BOOK REVIEW: Girl 99 by Andy Jones

When Tom’s girlfriend walks out on him the day  before Christmas, he feels humiliated but not necessarily heartbroken. Sadie, wasn’t after all, The One. If we’re being precise, she was number eighty-five.
And so, for reasons that are only mostly wrong, Tom embarks on a mission to bring his number of encounters up to a nice neat one hundred.
Over the course of his quest he sleeps with a colleague, a colleague of a friend, a friend of a friend, a friend of a friend’s wife, the estate agent selling his flat and several more besides.
Everything is going, if not well, then at least according to plan…and then Tom meets Verity. Whether she’s The One remains to be seen, but she’s certainly more than just another number.

Publisher: Lake Union

Pages: 318

Andy Jones has done it again, Girl 99 is a great read full of humour and truth. Tom had been looking forward to spending the festive season with his girlfriend Sadie but she leaves him the day before Christmas. He’s more annoyed than upset, he knew she wasn’t The One; when he looks back through his conquests he realises that she was actually number eighty-five. He tells his best friend El about this which may be a mistake as he then agrees to a £1000 bet that he can’t make his number up to a 100 in the next few weeks. He certainly gives it a good try but then he meets Verity and he doesn’t want to count anymore as he knows she is The One but now he has to face up to the reality of how he has been behaving and that may not be that simple.

Andy Jones has a knack of creating a great main character that you can’t help but like. Tom does some things in the book that should paint him in a very negative light but I was still rooting for him and hoping he’d find his way. I loved the relationships he had with those around him. He is incredibly close to his Dad and Sister and after his mother’s death it is obvious that he has had to take on a bigger role in the family. One of my favourite parts of the book was his friendship with Doug, his elderly neighbour. Doug’s almost a father-figure to him, offering him wise words and trying to steer him back on to the right path. Their interactions really made me smile and they showed a very caring side to Tom’s character.

Andy Jones writes with much humour and wit; Girl 99 had me laughing out loud several times. Tom finds himself in a few interesting situations while trying to get to his 100. I think the best was his estate agent who definitely has an air of Fatal Attraction about her.

I have enjoyed all of the books by this author; his writing is funny, relevant and heart-warming, don’t miss Girl 99. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Trouble with Henry and Zoe by Andy Jones

Henry and Zoe have more in common than they realise. For a start, they both have pasts they'd rather leave behind.
After jilting his childhood sweetheart on the eve of their wedding, Henry makes a break for London. He has no friends, no job, no home, no plan.
Zoe has great friends, two jobs, a new house, and a big scary plan. After a traumatic, life-changing event, she plans to leave London and spend a year travelling. Alone.
If Henry and Zoe had met one year ago, things might have worked out differently. But that's not the way life works. They meet seven months after their worlds have been turned upside down. And four months before Zoe is due to climb on a plane...

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 452

I have to admit that I may have done a little squeal when I received an email asking if I wanted to review Andy Jones' new book, The Trouble with Henry and Zoe. I was a huge fan of his highly successful first book, The Two of Us, so I was excited to see what he'd done next. I've said this before but for one reason or another, I do not read a lot of books by male authors so I'm always so pleased to find a male author whose work I really enjoy.
The Trouble with Henry and Zoe begins with Henry jilting his childhood sweetheart, April at the altar. Henry comes from a small town so when he runs out on April it becomes clear that he won't be able to return home for a while. He decamps to London where he works part time as a dentist. He knows it was the right thing not to marry April but he has no idea what he's going to do next.
Zoe's world has just been turned upside down. She too is in London, two jobs and a new house on which to pay the mortgage. But she has a plan; she would like to get as far away as possible. She is saving everything she can to go away travelling and nothing will change her mind.
When Henry and Zoe's worlds collide, neither of them are expecting it. So many questions arise, what if they had met earlier? What will happen when Zoe leaves? Can you love someone enough to let them go?
Again, Andy Jones has created two fantastic main characters. I very quickly cared deeply for Henry and Zoe but Henry was definitely my favourite. What he did to April was terrible but I felt sorry for him too. His parents made me a bit angry as it was difficult for them as they own a pub in the small town but I did feel that they could have stuck up for him a little more.
Zoe is a fab character too; she has suffered a terrible tragedy and her own emotions are so complex. Andy Jones' portrayal of her was incredibly honest, she could easily have been seen as a victim but she was far from that.
There is so much humour in the book too, I laughed out loud at several points and I think the author had the balance just right. I enjoyed the chapters being told from either Henry or Zoe's perspective; it allows the reader to get to know them very well but also, more importantly, what they think of each other.
The Trouble with Henry and Zoe is an emotive and touching read. As with Andy Jones' first book, I was impressed by his writing style and the characters he presents. If you've not read anything by this author yet then what are you waiting for?

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy of this book to review. 

The Two of Us Blog Tour

I am very excited today to welcome the fabulous Andy Jones to my blog. Andy has written The Two of Us and signed a two book deal with Simon and Schuster. I reviewed this book a while ago and I thought it was brilliant, you can read my review here. Andy has kindly written a guest post about his normal writing day and after reading it you will see that he is a very busy man! 

Mondays, I write.  In my day job, I’m a freelance copywriter, and since landing a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster, I’m trying to keep one day a week free to pretend I’m a famous author. That involves taking the kids to school, doing some laundry or whatever other chore Mrs Jones allocates and then writing until 6.30.

Tuesday-Friday I do do the day job. And if I have the energy, I try and fit in one or two short writing sessions of maybe 2 hours in the evening.

And then on Sundays, I do a good half day at my desk.

Except it never quite works out that way.

Last week for example, I had to work at the day job on Monday because I was taking off a day and a half at the back end of the week. I had my very first book signing, you see. It was an amazing experience, I travelled up to Liverpool on Thursday afternoon, answered questions in Waterstones with the adorable Jane Costello and Iona Grey, and then (slightly hung over) travelled back to London on Friday morning. I’d planned on writing on Friday afternoon, but the edits had come in for the U.S. translation (Zucchini, Eggplant, ‘What’s a Womble?’) of The Two of Us. So instead of progressing Book 2, I found myself once again editing Book 1.

And I didn’t get any work done in the week because I was practising my reading for Liverpool. But I’d make up for lost time on Sunday, right?

What’s that, Mrs Jones? … We’re visiting your folks this weekend? … You never told me? Oh, did you? … Sorry.

Luckily, the in-laws and their daughter are very accommodating and understanding, so I took my laptop up to Coventry and snuck in a few hours after all. Not as many as I’d hoped because I had to spend a couple of those hours finishing off the U.S. edit (serial commas, small caps, ‘Does “Hank Marvin” mean Starvin’?). But I wrote a scene that – I think – worked out quite well.

Monday was a bank holiday, we drove back from Coventry to London, my youngest vomited in the back seat, and then I had to fix the eldest’s bicycle. Life, they call it.

It’s all wonderful stuff – book signings, foreign editions, blog tours – and I do have to stop now and then to remind myself to enjoy it. But it’s also quite stressful. I have been given a tremendous opportunity, and whist all the stuff around Book 1 is great fun, I can’t neglect Book 2. I have a deadline and – as they tend to – it’s getting closer.

It’s the official launch party for The Two of Us on Wednesday, so there will be no ‘work’ done that night. And the paperback goes on sale the following day, forget about getting anything productive done on Thursday. To make up for lost time, I slept in the spare room last night and set the alarm for Horribly Early a.m. so I could fit in a couple of hours writing before the ‘day job’. I was slap bang in the middle of an anxiety dream when the bastard went off, and it felt as if someone had pulled my brains out via the nose and stuffed my skull with wood filler. For the first 40 minutes I just stared at the computer, eating a banana and sipping my coffee. But then I got my fingers working and picked up the scene I left on Sunday. It was slow going. And just when I thought I was beginning to make progress, I realised I’d written myself into something of a narrative cul-de-sac. I felt like I’d trapped my characters in an argument that I hadn’t intended – and I didn’t know how I was going to resolve the situation and get the scene back on track. If I’d had another hour, maybe, I could have found a way out. But it was 8.00 and I needed to jump in the shower, kiss the cats, feed the wife, and tickle the kids behind the ears before running out of the door. Chaos.

I left the house feeling more than a little grumpy. I was exhausted, and all for what – 700 words that I was probably going to have to delete. But then, as my train (crowded, obviously) pulled into the platform, it came to me. I knew the line that would fix my scene. And the funny thing is, I doubt I’d have come up with it if I’d stayed sitting in front of the computer. I’d have come up with something, but not this particular line, which – if I’m allowed – I feel pretty happy with. For now, at least. I’ll drop it in tonight, after we’ve put the girl’s to bed.

All I need to do now is find time to write a blog post…

 Many thanks to Andy and Simon and Schuster!  

BOOK REVIEW: The Two Of Us by Andy Jones

This is not a love story.
It is a story about falling in love...
and what happens next...
Fisher and Ivy have been an item for a whole nineteen days. And they just know they are meant to be together. The fact that they know little else about each other is a minor detail. Over the course of twelve months, in which their lives will change forever, Fisher and Ivy discover that falling in love is one thing but staying there is an entirely different story. 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 451

I do not read a lot of books by male authors so I wasn't sure what to expect from The Two of Us by Andy Jones but I really did think it was good.
The whole book is told from Fisher's perspective and I liked him straight away. His heart is in the right place and he just wants to do the best for those he loves. What's not to like?
I liked Ivy in the main but even by the end of the
book I didn't necessarily feel as though I knew her that well. There were a few points where she seemed quite selfish but this could just be because we don't get her side of the story. The two of them together though are brilliant and extremely realistic. Their relationship, for one reason or another becomes very serious very quickly and I liked how Andy Jones demonstrated that by showing them go through a very intense set of emotions and feelings.
There were some chapters of the book that I found a little slow but the ending more than made up for these. The last few chapters of this book were like a master class in how it should be done. There were so many ups and downs packed in and so much emotion. I felt that Andy Jones dealt with it all beautifully.
I used to read a lot more by male authors (Tony Parsons and Mike Gayle in particular) but then I found it really hard to find a male author who I could still identify with. I think I may have found him again in Andy Jones, I hope this author goes on to write more books as he clearly has more to offer.

Many thanks to Clare at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of the book to review, it is out now!