The Funniest Book Ever!

It never ceases to amaze me how humbled I am every time a reader takes the time to leave such positive comments and reviews for The Drought. Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of real gems from Goodreads readers, and one reader was even kind enough to drop me a note to say it was the funniest book they had ever read!

First up was Goodreads member Andrew. You can read the full review here, but here is a quick snippet of what he had to say:

"It's a definitely recommendation from me. The book is very funny, will keep you entertained throughout - would advise to read in non-public places. Bring on the sequel... it cant come soon enough... this book has totally spoiled the next books i read and will find it very hard to compare anything close to it. 5/5"

And then a couple of days later, Maureen Reil (author of Chick Lit Saved My Life) posted a review saying how much she enjoyed The Drought. Maureen said:

"This is Lad-Lit at its finest and I loved it from start to finish and you can’t say that about many books" 

You can see Maureen's full review by clicking here and check out all of the reviews on Goodreads which now stands at 67 with an average 4 star rating (out of five) by visiting The Drought Goodreads page.

A huge thanks to all of the readers who keep posting their positive feedback! I am plugging away with the follow-up novel and hope to have it ready soon!

Goodreads reader posts YouTube review for The Drought!

Check out this video review of The Drought by Goodreads member Gaby!

A nice surprise from India!

Yesterday I turned 35. It wasn't a pleasant experience - nothing bad happened, in fact my wife went out of her way to make sure I had a great day. But as the day turned to night, I found myself lying in bed with the realisation that I was now technically closer to 40 than I was to 30... A sobering thought.

So it was with great delight today that I got a note on Goodreads from Naznin Azeez who lives in India, and had seen the review for The Drought on the Impressions of a Princess blog and had decided to give my little lad lit novel a read, and had enjoyed it so much she posted  a review up on her own blog site which you can see here and I have also copy and pasted the review below:

Book Review: The Drought
From the very beginning of reading it, I felt a warm feeling in me because I could positively see that the book was a relaxing one. It set the right mood from the moment it began. I love the way the author gave attention to little details throughout the book. He has definitely thought the whole plot through very very well!. There were certain moments I just laughed out LOUD. He plays around with words in a very hearty manner. You gotta love Steven for not messing with the actual harsh reality of life. He portrays Dan as a man who is completely unlucky when it comes to women!. However, some situations that he gets himself into is damn unbelievable while some are plain hilarious.

The book is written from a man’s point of view. Women should read this book to see how a man’s mind works!.. Men should read this book so that they can nod along and probably say, “I would have thought so too”.. Hahaha.. Frankly, there were certain times, when I thought the Dan Hilles was completely insensitive!. But there were also times when I sympathized with his complete lack of luck. Certainly getting a look inside a man’s head can be terrifying to a woman. When reading it, inevitably, the question arises in your head whether all guys in your life think the same too. That puts you in a weird position!.

It’s hilarious how Steven has described men’s hatred towards shopping. Personally that’s one thing I can never understand about men. But I know for real that not every men are like that. I personally know about two men who actually love shopping. Hahaha. Yeah, two!. Isn’t that awesome?.

It’s a nice read. Being only 274 pages, it’s a quick and relaxed read. I kept wondering throughout the book, how it would eventually end. The first chapter was titled The End. Though that chapter made it clear what the book title was about, I could predict most of the stuff like what is going to happen at a date because it was already explained in the first chapter.. That gave away certain suspense as to how things would turn out.

Towards the last set of chapters, I kinda started predicting what the end would be. That, kind of made me upset because I couldn’t believe Steven would end it with the obvious. However, he introduced a nice twist towards the end which was totally unexpected and threw my doubts about his ability to keep it entertaining, right out the window. You gotta read the book to know what it’s all about :)

The chat up/pick up lines used by Dan’s friends are absolutely brilliant. They all made me laugh. I kinda had a feeling that if a guy said that to me in real life I might actually laugh and would definitely get talking with him!.

All in all, I give the book 4/5 which by Goodreads standards mean that I ‘really liked’ it.

Collection of recent book reviews for The Drought by Steven Scaffardi

Book Review: The Drought by Steven Scaffardi
This page is continuously updated with quotes from book reviews for The Drought by Steven Scaffardi. These reviews come from readers and bloggers, and of course book reviews from websites and printed publications.

If you click on the source of each review it will take you through to a page where you can read the whole review, or you can click this link to view all of the reviews together. 

Praise for The Drought by Steven Scaffardi 
"A pleasantly darker alternative to the offerings of Mike Gayle. All hail the arrival of Steven Scaffardi."
Ortis Deley | Television & Radio Presenter 

"The Drought is witty, well-written, and pulls no punches!"
Angellica Bell | Television & Radio Presenter

"The Drought is like an adult Inbetweeners that will have you laughing all the way through!"
Luke Dolan | Television Producer 

“The Drought is a good, entertaining read. It hits what could be a gap in the market."
David Harrison | Award Winning Journalist

"The Drought is a superior version of chick lit for men - immediately engaging, written in a really modern vernacular and he's already mastered comic timing.”
Matt Whipp | Printweek.com Editor

"This is one of the funniest books I've read in ages... this could well become a film in a couple of years!"
Amazon Reader Review | September 2011

"This is a fantastic read which doesn't just cater for the 'lads' (my wife loved it!) and I would strongly recommend this book to anyone!"
Amazon Reader Review | October 2011

"Refreshing to have a more accurate perspective on life for the modern man. The Drought is a real page turner - Highly recommend this for your next holiday read."
Amazon Reader Review | November 2011

"If you like crude, rude, and true - you will love this! I was reading this book on the train on my journey home and actually managed to spit my tea out where I was laughing so hard!"
Best Books To Read | Book Review Website

"This book is a laugh from start to finish and an excellent debut novel by Steven Scaffardi. With overtones of Men Behaving Badly, this story is full of satirical comments and observations of life in general which will amuse and entertain the reader - much recommended."
Amazon Reader Review | December 2011

"Laugh out loud' funny and a real page turner, I enjoyed this book immensely, can't wait for the next book from Steven Scaffardi." 
Amazon Reader Review | January 2012

"Well written and cleverly constructed, this is a compulsive page turner that will have you cackling with laughter the more you read. Mr. Scaffardi, I applaud you!"
Amazon Reader Review | January 2012

"I can't remember the last time I laughed so much while reading a book!"
Amazon Reader Review | January 2012

"The overall result (of The Drought) is an incredibly readable, feel good, highly amusing adventure which will have you smiling for days."
Amazon Reader Review | February 2012

"There are very few books that I've read recently that have had me laughing out loud, frequently in public places to the amusement of those around me! For a debut novel, this is a massively accomplished book, and I for one can't wait for the next one."
Amazon Reader Review | February 2012

"Warning - this book will have you crying... with laughter! This has a broad appeal and would be the perfect gift for the lad in your life!"
BCF Book Reviews | Book Review Website

"Scaffardi is an author who is going to be a household name, and he deserves to be!"
Amazon Reader Review | April 2012

"Being a female, I sometimes have difficulty relating to the main characters, but not with this one. Steven Scaffardi’s first novel is absolutely hilarious and will leave every reader, male or female, laughing out loud"
Chick Lit Plus | Book Review Website

"The Drought is a hilarious, highly entertaining and completely unfiltered look into the inner workings of the typical male mind!"
Sarah Taylor | Editor of Self-Publishing Magazine

"This book is as funny as hell, It is very rare that a book makes me laugh the way this one did which is the highest complement I can give this book."
Goodreads Reader Review | November 2012

Fantastic book reviews from around the world for The Drought!

In the last couple of weeks I have been getting in contact with some of the top reviewers on Goodreads - the social media book reading and sharing website - to ask them to review The Drought for me. And in the last week I am pleased to announce that I have had three postive reviews posted!

The first came from Kumara in Ireland who gave The Drought a four-star (out of five) book review and called it "funny as hell" as he admitted to laughing all the way through.

Next up came JM Hace who is currently ranked the number one reviewer from Mexico on Goodreads, and gave The Drought three stars and said it was a "male version of Helen Fielding's novels" who of course wrote the Bridget Jones Diary series.

And last but not least, this weekend I was delighted to get yet another positive book for The Drought, and this time it came from 3,500 miles away from a reader in Toronto! Teena in Toronto - who is currently ranked number six reviewer in Canada gave The Drought a glowing five-star review! Teena said she found it 'hilarious' and posted the review up to her blog site.

All three reviews can be found on Goodreads, or you can read them below...

Reader Review for The Drought by Teena from Toronto (Goodreads)
When the book starts, it's September 13 and Dan has just gotten tossed out of a bar, where he was drowning his sorrows, by a female bartender. Then Dan takes us back nine months earlier, to January 1, to fill us in on how he ended up in this predicament. He and his girlfriend of three years, Stacey, had just broken up. They had grown apart since they graduated from university last year ... she'd gotten nasty and clingy. It's been a while since he's been single and his friends, Rob (the funny one), Jack (the cheating one) and Ollie (the big slow one), are more than happy to give him advice and get him back out there. As the months go by, Dan isn't looking for a girlfriend, he just wants some action and this becomes their mission. We go on many dates with Dan, all ending in various kinds of disasters. Poor Dan! Dan has a sales job and he suspects his boss ("please call me Dick") has a crush on him. What gets Dan through the day plus giving him a woman's perspective is the platonic friendship he has with his colleague, Kelly. I really enjoyed this book and liked the humorous writing style. It is hilarious! This is lad-lit (chick-lit for men) so it was interesting reading about a break-up from a male perspective. The story is based in the London area and the author is English. As such, there are phrases and expressions that are specific to being English and some I wasn't familiar with (but it wasn't hard to figure it out). The language and actions are for a mature reader. I hope Steven writes many more books like this because I'll be reading them!

Reader Review for The Drought by Kumara (Goodreads)
This book is as funny as hell, laugh out loud funny at times. The story follows the misadventures of Daniel Hiiles following his break up with his long term girlfriend and his attempts to end his drought with members of the opposite sex. This book is a lads book but never sinks as low as lads magazines like nuts tend to, only Dans friend Jack comes close to this which might be why he was the only character in the book I did not like. The one liners in the book are spot on and needed to be with a main character who tends to speak before he thinks. Dan himself is a very likeable main character although has got to be one of the unluckiest people I have come across in a novel in a long time. There are some difference between men and women cliches like women not understanding the offside rule and men hating shopping but it does not take away from what is such a funny novel. It is very rare that a book makes me laugh the way this one did which is the highest complement I can give this book.

Reader Review: for The Drought by JM Hace (Goodreads)
Lad-Lit, that male counterpart to Chick-Lit, seems not to be as well-known, but this book is a perfect example of it. It's funny, entertaining, and a quite easy read. Not so much Nick Hornby as a male version of Helen Fielding's novels or something like that. And I mean that in a good way. The male lead is funny and sympathetic, but doesn't hide from his faults. A nice suprirse is seeing on the last page that the author is working on the sequel. Count me in.

Reader review on Goodreads calls The Drought a "laugh-out loud" very funny book!

Today I spotted a new review for The Drought on Goodreads. Reviewer 'Kumara' calls The Drought 'laugh-out loud' funny and gave it a four-star rating! I have copy and pasted the review below, and you can check out all the Goodreads reviews by clicking here. 

Goodreads Reader Review #1
This book is as funny as hell, laugh out loud funny at times. The story follows the misadventures of Daniel Hiiles following his break up with his long term girlfriend and his attempts to end his drought with members of the opposite sex. This book is a lads book but never sinks as low as lads magazines like nuts tend to, only Dan's friend Jack comes close to this which might be why he was the only character in the book I did not like. The one liners in the book are spot on and needed to be with a main character who tends to speak before he thinks. Dan himself is a very likeable main character although has got to be one of the unluckiest people I have come across in a novel in a long time. There are some difference between men and women cliches like women not understanding the offside rule and men hating shopping but it does not take away from what is such a funny novel. It is very rare that a book makes me laugh the way this one did which is the highest complement I can give this book.