging book which I really enjoyed reading. I really liked that a lot of it was set in 1980s with references to songs at that time, as this was my era as a 20 something. The use of the songs to convey feelings or subliminal messages was very clever.

It was also good to read a love story written from a man's perspective. Overall a very honest portrayal of the feelings for past loves and the stage in one's life where you consider and compare present relationships against past ones.

Highly recommended. 4.5****

What an eye-opener into the male mid-life psyche. But it's far more than that: a touching, funny, heart-breaking story that is ultimately life-affirming.