Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Received an arc from Edelweiss for an honest review.
Expected Release: November 19th 2019
This book wasn't what I was expecting. Granted, I hadn't read the synopsis since I requested the book on Edelweiss, but when I picked it up I forgot that it was a humorous adult contemporary and not some sappy romance book. I should also mention that I preferred the humor to the predicted romance.
This book is about Dan, "Danny" or Daniel Mayrock. He is married to his amazing, incredible wife Jill. Dan met his wife at a staff meeting at the school where they both worked. Dan no longer works at the school because he quit to open up a successful bookshop. Except that it's not successful. It does not bring in enough income to support him and his, now pregnant, wife. What makes this whole situation even worse? Jill thinks they are financially stable. Dan will go to whatever lengths it takes to save his family from falling apart. And while he wants to save the bookstore and his finances, he also wants to become someone because he isn't completely sure who he is, which makes his life even more difficult. He wants to be more than ordinary. He is done feeling like a failure. And he is done comparing himself to his wife's dead husband, Peter. Dan writes lists to help him achieve these goals in the most sincere and humorous way possible.
The fact that this book is written completely in lists makes me love it even more. I love love love lists. They help me achieve goals and they just keep all my unorganized shit, somewhat organized. I underestimated how well a story could be told through lists, but Dan was full-fleshed, sincere and unforgettable and I learned all this through his lists about his life. Dan was my favorite about this story (clearly because it's all about Dan and his struggles). Other than that, all of the other characters were lackluster and not very interesting. Most of the other characters, besides Bill, lacked for me, even Jill. I wanted more about them but the parts we did get weren't enough to keep me interested in them and made their parts of the story boring.
The plot of the book is quite serious but is written in a humorous way and I appreciate how Matthew Dicks wrote this. Dan's whole life is pretty much falling apart and yet he still counts how many days he's gone without A Little Debbies Snack Cake.
Overall, if you're looking for something light and funny, with a hint of seriousness, then I would definitely recommend this .
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