The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 384

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

'The phone call signalling an escalation in the Hudson Adjustment Problem came at 10:18 a.m. on a Friday morning . . .'

Meet Don Tillman, the genetics professor with a scientific approach to everything. But he's facing a set of human dilemmas tougher than the trickiest of equations.

Right now he is in professional hot water after a lecture goes viral; his wife of 4,380 days, Rosie, is about to lose the research job she loves; and - the most serious problem of all - their eleven-year-old son, Hudson, is struggling at school. He's a smart kid, but socially awkward-not fitting in.

Fortunately, Don's had a lifetime's experience of not fitting in. And he's going to share the solutions with Hudson. He'll need the help of old friends and new, lock horns with the education system, and face some big questions about himself. As well as opening the world's best cocktail bar.

Big-hearted, hilarious and exuberantly life-affirming, The Rosie Result is a story of overcoming life's obstacles with a little love and a lot of overthinking.



My Review

This is the final book in the trilogy, if you haven't read the first two books guys please do so you have to get to know the characters back stories. So here we are, Don and Rosie are living in Australia with Hudson their ten year old son. Don is still doing things in his unique way and Hudson is quite like his father in some of his approaches, mannerisms and behaviours. The school is pushing to deal with it in their way and Don is in trouble for a very controversial approach to his teaching methods, he may well lose his job. Trying to keep on top of the chaos in his unique way we have come to love Don is not just fighting for himself but for some of the same issues he has battled his own life his son is now facing.

I do love Don's character and seeing his boy going through the same challenges Don did, whilst this book still has flashes of the humour from the previous two is also has a serious theme. Autism, Aspergers and the labels society puts on people and the implications having such labels can have and impact of different areas of a persons life. Societal expectations of behaviour, pressures on individuals who are "different" and ways of treating them. It is a book that certainly makes you think, it gives you the "unique adult" and "unique child" both with society slapping labels on and what those labels can mean.

When I first met Don in book one I just thought Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) as an adult, some people have loved and hated both portrayals but it certainly gets some highlight on Aspergers/Autism/spectrum's and I think that can only be a good thing. Education, a glimpse into what life can be like and a chance for those who know/live it to correct, educate, question assumptions and or ideas, preconceived prejudices, stereotypes.

I don't know if it was the author's vision to take the book down that road or to create a quirky character that developed into tackling how society see's individuals who are "different". How important it is to label or how quick folk are to do so, I think the author brings the trilogy to a fab conclusion and one thing to take from these books is a person is a person, not a label, not a diagnosis, 4/5 for me this time. I will miss Don and his antics, his family but will keep the message the book, particularly the last one brought home!

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Make A Christmas Wish by Julia Williams

Make A Christmas Wish: A heartwarming, witty and magical festive treat! by Julia Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Publisher - Avon

Pages - 367

Blurb from Goodreads

Last Christmas, when Livvy was knocked down in the supermarket car park she certainly wasn’t ready to actually be dead! For months now she’s floated on the edge of the afterlife, generally making a nuisance of herself.


And she’s not ready to go just yet! She’s furious about the new woman in her husband’s life and she’s worried about her beloved son who doesn’t seem to be adjusting to life without her at all.


This Christmas, Livvy is given one last magical chance to make everything right. Will she take it and give her family the perfect Christmas?




My Review

Imagine finding out a betrayal by your husband just before Christmas, furious, upset and then to be hit by a car and killed! That is what happens to Livvy, however Livvy is earth bound for the foreseeable and she is enraged. Viewing her husband, the other woman and her son she struggled to accept she is dead and determined to get through to her family.

This is an emotive book, Livvy's son Joe has Asperger's, her and Adam (the husband) had a toxic relationship and the book takes us through their relationship in stages. We visit the past & present, seeing what Livvy's relationship was really like. Livvy is in denial and this is her chance at redemption, forcing her to examine her part in the breakdown in the marriage and deal with her unresolved issues. We hear from Joe in diary format and get to see Adams point on some things too, for this and with the time and character jumps you can dip in and out of this book without missing out on anything.

One major problem I had with this book is it states on the back "A hilarious and just a little heartbreaking festive treat..." I didn't laugh once at this. A lot of it is heartbreaking, I didn't laugh once and the main character really annoyed me with her selfish and destructive behavior. I understand she is mad and frustrated however causing more upset to people you love I just couldn't get on with. Some people loved the character though so it is definitely one you should read and make your own judgement on. I loved the character Joe, we see glimpses of his outlook from his diary entries and the interactions viewed by Livvy, I think they were quite emotive and he is a lovely carved character in some very unlikable ones. This was my first time reading this author, I would read her again, 3/5 for me this time.

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ARC - The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - 3 days

Blurb from the back cover

Rosie looked at me and said, 'You know if you changed your glasses and haircut, you could be Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.' 'Is that good?' I assumed, given the circumstances, that it was, but wanted to hear her confirm it. 'He was only the sexiest man that ever lived.'

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. Then a chance encounter gives him an idea. He will design a questionnaire - a sixteen-page, scientifically researched document - to find the perfect partner. She will most definitely not be a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker or a late-arriver.

Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is strangely beguiling, fiery and intelligent. And she is also on a quest of her own. She's looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might just be able to help her with - even if he does wear quick-dry clothes and eat lobster every single Tuesday night.

My Review

I must be honest, this is not a book I would have picked up and chosen to read for myself. If came to me via RealReaders and I try and get to these books quickly which is why it jumped the review queue. Don tells the story in first person narrative, the book doesn't mention it outright although it soon becomes apparent he has some form of Aspergers. Don is the main character trying to find his ideal partner. It is no easy task so he sets out developing a questionnaire to weed out the undesirables. Whilst sorting his project he meets a woman who is the opposite of everything he is looking for. The more time he spends with her the more information he has to better analyze and tweak his survey. He agrees to help Rosie with finding her father, which creates a new project, whilst learning from her along the way. A very unlikely friendship forms taking them on a journey which will change them both, forever.

I loved this book! I know and have seen that some people don't and have found many faults with it but I thought it was great. I am currently loving the big bang theory, Sheldon Cooper especially and found myself relating Don and his behaviors to him, albeit an older version. Don is super smart but lives, loves and breaths routine. When someone new comes into the story he assesses them notably on age and BMI. He processes everything almost computer like, he eats the same foods routinely and his interactions with people at times are hilarious.

The book takes you on a growth journey, for both characters and you can see Don's progress more so as he struggles to process what is deemed appropriate and normal behaviors. I loved his mind, how it worked and comprehended different situations and problems. I cringed through a few of the scenarios he found himself in and laughed out loud at one or two. If you take the book for what it is I think you will really enjoy it, totally what I needed when my head has been busted with studying. Thank you so much to RealReaders for sending me this and introducing me to a new author, I hope Graeme Simsion has more tales of Don in the making. I would definitely read this author again, 5/5 for me. This book is available for purchase, from all good retailers, from the 11th of April 2013.

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