I would like to thank Penguin Random House, GP Putnam’s Sons, Netgalley, and the author for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Guncle Love Languages
1- Silence
2- “Finer Things. Don’t save them for a day that may never come, enjoy them with someone you love now.”
3- “There’s nothing money can buy that beats life’s free joys with the people you care about”
4- “Think of your loved one’s favorite things. And do those.”
5- “Spending time together.”

Read if you like:
😆 Witty banter
🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Family centered stories
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQIA2s+ rep
🥹 Stories of healing

The Guncle is back for a big family wedding in Italy! Patrick’s brother Greg is getting remarried 5 years after the death of his wife, Patrick’s best friend, and Maisie and Grant’s mom. Greg is worried about the kids and asks Patrick to take care of them while he and Livia finalize the wedding plans. Patrick takes the kids on a European adventure and tries to teach them how people show their love using the Guncle Love Languages. Meanwhile, Patrick is coming to terms with his impending 50th birthday and his recent breakup with Emory.

I adore these characters. Patrick is perfectly snarky with a big heart, the kids are smart and adorable, and the new characters are cool and fun. The relationship between Patrick and the kids is so sweet and I loved seeing his growth and vulnerability. I also really liked that we have a new take on the love languages as Patrick tried to get the kids to see the love between Greg and Livia. I laughed a lot and cried, as I with all Steven Rowley books. This is a beautiful love story.

I was not a fan of Patrick in the first one; I found him immature and annoying. In this one, however, he has grown up, and I loved him! He was snarky when needed, with fun references that Gen Xers will get, and sweet and understanding when his niece and nephew needed him to be. This book was funny and heartwarming. I loved visiting different cities in Europe with them as he teaches them about love and relationships. A perfect summer read!

The Guncle was one of my top books when I read it in 2021 and I was so excited to be back with GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick). Luckily, this sequel did not disappoint. This book picks up a few years after the first book ends. Now, Patrick’s brother is getting remarried in Italy, Patrick is single, and Maisie and Grant are older and very unhappy about their dad’s new relationship. As they all travel to Italy for the wedding, Patrick tries to open the kids up to love and get them on board with their dad’s marriage. This book is filled with the same humor and heart I fell in love with in the first book. Steven Rowley writes incredibly complex and beautiful family dynamics and I loved seeing the characters in this new stage of life. This book was a warm hug and left my heart feeling so happy. It was definitely another winner!
Thank you to Putnam Books for the advance copy.

The Guncle Abroad picks up 5 years after the prequel., Patrick's career is thriving, coming off a sitcom run. Maisie and Grant are 11 and 14, and their dad is about to get re-married. Leading up to the wedding in Lake Como, Patrick travels around Europe with the kids and tries to teach them about love, while revisiting his own recently failed relationship.

The novel is structured around the various destinations the trio visits, from the romantic streets of Paris to the historical marvels of Rome and the bustling energy of London. Each location is vividly described, not just in terms of its physical beauty but also in how it impacts the characters. Rowley uses these settings to explore deeper themes such as grief, identity, and the meaning of family. Patrick's journey is not just geographical but also emotional, as he reflects on his past relationships and contemplates his future.

One of the standout elements of The Guncle Abroad is its humor. Rowley has a knack for balancing laugh-out-loud moments with scenes that tug at the heartstrings. Patrick's sharp tongue and penchant for dramatic flair provide plenty of comic relief, while the children's antics add an extra layer of fun. Yet, beneath the humor, there is a profound exploration of love and loss that gives the story its emotional weight.

I didn't love this quite as much as I loved The Guncle, but it felt like an appropriate and fitting revisit of the first novel.

Uncle Patrick "GUP" is back in the sequel to The Guncle. In this book, Patrick is asked to take his niece and nephew for a few weeks and hopefully cheer them up, then meet Greg, their dad in Italy for his wedding. Greg's first wife passed away 5 yrs ago and he is getting remarried. Maizy and Grant, the children, are not happy at all about this. They voice this to GUP when they see him and make a deal. They will endure his European trip, and learn about the love languages, in return for his promise to talk their dad out of marrying again.

I love the way Steven Rowley writes both this story and the original. When reading it, you can almost hear the characters voices talking. There are parts of this one that are extremely sad, with the kids missing their mom, and parts that are really funny.

If you loved the first novel "The Guncle." I would guess readers would like this one was well. I don't think it is a 5++ rating, which I would give the first book, but I definitely rate it a 5. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group for the ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Our favorite guncle is back and this time he's taking on Europe! Patrick's brother, Greg, is getting married in Italy and Patrick decides to take his niece and nephew on a tour of Europe before the big festivities. Maisie is now a hormonal angry teenager and she is not happy with her dad getting married. Grant is growing out of his little boy phase and trying to figure out what it means to be a pre=teen boy. Patrick has his hands full with these two.

I loved The Guncle so the bar was set very high for the sequel and it did not disappoint. The first half with the adventures around Europe felt a little rushed and chaotic. The second half was everything I absolutely loved about the first novel. The lessons, the family drama, the love. It was perfection. Definitely a must-read if you love the original (which I also highly recommend).

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of The Guncle Abroad.

This one paaaaaaaaaaaaaains me to rate. But I had to DNF around 30%.

I don't know why. It felt forced. It felt slow. It felt like a different Guncle book. I can't put my finger on exactly why it wasn't grabbing me, but that's my problem :(

The narration was great and I laughed a few times, but I think there was no plot for a majority of what I read. I wasn't super interested in hearing about each spot they were going to... I don't know. I think I'm in a book slump and this came to me at the wrong time. The Guncle is one of my favorite books ever, so this sucks to know I didn't care for the sequel.

A lot of readers said the ending is amazing and it makes up for a lack of plot, but I just couldn't force myself to get there. I might spoil it for myself and see how it ended.

But thank you for the ARC. Sorry I suck and wasn't invested.

I really enjoyed this story. The time jump was interesting, and without reading the first story, I felt like not only did I know the characters at the current point in time, but I knew them in the first book as well. I rarely find books that explain so easily the first book without being incredibly obvious about it, but this felt so natural and connected that it really fit together.
THESE CHARACTERS. I love them, I love them so much, I want only the best. I felt like I was truly sitting with a believable family. The kids were so well written it felt like I could feel them growing up and I could feel their pain.
I LOVED the introduction of Palmina. I felt like she was a very nice compliment to Patrick, along with giving him just a little competition for the kids affection.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and I am eager for the next adventure for this lot!

📱 The Guncle Abroad 📱⁣
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⁣Genre- Contemporary Fiction. ⁣
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⁣Length- 320 pages. ⁣
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⁣My thoughts- The Guncle was my favorite book of 2021, so when I heard there was a sequel coming, I was over the moon! Thankfully, this book delivered and felt like I was hanging out with old friends! ⁣
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⁣Patrick, Maisie and Grant are back… and this time they are traveling through Europe on their way to their father’s wedding- an affair the kids want to stop. Patrick decides to teach the kids about love- much like he did about grief. ⁣
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⁣This book was just lovely. The banter is witty and entertaining. The relationships are sweet and I just loved being back in Patrick’s world! Parts of this book felt a little slower, but near the end I found myself crying and then giggling a few pages later— which automatically equals a five star read in my book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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⁣Thank you to @netgalley for an ARC of The Guncle Abroad. It is out now.

I loved The Guncle and was really looking forward to The Guncle Abroad. Unfortunately this sequel did not hit the mark for me. In this book, Patrick has been filming a movie in London when he learns his brother, Greg, is getting remarried, in Italy. Patrick offers to travel around Europe with his niece and nephew, Maisie and Grant , ending in Italy in time for the wedding. But from the moment Maisie and Grant arrive in England, it is obvious that they are not happy or excited about the upcoming nuptials. Patrick takes this opportunity to teach the kids about love languages in hopes of helpIng them to see the importance of their father’s happiness.
I had high hopes for this one but I just felt like it didn’t live up to the hype of The Guncle. The kids’ behavior felt much younger than their actual ages in book. A lot of the storylines were cringy to me. I just couldn’t wait to be done reading.

It was wonderful to be back with Patrick, Maisie, and Grant. I really enjoyed the storyline but have some conflicting opinions about out the ending. The last 15% or so seemed unnecessary, everything culminated at a good ending point but the story continued on. The final portion did have some good wrap up moments for Patrick but I was just completely satisfied with the way things ended while at Lake Como. 4 stars for most of the story, but the end portion brought it down to 3 stars for me.

Thank you Putnam Books and Netgalley for my e-arc! The Guncle Abroad is out now for you to try it too!

Just like the first book this one was a delight. It was funny and heartwarming. I really hope there are more books to come. I love the characters and the whole feeling of the book. Traveling through Europe with GUP and the kids was the perfect start to summer.

I will read everything with the wonderful Guncle in it. I adored the first novel and again loved everything about this follow-up novel. The same wittiness and joy is on every page and I felt engaged and invested from the first word. I'm the President of the Guncle fan club. So fun and wonderful. Thanks to the publisher for a gifted copy. I'm so grateful.

Normally I’m skeptical of sequels when the first book is perfect and doesn’t end on cliffhanger, but I was so excited to see that Steven Rowley decided to continue the adventures of Patrick, Maisie, and Grant! I absolutely fell in love with this amazing uncle and his adorable niece and nephew in the original book, The Guncle and while it would have been fine as a stand alone, I seriously needed more of the amazing GUP and his Guncle’s Rules for Life.
In this second installment, taking place five years after The Guncle, Patrick is in London finishing up filming a movie when his brother, Greg, calls to tell him he’s getting married in a month in Italy and Maisie and Grant (now 14 and 11) are very unhappy. Patrick offers to take them and tells Greg the trio will meet him in Italy and he will do his best to help the kids understand love so they will be more accepting of this marriage. During the 4 weeks leading up to the wedding, Patrick teaches the kids about love and different love languages the best way he knows how: through food, singing & dancing, and reminding them about the love their Mom had for them, their Dad, and Patrick. While the kids still aren’t sold by the time they get to Italy, Patrick realizes he needed the very lessons he was teaching his niece and nephew. With the same humor and poignancy as its predecessor, Mr. Rowley has hit another home run of a book that will have you laughing out loud, tearing up, and then laughing some more.
I still feel the same way I did a few years ago when I read The Guncle; I need Patrick O’Hara in my life! With his snarkiness and sarcasm mixed with so much love for his family, Patrick is a character of whom I’ll never tire. I truly hope Mr. Rowley has more stories of Maisie, Grant, and GUP because I’m not yet ready to say goodbye.
Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an advanced copy of this. The Guncle Abroad hit the shelves on May 21st.

I read and absolutely loved The Guncle when it came out - it was so funny and full of heart while also tackling complex emotions. So needless to say, I was excited for the opportunity to revisit those characters and read more of Steven Rowley's witty writing. Unfortunately I ended up being more lukewarm on this sequel.

While I loved the setting and travel around Europe, some of aspects of the storyline felt like rehashing what the first book covered. For example, Patrick spent a large portion of this book struggling with his age and his younger ex, which I had thought he worked through in the first book. I did like that there was a gap of 5 years between the two books which made the two kids more adolescent age, lending to different storylines, but overall I just didn't find the same magic with this book. Still enjoyable, but not to the same extent.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

This book is such as heartwarming sequel to Steven Rowley's first book. Patrick’s bond with his "niblings" Maisie and Grant is utterly endearing. Their witty banter, the kids’ hilarious observations, and their sweet moments make you want to wrap them up in a big hug. Rowley masterfully captures the magic of family connections.The sweet relationship between Patrick and his younger partner, Emory, adds depth to the story. As Patrick faces the challenges of aging, their love and support shine through. It’s a touching portrayal of finding love again.

As Patrick and the kids go on their European adventure, you can really taste the Parisian hot chocolate and presecco, hear them sing the Sound of Music in Austria, and see the canals of Venice and the beautiful hotel on Lake Como. Beyond Patrick, Maisie, and Grant, the supporting cast adds flavor to the narrative. It was hilarious to read about the competition between Patrick and Palmina, the kids future "launt" (lesbian aunt). I especially adored Palmina's advice to Patrick about Maisie and what it's like growing up as a young girl with strong emotions.

The Guncle Abroad” also beautifully explores themes of loss and resilience. It’s a heartwarming reminder that love can bloom in unexpected places, even amidst grief. This book was a pure delight and I look forward to reading more about Patrick, Grant, and Maisie.

Such a moving follow up to an already spectacular novel surrounding the act of grieving, In many cases, I agree with the masses that a great work does not always need a sequel but after reading this, the Guncle abroad managed to touch on areas that the original was not narratively ready to. In the original installment we see the kids and their Guncle working through the immediate grief after the loss of their mom and his best friend; they spend the novel making sense of the world without her while also embarking on humorous shenanigans. In The Guncle Abroad, we see Patrick and his niblings tackle the question of how they can hold on to their love and memories while also embracing that life goes on even after a devastating loss. It is difficult to mesh such a profound subject matter with the dry humor and quips that make up Patrick’s character but Rowley did it so perfectly. I read the original via audiobook which Rowley narrated himself and I truly recommend listening via that medium because the way that he captures Patrick’s delivery and cadence was just stunning! Though I did still feel the humor and wit come through the page reading the digital version as well.

Thank you to Putnam books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you haven't read The Guncle yet, stop what you are doing, and read that book now. Then come back and read this fun, emotional sequel, The Guncle Abroad for the perfect summer reading.

Thank you to PUtnam Books and Netgalley for the electronic advanced copy.

It was ok. I found myself reading just find something to like about the main character. After finishing the book, I really don't like him. The story was forced. None of the characters were likeable. The whole point of the story was lost being told by such a narcissistic character that has no real concept of love. He was sexist and selfish.

I really love these characters. I fell in love with them in The Guncle and I didn’t know I needed them back, but this journey with them was needed in such a different way.

The first book introduced us to Patrick and his niece and nephew who he took in after their mother died and his brother was in rehab. It’s a book that marinates on grief and closing yourself off and finding yourself again.

Now we’re back 5 year later with these characters in very different places in their lives. But grief is still the key. We’ve all lost people and been on that journey with grief that ebbs and flows. What I found the most poignant in this one is the focus on the continued journey of grief for people who lost a partner, a best friend, a parent.

Grief is a never ending journey and it’s always different. There isn’t a lot of fiction that rejoins that journey down the road. I highly recommend it.

This is the quote that opened my soul:

“She’s getting fuzzier and fuzzier. Mom. The further we get from her she seems less sharp.” Maisie’s eyes grew wet. Patrick remembered telling them once that one day they would miss the acute pain of grief, the grief that meant their mother was still close. He had a hard time acknowledging that time was here, or understanding how five years ha already passed.

I’m about to hit 25 years since I lost my Pops (who raised me). I was 17 when he died and I’m 42 now and I read this quote and just broke for a bit. Grief is so weird and painful and unique to everyone that when someone hits that wound with the perfect words it means a lot .