This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Lisa Spoors
The novel begins with 17 year old Tish falling in love with her handsome neighbour, Fergal. When Fergal leaves to pursue his dreams of being a rock star and artist, Tish is heartbroken.
Fast forward a decade and Tish has moved on – or thinks she has. She’s married to suitable, dependable James, and they’re buying Tish’s dream home in the country. But when Tish and James move into the cottage, the cracks start to appear. Tish wants to develop her career as a romantic author, but James just wants her to put dinner on the table. Tish is trying to create the perfect country family home, while James is working late or at the pub. With things not going the way Tish hopes, the last thing she needs is ex Fergal back on the scene.
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As Tish starts to realise that her dependable husband is anything but, she finds herself leaning on her new friends in the village, along with Fergal, who, now a famous rock star, moves into a country pile nearby.
When I first started reading this book I thought I wouldn’t like Tish at all – she seemed weak and a bit ditsy – but a few chapters in I started to really warm to her. I found her matter of fact manner, along with her persistence in trying to see the good in everyone, really endearing. The character of James becomes steadily more awful as the book goes on, which makes it all the more satisfying that Tish seems to gain strength and confidence in her decisions on how to handle him! Fergal, the glamorous rock star with the bad boy image, shows his softer side throughout the book and by the end the reality of him is completely at odds with the newspaper snippets we’re introduced to him through earlier on in the book.
There are some other brilliant characters in this book – Tish’s fussy, dramatic mother and her straight talking grandmother might be stereotypical, but they work. Some of the friends Tish makes in the village are hilarious too, in particular her eccentric elderly neighbour, Mrs Peach.
I love that Tish’s narration throughout the book is quite light-hearted, even when dealing with serious issues such as infidelity, divorce and family secrets. I actually admired the way Tish handled some of these things, and wish I could be a bit more like her myself!!
There’s nothing new about the plot of Good Husband Material, but the warm, funny way it’s written makes it stand out. A definite feel good read!
9/10