This book is funny, honest, relatable and simply brilliant. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
After Iris discovers her husband Adam is cheating on her, she moved her father in to help her - he soon starts displaying symptoms of Alzheimer’s. She decides to give her marriage another chance and what ensues is the most wonderful novel that will make you laugh and sob.

This story is so much more than a romance – it’s an honest, open, often humorous but always emotional account of the dangers of betrayal, the importance of honesty and the grace of forgiveness and second chances.
When Iris discovers her husband of 15 years has been having an affair, she throws him out, but his pleas for forgiveness make her reconsider – apart from anything else, does she really want to be a single mother of two small children, struggling to hold down a high-powered job. Besides, she still loves Adam – the question is, can she forgive him?
Adam returns home and the pair embark on marriage counselling, but other stresses come into play. Iris’s widowed father Terry is showing signs of dementia, the kids are playing up and her boss keeps upping her targets, piling on the pressure at work at a time when Iris needs to concentrate on her home and family.
With searing honesty, she’s forced to question whether her commitment to her career, her grief at her mother’s death and the demands of her children, Jack and Savannah, have been part of her marriage problems.
And then suddenly Iris is faced with the same temptations as Adam, in the shape of charming businessman Lucas. Will she indulge in a bit of tit-for-tat or continue to strive in her commitment to giving her marriage another chance.
It’s all very suspenseful stuff, and wonderfully gripping, too. The author is adept at describing the minutiae of family life in funny and emotional ways. She doesn’t shirk from describing Iris’s real heartbreak but she balances it well with humour and wit as we follow Iris through her interactions with friends, family, colleagues and her marriage counsellor.

I loved this book ! I give it a year follows a couple having trouble in their marriage and the ups and downs they encounter .highly recommend .

Thanks to Orion and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Our main character Iris has just found out her husband Adam has been cheating on her.

In the past year she has also lost her beloved Mum, and now her Dad is showing signs of Alzheimer's. 

The story is an explanation of how she battles through these issues as well as dealing with work problems, not to mention carrying on with every day life.

I enjoyed this book. It is humourous as well as facing difficult issues. You definitely gain a lot of sympathy for Iris, who lives life in the fast lane. I enjoyed the relationship between Iris and her Dad, as much as he is ill the relationship is so well described, it brought a tear to my eye. 

A definite recommendation from me when it is released.

Personally this book wasn't for me, it started off well then I lost interest in the story line and I couldn't get on with the characters and was completely bored.

Based on my thoughts I wouldn't recommend this book.

I ADORED this book- the best I’ve read this year. Beautiful, heartbreaking, realistic and a fantastic cast of characters. I want to read it all over again and I have literally just put it down. Fantastic.

What an enjoyable read. This book had me hooked and constantly thinking about what I would do in the characters position. It's been a long time since I was still thinking about a book a week or two later.

I received an advance copy of, I Give It A Year, by Helen Whitaker. I did not like this book, the plot, the characters, the language, it was not for me.

With such clarity of observation, wit and intelligence,  I Give It  A Year will resonate with most of us that are trying to live a normal life. 

After ten years of marriage, Iris has just found out that her husband, Adam, is cheating on her. Furious, she kicks him out, and enlists her Dad to move in and help with the children but her Dad soon starts to display signs of Alzheimer’s, and Iris heartbroken, in more ways than one,  decides for the sake of her children  to give her marriage just one more year. 

But is it braver to stay than to run?  

I kept wondering this throughout the book and just couldn't decide what I'd do in her position. It takes strength to leave but equally it takes strength to stay and I was never quite sure what Iris's final decision would be.

Full of frank insights and raw hunour, Helen examines how fragile our lives can be and how one woman deals with the trials of everday tasks whillst in the midst of emotional turmoil. 

A fast paced read that highlights the pressures of modern living and the expectations not only of others but of ourselves, I Give It A Year asks what would you do? 

Highly Recommended