Just Got Real: The gripping revenge comedy and Sunday Times bestseller 2023

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The joke was that the teachers were so self-absorbed, they never noticed anything outside their little group. Fallon describes Joni's job-sharing down to a tee, that slight resentment of the other person and any work they didn't manage to get to. Now while I didn’t like Ant and his player ways, I also didn’t like the fact that Joni seem to gloss over the fact that she was cat fishing him… first with a fake picture (her sister) then with a fake name (her sisters) and a fake life.

I actually handed in a book for the first time and that was a big, strange kind of flood of confidence that I had… I think for a lot of women around that age – 45 onwards – you change a lot. Joni is the real central character, and very easy to warm to (and relate to in many ways, apart from the gym 🤣), but I also fell for sweet widow Mary, and gobby Saffy with a heart of gold. Jane Fallon's wry observation and razor-sharp wit in this unputdownable page-turner will grab you from the first page and the action races along at breakneck speed. For those who don’t remember This Life, which first aired in 1996, think of it as Friends’s darker, sexier, grittier London twin.Joni decides to try online dating after her being divorced, losing her best friend, and her daughter moving to Manchester.

Such a beautiful tale of friendship and dating from an older angle rather than our contemporary focus on gen z. Whilst you might guess some of it, it’s still just such a fun, whipsmart read and I really didn’t want to put it down for a minute!

There are two main themes that Fallon explores which are middle aged dating, which for some reason, at my ripe 28 years, I’ve always loved reading about, and she also explores friendship through the dynamics of Joni, Saffy and Mary. Just Got Real is a story of four vividly-drawn women and one horribly believable man, a novel about friendship and treachery that contains what must be the killer twist of the year. On paper, Simon, played by Andrew Lincoln, was quite annoying because he was so desperate to be liked. Jane Fallon's Just Got Real is one of those rare novels that brings both a tear to your eye and a chill to your heart. I found it a bit hard to swallow that Joni was on her high horse about Ant lying when she herself had used pictures of her sister on her online profile, then followed (stalked.

I didn’t feel that it was the best one I have read by this author and I always eagerly anticipate the latest one.And frankly, her close-knit group of girlfriends has been more than happy to report from the online dating frontline.