Lauren Farnsworth’s The Lonely Hearts Trivia Night just hit differently. Seeing the cover and reading the synopsis, I was expecting a fluffy and funny book about pub quiz nights. Instead, I read this book that just knew my sensitive spots, but didn’t hit any of them too hard. This book gave my all the feels, and I Loved it.

I loved reading about how a group of strangers, some stranger than others, responded to Donna’s ad which appealed for quiz team members for a new squad to compete in her local pub. In today’s world, that doesn’t strike me as sad nor strange, as we also search for our partners online and everywhere else, and that’s far more intimate than answering odd questions for an hour or so once a week in a pub.

As we get to know the characters, we see that each one had different reasons for seeking new friends and the Red Hot Quizzy Peppers quiz team’s acceptance. Each character needed growth that such an experience would bring, as well as the unguarded, and often unsolicited, opinions of friends who grow close enough to become like family, over the course of months and years.

This book made me feel empathy for each of the characters, and the character development wasn’t ever “too much”. Even when involving discussions of mental illness and the fear that such topics can dredge up within a person, Farnsworth approached it with authenticity, sensitivity, and maintained the dignity of the character. The characters remained human. They didn’t magically heal or change over night. That restraint was appreciated.

This book was subtle, but absolutely amazing.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this fantastic audio ARC!!

The trivia aspects were fun throughout the book, but it was a little bland and dragged a bit. While the characters had growth as they grew closer and advanced through the trivia grand finals, I still didn't connect with or care much about them and it fell flat.

REVIEW: The Lonely Hearts Trivia Night ⭐⭐⭐

Before having kids, my husband, our two friends, and I used to go to trivia night at our local bar once a week. I was excited that this book would feature bar trivia as a large part of the story.

Donna’s friends don’t want to do trivia night anymore, so she puts out an ad to find other players. Bryony, Harry, Jaime, and Luke decide to join in and become the Red Hot Quizzy Peppers. I like how the characters start as strangers, just doing trivia to grow together as good friends. It was so much fun watching their connections grow and how much they cared about one another. I also really liked that there was a good variety of characters, each with struggles. The diversity made it more interesting. I thought it was really neat that there were trivia questions at the beginning of each chapter that related to something that happened in that chapter. Listening to this as an audiobook, I loved the narrator. She did an excellent job with her expressions.

There were a few things that I wasn’t a big fan of. First of all, the book seemed so much longer than it needed to be. Some elements were drawn out too long. Also, it was difficult to keep track of whose POV it was in because it would just change by paragraph between the five main characters. It may have been easier to follow if each chapter was focused more on one character. Lastly, a lot of the book was quite negative with very little hope. It was frequently a downer, and the positivity didn’t come until closer to the end.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy The Lonely Hearts Trivia Night as much as I hoped to. I did like the pub quiz aspect and the variety of diverse characters and problems, but it just wasn’t a book for me.

Thank you, Netgalley, Alcove Press, and Dreamscape Media, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

As a weekly pub quizzer on the same team for 12 or 13 years now I really enjoyed this book> I'm going to recommend it to the other Swing Kids (we got our name from the style of dancing, not the kind who put their car keys in a fish bowl).Thanks so much for the arc/audiobook to NetGalley!

DNF

I love the idea and I’m a fan of ensemble cast books but the overall vibe just wasn’t working for me. Differing and varied characters and yet they all presented completely the same. Each one had the same miserable energy and despite being different, they were equally depressing and not in an endearing way. I couldn’t tell them apart. I needed more layers from the onset and some emotional variances to grab my attention.

A heartwarming story about a group of strangers who come together to compete in a pub quiz competition for a big cash prize. I liked each of the characters who each had their own life problems (some money, some marriage related, etc). There was a bit of romance too and I thought it was good on audio.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the advance reading copy of this audiobook. I really enjoyed this cute and unique novel about finding where you belong. The collection of main characters on this trivia league are so different but all share the same passion and drive to find where they belong. It's such a honest and relatable story about growing up and finding what makes you happy.

When Donna puts out an ad for teammates for a pub trivia night, Jamie, Luke, Briony, and Harry answer. They don’t know each other, but they are all looking for ways to connect with others. Through several trivia nights and a quiz competition, Donna’s big (if at times obsessive) personality begins to show as well as the differences between Jamie and Luke even though they’ve been dating for several years. Briony is having trouble with her identity as a “just a mom,” and Harry lost his job and his girlfriend (although she strings him along a lot). They don’t make sense as friends, but through the trivia, they begin to care for each other and look internally to find themselves. The narrative switches perspectives between all the lead characters, and the jumping around can take some getting used to but it’s worth getting to hear from all the characters. The audiobook narrator does an excellent job of differentiating the voices of each character and fills the scenes with emotion. The trivia scenes are especially good in audio form as the narrator exaggerates the host’s performance, and the contestants’ confidence or uncertainty shine. Each chapter also begins with a trivia question which will appeal to trivia loving readers. This book has it all: drama, romance, family, friendship, and even some mental health struggles. This was a highly entertaining read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced audiobook copy of this title from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

Five people answer an online ad to join a trivia night team. They are all lonely and unhappy. I enjoyed the found family and the trivia questions. I didn't care for the characters.

Eva Feiler did an excellent job narrating.

I really enjoyed The Lonely Hearts Trivia Night, which was a heartwarming, sometimes emotional story about a group of lovely people brought together for a trivia contest.

I thought the author a wonderful job of weaving together the storylines in a way that felt natural and easy to follow. While the character’s decisions were often frustrating, I loved the way that they came together to support each other even when struggling with their own burdens. All of the protagonists felt authentic, endearing and earnest, and I find their endings really satisfying. Except Luke. I was not a fan of Luke!

The trivia thread was fun and engaging, and I really enjoyed the snippets of trivia that opened each chapter.

I’d highly recommend this as an audiobook. The narrator did a marvellous job of bringing the characters to life, and slipped from character to character with ease and differentiation.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this audiobook. Opinions expressed are my own.

Reading challenge category - 2024 Popsugar RC: From a genre you typically avoid

I don't typically do a lot of 'chick lit / romance' books. This was a book given to me as an ARC ebook by a publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Donna, Bryony, Harry, Luke, and Jaime join together to create the poorly named trivia tream, "the Red Hot Quizzy Peppers." (I cannot condone this as the lead sing of the RHCP is a pedophile/statutory rapist). Donna creates the team via an ad and the rest respond. Through their time together on the team, the reader gets to know their lives outside of the pub. Donna is dealing with serious mental health issues, Harry is still in love with his ex, Bryony became a mom at 17 and is questioning her life, and couple Jaime and Luke are in a rough patch.

I found the characters to be very unlikeable. I had a hard time getting through because each character was a trope/archetype and not a full rounded person. They are all supposed to be near my age and I just kept thinking how childlike and immature they all felt. I did, however, enjoy all of the trivia.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC copy.

Engaging, entertaining, and well-narrated. A recommended purchase in all formats for collections where women's fiction is popular.

The Lonely Hearts Trivia Night
by Lauren Farnsworth
Narrated by Eva Feiler

I received an ARC of this audiobook from Netgalley.

World Development: 5/5
Character Development: 4.5/5
Plotline: 4/5
Secondary Characters: 5/5
Able to hold my interest: 4/5
Narrator: 3/5
Trivia: 5/5

There are a lot of great parts of this audiobook - enough that I do recommend this book.
The characters are very well developed. I think the book would need to be a series in order to further develop the characters.

As the title states - these are lonely people gathering together to form a pub trivia group. The simple group goes from simple pub night to being able to win a lot of money if they win a large stake.

The narrator, Eva Feiler, has a very soothing, evocative, captivating quality. The reason I give a 3/5 is because she didn’t have a clear voice for each character. It made it difficult to know who was narrating the chapter. Certain characters I knew 100% by the different voice, but some were difficult. I do not hold this against the narrator. It is difficult as hell to play so many characters. I think this audiobook would have done better with at least 2 narrators and with each chapter starting out with the name of the character narrating the chapter.

Trigger Warning: This book has a lot of awesome personal development details, but they can be triggering for some. We deal with manic episodes, bipolar disorder, suicidal ideation, relationship problems & breaking up, job loss, betrayal, and cheating. None of these is put in a way that is definitely going to trigger someone. They just add to the plot and the characters’ development. If you aren’t easily triggered - you should be fine.

I would happily read a book 2! I definitely liked this book enough to recommend it!!

I loved the trivia theme and the idea behind strangers meeting up to have fun. I had trouble getting into the characters and story overall. I liked it by the end but it took a lot of- wait who was that?

Making friends when you are older is tough. That is why five Londoners answer an ad to join a pub trivia team. Told in multiple points of views, this story follows the lives of this pub trivia team. Each of them is lonely in their own way and finds friendships. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was missing. I loved the trivia questions at the beginning of each chapter. This was a slow burn that missed the mark for me.

A fun and heartwarming read about five strangers who come together for a trivia team and find confidence, love, purpose and great friends.

Each team member adds something to the team (well 4 of the 5 do), and each week their confidence grows. But so do the problems in their personal lives. Can their helpfulness in a team environment help them beyond the trivia night get togethers? Were they all looking for more when they answered the trivia team ad?

Each chapter starts with a trivia question that correlates to that chapter which is a bit of fun, as are the plethora of trivia questions threaded throughout. But it's the relationships that build, the truths that are told and the lessons that are learnt that really rounds out this story. You never know what's going on beneath the surface.

A great read. I listened to it on audio and the narrator, Eva Feiler, did a great job. I particularly loved the teenage girl with a lisp. So adorable.

I wish I had liked this more but the characters were unlikeable and frustrating. The only parts I liked was when they were in the middle of their trivia matches. The rest was of the focus was on humans behaving badly and expecting things to turn out OK.

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook! I have to admit, it was a little different than I thought, but in a good way! This audio was executed perfectly!

I loved the trivia tidbits in this and overall I liked it. It was a bit slow for me and I found it hard to keep up the various characters because most of them were a bit one-dimensional. The narrator was very good but I'm unlikely to recommend.

Thank you to Lauren Farnsworth, NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't know what to expect when I went into this book but was pleasantly surprised. Five strangers forming up a trivia night team to pass away the nights at a pub and distract themselves from their complicated lives, what could go wrong? It became even more thrilling when the competition came into play.

Listening to the audio made for an exciting experience especially during the trivia nights and the competition rounds. I'd find myself anxious with them for every question especially towards the end.

I also loved how each character was portrayed. One had to come to terms with a potential diagnosis on her mental health. Others had to discover just how much they were worth and not have to endure the bare minimum from their partners.

Romance wasn't the main plot of this but I found I didn't mind. Each character's subplot was done wonderfully even though I was frustrated with them at times 😂 They were imperfectly perfect. Red Hot Quizzy Peppers for the win!

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.