Claire Dowling delivers another riotous read in this, her fourth book. In ‘No Strings Attached’, the book’s heroine is Judy, a thirty-something gal about town who has the world at her feet.
She’s working at her favourite job and sees the world through rose tinted glasses– after all she’s about to walk down the aisle with Barry, the man of her dreams.

Readers are offered a front row seat as we follow her journey from fiancée to bride-to-be accompanied by her lovable but eccentric parents, her best friends and the best man from hell.

Sadly, Barry gets an attack of pre-marriage jitters and has other ideas and leaves Judy literally at the altar, embarking on a trip to France, no less, where he exercises their joint credit card a little too generously, leaving Judy wailing into her veil and a house full of nosy family and friends tucking into the pre-made sandwiches and revelling in the juicy gossip.

Intertwined in the story of Judy and Barry’s relationship is that of Judy’s brother Biffo and his on-off relationship with Judy’s best friend Angie, a career woman. Biffo found her career and earning power hard to handle and always felt inferior in their relationship and he fled to the US but now he’s back for the wedding of the year. Now that the union is no longer happening, can Biffo and Angie resurrect what they once hand or is it all doom and gloom?

And then there’s Mick and Rose, Judy’s long suffering parents. Theyíve been together for God knows how long but Mick has had a wandering eye in the past. Still they’ve been as one through thick and thin and Mick reckons the best way to seal their relationship is by renewing their vows. Rose, however, isn’t too sure and there are moments of both hilarity and pain as we witness three sets of couples struggling to achieve a balance.

When coward Barry does eventually make contact from France he’s sheepishly repentant and claims his running away was simply something he had to get out of his system, he’s all better now and ready to pick up where he left off.

But Judy’s a changed woman, a stronger and more independent woman who’s not ready to settle for second-best. Admirably, she rejects his flowers, notes and proposals and Barry is left weeping into his pint.

And then there’s hot-shot Lenny, Barry’s best man, all the way from Australia, complete with perma tan and dazzling white teeth. Judy simply can’t stand him. He is so obnoxious and super confident.

And he looks down on her, ridicules her because she dared to believe in the sanctity of marriage, humiliates her even further when her dream of happy ever after falls to pieces before her eyes.

But they say there’s a fine line between love and hate and a moment of weakness see Lenny and Judy discovering a strange kind of common ground that neither of them can fathom and that leads to some emotive times for both.

Will Judy fall head over heels in love again or can she play the game with no strings attached?
‘No Strings Attached’ is published by Headline Review. Clare Dowling’s previous novels are ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Expecting Emily’ and ‘My Fabulous Divorce’.