Wednesday 20 June 2018

BLOG BLITZ: The M Word - Eileen Wharton


Roberta Gallbreath is middle aged and menopausal. She dislikes her children, detests her ex-husband and despises her colleagues.

When her mother dies, Roberta is left with a pile of letters and a mystery surrounding her son. The letters reveal Roberta’s heritage is not what it seems and she is soon on a mission to become a better person.

Told with humour and emotion, The M Word is the tale of one woman’s journey to find out where she came from. As she looks to the past for answers, more questions are raised. Will Roberta discover who she really is?


What did I think?

It is rare to find a book so difficult to put down outside of the thriller genre but I had no difficulty at all in reading this cracking little book in one sitting.  It is so funny that I couldn't contain my laughter and I felt as if I was completely attuned to Eileen Wharton's prosecco-style humour (sparkling and dry, get it?).  

In fact, I felt as if Eileen Wharton knew me personally as I recognised so much of myself in the book; does the 'M' in The M Word perhaps stand for Michelle? I couldn't believe that both Roberta and I have an office bitch mug and anyone who knows me will have heard me referring to 'meat' sausages as being made of hooves and @rseholes, which is pretty much how hotdogs are described in this book.  So it was with tears of laughter streaming down my cheeks that I read most of The M Word, but life isn't always a comedy so Roberta also has many of the ups and downs of every day life to deal with.

Roberta is such a fabulous character; she is so honest and outspoken that you can't help but immediately love her.  It's quite sad at the beginning when Roberta finds out that her mother, Alice, is dying but when she visits her for the final time it is clear from their constant sniping at each other that they don't have a traditional mother/daughter relationship.  With her dying breath, Alice drops a bombshell and tells Roberta that the letters will explain everything.  As we read these heartbreaking letters with Roberta, we learn a lot more about Alice and why she was never able to show Roberta how much she loved her.

When her husband, Andy aka Knobhead, ran off with Terri-Ann from Thomas Cook, Roberta is encouraged by her hilarious friend, Tammy, to try internet dating.  This had my kindle shaking with laughter as Roberta went on one disastrous date after another in her attempt to show her boss, Mick the dick, that she could get a hot date for the company ball.  Roberta has no idea that when Mick asked her if she was taking a date to the ball, he was hoping she'd say no so he could go with her.  Awwwwww.  I had my fingers crossed for those two as Mick is completely smitten with Roberta but she's too insecure to see it.

I could write so much more about this book as I think it's brilliant; it is perfectly balanced with seriousness and humour and also contains a variant of my favourite Geordie word ever: claggy (meaning sticky).  I loved the witty hashtags sprinkled throughout, like #sickasachip and #datingdisaster which you could imagine Roberta using on social media if she's one of those people who document every minutiae of their lives online #asifanyoneisinterested.  I will also never look at a bottle stopper in the same way ever again...and again it reminded me of a funny day in my life when one of my colleagues in a design business asked me if I though his sculpture looked like a 'bottle stopper'.  He didn't say bottle stopper, but if you read The M Word you'll know what I mean!  I didn't even know what it was!  #shelteredlife

I abso-blooming-lutely recommend The M Word: it's fresh, honest and filled to the brim with sparkling dry humour.  It's so good I definitely want to read it again!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:




Buy it from Amazon



About the author:

Eileen Wharton is not the naughty great-grandaughter of Edith Wharton. She is currently employed by MI5 but has had various jobs including: wigmaker to Donald Trump, Megan Fox’s stunt double and Ann Summers ‘toy’ tester. She also tells lies for a living.
She currently has five ‘lively’ offspring ranging from thirty to ten years of age and has no plans to procreate further much to the relief of the local schools and police force.
Her first novel, ‘Shit Happens’ was published in 2011 to worldwide critical acclaim. She’s also won awards for exaggeration. It did top the Amazon humour chart so she’s officially a best-selling author.
Her first children’s picture book, ‘The Shmoogly Boo’ was published in the same year and another is in the pipeline entitled, ‘My Dad’s Better than Your Dad.’
Her first crime novel, ‘Blanket of Blood’ was launched as a paperback on Friday 28th November 2016. She is now working on the sequel ‘Blood’s Thicker.’
 She teaches English to teenagers and lives on a council estate in Bishop Auckland. She has never eaten kangaroo testicles, is allergic to cats and has a phobia of tinned tuna.

Author links
http://eileenwhartonwrite.wixsite.com/eileenwharton




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