Story of a middle aged man who has always wondered what might have been with a past love. When the woman from his past reconnects he never hesitates and walks away from the problems in his life in hopes of rekindling their love. But there are years of life and love and an accommodating husband that make Adam look at his own life and what his choice will cost everyone. The ease with which Adam was initially willing to change his life and the life's of everyone connected to him made the story unappealing to me. And Charlie, the husband, and what he was willing to accept and tolerate was disconcerting and unbelievable to me.

Thank You to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced copy of Graeme Simsion's novel, The Best of Adam Sharp, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Twenty years ago, while working in Australia, Adam Sharp met Angelina Brown, a vivacious soap-opera actress. Adam and Angelina had a short and intense relationship, which ended when Adam's work took him to New Zealand. 

Now, over twenty-years later, Adam is living in England and his marriage is on the rocks. His wife, Claire, has a major career opportunity that might require her to relocate to the United States, and Adam isn't sure he should follow. In the midst of his marital crisis, Adam receives an email from Angelina, whom he had lost touch with years ago. Although Angelina is married with three children, she begins a flirtatious email exchange that plunges Adam down the rabbit hole of nostalgia. Angelina invites Adam to spend a weekend with her and her husband, Charles. This weekend seems like a bad idea, a very bad idea: but can Adam resist his past?

LIKE- I've read Simsion's The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, and I'm a fan of his writing. He's fabulous at creating memorable characters. The Best of Adam Sharp is a character drive novel. It is a riveting emotional drama, one where the stakes are enormous and it feels like everyone is bound to lose.

Nostalgia is at the heart of The Best of Adam Sharp. Adam and Angelina meet prior to the internet being a big deal and when they part, they don't have an easy form of communication. It's a contrast to todays technology and social media, where it is easy to keep in contact with people from your past. Prior to Angelina reconnecting, Adam only has his memories of her. He has a hobby as musician and he links songs to memories. He met Angelina while playing the piano and singing at a bar: Angelina joining him on stage. They connect through music and the  lyrics become a form of secret communication that takes on a huge importance. I think most readers will be able to relate to this form of nostalgia, where we look at the past with rose-colored glasses and where we put certain moments on a pedestal ( good or bad memories), allowing particular fragments to take on a deeper meaning. The further the distance, sometimes leads to less perspective. 

The first half of the novel is about the nostalgia and the romance, but the second half takes a rather dark turn, when Adam decides to stay at the country house in France with Angelina and Charles. Angelina and Charles do not have a happy marriage and they have brought Adam into their troubles. The moral of the story being, while it is possible to reconnect with your past, be careful that the boundaries are clear, and that your past, doesn't endanger your present or future. 

 DISLIKE- The second half of the book left me feeling funny about both Adam and Angelina. Character likability is certainly not a requirement for me to enjoy a novel, however it helps. I liked both Angelina and Adam, when they were nostalgic for their past, but when they crossed the line into a bizarre and rather uncomfortable scenario with Angelina's husband, I was left with a bad taste for both of them. I wasn't sure what to think about Charles. It's realistic that under the circumstances he would be a little hostile or conflicted, but it was hard to respect his character, even in the end. The story included a bit of erotica, which was surprising. I'm not prudish, but under the circumstances of the novel, it was highly uncomfortable to read. I guess what I'm saying is that I felt "squirmy" while reading the second half, which is what I think Simsion set out to do.

RECOMMEND- Yes. Simsion is a wonderful storyteller, who writes about complex emotions and relationships. The Best of Adam Sharp made a deep impression on me.

It would be very easy to give spoilers for this terrific book so I’m going to be very careful with what I say. It is a book about love, regret, long term relationships and also if we can let go of the past or get a second chance. There is a theme of classic pop songs that runs through the story and makes us wonder at the emotional manipulation of music. We are at times rooting for Adam and at other times wondering what he was thinking. Angelina is selfish, self-centered and we wonder if she is truly a match for our hero. Claire is not as well developed a character and Charlie and Richard are no match for Adam’s intelligence, although they think themselves superior.
I read this book straight through. Getting out of my reading chair only for snacks, coffee and potty breaks. I loved the author’s THE ROSIE PROJECT and although this one doesn’t have the same humorous intent, it is still a 5-star read. It is provocative and so intensely sensual you will either admire, dislike or relate to the characters, or perhaps all three.

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were real people, ones you know from the bar or work or just everyday life. It was so easy to relate to Adam, to picture yourself in his shoes. I felt like I experienced everything right along with him, from falling in love in his twenties to where he was in his forties. In a way, I wish it had ended differently, but then, it worked out as it should have. It was perfectly written, I couldn't put it down, and the book made me think. Not too often that happens. Oh, and the music. It was incorporated perfectly. The story wouldn't have been the same without it. I might just pick this one up and read it again.

I fell in love with The Rosie Project but book two, The Rosie Effect did not quite reach the same standard. I figured I might as well give Graeme Simsion a chance, especially after how great book one was. This book has nothing to do with the others but I was hoping his writing, and romance, would be similar.

I am so glad I did. This was amazing! There are some tropes in this, mainly cheating but in an odd weird sort of way. There is so much that I do not want to give away, but trust me, if you are the type of reader that immediately walks away because of cheating, stick with this one. It is worth it.

Quite a lot of this book is surrounded by music. I loved the soundtrack. It is mostly 60's and 70's Beatles and such but it makes sense how Graeme interweaves these songs. Adam is a pianist and he meets Angelina while playing in a bar. Their whirlwind romance is based around these few moments. But just like people in their 20's do, they move on and realize they have to live in the real world. That is until you're about to turn 50 and you're wondering if you made mistakes.

Both Adam and Angelina are left with a choice. Both couples are fine in the sense that maybe they would have been better off had Adam and Angelina gotten together in the first place, but maybe not? This entire book goes back and forth through their remembrances of each other and how life currently is. It's a lovely look at how emotions can change and how they get fonder through the years.

Again, just to reiterate, I stuck with this because I really enjoyed reading about these characters. This is not your average guy or gal cheats on husband or wife. This is completely different and a little insane, but worth the read!

I absolutely loved The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, and just could not bring myself to put them down, but I found that The Best of Adam Sharp fell a little flat. I had no emotional investment in Adam or Angelina, which made it difficult for me to want to read the novel. Adam does a lot of talking, a novel's worth, and because I felt nothing for him, it was difficult to tolerate it. I frequently found myself bored reading it, and it felt like a chore. I did, however, like how music was almost its own separate character. It plays such an important role throughout, and the inclusion of a playlist at the end was a nice touch.

I'm one of the many fans of the author's Rosie books and as others have indicated, this book has nothing in common with them. Adam Sharp is 50-ish, bored with his long-term live-in girlfriend and uninspired with his consultant IT work when he received an email "hi" from a former girlfriend. He hasn't heard from the girlfriend in 20 years but she was a brief fling on another continent all those years ago. He broke up with her to be with the current one, although in the interim he has imbued her with all manner of perfection. She invites him to France for a week; he breaks up with his girlfriend to chase his lost love.

Readers are then forced to endure endless pages of determined navel-gazing while remembering favorite songs from 1960-1970s mostly without lyrics. Apparently the author wanted us to stop reading and look up lyrics on Google because after all this time, I do not remember Leonard Cohen lyrics by stanza when told only the song title. For that matter, obscure Rolling Stone song lyrics don't pop into my head either without the opening chords, so this is a really awkward writing device. Perhaps the author could have added the lyrics he had in mind; that would have solved everything. Except for the poor plot and characters who were all just unpleasant; we still would have been stuck with a clunker from an author capable of so much more. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Adam Sharp is nearing fifty. He's had a decent turn in life as an IT contractor and he's lived with his girlfriend, Claire, for many years. But Adam has always held a torch for his first love, Angelina. For a few brief months, the two bonded and shared a relationship solidified over Adam's piano playing and music. It's been over twenty years since the pair have had any contact, but one day--out of the blue--Adam gets an email from Angelina. She's married to her husband, Charlie, with three kids. Still, the emails quickly turn flirty and Adam starts to wonder what her intent is. Getting back in contact certainly brings up all his old feelings for Angelina and the past.

The book begins with present-day Adam remembering back on his relationship with Angelina, filling us in on what happened. Those snippets are interspersed with updates about Adam's current life, and he eventually catches us up to the present. Those beginning portions are fairly interesting as we learn how Adam and Angelina fell in love.

Unfortunately, though, the book lacked anything comedic (one of the things so enjoyable about the Rosie series Simsion is so famous for), beyond a few funny scenes featuring Angelina's parents and family. Instead, there is just so very much talking from Adam. So very much. It would have been okay, except I never really formed a connection to his character, and I found that I really only cared so much. I felt as if I had no horse in the race--with his relationships or life in general.

In many ways, I think I might have enjoyed the book if I was just a bit older and closer in age to Adam. I didn't connect as much with the music he mentioned so frequently in the novel (despite, of course, a love for music and an understanding of how it can connect and create memories throughout one's life), nor even the idea of pining for a lost love at one's midlife (despite, of course, having loved and lost). While I felt captivated at times during the novel, as much as I hate saying this, I often just felt bored. I read the book during vacation, and it was just such a poor choice, because I found myself almost dreading picking it up, but feeling duty-bound, both because I love to read on vacation and because I needed to review it. Oh sigh.

In addition, there are just some really weird plot twists in this one--once Angelina, Charlie, and Adam are all together--that frankly it made me feel a little icky. I'm open-minded and all, but it just didn't seem right and some of it rubbed me the wrong way. It also made it even harder to become attached to the characters.

By the end, perhaps I'm cynical, but some of the love scenes didn't even move me: I just didn't care. I was tired of everyone communicating by oblique song references. Anyway, I really wanted to love this because it seemed to be an ode to music and love. And, because I loved Simsion's Rosie novels. It's not fair, really, to compare an authors work in such a way, but I couldn't help it, and I didn't enjoy the plot and characters in this one anyway. I was ready for the book to be over. It definitely had some good points, but I was mostly so disappointed and annoyed and ready to be done.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 05/02/2017.

I really enjoyed reading The Rosie Project and the quirky/endearing aspects of that novel. While I had less than positive feelings about The Rosie Effect (not a fan of unnecessary sequels/follow-ups), I was excited to see that the author had a new book with a whole new story and characters. Unfortunately this book was a huge disappointment for me and really failed to work on any level. The first part of the novel focuses mostly on Adam’s recounting his romance with the Australian actress, Angelina Brown, which comes across as rather awkward both in actions and dialogue. The second part of the novel is where things get… weird. So very weird. It takes us back to the present where Adam is back in correspondence with Angelina, after which a series of events unfold. I hesitate to mention anything specific here because I feel it would be somewhat in spoiler territory. Some reviews of this novel have stated that the second portion of the novel reads like a far-fetched fantasy of a middle-aged man, and I would have to agree. Altogether I found neither Adam nor Angelina to be likeable characters and as the novel progressed it became increasingly difficult to read on, especially as the story went in a bizarre and cringeworthy direction. Unfortunately, this was a big miss for me.

I found this to be not nearly as entertaining as The Rosie Project by the same author. Adam is in a relationship but when he receives an email from hi "old love" he begins to wonder what might have,
could have been (something that confounded me a little bit- if you hadn't been in touch with someone for over 20 years, how would you even have their email?). What does she want? Loved the musical references in the book, but other than that, this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thank you for the copy of The Best of Adam Sharp, by Grant Simsion. It is a sweet story of living life, finding and losing love, and growing old with the wisdom you gained along the way. Adam Sharp, an IT man and lover of great music, falls in love with the beautiful Australian soap opera star, Angelina. Throughout the years of getting together, being separated, getting married to others, and exploring what they value most in life, they discover who they really are and what they want out of life. The music played in this book adds a lot to the feelings the reader has about the characters and the struggles they endure.

I have enjoyed other work by the author, but this one was more like chit-lit, a genre I do not care for than women's fiction as advertised. The only reason why I gave this book one star is that I enjoyed all of the musical references.

** spoiler alert ** There are few books that I enjoyed as much as Simsion's The Rosie Project. I've recommended it to most of my friends who have thankfully enjoyed it as well. This is why I was super excited to get approved for this NetGalley ARC.

I devoured the story from the beginning. I loved the music, the pop-culture references, and their relationship. And then we moved to the present. And moral boundaries became shadier. STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

When he went to spend time with her and her current husband, I felt uncomfortable. The simplest way to say it is that nature ran its course. However, I was not expecting the voyeuristic aspect. Her relationship with her husband is truly messed up. Even writing about it so many weeks later I have a bad taste in my mouth and a bit of nausea rising in my throat.

I'm sure there will be readers who will enjoy this novel. Sadly, I am not one of them. In fact, I was going to rate it two stars. The extra star was added when I thought about how they met and how their relationship developed at that point.

My advice: Read at your own risk.

What a whirlwind way to discover true feelings! The possibility of rekindling a love affair from younger days is central to this story. The characters dealing with memories of the past, their feelings today, and the realization of what is important in their relationships. Definitely a page-turner and I raised my eyebrows a few times as this played out. I loved the way music was woven throughout the book and songs tied to various memories. Graeme Simsion has turned out another terrific book.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press through NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

http://www.goodbookfairy.com/the-best-of-adam-sharp-by-graeme-simsion/

This is no:The Rosie Project, so if you are looking for an easy romantic read with lots of laugh then "move on... nothing to see here....".
This story may not be everyone's cup of tea, especially for those who have strong ethical/moral attitudes regarding marriage and infidelity.
Adam Sharp is a 26 year old Englishman in Australia in the late 1980s when he meets an Australian TV actress and they have a 3 month fling. Twenty two years later he is in the UK in a long term (20 year) relationship and she is in Australia in her second marriage and she gets in touch.
This novel explores their initial meeting, and parting, and then all of the emotions that come from a reunion. I liked the exploration of what love is, or isn't, and Simsion can write great characters and tell a story. But it was difficult for me to accept a lot of what was happening in the last 30-ish% of the book. In saying that, this book does make you think and for that it gets 3.5 stars and a recommendation from me to those who enjoy contemporary fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Forty-nine-year-old Adam Sharp works as a freelance IT consultant and leads a normal and tranquil life with his partner of 20 years, Claire. Everything changes when he receives an email from Angelina, the one who got away. Adam met Angelina in a bar in Melbourne - he was playing the piano and she joined him requesting songs and singing along. Their brief and intense affair left Adam heartbroken and now that she is back in touch he wonders: what if he had stayed? What his life would be like if he hadn’t walked away?
A story about regrets, lost love, and a past that resurfaces when you least expect it, I found myself laughing and crying at Adam’s moving story. This novel includes an amazing playlist of songs that creates the perfect soundtrack for this brilliant and intense love story.

Graeme Simsion does not disappoint his fans with his new book. I could not get enough of this story - I was so drawn into the life of Adam Sharp which was so skillfully told. I loved the music references along the way which felt really original in a story.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. The first half was better than the second half - I enjoyed Adam's time in Australia and the story of how he and Angelina first began their relationship. The second half was just strange and far-fetched. I didn't care what would happen between Adam and Angelina because their actions ruined them both regardless. After everything Adam says about how he feels about Angelina, it really doesn't seem realistic for him to reunite with Claire. It was way too convenient for her to be the unemotional type that didn't want to know what happened in France.

I loved The Rosie Project and was excited to pick up another Simsion novel but this one was not worth it. I would not recommend this book to others.

Graeme Simsion's books The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect were quite delightful and so I looked forward to this novel. I'm not sure why, but this book did not grab my imagination and although I finished it, I would be hesitant to recommend it to a friend.