Lad Lit Book Reviews: My Legendary Girlfriend by Mike Gayle

I never would have found Mike Gayle had it not been for my flatmate insisting I read one of his books. I have to admit I wasn't too sure at first. The blurb read a bit too much like chick lit novel for my liking. I'm a man, and I like manly things dammit! Luckily I got past my silly male ego and embraced my metrosexuality, and a good few years later and I'm one of Mike Gayle's biggest fans.

My Legendary Girlfriend was Gayle's first novel, having spent time as a journalist and features writer. This book was a huge success as Gayle followed in the footsteps of fellow lad lit author Nick Hornby to write a book about relationships from a male perspective with very high praise indeed.

English teacher Will Kelly is single and pretty miserable to be honest! Set over one weekend, Will spends most of his time pining over his ex-girlfriend, Aggi, who cheated on him with his best pal. Then Kate enters Will's life in a series of phone calls which start to make Will feel like he has found someone to help him get over his ex.

Dubbed a male version of Bridget Jones Diary, Mike Gayle's first book gets a big thumbs up. I think whether we like to admit these things as men or not, we've all been there when we have pined over a girl a wee to much. We can't help ourselves, we know it's wrong and our friends are probably avoiding us because of it, but we've already gone too far.

That's Will in a nutshell. The guy we've all been and don't ever want to think about it. Like me, you'll probably want to grab Will at times, give him a slap, and tell him to snap out of it!

But Gayle writes in a way that makes you want to keep reading to see what happens, regardless of whether you like Will or not. Not that I disliked Will - as I said, we've all been there, and you end up rooting for Will.

This book will always hold a special place for me as this was my first real introduction to lad lit, and in a way, this was probably one of the biggest influences on me to pursue the idea of writing The Drought.

All in all, I would say that My Legendary Girlfriend is a great read, and once you've read this one you'll be searching for other books by Mike Gayle and trust me - you won't be disappointed!

Lad Lit Book Reviews! Love... From Both Sides by Nick Spalding

Being an author of lad-lit (or chick-lit for men) myself, I always like to do a bit of research to see who else out there is writing the same genre of books as my own debut novel, The Drought. I already knew about the Mike Gayle's and Nicky Hornby's of this world, but Nick Spalding I was not familiar was a name that kept appearing on Amazon whenever I did a search.

Just last month Spalding signed a three-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton on the back of the success of his self-published novels.As a fellow indie author, it is great to see someone like Nick Spalding so bloody well! It gives you hope...!

So I decided to take the plunge and see what Love... From Both Sides was all about, and I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed.

I have to say that I wasn't gripped from the first chapter, and I have seen a couple of reviews say similar things, but keep faith with it as I did because it is very funny from there on after. The first chapter describes quite an awkward sexual encounter for lead character Jamie Newman. Perhaps I just didn't know Jamie well enough at this point to appreciate the comedy value Spalding tries to get across. It's a bit BANG in your face!

However, what follows is a very clever concept of inter-changing chapters as told by Jamie, and the other main character, Laura McIntyre, as they go about their single lives looking for love. The benefit of getting both the male and female perspective works really well, and this is an idea which has been used by Mike Gayle since in his novel The Stag and Hen Weekend.

Like most novels in this genre, you know where things are heading and that the two main characters will eventually meet and get together, but in a way you don't care, because by the end of it, you want them to be together. The laughs come in the middle and how they get there.

Spalding is clever in that he keeps it simple. You can relate to the trials and tribulations that Jamie and Laura go through during the dating period, and he is great and conjuring up those feelings you have felt during those times in your own life, which perhaps isn't a surprise seeing as Spalding says he has based it on 'real-life of dating disaster and relationship blunders'.

All in all, a really good read, especially for those boring train journeys to work!