Team Guncle is back for good! As soon as I finished, I couldn't help but scream for another sequel! It felt reconnecting with long-time friends, and I must emphasize one thing: Witty banter and catchy dialogues are my guilty pleasures. Steven Rowley delivered more of them, as good as the banter from some of my favorite sitcoms, making me laugh so hard that my stomach hurt (I was so close to having an accident, thankfully I was a fast runner to reach the toilet on time).

The perfect emotional resonance of the series easily warms my heart each time I dive into another Guncle Patrick, his niece Maisie, and his nephew Grant’s adventures, making me want to hug them and being a big fan of their unique connection.

In this book, we move years forward from where the first book left off: after his sitcom Guncle becomes a four-season hit, Patrick finally takes a leading role. While his career relaunches with new achievements, his personal life is in crisis after breaking up with Emory.

As soon as he hears the news that his brother Greg decides to tie the knot with his new girlfriend Livia, who is also a rich Italian client’s daughter, in a romantic gathering in Grand Hotel Tremezzo/Lake Como, then heading for his honeymoon in Greece, he's clever enough to anticipate that Maisie and Grant won’t congratulate the couple with open arms without his brother's mentioning. Maisie is now a 14-year-old rebellious girl, and Grant is a regular eleven-year-old with his hands glued to the game console.

Patrick has to deal with the tantrums of his niece and nephew as they connect with Palmina, the lesbian aunt, sister of the bride, which sparks jealousy as well.

Let’s not forget his nemesis sister, who is adamant to flirt with any male species she sets her eye on during the ceremonial events. On top of that, the groom seems to be getting cold feet. Dear Patrick has to do something Patrick-style to save the day as he approaches his bloody 50th birthday, which might be a reminder to grow up and take responsibility for his loved ones.

Oh boy, I loved this book with all my heart, and I don’t want to say goodbye to this amazing, one-of-a-kind family that gave me so much fun. I hope I meet them again in future sequels.

Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this amazing book’s digital reviewer copy with me. And many thanks to Steven Rowley for bringing back one of my favorite fictional characters with your brilliant writing and extraordinary sarcastic mind.

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Our lovable GUP, Patrick O’Hara, returns with his trademark sarcastic humor intact! He truly is the heart and soul of this book, and Rowley has outdone himself in crafting such an intriguing character. This follow-up book provides a delightful peek into the lives of our favorite characters from the past five years. Though I must confess, "The Guncle" tugged at my heartstrings even more, leaving me a sobbing mess. Rowley's talent shines through, and I eagerly anticipate more of his works!

So, what's Patrick been up to? It's been five years since his unforgettable summer caring for his niece Maisie and nephew Grant after their mother's passing. The kids are back in Connecticut with their dad, while Patrick has moved to New York to revive his acting career. Riding high on the success of his second sitcom, Patrick feels on top of the world professionally. But as he approaches fifty, his personal life is a different story. After breaking up with Emory, he's single again, but at least he has his family—until they need him once more.90 s1 comment Marieke (mariekes_mesmerizing_books)596 573

I don’t want to feel this way. I imagined being delighted and laughing out loud and so happy after reading this sequel. But even though I d the story to a certain extent, it was not the fantastic blast I was expecting.  
 
The Guncle was one of my favorite 2021 reads. I loved Patrick, Maisie, and especially ‘being mythelf’ Grant, who helped each other deal with their grief. I loved what a lighthearted read it was despite all the sadness. But while reading The Guncle Abroad, I missed Patrick’s caftans, his skin-rejuvenating masks, his Mimosa’s, the trouple living next to him, and Grant’s lisp (I know I shouldn’t miss it, but I really did …).  
 
I also didn’t care much about the traveling part. It might be because I’m European and have seen all the places Patrick visited with Maisie and Grant. Those places felt too one dimensional, even cartoonish sometimes: The Sacre Coeur in Paris, Family von Trap in Salzburg, the gondolas in Venice, George Clooney living at Lake Como. 
 
This doesn’t mean I didn’t the story at all. I loved the first chapter, I adored the ending, and Emory is, this time, my favorite. I treasured the way Patrick taught the kids about love and how Maisie and Grant stood up for Emory. And there’s a Launt!!!!  

The last third of the book was actually really good and I felt I was reading The Guncle again. But that’s not enough to gush about a book, right?
 
Maybe I was just in the wrong headspace to read this one. I don’t know. What I do know is that I long for a third book with Emory in the lead. Not just a few pages but a full story. I imagine Maisie being a twenty-one-year-old college student who just beats her uncle in their conversations because she actually always knows better and Grant being a moody sixteen-year-old because of the hormones running through his body. So, Steven, could you please give me that book? One that I could rate five stars again?

Thank you so much, Penguin Group, Putnam Books, and NetGalley for one of my most anticipated 2024 ARCs! 

Follow me on Instagram58 s20 comments Blaine851 978

Update 5/21/24: Reposting my review to celebrate that today is publication day!

“Sequels are either too bloated, too stuffed with B-team actors or characters or Ewoks—things that weren’t good enough for the original. A cash grab to profit off something that was probably a fluke in the first place.”

Cassie glanced at the surrounding patrons, perhaps wishing she could dine with one of them.

“The only time it maybe works—and I mean the only time—is when there wasn’t an ending that was entirely happy, when not everything was tied up in a neat little bow. Otherwise you have to undo someone’s happy ending to create more drama for your characters, and no one s a happy ending undone. And what stories these days don’t have happy endings?“
Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Group for sending me an ARC of The Guncle Abroad in exchange for an honest review.

The Guncle Abroad picks up five years after The Guncle. Patrick’s in the second act of his again-ascendant career, wrapping up filming a movie in London. Patrick’s niece Maisie and nephew Grant are upset because their Dad/Patrick’s brother Greg is getting remarried, and they’ve asked Patrick to try to stop the wedding. Patrick reluctantly agrees for their sake, but only if they travel to the wedding with him and let him try to show them why they should instead chose to accept their father’s new love and their second chance at having maternal love in their lives. However, the kids are 11 and 14 now, and much more immune to Patrick’s charms and persuasion, and who is he to tell anyone about love and family and happiness given that he’s about to turn 50 and recently ended his nearly five-year relationship with Emory?

The quotation above is from a meta scene in The Guncle Abroad where Patrick and his agent bicker about the value of sequels. It’s funny, but it does draw attention to the question of whether this sequel and its story were necessary to Patrick’s story. The Guncle was about a gay man who had turned his back on the world ten years earlier when his partner died learning to renter the world by spending a summer helping his niece and nephew begin to heal from the death of their mother. It was charming, funny, and sweet. By the end, you knew the kids were going to be ok and Patrick had reentered the world and found love to boot. The Guncle Abroad is similarly charming, funny, and sweet, and by the end, you once again know the kids are going to be ok. As for Patrick, he’s in a much better place from the start, so his story is a bit more of a standard midlife crisis tale. Still, by the end, you once again know Patrick is going to be ok too.

So does The Guncle Abroad pass its own sequel test? Maybe. It’s not bloated or stuffed with B-team actors or characters—his sister Clara comes off much better here, and Livia’s sister Palmina is no one’s Ewok
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