Sally Parker is struggling to find the hero inside herself.
All she wants to do is lie down.
Her husband Frank has lost his business, their home and their savings, in one fell swoop. Their bank cards are being declined. The children are running wild. And now the bailiffs are at the door.
What does an ordinary woman do when the bottom falls out?
Sally Parker is about to surprise everybody.
Most of all herself.
This was a compelling and thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish with a great storyline, interesting cast of characters and all capped off by skilful writing. It's well worth your time if you appreciate great storytellers.

Thank you for the advanced copy.

I enjoyed reading this, well put together, good storyline, I loved Sally. It made me laugh several times and was an ideal read while sat in the garden.

Recommended

"THIRTY-TWO!!! WHO OWNS THIRTY-TWO COCKING LAWNMOWERS? I'll tell you who owns thirty-two lawnmowers, a PRICK owns thirty-two lawnmowers. A rich, capitalist, cock of a man who's leaching off the land, the workers and the poor. WHO THE COCK NEEDS THIRTY-TWO LAWNMOWERS?"

Alas the only line of sense in this novel comes from an incidental character who has an impact but who is generally treated as ridiculous.

I like Mel's TV work a lot. But this was nowhere near the standard. Dull, implausible characters in an entirely uninteresting setting, told at unnecessary length. I had no sympathy for the family. From halfway it was a slog to get through to the end.

This was a really amusing story. Initially I found myself being very frustrated with Sally, you know where the book is heading and it’s so annoying that she’s such a useless, wet blanket!! As the plot develops Sally begins to find her inner strength. The characters are funny, and (hopefully) caricatures of the sorts of people one might encounter if you had buckets of money! It was an easy and enjoyable read, light hearted and a good pick for a summer book.

I received this via netgalley it was a little slow to start but once it did a lot happened. This book did make me laugh.

I was really looking forward to this book and was eying it up in the shop so was very excited when I received a copy however unfortunately I was left disappointed. I didn’t find myself liking any of the characters, there was so many characters it was hard to keep track and they all felt extremely superficial. The writing was overly descriptive and I couldn’t cope with the amount of ‘mental notes’ one character made to act on very few of them. The only major thing to happen in the book is also on the blurb, I kept wondering if anything else was coming but it didn’t. Such a shame as I wanted to love it but just didn’t

Review will be posted on @redwoodreads Instagram and has been posted to goodreads (LARedwood). Thankyou to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly sending me this recent release!

Sally Parker is struggling to find the hero inside herself.
All she wants to do is lie down.
Her husband Frank has lost his business, their home and their savings, in one fell swoop. Their bank cards are being declined. The children have gone feral. And now the bailiffs are at the door.
What does an ordinary woman do when the bottom falls out?
Sally Parker is about to surprise everybody.
Most of all herself.

A comical and enjoyable read. Fast paced and great writing style, loved it!

Understated and funny. The first book by Mel that I’ve read and I found it to be an entertaining read by one of our most well know and loved personalities. Read and enjoy.

After reading the first chapter I was sure I wasn't going to enjoy this book. But I kept going. A whole cast of pretty unlikable characters. Bit tongue in cheek. Felt sorry for Sally. I was hoping Frank would learn a lesson. Wonder what happens next to the family. A sequel? Like Sue on the telly but none of her came across in the book. Not sure it lived up to my expectations but it was a quick light read.

I really enjoyed this offering from Mel Giedroyc! Funny and engaging with characters you warm to despite them not being necessarily that likeable! The main character Sally, a rich wife and mother who appears to have outsourced all aspects of her life, including the care of her children, leads her family out from the depths of financial ruin and finds herself in the process- what’s not to like!

Sad to say that I found this rather predictable. The tone of the book really irritated me too. After all the hype - the quotes from other authors saying how amazing this book is - I was expecting great things but it fell way short. Have to wonder if this would have been published at all if the author hadn't been a well-known name.

I loved this book, it far exceeded my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It’s one I absolutely raced through because I was enjoying it so much.

A joy to read …. Frank Sally and their family have everything they could wish for - Frank a successful hedge fund manager provides a lap of luxury and Sally’s days are spent at the gym spa shopping and lunching with her equally wealthy friends….. then things change the market goes into downfall and the business is no more and Frank and Sally are broke. From riches to rags we see this eclectic family struggle through realising who their true friends are and what is really important!!

The Best Things was for me clearly a book of two halves. After reading the synopsis of the book, I presumed that the plot would very quickly get to the point where the family lose everything. As this did not actually happen until around 50% of the book, I felt that that the first half of the book was not what I had signed up for, as it was all about a rich family living a spoiled, ungrateful existence in Leatherhead, Surrey. I felt that the first 50% could have been reduced to a couple of short chapters. If it had been a book by an unknown author, I would have abandoned reading it.
However, the second half of the book, which was the storyline I was expecting from the synopsis was actually very enjoyable. I loved how the story developed and the characters blossomed and grew on me.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mel Giedroyc's debut novel was a very enjoyable read.

The Parker's were a family who had it all. Until they didn't. In the story, we follow the Parker's trying to find their way through the world, as they try and work out what it means for them as a family. Some thriving and some just about surviving.

There were times when I wanted to shake some members of the family, particularly about their seeming inability to use the little money they had in a more sensible way. But, ultimately, I wanted the family to pull together and find a way in the new world they had fallen into. Mel Giedroyc delivers a well-paced and entertaining read.

I wanted to read this book as I have always liked Mel and Sue. But I was a bit disappointed and maybe the book was not for me.
The Parker family are wealthy family and they all have odd characteristics.
A lot about horse manure as a start to the story which seemed unrequiired.

Thanks to net galley and Headline

When you read this you can hear Mels voice as clear as day. She IS the main character, Sally. When life goes wrong can Sally make it right again? She can….and this book explores the family dynamic when things go awry and it does so in a humorous and at times gleeful way., there are some very very funny scenes that will have you chuckling away as you picture them in your head.
Mel writes as she speaks; warmth, wit, humour and kindness. If you only read one book this summer make it this one

A little bit far fetched for me, but still a light hearted read with lots of funny antidotes and a fast read!

I enjoyed this book - as with any family you don’t like all of the members all of the time. The family start off stupidly rich although self made - this is rapidly lost as their wealth is tied to the stock markets, the head of the family becomes ill (apparently narcolepsy but this is questionable). The story then twists and turns as family members each have their own journey to go on trying to find a place to be and a way back from ruin. The book was good and you felt invested in each character, however, at the end - there were a number of loose ends. I’m hoping this will mean there will be a book two and not that the author ran out of steam.