Synopsis

58-year-old Jackie Douglas thinks she has everything she wants – kids, grandchildren, and a comfortable retirement with her husband, Steve. Until one afternoon she comes home to find Steve packing a bag and her comfortable life suddenly moves out of bounds.

Her best friend Ros, a law firm boss with an appetite for life, laughter and (just the right amount of) wine, immediately leaps in to help Jackie back to her feet but soon finds herself feeling second best to Jackie’s other priorities.

Their barmaid/friend/wine protégé Jay is back home with her mum at nearly 30. Brilliant. After losing her job in London she’s returned, working in the pub job she thought she’d left behind at 18.

In tipsy search of something – anything – new, they wind up the leaders of a ramshackle, barely functional netball team: The Skids.

Facing confusing exes, divorce, betrayals, financial woes and more, Jackie, Ros and Jay are about to discover that finding your team might just be the key to turning things around…

Review

This sounded excellent – definitely relatable and amusing and it sort of was.

The first half of this book is painfully slow and the writing style is quite difficult to read. There are a lot of odd phrases that seem out of place, as well as quite a few errors and an excessive number of adjectives.

However, after the 50% mark it all comes together and is a really lovely story about friendship and community. The characters are endearing and believable, while the book overall has a similar feel to The Authenticity Project or The Last Library.

Pivot is never hilarious, but there is gentle humour as the women navigate golf, rugby and netball, with no rhyme nor reason. The relationships are believable and it cleverly navigates the dynamic of mixing new and old friendship groups.

Charming, sweet and inoffensive.

I received a proof copy from Two Roads, an imprint of John Murrays. Opinions my own.