If only she could have Matthew... not an odd weekends and couple hours here and there, but all to herself, so that the could be a family... Determined to learn more about the wife that she took him from, Helen befriends Sophie and heads into dangerous territory, trying to balance her career (where her new live-in, married older boyfriend works), her relationship with Matthew's teenage daughters and her new friend, Sophie, who is sharing intimate details about her marriage with the woman who stole her husband. She's less-than-amused that this has happened and decides to do everything in her power to repel him and make him want to leave her. This includes buying incontinence pads and leaving them about the house, not shaving...anywhere...ever...you get the idea. With that said, I think Fallon also has a deft touch when it comes to characterisation. She writes strong and real female characters, who are bitchy and loving by turn. Those that are mothers have warm and realistic relationships with their children, who are also written well. When she was a teenager Jane attended Slough Convent School, where the highlight was the day one of the elderly nuns died and the whole school was compelled to line up two by two, to be shut in a room with the body for two minutes.

The most engaging of all the characters was Laura. Even though she was evil she had more depth to her and I enjoyed hating her.

The first film, Getting Rid of Matthew, based on the bestselling novel by Jane Fallon, follows Helen, who finally gets her wish after years of begging her lover Matthew to leave his wife. And immediately comes to regret it. Hernán Jiménez ( Love Hard, Elsewhere) will direct from his own script. It panned out better than I thought it would and this is a perfect example of a ten-star rating system, being a good 7 out of 10 read. At the same time, she realised that she never wanted to make another TV show again. So she didn't - she gave in her notice and wrote a novel instead. Interesting debut novel from former UK TV Shows' writer of Eastenders and This Life. The premise being 'the other woman' having the cheating husband (Matthew) leave his family for her, just around the same time as she had finally got to a place after 4 years, when she realised she didn't want him! Her primary new goal is... getting rid of Matthew! It’s a rare humor book that’s laugh out loud funny, clever, and complex all at the same time. Humor is a difficult genre to write, especially since it’s easy to alienate readers who don’t share the same sense of humor as the writer, therefore unfortunately appealing to one type of reader instead of a variety of readers and often attracting heavy criticism. Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon is a joyously uncommon book that’s humor can be appreciated by a mass audience at the same time as it maintains the elusive ideal quality of any book that involves romance: unpredictability.

PLAN B: Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity. Befriend Sophie. Actually begin to really like Sophie. Snog Matthew's son (who's the same age as you by the way. You're not a paedophile). Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew's children. Unsuccessfully. Watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong. Helen demands more of his time, but initially he refuses to leave his wife Sophie and his two daughters and Helen is left frustrated and alone in her flat with just her TV dinners for company. Recommended to anyone interested in reading a mature, original and ironic take on poorly-thought-out relationships, a drama story without the soap. Rebecca and Daniel are happily married, and love their life together with their two children. They’ve known their best friends Alex and Isabel since they were at University and they’ve always done everything as a Foursome, from getting married to babies and even group holidays. I disliked Alex from the start. Sneaky, petty, clingy. Lorna.. well, you are supposed to warm up to her gradually, but I just couldn't.I don't want to reveal much but this book is filled with drama (LOTS OF DRAMA) but it has room for some character development and several funny moments. Finally finished it. It's hilarious and written with the same british humour that I've been used to of late. A friend bought it in London and read it, said it reminded her of me....and passed it on. I have rated this book on the level which I enjoyed it rather than the quality of the writing. The writing is actually pretty good - except for the odd glitch where absent characters suddenly speak in conversations - but unfortunately this type of novel isn't my thing. Also throughout the story, Sophie introduces “Elena” to an attractive young man that needs some help with PR. That’s helens profession so she starts dating him and helping him, but then she realizes it’s Matthews son from his first marriage! The tangled web of lies continues because he thinks she’s Elena. She cuts off the relationship and avoids any time he comes in to the office and all family gatherings so he doesn’t make the connection. EXCLUSIVE: Hot off the success of its record-breaking Netflix film Purple Hearts, Alloy Entertainment has unveiled four new features in development, three of which are based on books that the company has developed in-house.

But let's be clear: Helen is not painted as an innocent woman. She knows her affair is wrong, but while caught up in it the mind works differently: this, to me, felt absolutely real and true to human nature and the way our emotions and minds work. There's such clarity about Helen and Sophie, whose perspectives dominate the narrative (Matthew gets a few bits throughout, but it's largely told from the two women's perspectives). And when Helen "wakes up" to her life, the lies she lives and the damage she's done, she's even more real. How do you get rid of a boyfriend you're no longer interested in, but who seems like they'd fall apart if you tried to break it off? I've certainly experienced that before, and Helen's distaste for Matthew's personal habits once he lives with her, once it becomes "real" rather than an affair, is comical because it's so familiar. Fallon does a fine job of balancing sympathy with "just desserts": Helen does deserve it, after all.What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you're thinking that you might not want him anymore...