Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends since school. Together with their husbands Chris, Tony and Duncan they meet up each month for dinner. Chris, Beth’s husband, takes pity on a recently separated younger man, Simon, and invites him to dinner. It sets off a sequence of events which none of them will ever forget.

Another good book by Tracy Bloom, an easy entertaining read.

I’ve loved Tracy Bloom’s books for years now - she’s such an entertaining writer and never fails to make me laugh so I was very happy to be accepted to read her new novel Dinner Party. The premise was amazing and since I love Come Dine With Me along with books that are set around regular events, this was right up my alley. It was such an enjoyable novel and it really did make me chuckle a fair few times.

Dinner Party pretty much revolves around three couples - Beth and Chris, Tony and Sarah and Duncan and Marie - and what happens when a random stranger, Simon, joins their monthly dinner parties. Now I should clarify, Simon isn’t actually a stranger - he doesn’t just rock up to Beth and Chris’s and demand to be a part of the dinner party, instead he’s invited by Chris when Chris meets him on his post round. I mean, I’m not sure that’s much better but Chris is one of those kind souls who sees a friend in anyone and Simon isn’t a serial killer, so it’s fine.

The novel actually reminded me a little bit of The Adults, with the rather stifling setting of dinner parties and having to be in a room with people you don’t know really well. The little tidbits at the end of the chapters were very teasing, as to what was to come, I was dying to know what exactly had gone on and what a raclette was as I’ve never heard of it. Dinner Party was honestly so entertaining but it’s exactly why I would never do Come Dine With Me, the competitiveness even between friends was awfully eye-opening, with everyone trying to one up each other all of the time.

In fact, because of how awful and snide Marie and Tony were, I struggled to like the characters. Beth was by far my favourite, but the way the others talked about her was embarrassing and if that’s how your friends talk about you, who bloody well needs enemies. I wanted to throttle them and I think that’s why Simon had a big impact - he came in almost like this knight in shining armour and swept everybody off their feet, he wasn’t snide or snobby. I also really loved Duncan, and the constant put downs from Marie made me grit my teeth in anger.

I really enjoyed Dinner Party. The love for dips in this novel was unreal, I mean I couldn’t care less about dips but these lot were obsessed - especially Chris. They’ve inspired me, In fact, to give a dip a chance. Tracy Bloom is such a good comedic writer, she really nails each scene and you can easily vividly imagine it in your head. I can’t wait to read her next book and I thoroughly recommend you pick up Dinner Party if you like food, dips, comedy and Come Dime With Me, along with a healthy dose of backstabbing and fawning.

This book was a decent read, I read the whole thing in a day and found the narrative to be quite straight forwards rather than one of twists and turns. However, as the book progressed I found it funnier, recognizing so many quirks of people in my life in the characters. Some of the characterizations were a bit obvious- each character was very different from the next, almost in a stereotypical format; the simple one, the vain one etc. My problem with the characters was that all the women in the book became completely obsessed and almost had their lives changed by the pursuit of a new arrival in a male character, Simon. The women characters are all obsessed with their body image in a negative way, or the other extreme and becoming fitness obsessed, have given up their careers for their husbands or are worried about being too superficial because one used to have a fashion related job and so has a closet full of nice clothes. I found the book dated in this respect, and it annoyed me.
Overall the storyline was ok and reached a decent conclusion, but I won't be coming back for seconds.

This is Tracy Bloom at her best - funny, real people, fabulous situations and a hook that kept me intrigued until the end.

Who would have predicted that introducing one stranger as an act of kindness into an established group of friends, would have such far reaching consequences.

The three couples are friends due to the women Beth, Sarah and Marie who have known each other since school. The husbands, Chris, Tony and Duncan tolerate each other for the sake of the women. When Chris announces last minute that he has invited Simon to one of their regular dinner parties, its sets off a chain reaction of events that had me gripped.

Each chapter focuses on a different character, but at the end of each chapter there are what appears to be an ongoing interview between a journalist and members of the group - and it was those that had me intrigued first. I had to know why there was a journalist and from the hints in the answers to the questions, just what happened, as its clear something large occurred at one party but that is all I am saying on the matter.

All six of the main characters are so completely different, and with the exception of Tony, I tended to like or at least sympathise with all the others. I loved their various quirks from Tony's insistence on perfection and snobbery, to Chriss love of dips - I've never read a book featuring dips so heavily before - nor a group of people who appear to be addicted to them as the perfect opening to a dinner party

Then there is Marie's health and fitness obsession, Beth who really needs to believe in herself more, Dunan who has a great way of training new staff where he works, and Sarah who seems stuck in a rut. Each so different but their dinner parties in the past apparently have worked.

There are many laugh out loud moments and all the characters are just to realistic. The odds are you have met one or two of them yourself. For this is what Tracy Bloom does best, adds hilarity into situations involving just regular, believable people.

I loved every second of this fabulous book, its just a shame I had to reach the end. If you are looking for something fun, light hearted and purely entertaining then read Dinner Party!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

So I reviewed The Last Laugh only the other day but I felt the need to get straight to this, The Dinner Party, which sounded like exactly what I was int he mood for. And it totally was! Sorry to tell you but the link will lead you to a pre-order link, so you've a little bit to wait before its release, but I think, at that time of the year, ie end September, a comedy such as this will be a treat to randomly arrive into your Kindle in-box, so I'm thinking of you here;)

As you see above, Beth, Sarah and Marie are old friends, but ones that don't catch up that often anymore. There may be a reason for this as we are given three very different women, all with their own insecurities and all with ranging personalities. The book leans more towards Beth than the others, but we are nicely put into the shoes of the others and, in a nice twist, we get to meet their husbands too. Now I know people who read my reviews are about to say 'oh no, here we go again,' but it has to be done. I love love love multiple povs and a cast of characters that's done well and they most definitely are here! Depending on your personality you'll empathise with different people, but I have to say that the people I considered bang on were the husbands, and in particular Chris and Duncan. The women, on the whole, weren't really my cup of tea and I have to say I was so disappointed that I leaned towards a full on dislike of Beth and could not get what everyone was saying about her being so amazing. Beth was one of these people who decided that everyone only saw her for her weight, and we heard about it very regularly. We were constantly told how lovely and helpful she was, but actually all I saw was someone who was meddling and way too critical of everyone else. Her blurts were mean and cruel at times and I got a bit tired of everyone acting like it was endearing that she was so upfront. Marie, was an, um interesting character, obsessed with how she looked and Sarah, well actually I loved Sarah who was having a crisis of confidence of her own.

The guys were brilliantly done, from Chris, who was so underappreciated, to Duncan who reminded me of one of the side characters in Notting Hill to Tony who played his role to a tee! Then there was Simon, lovely Simon, who I nodded along with. I loved the concepts of the dinner party and laughed along with the guys as they were aghast at all the etiquette involved (reminds me of previous rants I've had on how things have gone so crazy in terms of food and drink, how Gin and Wine are treated as if they're not alcohol, breadsticks are acceptable while your sliced pan isn't, people use the term 'pan-fried' and 'rustic' to make things sound posher -that sort of thing!) and the comedy flowed along. I'll admit that (in the same way someone on eg the X Factor might give someone who sings like Leona Lewis a bit of advice-they know she's the best at what she does but it's just a little aside), the ending was a bit rushed or something, I'm not quite sure what it was, but I felt it could have been a bit more neatly parceled, and I think Duncan's story could have flowed a little bit more and been rounded up nicer so we saw it happening, but as I've just said, this is just an opinion and all in all I loved this book. Very much recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Dinner Party by Tracy Bloom. Published by Bookouture, an imprint of StoryFire Ltd, September 2018.

Please fasten your seat belts, things are going to get turbulent. Tracy Bloom is an accomplished writer of humour and has 7 other published books in the same genre.

She exposes through three main characters, the frustrations, deceptions and insecurities that frequently sit inside normal married life. Three couples who know each well, take it in turns to host a dinner party and soon the criticisms, bickering, asides and recriminations often bubble to the surface.

A hunk is unexpectedly thrown into this mixture, invited by one of the guests, who felt sorry for him, due to his wife having dumped him. All the women ogle at the new arrival, with his well developed physique. Old jealousies and rivalries emerge, claws come out and its more than the food that gets roasted. The husbands try to hatch a plan to get rid of him. A flying bomb explodes amongst the group when the hunk’s ex, the saucy Candice, arrives on the scene.

A lively entertaining read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Bookouture via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Laugh out loud funny. This book had me hooked from beginning to end. Who knew one unexpected dinner guest could cause so much trouble!

My review has been posted to my blog & Goodreads.

Review has also been tweeted as usual.

Thank you! :c)

*I requested a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

The content of Dinner Party wasn’t really what I expected - that I’d finish reading the novel in one sitting! It is about a group of friends who have monthly dinners together, and how things changed when one of them brings a new person into the group, and things escalate from there.

The events of the novel transpire within four months, interjected with interviews from the future; one of the couples in the group has won a dinner made by a Michelin-star chef, and a journalist was interviewing people about their dinner parties.

This makes a perfect read for someone who wants a relaxing yet entertaining story. While it does shift from one perspective to another (all told in third person POV), I didn’t think the other perspectives contributed as much as the three main women - the connection to the group, thus the monthly dinners. Beth, Sarah, and Marie have been friends for a long time, and the book divulges into their lives and their concerns with how they perceive themselves and how they want others to view them. Because the perspective also shifts to their husbands and to the new person, the women’s issues weren’t discussed in much detail. Still, it had me reading on continuously, and that is a definite plus in my book.

Great read!

Beth, a nurse, is overweight. She, almost constantly, thinks about it. Her husband, Chris, is a well-liked guy who likes everyone but has a tendency to place his foot in his mouth) being somewhat naïve. They are having a monthly dinner party for two other couples. About an hour before the dinner, Beth asks Chris if the wine is ready. None in the refrigerator. He has to go out quickly to get some. Being a fanatic about dips (especially with chips) he picks some up while buying the wine. However, Beth told him not to - that they were serving fondue, instead. As he is heading out, "Oh, by the way, I invited someone from my mail route. His name is Simon -his wife just left him... Beth - "Little did we realize that the arrival of a new guest would change everything"

One of the other couples, Sarah and Tony, have a beautiful, roomy house. He is an architect and also has a large bankroll. Also, he is 14 years older than his beautiful stay-at-home wife,Sarah. She does miss being employed in the fashion business.

Lastly, Marie and Duncan. Marie is totally fixated on her appearance and may resent her husband's job. (She is also a rich wannabe.) He works at a call center (middle management).

The party begins and we learn something of the 6 major players. Then, Simon arrives. He is not bad to look at -and he has a physique that makes the women swoon. Also he is a paramedic and admits that his wife was sleeping with a neighbor. Although he is not a part of the clique, he got on well with the ladies - not so sure about their husbands.

Simon's wife returns to him and joins him at the next dinner. Here, the men feel magnetized to Candice (Simon's wife) - but the wives do not take to her... At that party, Candice takes Tony's cell phone and puts in her phone number under the watchful eye of Beth. This started a big do. After a "wives meeting", Beth goes to visit Simon to let him know that Candice gave Tony her phone number. We find out that Candice is not a stranger to cheating.

More collusion, dinners and pub visits. But everything points to a spell-binding conclusion...

A quick, must read.

Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a great story and a fun and interesting read!

This book is billed as a ‘LOL Romantic Comedy’ and it passes all 3 descriptions, LOL, Romantic and Conedy
The book is about 3 couples who in turn host a monthly dinner party and what happens when a ‘newbie’ recently single man is ‘allowed’ to attend one of the ‘do’s’
The 6 have all known each other forever, have issues ( with themselves and each other ) and worries, foibles, stresses, quirks and things that irritate each other 😃😃
The chapters are written by each of them and the lead up, the actual event and the consequences of each ‘dinner party’
The interloper causes choas, of course and people start to question things they hadn’t previously questioned
I had a soft spot for Beth whose indignation at life and herself was very funny but also very touching
There are times of farce which had me really laughing and also times of kinda sadness which had me really feeling for some of them ( some of the characters loved, some didnt!!!as was intended)
A real fun book that I felt at ease with,there were surprises at the end but I finished the book with a big smile and happy I had ‘met them all’ and been to these ‘dinner parties’
9/10 5 stars