4.5★s
West Side Honey is the third novel by Australian playwright and author, Claire Christian. The eighteen months since thirty-seven-year-old florist, Cleo Novak has split from her husband have been filled with work at West Side Honey, and caring for her daughter, Frankie and son, Andy. Luckily she and her best friend Jude have set up what they call their “mummune”, two mums, three kids and lots of fun and support for each other.

Then her ex agrees to a week on, week off arrangement, and suddenly, she has a degree of freedom. Once she overcomes the guilt and worry at handing over her babies into his care, she’s convinced by Jude to get out there and have some fun. Mixed success at hooking up for some much-needed sex sees her friend and employee at her florist, Farida helping her out. Farida jumps at the chance to become her dating app broker, initiating contact on Cleo’s behalf with men she deems have potential.

Damage repair to her front of shop after a car crash yields a hot carpenter, from whom she tries, with difficulty, to maintain a professional distance. Her best dating app outcomes are a non-binary barista and a non-monogamous librarian. Also in the mix are her very supportive parents, a wise counsellor whose advice is always sound, and a dance instructor skilled at empowering the women she teaches.

There’s plenty of dark humour in Cleo’s various dating encounters, which involve both disappointing and highly satisfactory experiences. Because ‘My bar was set so bloody low’ with her terrible ex, it takes Cleo quite a bit of time, and a few life dramas, to discover exactly what she wants, and that she’s allowed to ask for it, that she deserves to be happy. With that honesty comes acceptance that conventional relationships are not her only choice.

Readers should be aware that this is a tale with quite a lot of sex, some of it explicit, and that the characters do freely use expletives. Christian’s latest offering is funny, candid, entertaining, and thought-provoking.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing.