So excited to bring my review of Eileen Wharton’s novel, Shit Happens as part of Spellbound Books International Womens Day Festival multiple book tour. Thank you to both ZooLoo’s Book Tours and Spellbound Books for my place and the gifted copy of the books.
A book that has a fabulous cover to go with a title that made me look twice! This is a book that I wanted to read from the cover and title, then came the book blurb. I was so curious to see if the book lived up to the promise of that blurb.
Rose Starling, abused wife, is living on benefits with her three children on an estate in a small town near Newcastle. Trying to keep one step ahead of the tallyman she dances in the shadows of various illegal dealings.
She’s got problems though when bits of her ex-husband keep turning up in different places and the slimey DI Savage seems to be bending the evidence to link her to the murder.
Adding to her troubles, she has to work in a topless bar to make ends meet and she’s being pressured into taking a “ job” for hard as nails Vera Devlin from the estate.
Desperate to extricate herself from the mess, she breaks into her old marital home to find the diary of her dead husband, setting off an explosive chain of events.
Set against a backdrop of Northern council estate life, this fast-paced, gritty, humorous novel exemplifies the problems caused by poverty, piles and unruly children.
Set in a council estate in the North, I was almost at home immediately. I was brought up on a council estate in the North West, so I properly got comfy and got to know Rose, our main character. A single mother since she got rid of the abusive ex, struggling to make ends meet… Then, she is accused of her ex’s murder! Not what she needed, in any way, shape, or form.
We see her up to her eyes in that shit that just happens while attempting to work out what has really happened to the ex. This is definitely my type of book. I could actually picture the setting and see Rose trying her best to exonerate herself and the same time as trying to live her life.
I spent a lot of time laughing when I was reading. The rest of the time, I understood Rose and how she was struggling to keep it together at the same time. I definitely empathised with this woman. Shit Happens is such a realistic story; the characters I could see and I could imagine this actually happening. Yes, it seems something that is too out there, but believe me, there are events in my life that people would think I had made up if I told them.
This is a gritty, warts, and all, funny but yet serious at the same time book. Eileen Wharton has recreated a council estate so well; she must have lived on one or researched so thoroughly that she got the authenticity perfect. I now need to go and see what else she has written so I can add her books to my tbr pile.
Author Bio
Eileen Wharton is not the naughty great-grandaughter of Edith Wharton. She is currently employed by MI5 but has had various jobs including: wigmaker to Donald Trump, Megan Fox’s stunt double and Ann Summers ‘toy’ tester. She also tells lies for a living. She currently has five ‘lively’ offspring ranging from thirty-one to eleven years of age and has no plans to procreate further much to the relief of the local schools and police force. Her first novel, ‘Shit Happens’ was published in 2011 to worldwide critical acclaim. She’s also won awards for exaggeration. It did top the Amazon humour chart so she’s officially a best-selling author. Her first children’s picture book, ‘The Shmoogly Boo’ was published in the same year. ‘The M Word’ which she calls her menopause novel, is out in audiobook and the kindle and paperback versions are to follow. She is co-writing a sitcom with her sexy fiancé (AKA Hatman) when she manages to get him out of bed. She teaches English to teenagers and lives on a council estate in County Durham. She has never eaten kangaroo testicles, is allergic to cats and has a phobia of tinned tuna.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 
Thank you so much for your review and taking part in the tour CF x
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