Reviews

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In Fielding's novel, beloved Bridget Jones is now 51 years old and a widow, raising her two young children alone after the death of husband Mark Darcy. With her signature diary entries and comical obsession with minutiae, Bridget forges ahead into unfamiliar worlds as she uses Twitter, tries to write a screenplay, and dates a sexy "toy boy" 20 years her junior. Narrator Bond is perfect as Bridget, conveying her humorously self-deprecating insecurity, her joyous highs and depressed lows, and all her inevitable comic mishaps and social awkwardness. She also slips easily into a variety of spot-on character voices, including sophisticated Talitha, supercilious Mr. Wallaker (a schoolteacher who turns out to be more than meets the eye), sexy Roxter (the aforementioned toy boy), and Mabel, Bridget's young daughter. Bond's brilliant narration will have listeners cheering Bridget on, and makes this audiobook a must-listen. A Knopf hardcover. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

It's been 15 years since readers first met the charmingly insecure Bridget Jones, and 13 since her last adventure in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2000). Bridget is now 51, and, most readers will be chagrined to learn, a widow. She is also raising the two children she had with the now deceased Mark Darcy and gingerly wading back into the dating pool while working on a screenplay. When she joins Twitter, she obsesses about the number of Twitter followers she has the same way she used to agonize over her weight, which does remains a concern. Bridget begins a Twitter flirtation with a sexy guy named Roxster, who turns out to be only 29. Most of the novel is devoted to the ups and downs of their ensuing relationship. It is fun to revisit Bridget and all her neuroses, but the novel is at its best when Fielding focuses on the challenges Bridget faces as a single parent, including her love/hate relationship with one of her son's teachers, rather than on the somewhat unrealistic May-December romance. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The longed-for return of Bridget Jones is supported by a hefty print-run (250,000), a first serial in Vogue, and a major author tour.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

She's back, still counting calories and alcohol intake, but our beloved heroine has also changed. Bridget is now a fiftysomething widow raising two young children while aspiring to be a screenwriter. Four years after the loss of her beloved Darcy, Bridget's friends have pushed her back into the social stream. She has managed to land a 29-year-old boyfriend but is still ditzy enough to have life collapsing around her regularly as she juggles her increasingly odd mother, the insanity of film agents and script rewrites, and the demands of the supermom school event coordinator. The boy toy isn't going to work out but, no fear, there is a Dan Craig look-alike waiting in the wings to provide a happy ending. Verdict This third time around for Bridget and friends works (after Bridget Jone's Diary; Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason), the usual silliness is well balanced by the realities of aging and loss. She's kept her charm and earned her second Prince Charming. [See Prepub Alert, 4/22/13.]-Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll. Lib., NC (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.