Winner of Ex-Girlfriends United by Matt Dunn!

Ex-Girlfriends United was a great book that had me laughing and enjoying reading every word. I hope the lucky winner enjoys the book as much as I did. And this lucky winner is Enamored Soul of The Chronicles of an Enamored Soul. Congrats!!

Enamored Soul has until Tuesday July 5th to send me her mailing address. If I don't receive by then, I will draw a new winner. She was chosen using random.org.

Thank-you to Matt Dunn for the fantastic guest blog (one of the best I've ever read!), and for writing such an enjoyable book. Thank-you to Sourcebooks for allowing me to review the book and host this giveaway. And thank-you to all that entered and left great comments.

I still have two giveaways currently going on as seen on my right sidebar!

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!

On Writing "Manly" Romance (and Humor) by Matt Dunn (and GIVEAWAY!)

I understand that there's something weird about me. No, not a sixth toe, or a third nipple, but the fact that I write romance novels. And I'm a man.

Not that I've always been aware of this. When my novel, The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook, was shortlisted for a major romance award in the UK, I had to admit I was surprised. Not only because I'd been shortlisted, but also because it was the first time I'd actually heard my novel described as 'romantic'. I'd just assumed everything I wrote was comedy - romantic comedy, sure, and there was a love interest, but on reflection, I'd perhaps tended to undersell – or even overlook - the 'romance' side of it. Or maybe gloss over it a little - after all, I suppose it's hardly the most macho of professions for a red-blooded male to admit to.

Besides, while my books are undoubtedly romances, they're 'bromances', too, given how the friendship between the two main characters, Ed and Dan, plays out through each story. I've always found the dynamics of friendships interesting – sometimes they go through the same ups and downs that relationships do. And having two characters who are such great friends and yet such opposites allows me to have a lot of fun with them – hopefully, that comes through to the reader, too.

For me, the comedy element is extremely important, and is something I've always been drawn to. I think the old adage 'comedy = tragedy + time' is true – after all, how often do we say 'you'll look back on this and laugh' when something particularly bad has happened? Given that a lot of the situations in my books have happened to me, and I've been able to make something funny out of them, it's certainly a phrase I repeat often. And I'd add something to that too, in that 'comedy also = tragedy that happens to other people'. Want proof? Just look how funny those home video clip shows of people falling over and hurting themselves are.

And that's the fun thing about being a novelist. You can make all sorts of bad things happen to all sorts of people and nobody actually gets hurt. If you can spin it into something funny, then so much the better - which is fundamentally where the humour comes from in Ex-Girlfriends United, I think: nobody would want to be any of the girls that Dan has put through dating hell, and certainly nobody would want to have to perform the kind of karmic reparations they make him do, but because it's someone else it's happening to – i.e. not you or I – it's funny!

It's not that I'm ashamed of what I write – quite the opposite, in fact. The trouble is, tell people you've written six romantic novels, and they'll expect you to be some sort of expert on the subject. Many's the time I've been cornered at a party by someone wanting my advice on a particular aspect of their relationship. What they don't realise is that the only reason I know so much about romance is because I used to be so bad at it myself – to quote Dan, when Ed asks him why he's such an expert on relationships; 'Because I've had so many, obviously!' Though the upside of that, I suppose, is that I've got a lot of material, which can only be a good thing.

I'm proud of what I do, though. And while I'm not quite at the stage where I'm going to be wearing a T-shirt with the words 'I'm a Romantic Novelist' printed on the front, I'm certainly not going to deny it.

Unless I find myself in a biker bar. In which case, if anyone asks, I'm a Navy SEAL.

Thank-you Matt for the great guest blog! It's not secret that I LOVED Matt Dunn's novel, The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook and found it to be highly entertaining and witty. I am very excited about his new book Ex-Girlfriends United. I'll have my review of the book up next week. In the meantime, see below for a chance to win a copy of this new novel.

Giveaway Details
Beth from Sourcebooks has been kind enough to offer one copy of Ex-Girlfriends United by Matt Dunn for a giveaway.

If you would like to win a copy of Ex-Girlfriends United please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel or this guest blog.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday June 24th.

Good luck!

The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook by Matt Dunn

As a nursing mother of an (almost) four week old, I need to read books that will keep me entertained and riveted even if it is 2 in the morning. The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook did just that. I had a hard time putting it down and finished it in record time.

Edward Middleton has been dating his girlfriend Jane for ten years until one fateful day when he returns to his flat to find it half empty with a “Dear John” note left behind. Jane’s “Dear John” note has the rather cruel line, “It’s not me – it’s you” and proceeds to tell Edward how he has let himself go and that Jane has had enough. Jane hasn’t just moved across town, but is gone to Tibet for two months.

Together with his best friend Dan, the “star” of a mid-morning antiques show, Edward formulates a plan to get himself back into shape in two months in order to win back Jane’s love. Besides losing weight, exercising, and quitting smoking, the plan also includes a flat makeover, a new car, and more experience in the world of dating by using speed dating. Through it all, Edward learns more about himself and gains self confidence.

I loved this book. The premise had me from the start. I love that this novel was written by a man and the storyline is the typical “chick lit” story with a man as the protagonist instead. The novel digs into the inner workings of a man to show that he is a well rounded being with feelings too, not just the loser or prize of most “chick lit” or romance novels.

The book is set in Brighton (United Kingdom) and I loved the unique setting (i.e., not London or New York). The best part of the novel though was the characters. I loved Edward and Dan. Their witty dialogue fairly sparked off the page. I would love to read more novels with them as the protagonists. The humor was fantastic and kept me very entertained.

I also must say that I loved the cover of this book. It made me laugh whenever I looked at it with the headless man gripping his broken heart. Once again, I love the different take on a tale of the broken hearted, with the broken hearted being a man rather than a woman.

Overall, I loved The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook and highly recommend it for anyone that is looking for an entertaining, witty, quick read. I need to check out more of Matt Dunn’s novels.

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