Mercury Travel Club

the story of Angie, divorced and in her 50's. She needs to move forward with her life just like her ex has done.
So starts a series of events where she puts herself first and goes for it! An enjoyable read.

The Mercury Travel Club, Getting your life back on track has never been more funny! Helen Bridgett


Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  General Fiction (adult), Women's Fiction.

Usual moan...Woman's Fiction. Again....* sigh* Why do we have a category aimed at excluding those who might want to read this. Men read – and write- romance and I can think of many that would love this. Don't do it authors and publishers.

Its a wonderful read, I wasn't sure when I requested it and it languished on my kindle for a week or so while I read other novels, but once I did pick it up it was perfect. I'm a little older than Angie, not much, a few years, and reading it I empathised with her, shared her reminiscing and laughed so much. I could see me doing all the things she and Patty did!

I tagged a few parts that really made me smile - the Spanx...I always imagine The Great Seduction falling apart when the Spanx come off.
Picture it, soft music, sweet nothings being murmured, clothing being slipped off...all's going well until it comes to the Spanx. Ping, heave, tug, roll them down, acres of confined flesh spill out, red and sweaty, full of compression lines and itching. Cos when you take tight clothes of skin always itches doesn't it? Not really the scene you had in mind. And going to the loo? Yep, men have no idea.
Mothering Sunday, yep, I've had the toast that is bizarrely soggy white in places, black in others, and the egg box daffodils.
The red wine dilemma, how come TV characters never have those gruesome teeth when they smile and never, never get drunk?
Poor Angie's sponge cake, which knocks over the bird table, falls like lead. My cakes are like that, she mentions putting jam and custard on them a serving for dessert, and when my kids were little it was one they loved, the failed cake dessert. “Mum, mum, make a microwave cake today.”
Getting mistaken for a hooker, well, that's one which has missed me but made me snigger.

Its a great read, uplifting for those of us a bit older, reminding us we Have Value, we have lots to give, and Angie and Pattie had a wonderful year.
There so much to smile at and yet its not just humour but some fabulous ideas encouraging us to continue having fun, its not a prerogative of the young. When she was going off for a bike ride with Ed and his Chapter I was so envious, never been on a bike and it sounded wonderful. Hmnn, wonder if someone has a bike and would take me for a spin.... ;-)

I wanted Alan and Amanda to get theirs, so unfair cheating – its one thing I really, really hate, so cruel, so devastating. Sort your marriage/relationship out before straying. I wanted them to see Angie was doing so well, and they did but not quite as I hoped. I guess I'm the vengeful sort, I want the cheater to see what they've lost and regret it, for the third person to get the elbow and the cheatee to move on, to better and braver life, leaving the others regretful. There's something of that in this book, but much more subtle!

Stars: Five, The characters were fabulous, from Angie and Patty, Angie's mum and dad, her daughter, Charlie and Josie from the travel shop, Caroline, Peter, Ed, the Granny-Oks....so many fantastic people who all played a solid part in the novel

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

When Angie's husband goes off with a younger woman after 24 years of marriage she is devastated but soon her best friend Patty is pulling her out of the doldrums and showing her that life is still fun in your fifties and you can start again. She joins a book club and soon makes new friends and is involved in all sorts of activities.... even setting up her own business the Mercury Travel Club.

A lovely book full of great characters and humour showing that you can start again andI loved all the references to the 80s definitely my era