Title –  The Drought
Author – Steven Scaffardi
Genre –  Lad-Lit/Comedy
Length –   336 Pages
My Rating – 5/5 Stars

Synopsis

Dan Hilles is a pretty regular kind of guy – regular job, regular bunch of mates, regular male aversion to shopping. But following his break-up with long-term girlfriend, Stacey, he finds himself single again. He’s been out of the game for a while and is a little out of practice. Soon, the very irregular and increasingly worrying issue in Dan’s life is the extended drought he finds himself suffering. And we’re not talking the climate change, scorched earth, God I’m parched variety.

You’ve got to hand it to Dan though – it certainly isn’t from a lack of trying. With stalwart mates Ollie, Jack and Rob on hand to lend their collective pearls of male wisdom and arrange the odd road trip, you’d think Dan’s days of languishing in a sexual wilderness would be numbered. Even best friends can’t help prevent the kind of surreal holes Dan just can’t seem to help digging himself into. And with each failed attempt, his self-esteem plummets to the point where he wonders if ‘little Dan’ will ever work again.

Good job he has Kelly, his reliable and sympathetic colleague, to confide in. As a woman, she can perhaps shed some female light on why he’s failing so miserably with the opposite sex, balancing out the testosterone-fuelled ‘advice’ from the lads. Surely Dan can’t go wrong with Kelly teaching him the various intricacies of a woman’s mind.

Steven Scaffardi’s first novel will have every guy laughing out loud in recognition and every girl secretly worrying – is this how men really think? A new talent to watch out for on the ‘lad-lit’ scene.

Review

First let me say this.. I don’t think I’ve ever smiled as much or laughed as hard as I did reading this book, multiple times a had to cover me face to stop the laugh coming out while on public transport.

This book follows Dan and his numerous disasters in the dating world. Although I felt for the guy I couldn’t help but laugh at the events that played out.

One of the best things about the book for me was that the author hit dead on with the events, so much so that it reminded me of my own life at points during my late teens/early twenties. I identified with the characters and could see a lot of my own friend’s personalities in Dan’s friends.

The book is well written and funny and is told at a good pace. I found myself getting to the end of a chapter and pausing to take in the events, chuckle some more and review the events that have played out in my own life

For me this was a very honest tale of a young man, recently single looking to get his end away, he’s not looking to hurt anyone and I’d like to think most men will identify with that.

Overall the book was brilliantly funny and spot on with the comedy, made up of funny events and some very cringy ones that will leave you with a smile on your face.

When I first heard about this book I did wonder if it was better suited to a male audience and thanks to my friend Sarah @ bytheletterbookreviews I’m very glad to say she found it just as funny as me. You can see her review here…. And I definitely agree with Sarah’s comment that this would a brilliant TV show

If you’re looking for a fun read this is definitely one to pick up! My thanks go to Steven for the opportunity to read/review the book.

I’m half way through the follow up book ‘The Food’ and can tell you so far it hasn’t disappointed.. just as funny and I’m dying to read more.

To find out more head to Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Look out in the near future as I hope to feature Steven on my “10 Questions With” section

#LadLitSunday – Steven Scaffardi

#LadLitSunday is a social media hashtag I created to encourage more readers to discuss, debate and celebrate great lad lit novels.

Lad Lit is a subject and genre I have written about on many occasions, and is indeed very close to my own literary heart as my comedy book series Sex, Love and Dating Disasters has often been dubbed chick lit for men, or lad lit.

The genre is awash with British talent from undisputed kings Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons, to men’s magazine favourites Danny Wallace and Mike Gayle, and best-selling self-published authors Nick Spalding and Jon Rance.

In an interview with Matt Dunn, I asked him how male writers tackle the genre differently to their female chick lit counterparts, and he said: “I think we just tell it how it is from our point of view. Or rather, how we see it. Which is kind of how it is, if you believe all that ‘perception is reality’ bollocks. Which I do, obviously.”

To me lad lit does not stop with books about relationships from a man’s point of view. Lad lit can be thrillers or crime stories with a strong male lead character, with pages full to the brim with testosterone! It’s lad humour, lad emotions, lad heroes!

Over the last few years I have met a number of really cool authors and readers on the internet on sites like Goodreads, and I honestly believe there is a place for lad lit at the top literary table. A number of total strangers who have read my books and really enjoyed them having never even heard of lad lit before testifies to that. Hopefully #LadLitSunday can help in a small way make raise the profile.

To take part in #LadLitSunday simply use the hashtag when posting a comment on your social media feeds and Steven will do his best to mention all of the best comments on his blog.