Rachel's Random Reads: Reader I Dumped Him

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Book Review - Reader, I Dumped Him by Lorelei Mathias

Amazon UK

Title: Reader, I Dumped Him

Author: Lorelei Mathias

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Avon

Publication Date: 4th February 2016

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This story is a celebration of the people that bring you back to life when your world closes in: your mates.
Relationships come and go, but the Break-up Club membership never truly expires.

Holly Braithwaite and loveable loser Lawrence have been together for five years. But the obvious cracks in their relationship can no longer be ignored and Holly soon finds herself saying ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’

In the shock aftermath of their break up, Holly finds unlikely companions in Olivia, Harry and Bella. Together, they form the Break-up Club, as they support each other through their mutual melancholy and find ways to love, laugh and function as human beings again.

Break-up Club meets every Sunday. Each week, as the comedy and drama unfolds, they discover a new BUC ‘rule’. And, one by one, the rules become vital markers on their journey to recovery . . .

‘BREAK-UP CLUB’
To our members, we’re the first emergency service

I really liked Reader, I Dumped Him...the premise is absolutely great. A group of friends all suffering through break ups at around the same time, decide to become more of a club, to help each other through, back to happiness.

The book starts off brilliantly, with the list of the rules of the club, and from them I was laughing and smiling, and thinking what a great opening. Having seen some more of what led Holly to break up with Lawry (her boyfriend of five years), I completely agreed with her reasons, and couldn't believe she hadn't done it sooner.

Holly is a TV editor for a bad reality TV station, and her boss, is just out to exploit her for ideas. Some of the ideas proposed for possible shows were laughable, and others were just plain wrong. Thankfully according to Holly's boss Jez, I wouldn't fall into his target audience.

I really loved the last quarter of the book, as suddenly there was some tension, and things started to come to logical conclusions. What bugged me unfortunately was the middle section of the book, which just seemed to drag on a bit. I get that the four friends were all dealing with their own misery, but it felt like they were dragging me down with them.

I was predicting who Holly would end up with, and I am very glad to say that I was wrong. As a Northern Line commuter, I did enjoy the various mentions of the line and its annoying attributes, as Holly was travelling around London. There is a lot to like with Reader, I Dumped Him, but I felt it could have been a bit shorter and punchier.

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.

Now presenting the new title and cover for Read, I Dumped Him... The Break Up Club

Sunday, 7 February 2016

Guest Post - How to Set Up a Break Up Club by Lorelei Mathias, author of Break Up Club - Blog Tour

How to set up your own break-up club… Because a break-up shared, is a break-up halved.

I wouldn’t wish a break-up on anyone. But if you do happen to find yourselves in a similar position to the characters in my book; or if like Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club, you have nothing better to do, then here’s a rough guide to creating your own warm, fuzzy and prosperous BUC...It feels pressing to point out that ‘The Real BUC’ was nothing like this um, regimented - these are based on the fictional one! Here goes.

1. Find at least one other poor sod that has just had a break-up, or is thinking about it. Your dream scenario is finding someone in the ‘love him/love him not’ limbo like yourself. Then you can both agree to perform what’s known as a synchronised dump. Hurrah! You’re in.

2. Once assembled, the main thing is to colonise your Sundays. It’s the saddest day of the week, so make sure you’re never alone, even for a minute. Where possible, congregate in time for brunch (see Rule No.5) with a view to staying over at a co-member’s house. Leave a ‘Boyfriend Pack’* there, of duplicate toiletries, undies and a toothbrush.

3. Not to sound like I'm encouraging self-destructive behaviour, but booze really, truly is an integral part of any high-functioning Break Up Club. Stock up well on Prosecco, beer, ale and vodka.

4. You’ll want all the members of the Carbohydrate family represented. Stock up pasta, garlic bread, pizza, popcorn. And cheese. All of the cheese.

(here’s Mark, one of our Co-founders, and Lauren, foraging.)

5. Also, have lemsip, paracetamols and ginger standing by for when your inevitable a bout of break-up flu strikes. It happened to all of us, during each break-up cycle. It’s cold-hard medicinal fact - something to do with your white blood cells working extra hard to clear all the ex-toxins out of your body? So prepare well.

6. You'll need a soundtrack involving lots of New Romantic songs, and this track by The 6ixths, called 'Falling Out of Love with you' which my friend Gaz first got me in to. It's that perplexing combo of euphoric yet melancholic. The tone is happy and gay; the lyrics stick a knife through your heart. Then you'll need the other kind of cheese jump around to – and ideally an old, non-precious sofa like the one in the book. To make life easier for you, I curated a Spotify Playlist for #breakupclub. But I’ll be walking you through the peaks and troughs of that at another stop on my blog tour...

7. Keep a notepad, paper and blue-tac to hand. Just in case one member needs to list out everything they don’t like about their ex, to remind them they weren’t right for them after all.

8. Keep a laptop or ipad to hand, for deletion ceremonies (see rule No. 6).

9. Keep box-sets of Girls, Sex and the City, Catastrophe to hand – for when your co-members’ funny-bones are out and you need the professionals.

10. Get a large duvet with a good amount of togs.

11. While it’s good to take it in turns to ‘host’ at each others houses, it’s also sensible to have a few bars or pubs as regular venues. Just so you can practice being ‘out’ in public, from within the warm supportive bosom. You’ll need places that are small and cosy enough that you can have the odd shoulder sob without being stared at. For us, the main BUC HQ was The BreakFast Club in Camden Passage, Angel, London.

Sod Disneyland: this is the happiest place on earth. You cannot be depressed about having had your heart ripped through your bum - in here, while surrounded by all the warm eightees nostalgia and pancakes with bacon, banana and maple syrup. It’s so wonderful that I had my 30th here and even once interviewed the rather lovely BC founder, Jonathan (aka Ferris)

Since then, there are now about a hundred branches of The BC all over London, so those living in the capital can have their pick. The Angel one’s the cosiest and most fun. So much so that ‘The Real BUC’ and I are going back there tonight for dinner! There’s a bunch of other places to go but I’ll be exploring them in another post called the ‘Heartbreak Guide to London’, coming soon to the internets.

12. Lastly, you’ll want to get away from it all at least once a year for your ‘AGM’. Take an excursion somewhere really, really bleak, preferably involving camping in the rain in a badly equipped tent from Lidl. More on that on BrunetteBlog on the 10th feb - I’ve more than outstayed my welcome here! Thanks for having me, Rachel x

*More on Boyfriend Packs in another blog