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.