I didn't get a chance to read this but I have it on my list. A story about second chances after being dumped in Applebees

In his follow up to his debut novel, 'Domestic Violets', Matthew Norman has demonstrated that he's developed as a writer with a story that is consistently engaging, humorous, and entertaining.

I wanted to give this novel five stars, but I couldn't do it because of the politics that was sprinkled throughout the story. Andy Carter's mother is presented as a negative caricature of a conservative radio talk host, that was unrealistic. The political arc of the novel felt unnecessary to the story, as though it only served as the author virtue-signaling to his readers about his own attitudes towards Fox News, gay marriage, and conservative politics in general.

Thirty-something, Andy Carter, called back to his hometown of Omaha to be by his ailing grandfather's bedside, is forced to face all that made him runaway to New York City in the first place: being dumped by the love of his life (in an Applebee's no less!) and a strained relationship with his best friend. Along the way he must also deal with the community backlash to his vocal radio talk show host mother, his workaholic brother and eccentric father.

Funny, heartwarming, poignant, lighthearted read, full of quirky lovable characters, pop culture references and amusing, fast flowing dialogue.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little A (Amazon Publishing) for providing a digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

This was one of my favorites new author reads of the year. Author Matthew Norman main character, Andy Carter's post divorce obsession with his ex-was sad- but funny at the same time. He was a little off the wall and immature but you felt more empathetic than annoyed by his quirks. It was fun, amusing and I was honestly sad to see it end. Norman did a great job with the dysfunction of the everyday family and the relationship between Andy and Daisy. It was totally one of those "I laughed, I cried, I read it again" books.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review

I was immediately immersed in this book and enjoyed getting to know the diverse characters. The book has a lot of humor and a lot of real moments. There were some parts that I found a bit far-fetched and some parts of the story line that weren't my favorite (Andy's mom) but all in all I would definitely recommend this book, and I will definitely read more of Matthew Norman's books.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a sneak peak of this book. I loved it!

Some books are chock full of my sense of humor—sarcastic wit, jokes bagging on pop culture from the 80s and 90s, and a glass-half-empty protagonist who thinks that things are never going to get better, so why should he try? We’re All Damaged has all of these things and more, and it really hit the spot with the story of Andy Carter, who’s living in New York City a year after he’d fled Omaha because his wife left him for their paramedic neighbor and he’d then lost his job due to his depression.

Andy is content bartending near his small apartment in NYC, arguing with the cat that seems to have adopted him, and he has no plans to return to his old life in Omaha. He hasn’t checked his old email account, he changed his phone number, and he deleted his Facebook account. He’s gone to great lengths to forget what happened back home, but he lives with the sting of rejection, of how he wasn’t good enough for his ex-wife, every day. When he gets the call to hurry back to the Midwest since his grandfather only has days left to live, Andy reluctantly boards a plane, not knowing that he’ll have to confront his fears and past head on in order to move forward in life.

And confront them he does, albeit a bit slowly. First his ever-in-charge older brother along with his young niece and nephew pick him up at the airport, then he faces his overly critical mother and his seemingly listless father. While his family pretends to understand why he ran to NYC and they tolerate his odd, nearly obsessive behavior about his ex-wife, his old best friend and his best friend’s father won’t be so easy to win over after what Andy did a year previous. But when Andy visits his grandfather in the nursing home, he isn’t prepared to see the shell of the man he remembers, and this leaves him reeling–remembering the past even more than he already lives in it on a daily basis.

We’re All Damaged hits on the fact that everyone—no matter how perfect they outwardly seem—has something wrong with them. Andy thinks that he’s the black sheep of the family, but his right-wing, conservative talk show host mother is so reviled by the gay community that their house is regularly glitter bombed, his parents’ marriage is barely hanging on by a thread with his mother’s single-minded drive to become a television talking head and his father’s inability to adjust to retired life, and his brother seems like the perfect father/business man, but there are cracks in the façade. The longer Andy stays in Omaha, the clearer it becomes that he isn’t so strange after all. And then there’s the mysterious, beautiful Daisy that is friends with his grandfather, and she’s now made it her mission to bring Andy out of his funk. But unraveling the mystery that is Daisy isn’t as easy as Andy thinks it is, and in the end, does he really want to know what her deal is?

I give We’re All Damaged a five out of five. I haven’t laughed, smiled, and even cried a few times during the reading of a book in quite some time. Andy’s sarcasm and pop culture references just hit home for me, and I could totally relate to his reluctance to return home to small-town Omaha (even though it’s not all that small–I grew up in a town of 2500). The cast of characters was diverse and distinct, and they were all quite entertaining, even though the mother was downright annoying as she was written to be. Shenanigans of all sorts were to be had once Andy got back to Omaha, and sure he instigated most of them, but reading about his misadventures was great fun. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves hilarious books that are full of emotion and family connections as well.