Dinner for Two

Bloke-lit in the vain of Tony Parsons or Nick Hornby. I did enjoy seeing life from the other side of the gender divide.

Dave is a music journalist, he has been with his wife for 6 years and is ecstatic when she announces she is pregnant. When Izzy miscarries and declares she doesn't want to try for another, he pretends to agree. Then the magazine he is working on, and he ends up as the new agony uncle on a teen magazine. Amongst the petitions for help, a letter arrives from a 13-year-old girl, Nicola, claiming to be his daughter.

Dave is a decent bloke, a sensitive boyfriend, but finds it difficult to rock the boat with Izzy. Izzy is not a cold woman, but after suffering a miscarriage is understandibly reluctant to try again, in case it show more happens again. It is their lack of communication which causes the tension, more than the arrival of Nicola.

Gayle manages to pull off a realistic family / relationship drama with flashes of humour, especially as a 30-something-year-old man struggles with working for a teen magazine. The musical references do date the book a bit, but as they are bands I remember, I liked them. show less

Dave and Izzy are in their early 30s, happily married, living in London, and both working for different magazines. They hadn't planned on having children now, if ever, but when Izzy turns up pregnant, they are shocked, then thrilled. What follows is a roller coaster of events and emotions which leave both of them reeling. I can't say much more than that or I will spoil the book for those who want to read it. It is an original story with good writing, but I felt it got a little bizarre and unrealistic in the second half of the book so was somwhat of a letdown.

This book was one too many about babies and trying to conceive them I read over the past couple of days. I couldn't really relate to the people in the book, but I kept on reading, because frankly the main character sounds like he is the best boyfriend in the world. I'm starting to suspect that Mike Gayle, is in fact a woman.

One of my favourite authors, but definitely not one of my favourite books of his. I still read it in a single day. It's easy, fast-paced and natural-sounding. I just didn't connect well with the characters. I would have loved a bit more surrounding than there was, but everybody felt very real and there. Highly recommended.

One of my favourite authors, but definitely not one of my favourite books of his. I still read it in a single day. It's easy, fast-paced and natural-sounding. I just didn't connect well with the characters. I would have loved a bit more surrounding than there was, but everybody felt very real and there. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book. Easy to read, likeable characters and a good ending. Another great from Mike Gayle.

It was a good, light-hearted piece of fiction. It's hard not to adore the protagonist. He is a kind and sensitive man. The end was very excellent as well.