Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Ex-Girlfriends United by Matt Dunn


I love when you discover an author that makes you laugh out loud when you are reading one of their works. Life can be very stressful, and to me, there isn’t anything better than a well written comic novel. Matt Dunn is a great author that seamlessly blends elements of humor, romance, and manly friendship together to make the perfect fun novel.

I read and loved Matt Dunn’s novel, The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook last fall. At that time, I expressed a great desire in my review to read more about the main characters Dan and Ed. I was excited to discover that two of my favorite fictional characters were back in Ex-Girlfriends United.

As TV’s Dan Davis (presenter on an antique program called There’s a Will), Dan has had no trouble finding the ladies in Brighton. After a sudden lack of success on the dating front, Dan looks to his best friend Ed for support. Ed and his girlfriend, Sam, discover that Dan has quite the profile on SlateYourDate.com, a site where Dan’s previous girlfriends tell their tales of woe about him. While SlateYourDate.com helps Dan to earn a role as a cad (Wayne Kerr) on a soap opera called Close Encounters, Dan realizes that he will no longer be able to pick up new chicks unless he is able to make amends to the past girlfriends he has slighted. With Ed as his sidekick, Dan tracks down his past girlfriends, but also realizes that all of his relationships fail because they can never measure up to his lost love, Polly. Will Dan be able to get his love life going again? Will he be able to make amends with Polly?

As in The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook, the novel is told through the prospective of Ed. In this book, Ed is happy with Sam, but their happiness is threatened when Ed’s ex-girlfriend Jane arrives back in Brighton. Jane has decided she wants Ed back and strategizes to try to break Ed and Sam up.

I really enjoyed Ex-Girlfriends United. I loved the humor and I love Dan and Ed. Their witty banter is perfect. Although the book is about their dating lives on the surface, it is really about their manly friendship. They help may harass each other a lot, but underneath it all, they would do anything for each other. I read some of the funny conversations and quips from Dan and Ed to my husband and the thought they were hilarious or only too true as well. It’s fun reading a novel about men and what they think about dating, written by a man.

Overall, I loved Ex-Girlfriends United. If you are looking for a fun and funny book to read this summer, I highly recommend this book along with The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook.

For a chance to win a copy of this novel read this great guest blog from Matt Dunn. You really get a sense of his witty writing from this blog post!

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

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