Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Book Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Dumped

By Cindy Roesel

Posy Fairweather should be on top of the world when her boyfriend, Matt proposes to her – oh right, she is on a mountain in the Alps when he drops to his knee. But in Jenny Colgan’s latest novel, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DUMPED (LittleBrown/HarperCollins), Matt’s proposal has Posy rethinking her past boyfriends and wondering why they didn’t work out. So, she does the obvious thing and reconnects with them. Because if you’re worried about getting married, why not lie before you take the plunge. It didn’t make sense to me, either, but I went along with it to finish the book.

Posy’s would-be fiancé, Matt is a personal trainer at a gym, and somewhat frowned upon in her circle. Mom’s a psychologist divorced from her dad and basically thinks men are scum. Posy looks up her boyfriend from University, Chris and finds him in a remote part of the Shetland Islands. She braves the elements to visit him and finds out she doesn’t love him, but news of her trip leaks to Matt and he takes back his ring. Her resistance to follow the grass is always greener syndrome doesn’t stop there. Then she’s on to Adam, a true wanker by all her friends accounts. Then she’s off to find Almaric and things continue to get complicated and not any better with Matt who still apparently loves her.

I couldn't really figure out where Jenny Colgan was going with this novel, or what was the point. It took on a bunch of different focuses without really settling on one, until the end. We learn her mom has bad mouthed her dad, and Posy has been estranged from him all these years. Turns out, her main problem has been not resolving her relationship with her dad. By the time we get to that, we're at the end and readers have either hung in there or closed the book on THE GOOD, THE BAD and THE DUMPED. It's cute, but not one of my favorite Jenny Colgan novels. But of course, that's just my opinion. Maybe it'll be different for you.

Thanks to William Morrow for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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