Oh My God What A Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen - Review

I bought this a few months back when I was searching for books on abortion in Ireland/about Irish people who travel for abortions, and although this is a really minor storyline in the book, I did like its inclusion.

So, Aisling. We all know an Aisling, we probably work with one. At the beginning of the book, Aisling is in a relationship with John, and she's getting a bit frustrated because everyone's getting engaged and married, and she and John are basically stagnant in one place. She still lives at home, in the close knit community she's from, so she spends half her time driving to her job in Dublin and spending the odd night at John's house.

After a disastrous romantic holiday where Aisling demands to know whether they will be getting engaged soon, she and John split up. She decides to take a place in a flat in Dublin with a work colleague, and begins to see that life doesn't have to be what she thought it had to be.

This book has it all, and it's quite a rollercoaster. I did feel like some parts got skipped over too quickly, which annoyed me, but by and large I liked it. Aisling is an adorable character, I really rooted for her and I related to her more than I really wanted to! I liked her family and friends, I thought John was a bit of a wet weekend and didn't see what she saw in him. I'm glad it ended how it did - she'd grown so much and I'm glad her life moved forward. I loved the Irish setting and the turns of phrase especially. I would definitely read something else by these authors.

My friend Sarah read Oh My God What A Complete Aisling at almost the same time I did, so I asked her to give me a mini review for my blog, which she did! Thanks love. Here's what she said:

I really enjoyed ‘Oh my god what a complete Aisling’, for several reasons, not which of least is the wonderful Irish turn of phrase that the writers use to convey the context of their character. It helps you immediately feel drawn into her world and included, a bit like an old friend sharing a West Coast Cooper with her. I think the best thing is that we all have a bit of Aisling in us- getting fed up of people not recycling, counting our Fitbit steps, worrying about going to a club where we won’t fit in. Even though at times it was a little predictable, I liked the fact that it didn’t have a traditional ‘happy ending’, and that the relationship with her and John was not nearly tied up, but left as an unknown, new and messy thing that they will have to navigate.