There were some gems in here for me - brutal statements about motherhood vs being an individual woman with needs - but the protagonist’s life was so far removed from mine and her voice so clinical that I struggled to relate. I finished the book but did find myself skimming at times.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is an amazing read! It has everything you could want to find in a book; honest, deep/raw insight, strong characters and descriptions that brings the pages to life for better or worse. I was unable to put the book down. The writer showed a lot of guts in being so direct and forthcoming with her emotions, feelings and thoughts. Was like having a front row seat into her life as her marriage of 27 years imploded and then out of it she found herself and her voice.

This is a book about a woman rediscovering dating after 20+ years married. She has three children and is trying to navigate both online dating and meeting men in bars. The book is quite explicit but not overly gripping. I think this would definitely appeal to someone in the same situation.

Available is a memoir following one middle aged women's adventures after the breakdown of her 27 year marriage. Although she is devastated by her husband's infidelity she sets out to rediscover her sexual appetite in a curious and very open way. It is a very individual approach and not everyone will relate to her choices, but it is her way of coping and moving forward. To be honest I did loose my enthusiasm and interest just a little bit as she worked her way through her numbered dates and her sexual experiences. It was a little cold and desperate, and not always believable (it was easy to forget who each number related to). Maybe something had been lost (or added) in the editing process to make it more marketable. I did like the way she lived for the day, and was open to trying anything, and it was very refreshing to not have any body hang ups or too much focus on the middle aged physique. Even though the sex was graphic I felt the spark was missing, but maybe that is just a reflection of the situation, and the process of healing. A good read and funny in places. Definitely a book of our times.

When Laura’s decades long marriage ends because of her husband’s infidelity, she is devastated.
Alone with three children, she starts dating. This frank and no-holds-barred tale of her sexual exploits as she seeks to discover a new life, is absorbing and often surprising.
Laura herself is likeable and really grew on me.
She refers to her lovers by number which I found a little jarring but also protects their identities.
The sex is very graphic - sometimes a little too much information - but it’s also good to see a relatively older woman wholly enjoying sex.
It’s also the story of a lost marriage - a union that was expected to last forever - and Laura’s journey to heal from it and find a part back to herself.
In summary, I was a little apprehensive at first but ended up rooting for Laura. A tale of modern love for our times. Recommended.

An enjoyable insight into the life of Laura after she finds out that her husband of 27 years has cheated on her, they then split up whilst working their best to maintain a healthy relationship and family dynamic for their 3 children; Laura goes on a quest to find herself again. Laura's liberational tour is filled with amusing and insightful experiences as she gains more perspective about what she wants from life along the way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well, what to say about this book! I did enjoy it and whilst it wasn't quite a "can't put it down" read, it was definitely an "I need to find out what happens next" book. I am from a generation when "promiscuous" was still a word that was used to describe someone who had many transient sexual relationships. Whilst the implications of that did come into my head from time to time, I was able to set aside judgment of Laura's choices because the chapters where she describes the heartbreak she suffered after discovering her husband's infidelity are very real and I strongly identified with her in reading about her experience.. Also with her having been married at a very young age, it is understandable that the author needed to do some catching up in the lover department. I found some of her encounters very amusing.

So, I understood her, I felt for her, I cheered her on in terms of her empowering sexual experiences and climbing out of the hole of heartbreak, however I couldn't help but feel quite worried for her safety at times - picking up strangers in bars and going back to their apartments - bold, or dumb? And I am really unsure of the wisdom of writing about her experiences in such a personal and detailed way and putting her name to the book - who knows how she might feel a decade from now. And her children and her mother - the two groups she cites as being concerned about reading this book, will most certainly happen at some point.

Available by Laura Friedman Williams is a very honest and open memoir that is mostly about her sexual awakening when she finds her seemingly rock-solid marriage in tatters after discovering that her husband ,who she's been with for 27 years, is having an affair. Left,at 46 years-old, with their 3 children and pondering where her life has gone and where it might be going......and with a lot encouragement from her friends,she decides to start dating again after a few months. When she surprises herself by throwing off her inhibitions ,and all of her clothing, within hours of meeting her first date she realises what she's been missing in the bedroom and decides to sleep with as many men as possible. That could set the scene for something a bit smutty or the tale of a woman behaving in a way that will leave her full of remorse as a slow motion car crash pans out. Thankfully it's neither and Laura has a ball,in fact she has ........a very good time.
Juggling family responsibilities with her new found social life Laura grabs every opportunity for new experiences, meeting the weird the wonderful and comparatively normal with plenty of laughs along the way, not least one of her conquest's German Shepherd showing his displeasure in his owner's affections being shared in quite a demonstrative manner.
This book is not just about Laura's sex life ,it's also about how and why she started on her journey from discovering Hubby's affair to the effect it had on the family as a whole.
This is a great read, in the Acknowledgements at the end Laura reveals that her editor made her re-write the whole thing twice,well that was sound advice as the end result is well-written,deep,funny in places,moving in others when given the subject matter it could easily have been a tawdry tome that read like a confession. It isn't a confession ,it's the story of Laura finding herself and discovering a lifestyle that works very well for her and the other people in her life.

I loved this book. Read it really quickly. I love Laura's down-to-earth writing style as she tells of her adventures dating - and having a lot of sex - following an unexpected marriage breakdown.
I liked less the details about her domestic situation but maybe that's because although I'm around Laura's age, have also been divorced and also done a lot of internet dating, I don't have children so perhaps someone who does would relate more to these parts.
I also found it slightly difficult to relate to the men having numbers - nicknames would have worked better for me. Particularly after one section where she digressed into reminiscences and then went back to the story and I got a bit confused about which man was which. Numbers are less easy to remember than names.