I wonder whether after reading their stories you will also think that all 3 boys were spoilt too much by their parents or whether we just saw them at their lowest points of their lives. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The characters are witty and real, their dilemmas are poignant, and Lisa Jewell ties the whole thing together with enough romance to satisfy even the most jaded reader. But, with the release of her new work "A Friend of the Family", she goes beyond her previous talent and moves into the higher talent ranking of Helen Fielding and Marian Keyes. It was an easy read and I felt quite sad after it ended because I liked the characters and wanted to know how their lives continued.

The dilemmas weren't solved immediately, nor in the most obvious way, but the solutions are ultimately satisfying and uplifting. Whilst we have a mysterious incomer to the family in the form of an unexpected lodger, the title of this one could mean any member of this family, are they actually looking out for one another or just playing it that way on the surface. With this book she has left the realm of "chick lit" behind and this book should appeal to male and female readers alike. I just love how Lisa Jewell feeds us tiny morsels at a time to keep our attention and curiosity so that we keep flicking those pages. The “friend” is a mysterious lodger who works to help the brothers who all have problems in their lives.Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over thirty languages. Admittedly, I do prefer her newer material as it’s a lot more grittier, however her older books are lovely and have a real feel-good element to them. A hilarious, dead-on-target story from the New York Times bestselling author of The Family Upstairs. Lisa is a number one New York Times and Sunday Times author who has sold over ten million books worldwide and been published in over twenty-five languages.

I listened to it and I did not like the narrator so that could be one reason why I didn’t care for it and the second is I was waiting for a mystery because every book I’ve read that is by the schedule has been a suspenseful book but this was just a romance. He was with his high school sweetheart for years until he meets a woman at a bar and decides to go off to Australia with her. Their parents have a new lodger, Gervase—why is Bernie, their mother, so keen to give this unsavory waif a home? Also, I love the way Jewell tackles the subject of sibling rivalry with such insight, wit and poignancy.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. One of these brothers was REALLY REALLY dumb and it made me crazy but at the end he sorted everything out, thank god! Families can be funny things, so, I questioned sometimes about the individual support of each other; was this because they had to or because it was freely heartfelt given?

The author does a great job describing the characters, so that you get a good rounded sense of each one and even wish you were a "friend of [their] family. This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Her previous work has always been on my list of favorite "chick lit" - work such as "Ralph's Party", "Thirtynothing" and "One-Hit Wonder" are great British imports and each offer a new and amazing quality to Ms. Lisa Jewell transcends the British chick lit genre by creating complex characters with problems many readers can relate to.Ned's inability to figure out his goals or where he fits in mirror the crises of young people today. With that being said after I looked up the synopsis and realized it was not a thriller, I was able to focus a little bit more on the actual story and not waiting for what was coming.