Oh my gosh I loved this book so much!!!

This was such a heartwarming and laugh out loud feel good story.

Just fell in love with all the characters and I had so much fun with these seniors!

I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did!!

5/5 stars

Thank you so much to the publisher for my copy.

What a fun read! I loved seeing how friendships developed throughout the book. I enjoyed getting to know most of the characters, but obviously Daphne is the star. She's a prickly character with a mysterious backstory who is scarily and unrealistically competent (think Elizabeth from Thursday Murder Club), sometimes unlikable, and an absolute joy to read. I'd read another book featuring her any day. I thought the epilogue with her relationship came a little out of the blue but I'm not terribly mad about it. There were some sad and reflective moments about aging and regrets throughout the book (also reminiscent of TMC), as well as handling of some tough topics (abuse, teenage fatherhood, etc), which offset some of the more slapsticky moments. Fun, quick read. I'll be looking out for more from this author.

My thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC via netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

So much fun! I really enjoyed this book. Anything with a dog is a must-read to me but I was sucked in by the humor and range of characters.

(3.5⭐️) Many thanks to my friends at @vikingbooks and @pameladormanbooks for the free #gifted copy of this read. 
 
When the local community center is in danger of being shuttered, the senior citizens enlist help from some unlikely sources in their endeavor to save the building.  But what they find along the way might be even more significant.   
 
I fell hard and fast for Pooley’s storytelling last year when I discovered Iona Iverson.  And here, she continues to delight delivering a completely fun comfort read that warmed my heart.   
 
What you’ll find:
👵🏻quirky and diverse cast
👵🏻mature characters that are lively and bold
👵🏻unlikely friendships
👵🏻multiple POV
👵🏻found family dynamics
 
With a delightful cast of rich characters, this intergenerational story was like a warm hug of a book.  The witty dialogue and outrageous plot points had me in stitches.  But it was the emotional sincerity that gave the humor it’s true power within the narrative. 
 
Once again, Pooley delivers another perfectly endearing read that left me uplifted and full of joy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley in exchange for an honest review. Note: I received this before publication but it’s out now so you can - and should - go get it!

Like Pooley’s charming Iona Overson’s Rules for Commuting, How to Age Disgracefully features a diverse cast of delightful, flawed characters including a number of senior members of a community center social club who are anything but the stereotypical doddering elders that people expect them to be. From a ragtag band of misfits, the members - along with others involved in various ways in the center and its neighborhood - come together in wonderful ways to support the center (in danger of demolition), each other, and themselves. At the center of the drama are septuagenarians Art and Daphne, whose stories unfold as the novel progresses, along with those of young single father Ziggy and social club director Lydia, as they try to better their own lives while saving the center. And don’t skip the author’s note in which she explains how she got the idea for the prologue and the story that follows.

I loved this novel and bet you will too. Five stars. ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story is told from the points of view of several different senior citizens who meet up at a local community center. Lydia, the director of the program, expects a quiet group who plays bingo and visits. Instead, she gets a feisty group of seniors, each with secrets and past activities that eventually come to light amongst the group members. Throw in a teenage single dad and his little girl along with an aging dog, and you will find warmth and humor as the group bonds together and works to save the community center.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley is a delightful and refreshing exploration of growing older with humor and sass. From my perspective, Pooley’s witty writing captures the essence of navigating life’s challenges while embracing the freedom that comes with age. The characters are relatable and vibrant, each embodying different aspects of what it means to age gracefully—or, in this case, disgracefully.

I appreciated the way the narrative balances laugh-out-loud moments with deeper reflections on self-acceptance and reinvention. The pacing is brisk, keeping the story engaging and enjoyable throughout. Pooley’s keen observations about society’s perceptions of aging and the pressure to conform are both sharp and enlightening.

While I found some plot points a bit predictable, the heartwarming friendships and the journey toward self-discovery make it an enjoyable read. Overall, How to Age Disgracefully is a charming celebration of life and aging that left me feeling uplifted and inspired to embrace my own journey with a bit more humor and audacity. It's perfect for anyone looking for a light-hearted yet meaningful take on growing older.

This book starts with a hilarious exchange between the police and a very odd group of people on a minibus. While the officer is simply trying to find one person, the motley crew immediately starts confessing to an odd assortment of hilarious sins/possible crimes. We know that this is something that will happen toward the end of the book, as we then meet the crew individually.
There is a kleptomaniac who hasn't seen his family for decades, a teen father, a middle-aged woman who has been putting up with too much and has ;lost her self-esteem. There is also Ruby the knitter and Daphne, who turns out to be quite the mastermind. Poor Margaret Thatcher is an older dog who the group becomes responsible for. This group ends up working together to save the local community center and save themselves while doing it. I'm trying to do justice to how ill-fitted this group is and how wonderful and funny they are. I enjoyed them so much, and I loved how all the little details fit together. This was very satisfying and the first thing I did was look for more books by Clare Pooley.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I adored this book. It was laugh out loud funny, fun & thoughtful. I’d also love for it to become a film or series.

This book was so fun! And it had so many great characters and all their quirks.

I loved how they all came together to fight to save the community center!

Aside of some heartful moments in this book, it had many laughing out loud moments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Clare Pooley has officially become an auto read author for me! I adored Iona and now she's hooked me again with Daphne. In a similar fashion, Pooley has again roped together an unlikely cast to create a community with the goals of helping each other. This time around it's to save the local community center which hosts a daycare, senior social club, AA meetings, karate and prenatal classes. I loved these characters and they all gave me a chuckle. I can't wait to see what Pooley writes next! Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I felt like this book was written just for me! As a 70 year old woman, I am the same age as the lead character in the story, and I think the author did a great job representing the actions and emotions of those in our age bracket. It was funny, thought provoking, and often emotional as the characters’ stories unfolded and they found themselves becoming friends along the way! I hope I age as “disgracefully! Loved this book!

What a fun read and full of realistic characters. I want to age disgracefully!

The first few chapters were a bit hard to get
Into but once I got through those the story really sucked me in and I read the whole book in a day.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! I absolutely love Clare Pooley and have really enjoyed her other books, so I was very excited about this release. I still can’t quite put my finger on what didn’t work for me, but the multiple POV sometimes took me out of the story flow and some parts dragged. That being said the characters were charming and quirky, something I’ve come to love about Pooley’s novels. It was heartwarming, with laugh out loud funny moments and the multiple storylines elegantly overlapping in the end. I remain a big Pooley fan!

Such a great book. I love that the day care and the senior citizens teamed up. Like the best of both worlds.

Absolutely hilarious!! I found myself laughing out loud throughout this entire book. The characters were unique yet relatable in the very best way. Read this book if you want a heartwarming story with lots of laughs!

This is a thoughtful, fun and engaging take on aging and I really enjoyed it! The story isn't groundbreaking, but it approaches issues society really needs to deal with better and I found myself thinking about it a while after I finished reading.

Having loved Pooley's previous book Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting, I was really excited to read this one. Unfortunately, I did not love it. It had too many characters and I just didn't get very attached to any of them. It was funny but not really witty and touching. My not loving this book might be a product of reading it at the wrong time for me. I will continue to read Pooley and hope for the best next time.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

𝐎𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫! 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲-𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥?” 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒈𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝.

𝐈𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 (𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫). 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧—𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞!

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭-𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 (𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭). 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡—𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐛 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞!

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒞𝓁𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒫𝑜𝑜𝓁𝑒𝓎, 𝒫𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓊𝒾𝓃/𝒫𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓁𝒶 𝒟𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.