Mike Gayle

The Stag and Hen Weekend is the story of Phil and Helen, a couple in their thirties about to commit their lives to one
 another . . . that is of course if they can just manage to get through their respective stag and hen weekends (his: Amsterdam;
hers: a country house and day spa in the Peak District) without falling apart. Told in the unique form of two separate stories that have common characters as well as themes and conclusion, The Stag and Hen Weekend can be read from front to back or from back to front putting the reader in the driver's seat as to which story they wish to read first.

Despite the example of their own parents' enduring marriage, the three Bachelor brothers show no sign of settling down. Adam has a string of glamorous girlfriends, but they aren't suitable wife material. Luke has just proposed to Cassie but his refusal to consider having children looks like an insurmountable barrier. And baby of the family Russell is in love with the one woman he can't have.

Then their father announces he has been thrown out of the family home and this forces all three brothers to examine their own priorities.
Are all three Bachelor brothers totally hopeless cases or just late starters?

Would a proper adult ignore the spilt milk under the fridge for weeks? Would a proper adult take three years to post a solitary Christmas card? Would a proper adult have decades-old underwear in active service? Mike Gayle is nowhere near being a proper adult -- even though his tenth wedding anniversary is looming; his second child is due any moment; and in less than twenty-four hours he is going to be officially closer to forty than he is to thirty. Appalled by this lack of maturity, Mike draws up a To-Do list containing every single item he's been meaning to do but just keeps putting off...He's got a lot of stuff that needs doing. But unlike previous To-Do lists, he promises himself that this one will actually get DONE. And along the way, Mike will learn stuff about life (323), love (999), friends (1004) and family (9) and finally work out what it means to be a grown up (846).

It’s their party...

Meet Melissa and Paul: Five years after they split up he’s still looking for love in all the wrong places while she wants the one thing she can’t have: Paul. Meet Chris and Vicky: They’re so in tune they even brush their teeth in time with each other. So what is Chris doing risking it all for a meaningless affair? Meet Cooper and Laura: He wants to settle down, she wants to take a grown-up gap year – but can their relationship really survive a year apart?

Their holiday brochure said 18-30 . . . But they've just turned 35.
After ten years together Charlie Mansell has been dumped by his live-in girlfriend, Sarah. All he wants to do is wallow in misery, but mates Andy and Tom have a better idea: a week of sun, sea and souvlaki in Malia, party capital of the Greek islands. But Charlie and his mates aren't eighteen any more. Or even under thirty. And it shows. It isn't the cheap beer, the late nights or even the fast-food that's the problem. It's girls. And life. And most of all . . . each other.

When Rob's girlfriend asks him to leave London and live with her in Manchester not only will it mean moving cities and changing the only job he's ever had, it'll also mean leaving behind his best mate in the entire world. Believing that love conquers all and convinced of his ability to make new friends, Rob takes the plunge. Six months, and yet to find so much as a regular drinking buddy, Rob realises that sometimes making friends in your thirties can be the hardest thing to do. With drastic action needed, his girlfriend puts an ad in the classifieds for him, but after three excruciatingly embarrassing "bloke dates" Rob begins to truly despair. Until his luck changes...There's just one problem. Apart from knowing less than nothing about music trivia, football, and the vital statistics of supermodels, Rob's new friend has one huge flaw...She's a girl.

From their first meeting at the student union over a decade ago, Jim and Alison successfully navigated their way through first dates, meeting parents, moving in together and more…

Then they split up and divided their worldly goods (including a sofa, a cat and their flat) into his ’n’ hers. Now, three years on and with new lives and new loves, they couldn’t be happier. Until a chance encounter throws them back together, and causes them to embark on a journey through their past to ask themselves the big question: where did it all go wrong, and is it too late to put it all right?

When Dave Harding holds his friend's newborn baby, the biological clock he never knew existed starts ticking. Loudly. Which wouldn't be so bad except his partner Izzy has no nine-month plans for fat ankles or trips to Baby Gap.Then the music mag folds and Dave is temporarily forced to become Agony Uncle for 'Teen Scene'. Knee deep in the adolescent outpourings of his readership, Dave opens one letter from a girl who doesn't want advice about boys - she wants to know about Dave. Because she's convinced that Dave Harding is her dad. And she's got the facts to prove it.

Unlike most people Matt Beckford is actually looking forward to turning thirty. After struggling through most of his twenties, he thinks his career, finances and love life are finally sorted. But when he splits up with his girlfriend, he realises that life has different plans for him and Matt temporarily moves back home to his parents.Within hours, his mum and dad are driving him up the wall just like the old days. Feeling nostalgic and desperate for sanity, he decides to get in touch with his old school mates. So, one by one, he tracks down the rest of the magnificent seven - Gershwin, Pete, Bev, Katrina, Elliot and Ginny, his former on-off girlfriend. Back together after a decade apart. But things will never be the same again for any of them because when you're turning thirty nothing's as simple as it used to be.

Duffy is engaged. He accepted Mel's proposal. But the trips to Ikea, dinner parties for couples and talk of babies are giving him itchy feet and now he's not sure if he can say goodbye to his extended adolescence and face up to that final walk down the aisle. How does he know if she's The One? Can he cope with responsibility? Does he have what it takes to become Mr Commitment? Because if he doesn't, he may just find that he's lost Mel, for ever.After twenty-eight years of shirking responsibility Duffy's finally realising that he can't extend his adolescence forever. His low-paid temping job is threatening permanency. His gradually receding hairline is depressing him greatly. And if that's not enough, his long-suffering girlfriend, Mel, wants to get engaged.Trips to Ikea, dinner parties with married couples and talk of babies, however, are giving Duffy cold feet. He doesn't have many worldly goods to share - apart from the remote control for his TV, the beers in the fridge and his record collection - but can he really put his hand on his heart and say 'I do'? He knows Mel's the one for him, so why is it he'd feel happier swapping 'Till death us do part' for 'Renewable on a four year basis'?But the choice is: all or nothing.So after a lifetime as Mr Irresponsible does Duffy have what it takes to become Mr Commitment?

Meet Will Kelly. English teacher. Film fan. King of sandwich construction. Still in love with The One, desperately searching
for An-Other One. In his decrepit flat, Will’s lifeline is the telephone. There’s Alice (who remembers his birthday), Simon
(who doesn’t), Martina (the one-night stand), Kate (the previous tenant of his rented Archway fleapit) and of course Aggi - the
inimitable Aggi. His Legendary Girlfriend. Or is she? Two men, three women and a donkey called Sandy...basically it’s your classic love hexagon.