3 friends different stages in life but all disappointed by love. To stop themselves making the same mistake again they decide to let one of the other two set them up on dates.
The idea of your close friends sending you on dates is brilliant. Unfortunately I was not invested in the three women. They are very diverse and I couldn't relate to any of them.
Not my cup of tea but i am sure will appeal to a younger audience.

Jemima, Meagan and Simi are three friends who meet through their attendance at a comedy workshop. Their friendship has outlived the unanimous decision that stand up isn’t for them, with Jemima an accomplished author, Meagan an agent for comedians and Simi an aspiring actress whose agent also happens to be Meagan. Whilst in their professional lives they are experiencing varying levels of success, it’s fair to say what unites these three women are their disastrous love lives. The novel opens with Jemima flying back from LA where she has escaped to in the wake of her break up with boyfriend Miles, cutting short her vacation to support Simi since boyfriend Oscar has unceremoniously dumped her. Jemima is well known for her flight response in the face of any tough situation but loyalty to her friends pulls her back to London, obeying Meagan’s summons so they can both provide a shoulder for Simi to cry on. Whilst Simi most definitely wears her heart on her sleeve, Meagan prefers to keep her romantic liaisons at arms length, opting for the more casual kind of hook ups as evidenced by her friends with benefits relationship with Todd. Fed up with their dismal love lives and mistrustful of their own choices and judgment, this trio embark on a ingenious plan to rectify the problem. This novel is billed as “the perfect feel good and funniest romcom of 2021”. Here’s what I thought, having read this debut novel by an author who is also a comedian.

Asking For a Friend is the usual mix of friendship dynamics and failures at sustaining meaningful romantic relationships set against a backdrop of Jemima’s struggles to write her third ‘Beverley Blake’ novel to the satisfaction of her editor Eve. Meagan is trying to prove her worth as agent to the stars whilst Simi is failing to land a plum acting role. The Dating Game is Jemima, Meagan and Simi’s solution to finding true love, choosing potential dates for each other since their own choices up until now have proved disastrous. If mining her friends past dating histories also allows Jemima’s creative juices to flow and enable her to complete book number three then surely that’s a bonus? Will this trio’s friendship survive the dating game and Jemima’s barely concealed attempt at disguising reality as fiction? For answers to these questions and any more this storyline may conjure up then you need to pick up this book! Only then you will discover how successful this game will be or whether it’s simply another distraction from truths that are staring all three of these women in the face.

I have to be honest here and say that I had to read at least a third of this book before I started to really engage with the storyline. A bout of insomnia prompted me to persevere but did I find Asking For Friend funny? Hardly at all. Either my sense of humour has completely deserted me or I simply wasn’t on this author’s wavelength; I suspect it’s the latter. Some parts are vaguely amusing, mostly Simi’s casting auditions, but I struggled to relate to these women, despite the fact the problems they encounter in their friendships and the life choices they deliberate over are all very normal and part of the rich tapestry of life. The age of Meagan just doesn’t ring true;I had the impression from her behaviour and attitudes that her character is at least ten years older than the author would have the reader believe. Plus I found the style of writing, at least initially, off putting with phrasing that maybe only a younger reader would understand. However as time progressed I did warm more to both the characters and the individual struggles they face in their professional and personal lives so that I finished the novel, ultimately viewing it in a more favourable light than I originally expected to. This is the kind of storyline in which the characters are on their own journeys of self discovery with their search for love forcing them to face up to some difficult home truths. Unsurprisingly it’s also a storyline that favours the positive aspects of close female friendships and the loyalties these relationships engender. You can never underestimate the value of this type of friendship with the author leaving the reader in no doubt of the depth of love that exists between Jemima, Meagan and Simi, even if they experience a few wobbles along the way. Thanks to the inclusion of these elements this novel inevitably earns the feel good, uplifting tag so I had to ask myself why I wasn’t left feeling that way. Despite recognising the efforts of the author to imbue this storyline with warmth and humour I unfortunately feel this is a mediocre novel at best, with the promise of laugh out loud moments never really materialising. I’m afraid on this occasion the comedy element just wasn’t there for me, hence my rating of 3 stars. My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

Effervescent, unputdownable and great fun to read. This novel about three close friends, their dating games and attempts to get their lives on track sparkled with spirit and wit and was very enjoyable from the outset. It's told from the perspective of the three women, each with a different outlook on life, but who nonetheless form a close bond after meeting at a comedy workshop. The characterisation is very good, it is very funny in places, moving in others and an entertaining page-turner throughout. An excellent debut novel!

This is a great debut novel from Andi, funny, warm, and giddy, there is also depth when it comes to friendship, life and dating. The storyline was novel and characters felt real (Maybe Meagan was a bit over the top on occasion), but overall a very enjoyable read

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Andi Osho is primarily known as a comedian but with this book she's proven she can write, and not just for laughs. Asking For A Friend is a novel about female friendships and how sometimes you need a push from someone else to realise what it is you actually want. Jemima, Meagan and Simi are all thoroughly identifiable characters, and the plot, whilst a little predictable, is very realistic and enjoyable, with flashes of Osho's trademark humour. It's also great to see an increased representation of black women in the genre.

It's a crazy time right now, and any excuse to fall into a world that takes you away from the horrors we are living through, right now, right?
I got approval for this book yesterday, and read and finished it today.
That is how invested I ended up, in the story!
Three friends, all with backstories of their won, that mould the women they've become.
One an aspiring actor, one an agent and one an author.
Love and relationships are both things that all three find hard to come by.
Then the chance to help each other out by playing a dating game, brings some relief, some giggles, but brings other issues to the surface.
I really enjoyed this, and one takeaway lesson... remember, if you're talking to a writer, you never know how much of what you're saying may just end up in a future book...!
Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a good book about friendship. I just love the characters. And this book is written beautifully.
Just enjoyed it.

3.5 stars.

UNPUTDOWNABLE TO THE MAX!!!

A perfect breath of fresh air. The comedy in this is laugh-out-loud, deep within your chest until you pee your pants and I am so here for it!!

Asking for a friend is a MUST READ and I mean it more now than I ever have about another book. 5 stars does not do it justice! It deserves ALL the stars!!!



Thank you netgalley for the incredible read!!!

Asking for a friend made me laugh at loud and also moved me to tears. I loved reading this story of female friendship. There are so many reasons why I loved this book but most importantly it was so good to read a story about three Black British Women living, loving and going through those familiar ups and downs of life and not through the pigeon holed prism of cliche's and stereotypes about the Black experience. I loved the experience of just sitting back and reading a very funny and uplifting book about three women who look like me and my friends.

This was just the book I needed to grab my attention and keep me laughing through a tough week.
This beautiful group of friends sit down together after their own personal disappointments and mastermind a challenge that each friend will set up one of the others with a date, there's rules and there's commitment. The consequences of each date and the true motives of the friends brings a hilarious, emotional and revealing plot that threatens to change the group forever.
Andi Osho's writing has the epic timing and laugh out loud comedy moments that you'd expect from such a revered comedienne and it also has heart and a vulnerability that I found compelling in equal measure.
I truly loved how this book explores female friendships, and gave a very genuine, considered prose of how friends tease, argue, champion and talk straight to each other. It looks not only at the ways our past hurts and childhood traumas affect our decision making abilities and behaviour patterns in romances, but also within friendships and professional relationships also. There's quite a lot of psychological analysis and an unwrapping of the layers of each friends' personalities that was interesting to read and also to reflect on. This ultimately is a book about friendship and sorting out your life choices and was thoroughly an entertaining read!

I breezed through this book as I found myself falling in love with it quickly and deeply. The central trio - Jemima, Meagan and Simi - are such wonderful characters. They are tenderly constructed and what they go through is so believably written. This is unabashedly and unashamedly a novel about love and romance - but not just the romantic side. Love of self and friendships are both examined in a way few novels dare to. This is going to stick with me for a long while - can't wait to recommend to my friends once it comes out!

Asking for a friend, wow what a book! Yessss!! I loved it. I was so happy with it from start to finish. Okay did it have that omg i can’t put this book down feel? No not really, but did it warm my heart? Yessss. I felt emotional, grateful for what I had and for a book to do that it has to be powerful. I loved all the characters in this, except Miles but never mind him. I really love this story, I think it’s going to do so well and I’m now going to check out other books by this author. I love how it wasn’t just about love but about friendship and about careers and about happiness. I honestly wish I could give this 6/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, although I needed a good number of chapters before I got into the book and into the heads of our main characters.

It's the story of 3 ladies who consider themselves to be unlucky in love and their game of asking out men for their friends.

An enjoyable read that I would recommend to others looking for a holiday beach read.

Loved loved loved it! A wonderful book starring three female best friends with differing outlooks from life and different wishes; the story follows them through their dating antics where they all decide to try and find a partner for one of the others rather than themselves. I loved seeing how they interacted, the confidence and insecurities in each one, some wonderful characters. You get the story from each of their perspectives in turn, finding out more about each of them and what has led them to this point.
Written in a relaxed easy to read way, which I really appreciated. And the chapters were just the right length to make you read more!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read it

What a delightful romantic comedy! This a story of a female friendship amidst the chaos of modern dating, and the way women can support one another in the process of finding true love. Highly recommended!