DO men have biological clocks? (Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle)

Member Name: Lbird99

Product:	Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle
Date:	03/05/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy Read, funny

Disadvantages: Too Short

Having read everything by Matt Dunn and loving the chick lit from a bloke's perspective a friend recommended Mike Gayle to me, and I picked up Dinner for Two from a charity shop for 70p, so seemed worthy of a read

Mike Gayle is a freelance Journalist who previously worked as an agony uncle, so I suppose it should come as no surprise that his main character, Dave Harding is a redundant Music Jouranalist who ends up working as an agony uncle while freelancing for his wife's magazine. This may be why Dave's character comes across as so realistic - still there is no harm in writing about what you know!!

Dave and Izzy are the perfect couple, they love spending cosy evenings together and have no plans to have children. But when Izzy accidently falls pregnant all that changes and they are both over the moon. When Izzy miscarries their baby it effects them both in different ways. Izzy is adamant that she doesn't want to go through such heartbreak again, while Dave founds his biological clock is ticking louder than ever.

When his music magazine folds Dave finds he has a flare for advice giving while freelancing for Teen Scene magazine, and he takes up a position as their Agony Uncle. When he receives a letter from 13 year old Nicola he is gob smacked to discover that Nicola thinks Dave is her father, and she can prove it.. What follows is the emotional effect this discovery has on Dave, and his already fragile relationship with Izzy.

Dinner for Two is written in first person from Dave's perspective. The chapters are really short which makes this book a lot shorter than it appears. That is the main problem with this book, it is far too short and lacking in substance - you will easily get through this book in two days maximum. However, there are some really nice touches to this book - I especially liked the articles that Dave wrote for Izzy's magazine, on how to understand blokes. They made me smile.

Although I still prefer Matt Dunn's style of 'bloke lit', I did find Mike Gayle's book rather enjoyable. However I don't think it would be worth the price had I bought it new. I would definitely pack his books in my suitcase as a beach read due to their short and simple style, but would be looking for them in my local charity shop, rather than book shop.

Summary: Bloke-Lit Beach Read