Cover Image: The Gin O'Clock Club

The Gin O'Clock Club

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Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley for a pre publication copy. In return for an honest review! #theginoclockclub #netgalley

Lottie is a 30 something barrister who can only be described as someone who lives to work whereas her boyfriend Luke works to live. Suddenly they find their relationship in tatters after the death of Lottie's grandma so they join in with her Granddad's Gin o'clock club to try to repair the relationship.

The title was the thing that drew me into this book. Although the book wasn't what I expected.

Ok book which is designed to be an easy read and had a good plot line but very repetitive without feeling like your moving forward which makes it hard going towards the end.

You are left feeling like they've stuck a plaster over a tsunami and that they've not achieved anything.

Well what can I say about Lottie other than I've never disliked a character so much. She is rude and self centred nothing is her fault and always someone else's. She puts everyone down in order to boost herself up and you don't feel like she's learnt anything as the book goes on. It is sad to read in parts and others cringey. She sounds like she needs some professional help!

Sadly this book didn't do it for me although it had great potential and plot line is there.

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I can’t believe I left this unread on my kindle for so long.

The Gin O’clock Club was a book with so much warmth and heart. I loved Teddy and his pals, they made me wish I had a grandad. Lottie was a great main character and the way her grief was explored felt real.

I really liked Luke and Lottie as a couple and the dates were fab. The proposal was so cute too. Love wins!

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I LOVED this book! I loved the relationship between Lottie and Teddy. There were some real heartwarming moments and some laugh out loud moments. Loved it!

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The Gin O'Clock Club
by Rosie Blake

Teddy’s wife Cora has just died and he is so worried about the effect this is having on his granddaughter Lottie. She has a high powered job as a barrister and currently her life appears to be falling apart. Work is overtaking her life and she’s letting her best friend down as her future bridesmaid, Luke her partner and anyone who needs a commitment from her. Teddy and his septuagenarian friends decide to bring fun back into Lottie and Luke’s life.

A very beautiful book to read it makes you laugh and cry all at once.

Great characters and the way the book has been laid out with Teddy’s letters to Cora are so touching . Read in one sitting very well done Rosie loved it.

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⭐The perfect tonic, uplit at its finest!
⭐The whole cast of characters are brilliantly written, some made you smile, some pull on your heart strings.
⭐I loved being immersed in this world.
⭐It like a hug in book form.
⭐Highly recommend!

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The perfect balance between making me feel really emotional and also making me laugh out loud.

I mean what a rollercoaster of feelings I had while I was reading this book. We have Lottie who seems to be in self destruct mode, a complete workaholic and seems to have let most things slide otherwise, although thankfully she has her boyfriend Luke, if he can put up with her moods at the moment.

And then between chapters we have letters to Cora from Teddy, which are full of Teddy's clear love for Cora, worry for his grand daughter Lottie and also his side of the plan to try to help Lottie reconnect with Luke and realise there is more to life than work.

So Teddy and his friends Arjun, Geoffrey and Howard decide that they want Lottie and Luke to do some good old fashioned wooing and set up all sorts of olde timey dates for them, while at the same time they are trying to persuade Teddy to date in the modern sense of the world.

So in one half of the story there is pensioners on tinder and taking part in an ice disco.... while the youngsters take part in a whist drive, a memorable art class, a hilarious evening of board games and an incredibly romantic weekend away - well with some rather hilarious chickens!

There are so many moments that had me laughing but at the same time its also a story of Lottie and Teddy coming to terms with Cora's death, and how they can move on from it.

It's simply wonderful and there is so much going on, it kept me incredibly engaged at all times. It's another fabulous book from Rosie Blake, who is an author I always seem to enjoy a large amount.

Thank you to Sphere and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

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The Gin O’Clock Club follows Lottie as she tries to balance her hectic work schedule with her relationship, her friendships and supporting her Grandad Teddy after the loss of her Grandma. I felt for Lottie as her life is so busy but I couldn’t warm to her, she is very unlikeable and self-obsessed. However, I adored her Grandad Teddy and loved learning more about his group of friends and the way he threw himself into trying to make Lottie’s life more fulfilled. Teddy’s parts of the novel are told through letters he writes to his late wife and I adored these sections. Teddy agrees to start dating again if Lottie and her boyfriend Luke agree to start going on old-fashioned dates with each other to try and re-connect. Teddy and his friends are very involved in planning the dates and are often part of them and I loved this so much. This is a really lovely read and is perfect escapism. I recommend it!

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Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I am a fan of books in this genre, so I was very much looking forward to reading this one. I was not dissapointed and both the plot and characters gripped me from the start. I will definitley aim to read another by this author. Highly reccomended!

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Lottie is overwhelmed. She is a barrister and working endless hours, seven days a week in hopes of progressing her career. At the same time, she is juggling being a good best friend and bridesmaid and being a good girlfriend and grandaughter.

Lottie and boyfriend Luke are arguing all the time and Lottie keeps forgetting to complete bridesmaid tasks for her best friend. Then, her grandmother dies. With the added pressure of supporting her grandad through his grief, everything else starts falling apart more rapidly.

Then, Lottie’s grandad Teddy, decides (2 months after burying his wife by the way!), that he will try modern dating and Lottie and Luke must try old fashioned courting. Now, this is a decision that Teddy makes because he is growing increasingly concerned about Lottie, but I would be haunting his backside!

This is a light-hearted, warm love story that is really quite magical in its own way. With a full and colourful cast of characters to keep any reader entertained. It may not be my normal type of story but it made a nice little holiday in my reading that cures the dreaded ‘reader hangover’ nicely.

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This was such a fun book! Grabbed me at the start and didn't let me go, it was quick and easy to read and I had fun with it!

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Loved this book, full of great characters.
Lottie is struggling to balance everything in her life, so her grandfather and his friends step in to try and help in their own way!

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Love, it’s all about love ❤️ I didn’t just simply adore this book, I absolutely loved it! It was a funny, moving and beautiful story with so much depth. A romantic comedy; it was really fresh and simple. A fantastic quick and easy feel good read.

This is Lottie and Teddy’s story, even though it’s about Lottie and Luke’s relationship to be honest. Teddy is Lottie’s grandfather and when he loses his wife, Cora, Lottie felt the need to look after him. However, it appears that Lottie needed looking after more than her grandfather.

You will laugh and cry at this, it is very moving, especially when Teddy writes his letters, sharing his thoughts, to Cora keeping her up-to-date with what’s going on even though she’s not around anymore.

I did find Lottie a tad frustrating, however I saw myself in her where my work and lifestyle balance used to be concerned years ago. She is a barrister with ambition, wanting to become a QC, very career driven and the pressures of work had a huge impact on her relationships with Luke, Teddy and best friend Amy. She was pulled in all directions. Can we have it all, be all to everyone? How frustrating life can be, having to deal with one thing after another. There’s not enough capacity to do it all and be all to everyone. The challenges, demands and expectations? This was Lottie’s life. Always in a hurry, work, work, work, always too much to do.

I loved all of the characters, and the members of the Gin’O Clock Club are Teddy’s golfing buddies who all rally around Teddy and subsequently Lottie after Cora died.

Teddy sees how stressed out Lottie is and how this is affecting her relationship with Luke and his golfing buddies can see what’s going on too and come up with a plan to help. Teddy has to sign up to a dating agency and in return Lottie and Luke have to go on old fashioned romantic dates.

Did this or did it not work? You’ll need to read the book to find out.

This is the first book I’ve read by Rosie Blake and it won’t be the last.

This is all about love, compassion, empathy, friendship, family, communication, loss, trust, jealousy, honesty and work life balance with a whole lot more thrown in.

‘Love doesn’t have to be perfect but it does have to be true’. ‘Love is in the little things’. ‘Love is a commitment you need to work at like any other’. Capiche 🤷‍♀️

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for this fabulous ARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

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I loved this easy reading book it just flowed, very hard to put down it was lovely to read about the old ways of dating someone compared to the way people do dating now.

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A lovely book the story kept me involved the characters drew me in.Love that this was older people who dated in the old fashioned way which seems like it might be the right way.#netgalley#littlbrownuk.

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This book is so cute and adorable, you just want to press it to your chest and soak in its good vibes (not saying I did that, but not saying I didn’t, either…)

Lottie is always rushing places. She’s a barrister, and her workload means she almost never sees her boyfriend, Luke. The only person she does make time for is her grandfather Teddy: they’ve both been grieving the death of his wife, Cora.

But Teddy’s elderly friends have other plans. They’re the Gin O’Clock Club, and they’re about to change Lottie’s life. All they need is a walking stick or two, and plenty of gin, and they’re about to get Lottie and Luke’s relationship back on track- and perhaps rediscover a new zest for life themselves.

Thiis is a romantic book, but it’s also an overwhelmingly sweet one: one about the power of family, the ways in which relationships can change if not looked after, and a bit of elderly wisdom. For a book that’s so shaped by the death of Cora, this book is all about how to enjoy life- and how to remember how to enjoy life. I loved it, and if you’re ever looking for a pick-me-up, go no further: Rosie Blake has you covered.

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I loved this easy reading book it just flowed, very hard to put down it was lovely to read about the old ways of dating someone compared to the way people do dating now.

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This was such a sweet and funny story. I adored the older characters and it served as a wonderful reminder that sometimes the old way is the best way to do things.

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This is a real heart warming story with engaging characters, I think if I had to choose a favourite it would be Arjun, although a sub plot was started with him, but never felt that it went anywhere, but he did steal my heart, and I would love to know what happened to him!!

At the start of the story, main character Lottie receives a phone call to say that her beloved Grandmother Cora has died, leaving husband Ted a widow. Supported by his friends and golf buddies, Arjun, Geoffrey and Howard, they become the Gin O’Clock club, and together they develop date ideas to try and reignite the flame between Lottie and long suffering partner Luke, who I really felt deserved a medal!!

The real lump in the throat moments during the book, are the letters that Teddy writes to Cora filling her in on all the comings and goings.

I found Lottie annoying and wanted to text her to tell her that she really should count her blessings rather than moan and whinge a lot, but hopefully that is what best friend Amy was for!!

A lovely book, and a beautiful cover – I’m off to pour myself a large G&T, and I may even put in a strawberry and a crack of black pepper – just for Arjun!!!

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Actual rating 4.5stars.

Although this is a tale of Lottie and Luke’s relationship, the overwhelming focus is on Lottie and grandad Teddy’s relationship, made more poignant with the recent loss of beloved wife and grandmother Cora. The tender beginning, in the voice of Teddy, as he lovingly speaks of caring for his bedridden wife sets the tone for the whole novel which manages to balance hilarity with many touching moments so that I laughed and cried in equal measure.
As granddaughter Lottie and Teddy struggle to navigate a new path in their relationship, with both of them stumbling through the days, it’s the members of the gin o’clock club (Teddy’s golfing buddies,Geoffrey Howard and Arjun) who think it would be fun if Teddy began embracing the dating scene whilst Lottie and Luke rekindle their romance with the aid of some old fashioned dates. Agreeing to this deal sees the couple swap twerking for ballroom dancing, rushed takeaways for champagne picnics, Netflix for whist drives, life art classes and board games with the hope that Lottie may just regain her sense of fun, forget about her next court case and find her way back to happiness. The results are hilarious and you couldn’t wish to be in better company than this cast of characters.

With love quotes from (presumably) fictional elderly individuals headlining each chapter, I quickly fell in love with this novel, wanting the best for Teddy, Lottie and Luke, knowing it wouldn’t be plain sailing. Poor poor Lottie! Her work home balance is completely askew. Within minutes of the author introducing us to this stressed out career driven barrister, my own anxiety levels were shooting through the roof. I recognised her predicament, trying to juggle a demanding job that takes up every ounce of her time and energy. With her time at a premium, grandad, boyfriend Luke and best friend Amy have to settle for precious snatched moments although Lottie is never entirely present, her mind always elsewhere. Hers is an impossible situation and one that sees Lottie making herself unhappy as well as all those around her. She is the epitome of women world wide struggling to be superwoman! Yes, she’s lost sight of what matters most in life but I couldn’t fail to like her and hope with the help of Teddy and Luke she will realise the error of her ways. Her tendency to wish bad things on people I found highly amusing, even though I knew she didn’t mean them.

Luke, inadvertently relegated to bottom of the pile in his relationship with Lottie reminded me very much of a Labrador puppy, full of boundless energy, eager to please, utterly faithful and impossible not to love. His enthusiasm to woo back Lottie with the help of the oldies date suggestions is infectious, the results hilarious and up to the reader to discover how successful! With the gin o’clock club members and their wider circle of friends invested in both Teddy and Lottie’s future happiness,this novel is charming all the way through. There’s not a single character superfluous to the storyline, each one providing laughs and surprises along the way, and to top it all they’re not afraid to sample some dubious sounding flavours of gin.

My favourite element of this novel are the words spoken by Teddy, always written in the form of a letter to his darling Cora. Full of updates of his latest japes with his golfing cronies aka the gin o’clock club, his grief at Cora’s death is glossed over by his stoicism and determination to carry on enjoying life, with his primary aim to make Lottie happy. These letters reveal his true feelings ,and whilst he firmly believes Cora was always much better equipped to deal with the difficult, emotional moments I felt that Teddy was doing fine, in his own inimitable style, always having Lottie’s best interests at heart. Caring and loyal he’s a great friend not just to Geoffrey, Howard and Arjun but to Luke also. For a man still in mourning, untethered by loss , Teddy is adventurous and always game for a laugh, proving to the youngsters that life is for living. Wouldn’t we all benefit from having a Teddy and or a Luke in our lives? I know I certainly would but I fear relationships as good as these exist only in the fictional ether!

The Gin o’clock club is an ideal lazy day read, which I devoured in one sitting. I know that mood can greatly influence how we interpret or feel about an author’s words and in this instance the compassion, the love, the camaraderie lights up every single page. I read the last pages wishing that I had been as lucky as Teddy to spend a lifetime with the “finest caretaker of my heart”, possibly the most beautiful words spoken in what I found to be an emotional but feel good read.
Delightful and tender, the final scene brought a lump to my throat and oh is that a bit of chilli in my eye?!?!
My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

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The characters in this book are endearing. There is Grandad (Teddy) who has sadly lost the love of his life, wife Cora, and finds himself all alone and thinking about how amazing Cora was at negotiating all the emotional aspects of life.
Thankfully he has golfing buddies Arjun, Howard and Geoffrey, the Gin O'Clock Club members who help Teddy establish his equilibrium enough to set a delightful challenge to granddaughter Lottie.
Teddy is very worried about Lottie. She is a barrister, intent on being the youngest in her chambers to ever achieve silk, who works all hours, seems constantly tired, stressed, on edge and never able to have fun. Lottie lives with Luke, long term graphic designer boyfriend who seems so absolutely wonderful I found myself screaming at Lottie to notice what she has!
As a workaholic myself, I could empathise with Lottie and the incredibly high standards she places on herself, but had enough objectivity to realise that her approach to life had lost all balance and was threatening her relationship not only with Luke but with soon to be married best friend Amy and even her grandfather.
I felt tired to the bone just reading about Lottie's life as she struggles to help her granddad come to terms with his bereavement whilst mourning the loss of her beloved grandmother, catching endless tube trains and buses, reading brief after brief, trying to be a good bridesmaid for her friend, never sleeping and being pulled in every direction. Exhausting!
And so the challenge: Teddy will start dating if Luke woos Lottie old-fashioned style. Teddy produces a list of ideas and with the Gin O'Clock Club involved all the way the couple begin to have fun again, reconnecting with each other as they go to a life drawing art class, a whist drive, a treasure hunt and a weekend away.
Luke however appears the more committed of the two and in her attempts to keep all the plates spinning, Lottie drops a fair few, enough for her to feel her life itself is broken.
Will Luke and Lottie survive the turbulence or will others break them apart?
I loved this romantic and life affirming novel. It is sad in many places but ultimately hopeful and really funny throughout. I enjoyed reading Teddy's letters to Cora after her death. It is his way of trying to understand what is happening, how hopelessly equipped he is for meaningful and difficult conversations and the letters link to all the developments in the story as they play out. The letters are also a beautiful gift of Teddy's love which cannot help but stir the heart strings and make you love Teddy.
The author uses quotes about love from elderly people as chapter dividers, giving their first name and age and in this way we are treated to a very charming look at love, relationships and marriage.
I whizzed through the book in one day wanting a happy ever after.
You need to read the book to find out if there is a happy ending and to enjoy a chuckle or two along the way.
Thank you to Rosie Blake, the publisher and Netgalley for a brilliant read in exchange for this honest review.

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