I just couldn’t get into this one - I know it’s getting great reviews so will try again later, I suppose? Just didn’t feel invested in the story or characters, I’m afraid. Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity though!

"Dips are the greatest ever food invented. It's what marks a party night as different to a normal night. Dips are the ultimate mood setters"

This story revolves around 3 couples who take turns in hosting a monthly dinner party. Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends forever, but now they are grownup with busy lives. A cozy, comfortable gathering of happy couples - Until one night, a last-minute guest arrives with floods of tears in their eyes, leading to a dinner party no one will ever forget!

First thing i loved about this book is the friendship between the three females. General conception after marriage for any female is that they lose contact with their friend's circle and gets more attached to their husband's circle. But this books deals with the opposite. Though it's not unusual, it's not very common either!

The second is the character Chris. My food-bae. He is an absolute complete mess, with no pre-party communication skills whatsoever, has a positive take on anything & everything in this world, loves his wife Beth to death ,but loves dips more than anything else in this world. I mean who would'nt love a character like that? I really loved the contrast between Chris and Beth, and how they go through a rough situation that arises when an unexpected guest shows up.

This book has a good variety of characters involved, and how each person views the same incident differently. And this book is told in different perspectives. So it makes it even more interesting to read. It's not the repetition of the same incidents, but the aftermath that is discussed. The plot is nothing new, but the take on the plot is really refreshing to read. This is my first Tracy Bloom book, and i am really excited to read other books by her!

Now the only thing that was disappointing was the fact that it was not a laugh-out-loud comedy. There were lot of humor spread across the whole book, but I felt that it was not strong enough. Other than that, the writing was really simple, the story development was gradually done, and the emotional conflicts were described in a really good way.

If you are someone looking for a humor sprinkled book with real-life scenarios that deals with three couples going through their normal drama lives (If you love Desperate Housewives, then i am pretty sure, you will love this book!), then i definitely urge you to pick this book up!

I loved this book it was so funny, it had me laughing out loud quite a lot.
The book is about Beth, Sarah, and Marie who have known each other since school. and their husbands, Who enjoy monthly dinner parties with each other.
Beth is the main character in this book and the others slot in around her with some very funny situations. I loved seeing and secretly looking in on their lives and monthly dinner parties.
The three husbands, seem to put up with each other for the sake of the women. You then get a surprise person Simon enter the fold and you see a shift in the relationships as to how they are with him and the feelings and emotions that come out of it.
Each chapter is dedicated to a character which i found made it easier to follow and get to know them all. I liked the way the food and wine were described and the atmosphere at each different party. It made the book more believable and interesting.
The recipes in the back of the book are a brilliant idea and quite unexpected.
This really was a good book and i thoroughly recommend it if you want to be cheered up it is funny, honest and very well written. Definitely worth 5 stars.
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends since school. Now, once a month, they and their husbands, that truly don't have anything in common except their wives being friends, meet at one of their places for a dinner party, that usually run without mishaps and in a nice atmosphere. However, this time, when it's Beth and Chris's turn, he forgets to tell his wife that he has invited his new friend Simon. Simon and his wife have just split up and he's been since heartbroken. To be honest, nobody is too happy with the new addition but when he arrives, the three female friends find themselves drawn to him, which doesn't go unnoticed by their husbands. As the time goes on and the dinner parties as well, Simon becomes more part of their lives, however his presence also causes chaos and misunderstandings that eventually lead to a very dramatic finale.

There are six main characters in this book - yes, you could say it's a lot, but they're all so different and right from the beginning you get the feeling who is who and to whom they belong. All of them had perfectly distinctive voices, they had their quirks, flaws and secrets, some of them were too perfect and too snobbish, some of them really overdid with their love of dips - it was funny at the beginning but then it stopped being funny and started to feel irritating. Each chapter is told by a different character and all of them have a chance to tell us their thoughts, which was a brilliant way, as it was really great to see how each of them perceive the particular situation or what they really think.

Due to short Q&As at the end of each chapter between a journalist and one of the characters we quickly get the sense that something big has happened. Yes, it did, but it took the whole book to get to the point - a little too long for this story, to be honest, but I also understand that should it have been written differently, there wouldn't be the grande finale that the author presented us with. However, it just felt too short and too rapid in comparison to the whole story. On the other hand, it was truly surprising and unexpected what has happened at the end.

It was an interesting, sharp - observed read that for me lacked in the final touch, the wow - effect and the idea of mixing stories of three different couples was a brilliant one, and adding then an extra person to this mix was even better, as it was for sure going to steer problems and troubles, but it was not developed. I was all the time asking myself: and? Please don't get me wrong, I love Tracy Bloom, but this time I actually wasn't sure what she wants to tell us with this novel. It is also billed as a "LOL Romantic Comedy" however for me it was neither LOL nor romantic nor comedy. However, I DID enjoy the book. Even though I didn't sympathize with the characters, they were very well drawn and felt realistic. Why didn't I sympathize with them? Well, first of all, I truly wasn't sure why they're calling themselves friends, I didn't feel any bond between them, even between Beth, Sarah and Marie who have known each other since school, and well, Tony did admit, on many different occasions, that he actually has nothing in common with Chris and Duncan. They had many issues with each other and actually, they weren't friendly, they were nasty and jealous of each other.

This book is written in this lovely, light Tracy Bloom's writing style that I so much adore. She also for sure can create a bunch of regular, relatable characters with real problems and get them into some complicated and often hilarious situations. There is also so much depth to this story, as it touches upon love, betrayal, friendship and second chances. It makes me really sad that the book didn't work for me as much as I was sure it's going to, but Tracy Bloom stays at the very top of my auto - buy authors, I will read whatever she writes.

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I first picked up this book but I really became quite hooked on spending time with this group of characters!

It was just like being a fly on the wall experiencing everything with the characters along with seeing all the drama that bubbles up. The story is told from different perspectives which for me really helped to create a more rounded story. This way you get to see the characters inner thoughts and feelings as well as seeing their actions play out. The pacing of the story was really good and I think the different view points helped to keep the story fresh keeping the momentum going. There is such a fun feel to this book with some amusing parts at every dinner party. This was well balanced with some more deeper moments as the characters are holding something back with the reader seeing it simmering below the surface waiting to burst out.

Dinner Party is an easy going kind of story that just gave me that opportunity to sit back and enjoy what I was reading. The writing felt down to earth and natural, kind of showing us snapshots into every day life for this group of friends. They felt real especially as they had their flaws and I easily became attached to them by the end of this book. I loved how I was kept wondering what would happen next and I wasn't quite sure what the ending would be which I thought was great!

Who knew dinner parties could be so troublesome!

With thanks to Kim at Bookouture for my copy via Netgalley.

***I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity.***

This book was funny and a quick super interesting read. I’m going to seek out more from this author!

Dinner Party was a great book that kept me intrigued the whole way through.
Three couples take it in turn to host dinner parties and then a single outsider joins in.
A great laugh out loud book.

This was a very interesting read for me - how the dynamics between three long-standing couples changes when someone else is introduced into the mix.

Sarah, Marie and Beth - three very different women who have been friends forever, and their husbands. Each couple has a different kind of history from each other and there are a lot of personalities to think about in this book, which makes it intriguing.

The couples have been taking turns in hosting monthly dinner parties and this has worked well, until one night when Chris introduces Simon to the mix. It brings out the best and the worst in the others and this is the start of a lot of changes for all of them.

I don't want to spoil the surprises which are in store for the reader, but I found this a solid read which left me thinking.

I give it 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

I was immediately drawn to this book because the synopsis sounded hilarious. Sadly, I’m left disappointed. Recently I’m having bad luck with “Laugh out loud” stories, so it could be one of those “It’s me, Not you” situations. Also, I could not stand any of the characters and found myself only laughing a couple of times. I enjoyed it enough to at least say it wasn’t terrible, but not sure if I’ll be recommending to other readers.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

What a through my enjoyable book!

The story of three couples and a monthly rotating dinner hosted at each of their homes. This has been the standard for a long time until one of the husbands invites a guest without any warning to his wife. The upheaval of having a surprise dinner guest sets the tone for the whole novel.

You will laugh, say I can’t believe that just happened and enjoy the fact that this book is about everyday life with everyday problems that some of us live with.

This was a quick read and I completely recommend it to any looking for a light hearted book that deals with the hum drum day in day out of life and the surprises that it throws at us.

My second book my Tracy Bloom - and I really enjoy her writing style. I am addicted to my Brit Lit - while I love and adore the glitz and glam of a snogfest by Nigel May, Katie Price and Jackie Collins - I also enjoy reading about the everyday British life as well.

Chris was my favorite character - simply because he was so simple yet his words at the end to Beth were so profound. They brought tears to my eyes because I would love to hear those things said to me. In my life, I've been a bored Sarah, frustrated Beth and even a bratty Marie. While Marie is a grade A bee-yatch, she's the perfect foil to Beth and I love how Beth gives it to her with her blunt words.

The Pringles across the pond must be industrial strength to be able to scrape through a dip - ours are a flimsy, break when you breathe on them, and can barely survive life in a protective can much less in a strong sour cream based dip. Ruffles are just better for that - and they have ridges.

Overall Grade - B

“Dinner Party” by Tracy Bloom lives up to all the hype and more! This is an unputdownable delight of a book that will have you laughing at the foibles of the very human couples at one dinner party wrecked by one unexpected guest, Simon. I loved it! 5/5

Pub Date 26 Sep 2018

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#DinnerParty #NetGalley

This is an absolutely engaging, humorous and delightful book, a comedy of hilarious errors caused by assumptions and situations arising from an innocent dinner party’s unexpected guest. Simon, the guest, wrecks havoc both innocently and inadvertently, on the lives of the couples at the dinner. There is longsuffering, bored with her life Sarah, never satisfied witchy Marie, lost in a tiresome life Beth, arrogant snobby Tony, likeable Duncan, and clueless but nice Chris. Simon throws the whole dynamic out of whack causing cracks and fault lines to unzip. It is such a funny book!

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

Another fun filled romantic comedy which centres round three couples who have been long term friends. Suddenly a stranger is added to the mix and chaos ensues. This is a fast paced perfect for the beach read.

Once a month three couples get together for a dinner party. They are Beth, Sarah and Marie, and their respective husbands, Chris, Tony and Duncan. It is Beth's turn to host and Beth and Chris are quite frazzled. She is more than annoyed at his forgetfulness during preparation, and even more so when he suddenly mentioned he has invited a new friend to the party, Simon. Simon's wife recently left him, and Chris thinks Simon could use a pick-me-up. Simon attends and everything that could go wrong did go wrong, if not at that event, certainly to come.

There are a lot of chapters in Dinner Party. Each chapter is written from one of the group's point of view. We are also treated to an ongoing interview with the individual members by a journalist of some sort at the end of each chapter. Hints are given as the story goes along that chaos has ensued. It takes a bit of reading through to absorb all of the consequences that will occur by simply inviting one extra person to the dinner party.

Dinner Party is truly a character-driven story. We are easily drawn into the personalities and characteristics of each one in the group. There is a fair amount of humor in this story - let's just mention Chris and his obsession with dips. Yeah, definitely humor. However, it certainly is not the laugh-out-loud sort. As the connections are made with each character, there is also a fair amount of sadness, especially concerning specific individuals. This is an easy and pleasant read. I was able to enjoy this book and do look forward to reading more of Tracy Bloom in the future.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

I've really struggled with this book. I'm halfway through and it's just not working for me. It's not funny enough to be laugh-out-loud, more toe-curlingly awkward. Too much of a cringe factor for me and characters that you love to hate. Perhaps that's the point - maybe I should stick to thrillers for a while...

I am such a huge fan of Tracy Bloom's writing. What I think I love so much about it is that she has the ability to make me laugh whilst still delving into some deep topics and making me think. Her characters are well-formed and well rounded and could be me and my friends but they get themselves into some hilarious situations and they get themselves into some unbelievable situations whilst at the same time just going through life's up as downs!

This book was no exception, it made me laugh but actually there were some really serious and life-changing moments in this novel. I loved the premise behind the six friends and their dinner parties and what would happen if an outsider joined them and shook the whole thing up? This book reminded me of The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton because of all the dinners and also a lot of Liane Moriarty's work because of the structure and to some extent a little of the style. Things unfold slowly and we don't get the full story until the end.

The characters are all pretty normal people, all of them intriguing, not all of them liable. I'd say its quite a large cast of characters although Beth seems to be the driving force behind the bock. I found Beth easy to like, despite the fact that she has flaws. Marie and Sarah, the other women in the book took me a little while to warm to and I wouldn't necessarily say I liked them but I did want to know what was going on in their heads and I could sympathise with the lives they had found themselves in.

I wouldn't say I really took a shine to any of the men in the book, they seemed to slow the women down to a certain extent although I liked the friendship that Chris and Simon had formed and I felt I had an affinity with Chris because of his love of dips. When he comes back from the shop with one of those four packs of dips, I did a little clap, I have to admit!

Overall I got to know the characters and the structure of the book is very compelling so I did find myself turning and turning the pages. I laughed and I gasped and I clapped so overall to me, this is another great read from Tracy Bloom!

I adore this author’s books and when I saw that she had a new book out I knew it was definitely one I needed to get my hands on and I have to say I absolutely LOVED it!!

I loved the plot for this book, the characters were brilliant. I loved how they all interacted and I have to say that I loved Beth and Simon above the rest, I wanted to give them both hugs for most of the book!

The idea for this book is quite simple but the execution is brilliant. The writing style is superb and it all flows so well. It had me giggling more than once – five stars from me, a very enjoyable, funny read and finally a main character that shares my love of dips!!

When I read the blurb for this I knew I had to read it, it sounded so fun and different to the normal sort of stories that I read and I am so glad I read it! It is absolutely fantastic! This is one of the very few books I just didn't want to end!

The characters where fabulous, each of the couples were so different and I enjoyed getting to know each of them - especially Chris! Oh my what a character he was he was obsessed with his dips! Everytime I see dips now I am reminded of him and this story.

I devoured this book, I couldn't put it down, there is so much drama and absolutely hilarious moments that you will just laugh your head off. Oh and it doesn't end the way you would expect it too so I loved that - I got a bit of a shock at how it ended I didn't see it coming at all. I had a little tear in my eye!

This is definitely a feel good hilarious read that will definitely put a smile on your face!

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I first read one of Tracy's books last October and I haven't looked back since.

This book follows 3 couples as they rotate for their regular dinner parties. When Chris invites an unexpected guest, no one expected the consequences that ensued.

Chris was my favourite character, never have I known someone to be so obsessed with dips! He was also very funny. He somehow he manages to get himself in the most ridiculous and entertaining situations.

Each chapter is headed with a different characters name and focuses on that character. There is also an interview Q&A with a character and a journalist which are rather funny.

This book is Tracy at her best. She creates real characters with real problems throwing in some absolutely hilarious moments. You will be hooked from the first chapter to the last with the mystery in this book.