Tom Dick and Debbie Harry

by Jessica Adams

When Richard, a divorced but desirable vet from Tasmania, proposes to Sarah, an English Rose, she decides to accept and start a whole new life with him down under. The only problem is, though, that days before the wedding Sarah falls in love with Richard's best man, Tom, who's living with a much older woman. Meanwhile, Bronte, Richard's first wife, a Features Editor on a woman's magazine in Sydney is trying to cope with the news that her ex is marrying again. And Harry, Richard's younger brother, who has never got over his obsession with Blondie, is spending all his time chasing after the wrong women. Tom, Dick and Debbie Harry is a witty and, at times, hilarious contemporary novel about weddings, relationships, finding the right partner, shenanigans amongst friends and Australian eccentricity.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Jessica Adams is an astrologer and author. Her books include 2020 Vision, Handbag Horoscopes and Astrolove (Penguin) and Essential Astrology for Women (HarperCollins). Her recent book 2020 Astrology: Your Five-Year Horoscope Guide, was a #1 Amazon bestseller in America and Australia. Jessica has worked as a team editor on the Girls' Night In and Kids' Night in series, for Penguin and HarperCollins, with contributors including J.K.Rowling, Stella McCartney and Nick Hornby. She is the Editor of The Holiday Goddess Guide to Paris, London, New York and Rome (HarperCollins). Jessica lives in Australia and her astrology has appeared everywhere from VOGUE (Japan) to GQ (Great Britain). Her latest book is Your Birthday (Hachette/Running Press) with Rachel Wells. She is the astrological consultant on The Aries Billionaire by Rachel Wells (Audible UK).

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a feeling I may have read this book before some time ago but I still enjoyed it hugely.
The characters are well written,it's funny and yet has some real emotional moments in it.Well worth a read in my opinion.

[Jacquie South · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the fact that this was an Australian book - it was good to read something ‘local’ rather than American or English for a change.
I didn’t mind this book - it wasn’t brilliant but it was not bad either. I wasn’t that sold on the main characters (Richard, Sarah and Tom) but I did like Harry and Bronte and a couple of the other minor characters.
Overall, not a bad op shop pick up.

[PATRIA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read. Very realistic. Small town apparently as everyone is hooking up amongst themselves. Several love triangles with a good ending surprisingly.

She marries while inlove w his bestfriend.... great read!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lower end 3 for me. Took ages to get into it and was not sure how much I really liked any of the characters. Still always nice to read Australian characters set in Australia.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine...mindless beach read maybe?

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""

[Sharon Metcalf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the book that I mentioned I'd seen heaps of times so of course I bought it, having enjoyed Jessica Adams so much the first time around. This one was good but I don't think it was as good as "I'm a believer", although maybe I just enjoyed that one so much because I was so pleasantly surprised by this author I hadn't read previously. Anyway, like I said, I enjoyed this book which was essentially about Richard and his new wife Sarah, his best mate Tom and his brother Harry who has a thing for Debbie Harry. The story starts on Richard and Sarah's wedding day and Sarah is late. Nobody knows where she is and after 20 minutes it seems she's not going to turn up. Richard and both sets of parents start looking for her and she's found hiding out in the porta-loos. She's been having cold feet and was not sure she could go through with it but they get hitched anyway. Turns out, Sarah has a dead set crush on Tom although of course nobody knows that. As the story progresses we get to know all the main characters really well and there's not all that much story to it. Sarah starts an affair with Tom which I was surprised to realise I was hoping would work out, despite the fact that I didn't want Richard to be hurt. Odd. Harry just doesn't seem to have it all together, he's a bit out there, he lives at home and his personal and work life are somewhat lacklustre. Meanwhile, Richard just seems to be a genuinely nice guy. He's the local vet and everyone thinks the sun shines out his backside. His ex-wife Bronte plays a fairly big part in the story too. She's jealous of the new marriage and is having something of a crisis in her own life. Not only that but she seems to be being haunted by Angel her horse. There's quite a lot of life after death and psychic themes in this book (much like the earlier one I read). Anyway, long story short. Tom and Sarah end up splitting up even though they both have strong feelings for each other. Sarah and Richard seem to fall back in love (not that Richard ever fell out of love), and Harry appears to get it together with Bronte (his ex-sister-in-law). Well written and likeable characters. I have another of her titles on my shelf but I'll be keeping my eye out for Single White E-Mail which seems to have received rave reviews.

[GotMyReservations · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my quest for fluffy books that I can read when I wake up in the middle of the night and easily put out of my insomniac mind, I grabbed this one off the library shelf. It met my needs, but took me way too long to read this very light story because it wasn't that good. The characters were quirky but undeveloped because there were too many of them, and the resolution of the plotline was barely believable. I was interested in the small-town Tasmanian setting, and it is actually an important part of the storyline because it allows the characters hidden corners to which they can sneak away. Not the level of Helen Fielding as it is billed...

[Ee Hwee · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were too many characters in the book and each one was left half developed and left me filling in their personalities on my own.
There was no climax and I hated Sarah.

Blegh I don't even know why I finish reading the book.

Recommended for: NOBODY (unless you really run out of things to read)

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love and death in a small Tasmanian town. Boy meets girl, girl meets another boy, another boy tries to meet girls, older people chatter on the sidelines. Ghosts. Weddings. Stillbirths. Mosquitoes. Very light, and more improbable romantic matchings than are usual in this sort of work. Comic relief is not as comic as it hoped to be, and the conclusion was a bit of a right angle. 2/5

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different book. I couldn't put it down. Strangely, I found myself wanting to get back to the book as the story progressed; the characters were very likable... All in all, I found it to be a nice, lighthearted read. Reminded me a lot of a british romantic comedy, much like Notting Hill or Bridget Jones Diary.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

i just wanted to read something light and fun and this fit the bill. However, i got bored of the characters and the story...everything seemed too easily resolved at the end and kind of unbelievable...

[Julz Gibsoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, Jessica Adams is such a talented writer, I find it hard to put her books down, and look forward to reading them time and time again.
This book is so familiar of life, you just cant help thinking "oh I can relate to that".

[Janine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think every single character in this book annoyed the hell out of me. It reads very dated - set in the 90s, it certainly captures the discontent angst that seemed to permeate the culture at the time. I don't think it meant to be such a statement on the times though.

[Abcdarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out laugh-out-loud funny, but after a very few chapters, turned into a dull story with no humour at all. Disappointing.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun and easy read.

[Bookend McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and a half.
She's a great writer.
Great characters.

[Russell Proctor · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bubblegum book. Something to occupy the space between important thoughts like what shall I have for tea!

[Jennifer Baum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, well-developed characters and interesting plot.

[Dee-Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good laugh ... I am sure I grew up with people like these.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing too challenging about this one, and it seemed kind of obvious where it was going to end.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. Took me back in time.