Really Good, Actually Audiobook By Monica Heisey cover art

Really Good, Actually

A Novel

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Really Good, Actually

By: Monica Heisey
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Every sentence of Monica Heisey’s writing is a treat. No one makes me laugh like she does.” —Dolly Alderton, New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Know About Love

Recommended by Los Angeles Times • Washington Post • GQ • Elle • Good Morning America • People • Guardian • The Times • E! News Online • The Globe and Mail • Toronto Star • The Week • New York Post • Shondaland • and many more!

A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey

Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.

Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.

Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call “happiness”. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

©2023 Monica Heisey (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers City Life Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Urban Women's Fiction Funny Witty Heartfelt Comedy Divorce Real Self Care

Critic reviews

“Tremendously funny and thoughtful.” –GQ

“A prime example of how a storyteller's voice can pull you right in and keep you clinging to every sentence. . . . This is a book I will give to my closest girlfriends and say, ‘You have to read this.’” — Zibby Owens, GoodMorningAmerica.com

Dear Listener,

Why did I choose this format to tell my story? Why a novel?
"I was terrified to write a novel. Writing for television is so collaborative; so many people come together to make your work better than the words on the page. It was intimidating, at first, not to have that safety net, but it was also exciting to embark on a creative project that really was (until I could find editors willing to work with me) just me, on my own. This particular story is set almost claustrophobically inside the main character's head, and is primarily concerned with the difference between the things we think and the things we say, so it felt really suited to novel form because I found I could skip easily between the real world and Maggie's inner monologue." - Monica Heisey, writer of Really Good, Actually
All stars
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One of the worst books I’ve read lately. I just couldn’t connect or empathize with Maggie. 3/4 of the book was focused on “oh poor me.”

Really hard to finish

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I love Julia Whelan as a narrator so that was a plus, but I found the lead character to be mostly annoying. Her lack of self awareness was too much. Maybe if I was still in my 20’s I’d relate more to this story…

Good, not great

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My only real critique is that it was like much too long. Her antics/craziness/anecdotes could have been condensed for the listener. By Chapter 17 I jacked up the listening speed to 2.1 just to get through it.

Witty, raw, funny, & endearing

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The narrator did a fine job and the story was well written. I just couldn’t identify with the main character. She spent a lot of time in avoidance when I am a face it head on person. If I met this character in real life I’d probably be disgusted with her behavior. But this is also a sign of good writing that the author could evoke such a strong dislike of the character. Maybe i am just in a place where I want to read something more positive.

Great narrator but…

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Having been thru a divorce, there were many of her thought processes I could relate to. She had to find herself and be comfortable in her own skin and I was there.

I related

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great performance by Julia Whelan, the story, however dragged. like other reviewers i was hopeful there would be more. divorce is ugly and painful, and can lead to personal destruction, it is not permission to hurt others unrelated to our divorce.

Really Good, Actually Not

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Anticlimactic and depressing, I found I couldn’t even muster the enthusiasm to route for the main character. Only positive is the narration by Julia Whelan. If I was reading on my own I would not have finished. Listened on a flight, missed chunks of the book due to naps and did not feel need to skip back.

Finished it….barely

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This was a book about a very unlikable character who shared her every miserable thought with the world. No plot. The only positive was that it was narrated by Julia Whelan.

Really Bad, Actually

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Made myself finish, not sure why. Ir wasn't worth the time. The one positive...the narrator did a good job reading a mediocre book.

Hard to like the main character

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I related to this story being that I too am a divorced woman. I felt the story was real, relatable and some what sad. There were lots of humorous parts but rather than thinking this is a funny book, I choose to view it as real life. The ups and downs of personal crisis. A lesson on how eventually you get to be “really good, actually!”

I can relate

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