The Joke's On Me by Laurie Boris

BUY-UK
BUY-US

I put this book into my ‘armchair and slippers’ category.  It’s not a fast-paced or edge-of-your-seat thriller: it’s a cosy, warm, funny, feel-good novel. 

Frankie, a comedienne, heads back to her teenhood home after she loses just about everything she owns (except, thankfully, her sense of humour) to a mudslide.  Here, she finds her tree-hugging, assertive sister trying to make a go of their parents’ B&B, now that their mother is in a home.  With few options left to her for her immediate future, Frankie helps her sister reinvent the business.  But upon her return, she finds more than the aroma of her sister's incense sticks permeating through her old home:  there are memories of her father, her mother, and her teenage crush; secrets – tender, poignant, fragile secrets; and a rekindled love, new confidence, and a new future.

This book is wonderfully easy to read, amusing, and there’s something snug and ‘comfy’ about it. Laurie is a talented and funny writer, and Frankie as a comedienne is the perfect channel for Laurie’s sparkling humour.  Each character in the book has personality, depth, and presence.  They are all real and credible – any one of them could be living next door to you.  Their believability, however, doesn’t make them any less colourful or entertaining.

A delight from start to finish.