Okay, so I actually read this book back in the beginning of 2019 (maybe even towards the end of 2018), but I forgot to review it. Oh well.

It is actually a very enjoyable read, I read it in one-go while waiting to catch a flight back home. From what I remember it features a likeable, hilarious main character - it is, after all, one of the very few books I read during my first two years of university, let alone actually remember. Overall, a very entertaining and funny book, with some incredibly sweet and touching moments.

I had never read Patricia Caliskan before she is a very realistic writer! I laughed a lot reading this book which was a good change from the mystery I normal read.

I love finding new authors. This is a very good book.
It took me an emotional rollercoaster from the beginning to the end. It was very easy to gel with the characters and there was one character that I gelled with immediately.
Well worth a read

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I almost, almost gave up on this book at the get go simply because I couldn't fathom how a young, vibrant 26 year old woman could put up with so much crap from her partner and his children. It was extremely annoying to read. However, as I moved along through the book, something changed for me. I began to understand Ella a little bit more. This became a bit of a guilty pleasure book for me although I constantly found myself rooting for Ella's freedom. I can't stand bratty children and a lazy partner.
The ending was mediocre and most of the characters were annoying. I'm not sure that I found this as funny as I probably should have. It was just ok.

Title: Girlfriend, Interrupted



Author: Patricia Caliskan



Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Blended Families, Drama



Plot: Twenty-six year old Ella is quite happy being Dan's girlfriend and seeing his kids on the weekends when they visit and all go out on adventures. But since moving in together, the dynamic has changed and Ella doesn't know what to do about it. Throughout the week they are a happy overworked couple. But on the weekend, Dan retreats and spoils his kids to the point where they use Ella as a verbal boxing bag. All of which leaves Ella drained and feeling distanced from her dreamy boyfriend. The only one who really loves her is the dog.



Throw in some in-laws, her sex therapist mother and Dan's icy ex-wife and we have a recipe for a big family meltdown. Will Ella come out stronger or crumble under all the pressure and responsibility she never asked for?



Likes/Dislikes: I liked the cover and was really hoping for a nice sweet romance. And I did try hard to actually read this book. It got a lot of good reviews. But sadly, it wasn't my cup of tea. We are thrown into the romantic relationship several months after Ella and Dan have moved in together. We meet Ella and a ton of described jumbled co-workers in the first chapter before she goes off to lunch with her mother who is the best described character so far in the story. Then we meet Dan who is barely there at all and his children, one of which is a horrible little pre-teen girl. Pre-teen girls don't act like that in my experience. And it's all written in first person with a jumble of past and present tense which was hard to read.



Rating: PG-14 and up; conversations about sex, etc.



Date Review Written: August 27th, 2018



I received a copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley for my opinion and I wasn't required to write a positive review. the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

Elle falls in love with Dan, a divorcee with two kids. This book is about Elle coping with life after moving in with Dan. With the age difference and the sudden upheaval from single girl life to a live-in girlfriend seem to be too much for Elle to handle. What with Dan's kids turning against her, and Dan's mom turning up at every corner, it is a crowded life. Finally, Elle breaks up with Dan when things get out of control and then the rest of the book is her figuring things out.

What did I love about this book, it was a very light read. It was not one of those heavy family dramas and instead had plenty of lighthearted humour. I did feel a little bit difficult to connect with Elle though. Perhaps that is just me.
On the whole, it was a great book, a good story and a few laughs included.

I enjoyed the understated British style humor in this book. If you're a fan of BBC TV shows, I think you'll enjoy Girlfriend, Interrupted.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! Not what I expected and was pleasantly surprised and glad I requested this book. It's a refreshing story of love and fate.

My review has been posted to Goodreads.

Review has also been tweeted as usual.

Thank you! :c)

***I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.***

I enjoyed Girlfriend, Interrupted: From carefree twenty-something to instant mother-of-two..., by Patricia Caliskan. It was an honest look at what it might be like to be thrown headfirst into being a stepmom for a young woman who has no experience with kids. The summary suggests it’s a romantic comedy. I only wish there’d been a little more romance.

Ella lives with her boyfriend Dan. Dan’s 2 kids spend weekends with them. His daughter is almost 13 and brimming with attitude, constantly taking digs at Ella and reminding her how perfect her mom is in comparison. Dan’s mum makes her feel equally inadequate, and her own mother is constantly passing judgements and making assumptions about Ella and her choices. Ella simply wants to make everyone happy, but in the process, she might just forget how to make herself happy.

I really liked Ella. She works hard in both her professional and personal life. Trying to keep a precocious, opiniated teen in check is hard for anyone, but even harder for a step parent, and Ella’s not even that. She’s just a live-in girlfriend. Dan’s life revolves around his business and family, but most specifically around his kids. To be honest, it broke my heart how often he excluded or ignored Ella’s needs for everyone else’s, including his ex-wife. Mind you, he’s a laidback guy just trying to wade through the chaos too, so he was bound to butt heads with Ella who was always working so hard to be perfect. There were certain scenes where I was angry at him for his priorities, and I was unsurprised when things come to a head for Ella. The book builds towards that pivotal moment where Ella finally realizes she can’t take anymore. It was after that point where it disappointed me a little. I understood that Ella needed to regroup, but I was frustrated by the amount of time she took to do it. And then I was further disappointed by Dan’s distance. There’s giving space and giving up; he was pretty much at the latter. I wanted to see him fight for her, even a little, and I just didn’t get that. The small amount we see before the end I’d have to credit to his daughter, not him. Not every romance is going to be sizzling hot, and I enjoyed the subtlety of this one, but in the end, after all the hurt feelings, my heart needed a little fire from Dan to prove he would do anything to win Ella back.

There are plenty of laughs in this book, more laughs than romance to be sure. The author throws lots of minor characters into the mix to keep the story moving and the reader laughing. There’s also a lot of judgment, but Caliskan did a good job balancing both sides of the judgments by giving us Dan’s perspective on things. If I could have changed anything about the story, it would have been for Ella to speak up to Dan when she was feeling cast aside instead of keeping her emotions inside, and for Dan to have given his daughter Grace consequences when she was out of line.

Overall this was an enjoyable read, and I’d be happy to check out more titles by this author.

Ella Shawe met the man of her dreams--who also has two children. This isn't a story of how she wants/needs the children's approval. It is how she adapts to life after living with Dan and his children for the past seven months. Ella is trying to be the best step-girlfriend she can be but creating home-cooked meals and going on a cleaning frenzy--both things she is not comfortable doing. None of it is anything that Dan asked her to do. Ella also feels like she is competing with Dan's ex-wife, who seems to be completely perfect. She wanted the children to embrace her and become a family. But Ella also has to content with her mother--a sex therapist who has a radio show. Ella feels like that nothing she does is enough for Dan's children especially his tween daughter who is starting her teen angst early. To add to her insecurities, Dan's mother keeps making off-handed comments about how Ella isn't doing anything correctly especially when it comes to Dan's two children.

What does Ella do? She breaks up with Dan because--well a girl can only take so much. But will Dan be able to bring her back? Can they ever be together as a family? How can she measure up to all that pressure?

Ella has recently moved in with her boyfriend Dan and she is now the step-girlfriend of his kids Grace, 12, and Ethan, 8. She also has to deal with Dan's mother who always finds her lacking and Dan's ex-wife, who is always perfect. And on top of that, she hates her boss and is missing her ex-flatmate Kim. I felt like the writing wasn't always flowing and was sometimes slightly difficult to follow, but I enjoyed the story and how Ella was able to grow throughout the story in her relationship and in her work.

Girlfriend, Interrupted, Patricia Caliskan

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance, Humour.

I hate it when book blurbs promise “you will cry with laughter/hilarious/laugh out loud” etc. Too often I find its forced comedy at best.
This book though is different, the humour was perfect, typical British understated, so carefully tucked in I almost missed parts ;-) and that's what I love. Subtle humour, words and actions that make me smile, while still delivering a story that's interesting.

Its a slice of modern day life, “blended families” as the self help books and Sunday supplements so often say. What they mean is that part where families break up, parents meet new loves, kids are caught between two homes, two sets of parents, and can play the emotions to their best effects sometimes. Its tough, my mum used to have a saying “you can't do right for doing wrong” and I guess that fits these scenes. Whatever you do is wrong with someone.

I loved the characters, so very real, not perfect despite first impressions, and I could see this story happening easily.
I so felt for poor Ella, she loves Dan, is trying so hard to be what the family need, to help the kids, to push her career at work, to be a good friend and sometimes it seems there just aren't enough hours. Among all that where's the time for Ella?
Pippa, Dan's mum, delights in encouraging the kids memories of idyllic times with perfect Bryony, pulls out perfect family photos, refers to the home as Bryony's still, but time sneaks in the truth. Perfect Bryony though is struggling in her new marriage. Then Ella's mum and the wonderful Jeremiah, I want to be her....and maybe have a toyboy like him ;-) The kids, Ethan is a great lad, so loving and accepting while like so many kids his sister, Grace, is struggling. Of course she wants Bryony and Dan back together, most kids want their parents together, and its beyond their understanding why that can't happen. She's awful to Ella, who tries valiantly to step forward, to help her, to hold the kids weekends as something precious. Ella however spends so much of her time flying round, mending events, picking up pieces, arranging things others have dropped, forgotten, ignored, and runs herself ragged trying to be all things to all (wo)men.
Then there's Dan. Oh how I wanted to slap in at times, he loves Ella, loves his kids but seemed blindly ignorant to just how hard it was for her. The chaotic party was so illustrative of everything she was fighting. It made me wonder how often scenes like these play out every weekend.

Its a fabulous story, subtle, perfect humour, so much emotion, a feeling of real love between Dan and Ella in danger of being broken by the pressures of step parenting and fractured families. The only part that stops this from being a five is the end, its too quick, too rushed and for a romance I need, if not a HEA, then at least a very, very solid HFN. This ending suggests things will work out but I need it to be written in stone ;-)

Stars: Four, a little more on the ending and this would be a five.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and Publishers