Very cute and funny book. It's entertaining and so easy to read. It has the aspect of not wanting to put it down, but more because it's just a breeze to read. It's a great summer read to relax and enjoy.

I have been a fan of Mary Jayne Baker's work for a little while now. I love the way in which she creates characters and gives them drama but with an injection of humour along the way. I read the synopsis for 'The Never Have I Ever Club' and it certainly sounded like another amusing read from Mary Jayne Baker. I was spot on and I thoroughly enjoyed every single second of 'The Never Have I Ever Club' but more about that in a bit.
I absolutely loved the character of Robyn Bloom and I took to her from the first moment I met her. In fact it didn't take me long to feel as though she had become a friend of mine. She is the sort of lass that you could easily imagine having a good old gossip with over a cup of tea or a cocktail or seven. Robyn was in a relationship with Ash Barnes, but he dumped her and went overseas. The more I learnt about Ash, the more I wanted to chase after him with a pair of rusty, blunt scissors to deal with a certain part of his anatomy before slapping him across the face with a wet fish. Ash has an identical twin called Will, who is the village GP and the exact opposite in character to Ash. When Robyn sees Will, all she can see is Ash. Over time, Robyn does feel herself becoming attracted to Will but Ash reappears like a bad smell and he has decided that he wants Robyn back. Robyn is lovely and I kept everything crossed that she chose the right twin (not naming names but I don't mean the one with the initial of A). Does Robyn get the happy ever after ending that she so deserves? Who will Robyn choose? Is there a twist to the tale? Well for the answers to those questions and so much more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
Oh my word, 'The Never Have I Ever Club' was the perfect read for me. I was feeling a bit fed up and in need of a distraction. Well this book distracted me and then some. I started chuckling away to myself at the start of the story and I don't think I stopped for the duration of the story. I didn't put 'The Never Have I Ever Club' down from the moment I initially picked the book up and began to read until the moment I read the last word on the last page. I was so enjoying the story that I lost all track of time and I lost track of just how quickly I was getting through the book. All too quickly, I reached the end of the book and I had to say farewell to Robyn and her friends.
'The Never Have I Ever Club' is really well written. As I indicated at the beginning, I loved the way in which Mary Jayne Baker combines the drama and the romance with a healthy dose of humour along the way. Once Mary Jayne Baker had my attention, she wouldn't let me have it back until I had finished the book. I felt as though I was part of the story and that's all thanks to Mary Jayne Baker's fantastic writing and storytelling.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Never Have I Ever Club' and I would definitely recommend it to other readers. I will be reading more of Mary Jayne Baker's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

I knew I was going to enjoy this, after reading A Question of Us and loving it. Ms Baker's characters are down to earth and realistic; they are also hilarious. I adored the style and tone of her writing, and that's without bringing the seriously funny moments into the equation.

Who can resist a main character who can describe to her bessie mates (one of them a fella) having her bits examined by a doctor wearing the same face as the man she loved and who dumped her. As an opening chapter, it was ace.

There is no saccharine sweetness about this story - it is modern and honest, and thoroughly engrossing, with some seriously deranged old age pensioners thrown in for good measure.

This book had so many things I love in a book for example the love triangle, small town, small tight group of friends, but for some reason it just fell flat for me.

I guess looking back at it nothing exciting really happened. Nothing stood out as big event or turning point. If anything the main story line in the love triangle aspect of the book was pretty anti climatic.

My favourite characters were side characters that really had no real substantial part in the story line but they stood out to me as interesting and memorable characters and they were arty and elliot.

Also do British people really say love and poor cow that much? Serious question...

Robyn thought Ash was the love of her life – until one day he announced he was leaving her to fly halfway across the world.

Months later, Robyn is struggling to move on, but then she starts The Never Have I Ever Club. Her neighbor Will helps her bring their fellow neighbors together for some carpe-diem-inspired fun. It doesn't take long for Robyn to realize what – or who – her heart truly desires: Will.

There's just one problem: he's Ash's twin brother. Make that two problems: Ash is moving home... and he wants Robyn back.

This book was delightful and hilarious! It was the perfect rom-com. The real premise is to really live your life to the fullest. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and will have to read the other book by this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria for providing and eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book - the premise is so promising! After her boyfriend leaves her for a woman 10 years younger than her, Robyn Bloom starts a "bucket list" club in her village. There are some laugh out loud funny moments as the club members cross items off their list, including life drawing, learning to sail, and a burlesque dance class. Unfortunately for most of the book, it felt very surface-level and I couldn't make any emotional connections or attachments to the main characters (with the exception of Elliot and Winnie). The book is also quite long and could have been more tightly written without losing much of the plot. I would rate this book 2.5 stars - rounded up to three because there were some genuinely funny moments and some of the side characters were enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Aria for asking me to review this book and to be apart of the blog tour.
The Never Have I Ever Club is properly not a book I would normally pick up to read, from the point of view of the cover but upon reading the blurb I was intrigued. The main reason I picked up this book to read though is the author as I love a good book by Mary Jayne Baker.
Robyn feels like her life is going no where, her job is not the most exciting and her boyfriend has just left her for a younger women and buggered off to Australia, leaving her back in Yorkshire. It does not help that Robyn lives next door to her ex boyfriend Ash's brother. Twin brother! Will loves his brother but he is always the one picking up the pieces after him, as the local GP he cannot understand his brother behaviour.
Robyn creates the Never Have I Ever Club with help from Will and together they bring locals together to tick of some bucket list activities, creating some much need fun. However, Robyn realises that the twin she really wants is Will, the one that has been with her supporting her all this time but Ash is returning and believes her has made a mistake!
A brilliant plot and a page turner filled with some laugh out loud moments. I did feel this did not have the normal magic expected from Mary Jayne Baker but it was still a great read and one I would recommend.

Well this was a cute romance with some unexpected moments and some heart warming cross-generational moments too.


I liked Robyn as a character. I loved how independent she was and how she was determined to make the best of her life. I LOVED her friendship group as well, the people that began the formation of the never have I ever club. I could totally recognise them in friends I have had over the years and they reminded me of several BFF characters from other great romcom novels.


The romance in this book is also very true to life but also kind of aspirational. I love the fact that we have a bit of a choice to make when it comes to a love interest and I really like that those choices represent the past, present and the future. I thought the love scenes were steamy but not too unrealistic although I do think that Robyn made some questionable choices when it came to her love life.


There are some very funny moments in this book, some moments that definitely made me laugh out loud and a lot of those are provided by older members of the never have I ever club. I did like the humour coming from this generation but there is also a lot of heart that comes from these members and I am liking the trend for older characters getting more ‘main parts’ in novels like this.


The other thing I really enjoyed in this book was the setting. It was very close to home for me and I loved the mention of many places I could recognise. This was a nice escapist romance and I enjoyed getting to meet and spend time with Robyn and her men.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. The storyline was fun and I liked the characters. It's just that the story wasn't outstanding or anything and as expected quite predictable. This doesn't mean that it was a bad book, because I had a fun time reading it.

What a cute story ! The characters were fun, quirky and interesting. Easy , funny, and the perfect beach read . thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

Robyn lives in small-town England and is trying to lie low and move on as best she can after being dumped.

I liked the synopsis of this book as well as the cover and the positive title.

Very early on in the book however, I noticed some problems for me: the predictability of a cancer scare as a personal health problem, her GP being unavailable and her having been booked in with another doctor.

Said doctor, Will, just happens to very comveniently be her next door neighbour. I feel this too is a little overdone in novels. The Cute Guy Nect Door. (Why not a town away or the other side of town?)

I perked up a bit when it turned out he was an identical twin. I was, too and (usually) love all books with twins.

There's also the typical twin identity mistake aspect, where they are mixed up by people This is a real- life thing, but it gets a little tired after awhile. I did feel though, that we were let on the diffeerences between the twins' life choices early on which was good. I felt that let me suss out their personalities although not well enough that I really could feel for them as characters.

Ash, his brother and her ex, is off in Australia and with someone else. The love triangle made things a bit more interesting.

Where I really got interested though was after the senior citizen's event. Because that's when the idea of the Never Have I Ever Club and the idea of injecting more fun and spontaneity into life for Robyn and her friends is born.

I liked their pub meetings because I felt a witness to the formation of the club. I felt that the senior citzen's event was a kind of catalyst to that happening because of seeing the people there enjoying themselves.

I would have liked to have the club being formed perhaps earlier in the book though as a conscious effort to move on. While the worry over Will and Ash was realistic, I wanted something more to happen for Robyn quicker than it actually did.

Another problem I had was the pacing. It was slow and the novel would have been better shorter. This would have made it more focused. And I found there was too much telling. I got lost in all the dialogue and would have loved more visuals.

I did hope all along that the characters would manage to sort their lives and was glad that Robyn had Will next door. It was nice to know they had been childhood friends too. But I wanted that bond explored more, it fell a bit flat at times.

Overall, I wished the characters resonated more with me. The humour was good though.

Thanks to Mary Jayne Baker and Aria for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

It's a shame, but I wasn't as engrossed in this book as I thought I'd be.

On this accasion, this novel about the life and love trials and tribulations of thirty-somethings did not wow me and it dragged too much.

3 stars.

I'll try Mary Jayne Baker's debut.

I absolutely loved reading this uplifting and fun, at times downright humorous book about love and seizing the day. With the lead males twins there was bound to be double trouble for the protagonist as she attempts to get over heartbreak.. A satisfying holiday read.

A fabulous new take on romance which has made me smile all the way through!

Robyn Bloom has always lived in the family home and, likewise, the Barnes brothers are next-door. Friends since they were children she lost her heart to one of the twins, Ash, who then broke it sharply in two when he dumped her, ran away and took up with a much younger model. It's taken a long time for Robyn and Will to get back to the easy friendship they once had; when Robyn sets up The Never Have I Ever Club to improve life for everyone in the village, they work together for the benefit of the community. Then Ash returns . . .

This is an absolutely charming tale! Having read this author's books before, I expected to enjoy it and I was in for a real treat. With fabulously created characters whose friendships were both funny and realistic and a spectacularly annoying mother, I have grinned and giggled throughout. Mary Jayne Baker writes with a light touch, keeping her readers entertained all the way through and I highly recommend this terrific book (as well as her previous ones). A delightful feel-good novel which fully earns all five sparkling stars!

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley, and to Vicky Joss for my spot on this blog tour; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

It is a light and fun read. It's a bit longer than I expect but the humour is perfect. I love the friends to lovers trope. The love triangle with twins is interesting. It did annoy me a little the male character puts his twin above his own needs and wants. Otherwise, a terrific read.

Award-winning author Mary Jayne Baker is back with a fun and feel-good romantic read that is simply brilliant: The Never Have I Ever Club.

Robyn Bloom cannot help but feel as if life is passing her by. In her thirties, Robyn feels like she is stuck in a rut. She lives in a tiny village in the Yorkshire Dales, works as a curator in a backwater museum that seems to exhibit only old tat and the most mind-numbingly boring curios in existence and was recently dumped by her boyfriend Ash for a twenty-three year old surfer with whom he emigrated to Australia. Life isn’t exactly a laugh a minute for Robyn at the moment – and as if things weren’t bad enough already, she has to live next door to her ex-boyfriend’s identical twin brother, Will! Robyn is constantly reminded of her heartbreak every time she walks out of her front door, but little does she realise that Will could very well prove to be the answer to all of her prayers…

Will loves his twin brother, Ash – even if he cannot help find him exasperating and completely and utterly infuriating at times. Ash has always been a charmer able to twist anyone round his little finger with an easy smile and a funny joke while local GP Will was left to pick up the pieces after his brother got into yet another mess. Will cannot fathom why Ash treated Robyn the way he did. Robyn is funny, intelligent, smart and somebody he simply cannot stop thinking about lately. As the two find themselves spending more and more together after forming The Never Have I Ever Club, a group that celebrates spontaneity and fun, their friendship begins to intensify which quickly leads to an attraction that cannot be denied…

The Never Have I Ever Club has opened Robyn’s eyes and made her realise what she truly wants: Will. Only there is a slight problem: Ash is coming home and he wants Robyn back!

The Never Have I Ever Club is romantic comedy gold! Mary Jayne Baker will have readers giggling from the very first page and she infuses her story with so much humour and heart that the pages simply turn themselves. Robyn was a lovely heroine and somebody it’s a joy to spend time with. Kind-hearted, generous, caring and funny, she’s somebody readers would love as a best friend and I defy anyone not to fall in with Will!

A fabulous romantic comedy that touches the heart and lifts the spirit, Mary Jayne Baker has another winner on her hands with The Never Have I Ever Club.

Robyn Bloom isn't having a good time. Her ex-boyfriend Ash dumped her out of nowhere, flew to Australia and shacked up with a woman half her age. Her job at the local museum is in danger of ending, and she is having a health scare. With all this going on, Robyn and her friends decide to start and run a club, so the community can start to do things they've never done before. Through the club, Robyn realizes that she has feelings for Will, another old friend. The problem is, Will happens to be Ash's identical twin brother.

This book started really strong for me-I really liked Robyn. I thought the writing was relatable and funny. The two perspectives between her and Will was great also, there relationship was enjoyable to read. About half way through it started to go downhill. I wish there had been more to the characters-I constantly felt as though I didn't know them enough. I had major issues with the other characters. Robyn's friends Freya was horrible, such a bad friend in every way and I hated how Robyn constantly forgave her. Robyn's parents weren't much better, they said some really outdated statements in their brief appearance. Lastly, Ash, my gosh. He was just so immature and awful. I hated how Robyn hardcore hated him, and then it just flipped a switch for these silly reasons like sharing a minor embarrassment. The whole situation was messy, with Will and Ash being brothers, then them living next door. A lot of factors seemed way too convenient, right place, right time. I did enjoy that for a long time I didn't know how the book would end. However, the closer it got to the end the less I wanted to keep reading. Will. became so overly cheesy and the endless lies and protecting Ash rather than stating his own feelings became so annoying. Ash's whole perspective was completely unnecessary, he seemed almost delusional at times, thinking that Robyn still had feelings. Robyn and Will in the end just seemed random, there wasn't enough talk about their feelings and why, and her confusion between the two of them was odd. The entire situation just ended extremely awkwardly and the writing towards the end was cringey. The whole never have I ever club seemed like an afterthought, there was too much going on with that and the relationship and with Fliss. I'm sad this book didn't continue the way it started out-it had so much potential!

Robyn is still really hurt and angry with her ex, Ash, who announced out-of-the-blue that he needed to go "find himself" in Australia and that he hoped they would still be friends. She has spent the last eight months wondering how she could have misunderstood their relationship so thoroughly and avoiding Ash's twin brother Will, who lives next door. She has known the brothers from childhood and they have been friends for years. Realising that she shouldn't lose Will's friendship because of her anger with Ash, they reignite their friendship but they soon realise their feelings may be growing into something deeper. Life gets more complicated when Ash returns and starts trying to win Robyn back. I really felt for Will who was so conflicted in his feelings between his love for his brother and his romantic feelings for Robyn.

Set in a small village, there is a cast of quirky characters who join together for Robyn's Never Have I Ever Club, which mainly involves the local pensioners getting up to mischief and making the younger folk blush! Although the club didn't feel like the main focus of the book I enjoyed the message of making sure you seize the day, especially linked with some more serious topics in the story.

I loved Robyn's aunt Felicity who is a force of nature and a lesson in how to be yourself and live life to the fullest and her best friends Freya and Eliot were fun additions to the story.

This is a hilarious romcom with fun, quirky characters and I highly recommend for light relief in this current climate. I gave this book 4 out of 5.

This is a cute book about a group of friends who start a club in their small town to encourage people to try things on their "bucket list," including sailing, life drawing, massage, etc. Much humor ensues with towns people of all ages engaging in some surprising activities. Back dropped on this is a slow burn romance that probably won't really surprise anyone about the "girl next door" and the hunky twins. This would be a fun beach read, but isn't going to be much else.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Laugh-out-loud, fabulous & entertaining.

I love the premise of this novel, the characters are multigenerational and so well drawn. The dialogue is infectious! The comedy moments and the quick-witted batter throughout this novel won't fail to put a smile on your face.

It just missed out on 5⭐because I felt, a bit annoyed that Will was such a pushover in terms of his brother.

This was my first Mary Jayne Baker book but I will definitely be reading the rest of her back catalog. This was a funny, enjoyable read that is a perfect tonic for a summer's day!

A huge thanks to Head of Zeus & NetGalley for sending me a copy in return for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a really cute rom-com about Robyn, her group of lifelong friends, and twin brothers Ash and Will. Ash and Robyn were dating until he decided to run away to Australia. Robyn has been friends with Ash’s twin, Will for years, and then suddenly she starts wondering if there may be more between them. Couple all of that with a club of mostly older adults that are all trying to check off some bucket list items, and you have a hilarious and fun read.

I really, really liked this book! It was funny, witty, romantic, and frustrating all at the same time. All of the perfect rom-com elements. It took me a while to really warm up to Robyn and I wasn’t always convinced that Freya and Eliot were the great friends she thought them to be, but otherwise, I absolutely fell in love with all of the characters. There were so many times I just wanted to scream at Ash and make him go away or I wanted to scream and Robyn and Will and tell them to kiss and ride off into the sunset. But all of those “drive me crazy” moments made me just love this one that much more.

My only criticism at all (and it’s minor) is that although I read a ton of books written by authors in the U.K., there was some slang that had me completely confused. This is embarrassing, but there were a few times I had to Google some phrases because even using my imagination and the context in which it was used, I couldn’t figure it out. However, the author lives in the U.K., not in the U.S., so that was my issue, not hers.

Romantic comedy lovers will enjoy this novel and I highly recommend it! This is my first time reading anything by Mary Jane Baker, but it certainly will not be my last.

*Thanks to Aria and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!