Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon

"Sparkling and unpredictable, a brilliant first novel" Elle

When Matthew, Helen's lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie (and their two daughters) and move into Helen's flat, she should be over the moon. The only trouble is, she doesn't want him anymore. Now she has to figure out how to get rid of him...
Plan A
*Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line.
*Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.
*Stop having sex with him.
Plan B
*Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie.
*Give yourself a fake name and identity.
*Befriend Sophie and actually begin to really like her.
*Snog Matthew's son (who's the same age as you by the way. You're not a paedophile).
*Befriend Matthew's children. Unsuccessfully.
*Watch your plan go absolutely horribly wrong.
Getting rid of Matthew isn't as aesy as it seems, but along the way Helen will forge an unlikely friendship, find real love and realize that nothing ever goes exactly to plan...

I avoided reading this for a while. It was one of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads, but it isn't their greatest pick. It basically chick lit in the vein of Bridgit Jones just as I suspected it would be. Single career girl with best friend and useless boyfriend, who gets herself into a load of humerous scrapes but you love her anyway and it all comes good in the end.
Jane Fallon, creator of Tv shows, This Life and Teachers and girlfriend of the wonderful Ricky Gervais has successfully pulled it of though, and although cliched, Getting Rid of Matthew is actually quite good fun. There are no suprises, indeed the story is very predictable, but it is entertaining none-the-less. I couldn't quite understand why Helen didn't just tell Matthew to go, instead of digging herself into a hole full of trouble, but there we are.
Ideal for anyone who enjoys Marion Keyes.

"A punchy piece of inverted chick-lit" Big Issue