Steven Rowley did it again with an amazing book! I absolutely loved Guncle and was so excited for the sequel. The book makes me laugh and also tear up. I would recommend The Guncle Abroad to everyone!

I adored The Guncle and was thrilled to learn there was a sequel. Is there anything better than spending more time with your favorite characters, especially on a trip abroad? No notes except that this book is pure joy, and I’ll read anything that Steven Rowley writes.

Thank you to Steven Rowley, Penguin Group, Putnam, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The sign of a really good book for me - something makes me laugh so hard I have to either read a passage or explain a scene to my spouse, or the book is so moving that a scene makes me cry. The Guncle Abroad did both.
This could easily be read as a stand alone, but if you haven't yet read the first one, you're missing out!
This is a wonderful story from so many angles, highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam for this ARC!!

4.5/5 stars

Honestly, it’s hard for me to not give this book a perfect five, but also I’m up against an impossible standard that is the first installment of The Guncle which was unequivocally 5/5 shooting stars.

The Guncle Abroad follows our favorite cast of characters, this time in Europe, first for another GUP adventure, and then for Maisie and Grant’s father’s wedding in Italy.

I laughed out loud more times than is socially acceptable while reading and then read parts aloud to my husband because I was so entertained. I cried (that letter at the end, sob). My heart was warmed and I just love the way Steven somehow weaves love, loss, growth, challenges, all these complex concepts together in such a beautiful, sunshine way.

Reading this was such a treat — to slip back into a delightful world, and take a trip abroad! This book is everything I could have hoped for from a sequel, and has me clamoring for the film of The Guncle (I hope coming very soon).

In The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley, we get another Patrick and children adventure, this time throughout Europe. Patrick takes on Maisie and Grant before their father marries the Baroness….errr Marchesa at Lake Como. Maisie and Grant want GUP to step in and help them prevent the wedding from taking place, so Patrick decides to teach the children about the Guncle’s Love Languages on their European adventure. Whether it is appreciating Montmarte and the delectable hot chocolate to teach the child to love the finer things in life or to appreciate your favorite things on a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, Patrick is determined to help the children accept their future stepmother.

While Patrick’s intention is to help Maisie and Grant grasp a better understanding of what love is, he starts looking at the impact of love and relationships in his own life. He looks in the mirror to face the hard question of what he is afraid of. Is he afraid of losing his status with the children as their favorite? Is he afraid he made a mistake ending his relationship with his ex-boyfriend? Is he afraid of aging since the big 5-0 is staring him in the face? Is he afraid how his brother remarrying will change the family dynamic? The Guncle Abroad covers the comedy and the drama of the situation faced by all the major players, but ultimately what answers Patrick needs the most to hear.

I don’t know if I’m in a better frame of mind from when I was reading the first book, but I enjoyed this one more. I am not one who usually laughs out loud at a book. A slight smile while reading is more likely, but The Guncle Abroad had me chuckling from chapter one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book will be published on May 21, 2024.

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #TheGuncleAbroad #StevenRowley #PutnamBooks

If you enjoyed The Guncle you will love this sequel. This takes place five years later with Maisie about to be a high schooler and Grant a middle schooler. Patrick’s brother is about to be remarried and the kids aren’t taking it well. Patrick (GUP) takes them on a European trip for several weeks before the wedding in Italy -teaching them different love languages in hopes that they will accept their dad’s new fiancé. This sequel highlights Patrick’s same quick witty sarcasm which I so enjoyed in the first novel. I also laughed at GUP competing for the kids affection with a new “launt”-lesbian sister of their father’s fiancé. Lovely ending and very enjoyable sequel to the highly recommended Guncle.

I love gunc and I was so thrilled to have him back with a breezy European twist. I think this was light and fun but it was missing a bit of the heart and humor that made the first novel in this series so fantastic. Enjoyed it but was hoping for more.

I loved the first installment of The Guncle, and this one did not disappoint either! I could not put the book down once I began reading it. I cannot wait for it to be released for others to enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley due to be published May 21, 2024.
Patrick O’Hara is closing in on fifty, newly single, and doing well professionally. When his brother Greg gets remarried in Italy, he needs “Guncle” Patrick to watch the kids while on his honeymoon. Maisie and Grant, the children, are less than thrilled.
Will Patrick be able to come out of this alive while dealing with a “cold feet” groom, a flirty sister, and two moody teenagers? Will he be able to teach them about love and find his own?
It’s been a while since I read The Guncle but I remember I thoroughly enjoyed it so I assumed this would be more of the same – and it did not disappoint!
Patrick teaches Maisie and Grant how to love through learning their love languages while quoting old movie line and “oldie” lyrics – his ways are completely charming.
I found myself smiling throughout most of the book and laughing out loud at so much of it. Since I have a gay son, I can totally get into Patrick’s character and relate to a lot of it. The characters were wonderful – especially the “launt” – lesbian aunt – who sparred with Patrick and could match him one-for-one with her jabs.
It was a fabulous book – I would give it five stars for humor, family dynamics, and warmth!

.#NetGalley #StevenRowley #PenguinGroupPutnam #TheGuncleAbroad

Brilliant, per usual. I really love Steven Rowley's ability to integrate humor into tender and emotional stories. Patrick is everyone's fave Guncle and feels like a prime example of someone trying to reparent themselves through their own trauma by shepherding their fave kiddo through similar challenges. Loved the new characters and how thoughtfully they were developed and written. Kids in the tween/teen ages are difficult to represent well but Rowley captured them really effectively, they maintained their personalities and characteristics from the Guncle in their older forms.

My review is posted on Instagram, IG Stories and Goodreads. I will post again on/near pub day.

4.5 stars

This book is a wonderful continuation of the stories of the characters I loved in the first book. The trio is back to travel across Europe in preparation for the kids’ dad’s wedding. This is a story about grief, life and love after loss, and growing up.
Much like the first, this book had so much heart and was so full of emotion. I loved watching the journey these characters went on, both literally and emotionally, and think this was the ending they all deserved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC

“The Guncle” stole our hearts, and now it just gets better! Full of humor and heart. I’d recommend this book to anyone! I dare you not to smile.

It's so rare that a sequel lives up to the original, but this was just as poignant and fun as its predecessor. This family and their adorable dynamic is everything.

With his trademark humor and heart, Steven Rowley has done the near impossible- The Guncle Abroad is a PERFECT sequel! Although we find the characters we know and love older, they are not without some growing up to do…. Including GUP. We may have moved from Guncle Rules to Guncle love languages, but both the reader, and the characters, leave the journey of this book better for having learned them. I laughed so hard I cried, and then I cried so hard I had to laugh. Five HUGE stars for The Guncle Abroad! Thank you to @NetGalley and G.P. Putnam for my gifted ARC.

This series is such a fun one. I'm not a huge mystery lover or a big romance person, but these books are a great diversion and fun to read. I especially enjoy Patrick's character and the history of his relationship with Sara and how he has evolved.

After reading The Guncle, I was super excited and surprised that I received an advanced reader copy for NetGalley. I missed sarcastic and witty Patrick and Maisie. But Grant is still my favorite. Maisie is 14 and Grant is 11. After learning that their dad is remarrying and after an especially difficult breakup, the trio decides to take a monthlong vacation across Europe. Patrick decides to teach them all about love. Along the way, Patrick is forced to compete with the future Launt (lesbian aunt) in order to be his niece/nephew’s favorite again.

The book dragged unfortunately but I loved the last 30% of book. This was a good sequel and I will continue to read the authors other books.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed this book so much. It was so nice to read about the characters yet again.

Thank you to NetGallery for the advance ecopy of this book. GAP (Gay Uncle Patrick) is back, and trying to ease the transition of his favorite niece and nephew to a new stepmother. Along the way, Patrick must face his own reluctance for intimacy in the wake of his partner's death several years ago. The book is filled with empathy and humor, and the laughs sometimes lead to tears. I love this family, and I hope the author continues their story in future books.

I would love to be unique in my review of this lovely, whacky, hilarious, heartwarming book, but I am going to have to stick with some tried and true statements. I adored this dadgum book. All the heart-eye emojis! And that's saying something because I loved its predecessor, The Guncle (it was one of my top reads in 2022). And the number of times I laughed out loud, by myself, like a lunatic was only exceeded by the number of times I wept happy and sad tears. This story does everything I want a story to do; make me feel all the things. In short, everyone should read it. Everyone. It is a stunning work of art.

Patrick, aka GUP aka GayUncle Patrick aka Guncle, is back to take care of Maisie and Grant when, to their horror, their dad is engaged to be married. Patrick takes the kids for a few weeks before the wedding to try to convince them how important love is and why they should allow their father to have that again, while the kids are set to convince him that he needs to help them call the wedding off. Patrick sets about teaching the now early teen and preteen kids the Guncle Love Languages. Full of the same wit and humor as before, still with a touch of grief, The Guncle Abroad brings back our favorite trio for more life lessons.