Brand New Friend
by A review of the Mike Gayle novel.
Rob and Ashley are in a long-distance relationship, him in London, her in Manchester. When the distance between them becomes too much, she asks him to leave London and move in with her in Manchester.
Rob is reluctant because he doesn’t know anyone in Manchester and he doesn’t want to leave his friends behind, but he decides that his love for Ashley is ultimately more important and that he will soon make new friends, so he moves in with her.
Six months pass and he is still friend-less so much to Rob’s horror, Ashley takes matters into her own hands and places an ad in the classifieds to find new friends for him! He goes along with it to placate her but it turns out to be embarrassingly unsuccessful, until he makes a new friend all on his own without any assistance from Ashley or the classifieds. The only trouble is, she’s a girl! What will Ashley say?!
A light hearted, entertaining read with observations of everyday life that we can all identify with, this book deals with unrequited love (and not just between Jo and Rob!), and debates the age old question, ‘can men and women ever just be friends?.’ In this case it turns out that they can’t, but will Rob do the right thing? Read it and find out!
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