Happy Hour by Jacqui Byron is a beautiful paradox – in short, it’s a fun uplifting read about heartbreaking loss & grief. & the fact debut author Jacqui Byron has pulled this off so amazing well in her first book makes me very excited to read everything she writes from this point on!

Flamboyant artist Franny Calderwood is a 65-year-old widow whose beloved husband, Frank, was killed in an accident 3 years ago. In the years since, she has become a recluse actively avoiding her friends and family in favour of drinking her lavish cocktails and cooking extravagant meals with her two dogs, Whisky & Soda. When a single mother & her 2 kids – irritable 15-year-old Dee & her eccentric 8-year-old brother Josh – move in next door, Franny unexpectedly finds herself drawn into their family life whilst discovering that maybe she isn’t completely done with life outside her house yet.

I absolutely loved everything about this story – Franny is incorrigible and always has a funny wisecrack to make but was so relatable in the ways she was dealing with her sadness. She had me laughing out loud one minute and crying with her the next! Such a special character who I won’t forget anytime soon. Strong themes of friendship, true love and loss really resonated with me and added so much depth to the storyline.

This book was funny and full of joy despite the grief and loss running through it. Franny is 65 years old, she loves a drink (maybe too much) and is ensconced in her loneliness three years after losing the love of her life Frank in a tragic accident. Franny has successfully isolated herself from family and friends, pushing them all further and further away while she wallows in her grief. She is happy she has her gin, her dogs Whiskey and Soda and the photos of Frank she speaks to around the house but Franny is grumpy and rude to the people she encounters in real life. That is until a new family, the Salernos, move in next door.

Dee and Josh and their mum Sally slowly worm their way into Franny’s life and heart and her gruff exterior begins to crack. I loved seeing her change as she becomes closer and closer to the kids even though it was clear her grumpiness was hiding a lot of pain.

What I thought Happy Hour did so well is paint a portrait of a long and loving marriage. Franny and Frank are deeply in love before his death and Franny’s recollections of their life really highlights this. Her experience of grief is heartbreaking but Happy Hour is far from a sad and heavy book. She is funny even when she is being awful to those she is closest to! It's a grumpy old woman with a heart of gold vibe.

An absolute bonus were all the book references throughout. Plus Franny cooks some incredible sounding food and always has a drink of some kind in her hand and these are described in great detail which I took a lot of joy from. This is such a great contemporary novel full of love, friendship and the realities of life. Congratulations @jacquie_byron on the release of your debut novel I really enjoyed it!

Thank you so much to @allenandunwin for my #gifted copy of this book.

This was such an enjoyable audiobook. I was unsure if I'd connect to the character given she is a woman in her 60s with a drinking problem but it really was a heartwarming and fun story. I highly recommend it!

Slow read, gentle story, easy to pick up and put down.