I have long been a fan of Ruth Jones – having watched Gavin & Stacey from the start, and also loving her other series on Sky One, Stella.  Somehow I missed her first novel – but when I saw her second novel on NetGalley – I jumped at an advance review copy.

Here’s the blurb:

“Meet Lana, Judith and Catrin. Best friends since primary school when they swore an oath on a Curly Wurly wrapper that they would always be there for each other, come what may.

After the trip of a lifetime, the three girls are closer than ever. But an unexpected turn of events shakes the foundation of their friendship to its core, leaving their future in doubt – there’s simply too much to forgive, let alone forget. An innocent childhood promise they once made now seems impossible to keep .”

The first chapter of the book is before a funeral – so you know this isn’t going to be all laughs – but it then goes back in time to see what happens to get to that point.

At the start of the book I was a bit confused – you were introduced to the 3 girls and their family and friends and there was just a lot of people all at once.  I liked the style of the book – and the ‘Welshness’ of it – you could ‘hear’ their voices and Welsh accents very well.

But, I have to confess I  was really disappointed at the start because I didn’t immediately LOVE it – it was fine, but just felt a bit boring and samey and not the amazing book I’d expected from Ruth’s TV series writing.

However, I persevered – and I’m glad I did, because about 1/3 of the way through it really improved.  Certain things happened which totally changed the story line from the comfortable, predictable, slightly boring friendship triangle into a PROPER unique book.

It moved forwards from the 80s through to the present(ish) day at quite a pace – with the changes facing each of the girls and how their friendship is affected by the passing years.

Some of it is really sad – and did make me cry – but there are equally lots of funny bits too.  Just like Ruth’s TV writing, it’s a really good character driven story – where the personalities of people are crucial.

Overall it was a fun, easy read – and I would definitely read a  book by Ruth Jones in the future.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.