My favourite English male popular fiction author, Mike Gayle here explores that ol' chestnut 'can men and women just be friends'. ( )

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” Elbert Hubbard

In this novel the author explores friendship. Rob is having a long distance relationship with his girlfriend Ashley. When she gets fed up with the commute she gives him an ultimatum, move to Manchester and live with her or stay in London and lose her. Rob loves Ashley but finds the prospect of leaving London and his friends daunting but after much prevaricating he moves North. However, once in Manchester he struggles to make friends. He eventually meets someone who has a very similar outlook as him and someone who he likes to spend time with talking about all the inane things that friends talk about. The only problem is-she's a girl. Can men and women be 'just good friends' or will 'sex' always get in the way?

The author explores this question by regularly looking at the question from Rob's and Jo's (his female friend) perspective.

Thirty years ago I moved from Cornwall to Derbyshire to be with my now wife and can sympathise with Rob's predicament to a certain extent but whereas I initially went to work in a factory Rob works from home making it more awkward to meet people. Strangely I actually found it easier to make friends up North than it was down South and have not had any contact with my former friends for a number of years.

The book looks at the genuine difficulties people face when they move in with their partners and the obvious changes this will make with their relationships with their friends even if they stay locally. This book is generally an easy and at times amusing read, capable of being read in one sitting or put down and picked up as you like. The characters are realistic as is the discussions that Ashley and her friends about Rob's and Jo's burgeoning friendship rings true - they are all convinced that there must be a sexual element in their friendship and certainly made me wonder how I would react to it if my wife told out she was friends with a man just as our own relationship was in it's early days. However, at times I also found Rob infuriating and wanted to scream at him to man up, join a gym or a club of some form if he was so desperate to meet people. An interesting read which I liked but didn't love. ( )

An interesting little book. Ian moves to Manchester, to be with his long term girlfriend Ashley. He leaves all of his friends behind. Now however, hes finding it very difficult to make friends as he works from home. He meets Jo, a woman at a party and subsequently 2 weeks later and they hit it off - as friends. But he doesn't tell his girlfriend that Jo is a woman and she thinks his new frend is Joe.
The book is about a friendship thats lovely but becomes slightly complicated. I enjoyed the aspects of Jo and Ian's friendship and how it develops. You get a feel for all of the characters and can imagine why there is some doubt about the friendship being just that. The ending was well wriiten too. 4 stars for me. ( )

I think I'm becoming a fan of Mike Gayle. This is the third book I've read of his. Like his style. I was really interested in finding out, from a man's perspective, whether men and women can ever really be "just friends". I wasn't particularly fond of the first third of this novel. I found all the little details unimportant and boring really. Perhaps these things are more interesting to a man (it is written from a man's point of view after all). But things like old friends names, what they did for a living, and their interests etc may have served a purpose in one intance, but not multiple times. I quite liked the ending to this. I actually had a smile on my face as I finished it. A nice light-hearted read. Good to unwind with. Not much thinking involved. Can't wait to read another book from this author. ( )

Rob has his group of mates, they understand one another, can count on each other, but while living in London Rob's girlfriend lives in Manchester. Tired of the commuting to maintain their relationship she gives Rob an ultimatum, move to Manchester or it's over. While reluctant to leave his mates, Rob finally agrees, but it is not long before he misses the association, and seeks some mates in Manchester. His girlfriend wanting to help but places an ad, but the results are not good, but when Rob meets the right mate there is a problem, the mate is a girl. That us when the complications begin, and they only become more complicated, with plenty of opportunity for humour.

The concept is fine and offers many possibilities, but what lets this down is the quality of the writing, if you look for prose that can be enjoyed in its own right it you won't find it here; in fact I found it a struggle to get through this so uninspired was the writing. ( )