I feel a little mean-spirited giving this book just 3 stars, as it does contain some funny lines, but for me Hession tries just a little too hard to please everyone, making it a little too much like a romcom script for my taste.

I’ll be honest: I had been avoiding this book partly because I thought the title sounded like a children’s book but largely because the book blurb made it sound like not my kind of book. Hungry Paul, who still happily lives with his parents, finds himself considering changing his own habits in light of his only friend looking to expand his own world beyond their regular board game nights.Sometimes it is essential to read a book like Leonard and Hungry Paul as it changes your perspective and makes you smile in the process. I liked how Hession showed us these two men slowly and gently, revealing their strengths and flaws, as we got to know them.

My name is Claire, and I’m an early-career editor, UCL MA Publishing class of 16/17, an avid reader and a compulsive opinion-haver. I just thought it quite easily could have been a lot more genuine and real, by making some of the silliness a bit more realistic, and for me at least, more enjoyable. It is a story about families who love each other, who enjoy each other’s company, but who struggle with how to strike the right balance between support and enabling.It’s Bianca’s fab review that caught my eye, so thank you to her for shining a light on this little beauty. Bluemoose Books continue to hit their targets with unerring accuracy, and the book is soon to be published by Melville House in the US. There was so much interior drama in this quiet and unassuming book that I was often on the edge of my seat as I was reading, wanting these men and everyone around them to stay happy. It is about those uncelebrated people who have the ability to change their world, not by effort or force, but through their appreciation of all that is special and overlooked in life.

On the positive side, it is hard not to sympathise with Hession for wanting to create a kinder, gentler world, and characters like his two leads are pretty rare in literature, if all too common in real life - many of the situations they face were very familiar. Because both of these men are happy with their lives just the way they are, and how many of us can say that? Expectations change, and for those of us who are quiet and unassuming, this can be daunting and scary. You see all different kinds of love – that of a couple married for many years with two grown children, that of parents for their children, and children for their parents. It’s the loud, demanding ones that grab our attention, but it’s the many people like Leonard and Hungry Paul who steadfastly keep things moving.Perhaps fittingly enough for the book, my life didn’t slow down so I was forced to carve my own bit of calm to make space for it. I didn't believe in the competition that Hungry Paul enters, or the way the worthy hospital visits pan out. Their discussion these days mostly revolves around the upcoming wedding of Grace, Hungry Paul's sister. If I were to compare Rónán writing to work produced by other contemporary authors, I would say that it reminded me of Joanna Cannon, Mark Haddon and Sara Baume's.