The Goodbye Girls

by Juliet Domvile

The first client for two newbie funeral planners is a murdered biker. What could go wrong?

When millennial Aislin Fitzgerald’s professional life implodes, she does the only thing she can think of—she bolts for home. But, for Aislin, home is complicated. Her relationship with her grandmother Letty—her sole relative—is awkward and confrontational, and her hometown is filled with memories and people she has been avoiding her entire adult life.

It’s not all bad, though. A chance meeting with Aislin’s former best friend, Sarah, leads to a niche business opportunity. Noticing how entertained Letty is by attending funerals, they form a funeral planning business, the Goodbye Girls. But things get off to a rocky start when their first gig is for a murdered member of the local biker club, and the prime suspect disappears. While bodies stack up, tensions rise and drinks flow; Aislin and Sarah find themselves leagues out of their comfort zones.

As Aislin learns to navigate living under the same roof as her irascible and, as it turns out, lustful grandmother, she also learns to unclench, trust, and accept love in all shapes and sizes. The Goodbye Girls takes you on an entertaining adventure through the trials of friendship and love—and will have you putting the fun in funeral.

Kindle Edition

Published October 11, 2022

About the author

I grew up on a tiny, isolated island off the east coast of Vancouver Island. My early childhood was spent in a world where books, a couple of Corgis, and a pet sheep were my constant companions. I’ve had a varied career that ranges wildly from counting nudists on a public beach, grooming horses for a racehorse trainer, freelance writing articles on topics of which I had no experience, to ghostwriting books, one of which is a national bestseller. I left ghostwriting in 2020 to write my first novel The Goodbye Girls.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cover curiosity that struck me from the first and then the blurb that sealed the deal. Funeral event-planning besties? I’m game. Blending quirky small town, family, friends, and finding oneself, this debut book offered up a lot.

The Goodbye Girls begins with Aislynn returning to her small town after going away to university and a big city journalism job that kept her away for years. She had no intentions of returning, but that was before a mistake destroyed it all. A complicated relationship with the grandmother who raised her after her parents died, her habit of keeping people at a distance, and pushing off issues that need addressing all come to a head. While starting up a quirky style of event planning business, for funerals, no less, with her childhood best friend, Aislynn must face down it all while figuring out her present let alone her future. It’s complicated seems to be struggling Aislynn’s motto.

I knew what I was getting into when the blurb stated Aislynn was a millennial coming home to figure things out. I did get the impression there might be something of a mystery or excitement with the first client, a biker club burying a murdered member and the killer at large, but mostly this is a far flung personal journey with relationships story that is prevalent in women’s fiction. I can’t say that I could relate well with Aislyn, but she was a mess in the beginning and vulnerable so I wanted to see her get a bit of her own back. She had a good heart when she discovered her former roommate was being abused and it was a tough situation that older, mature people could have easily stepped wrong as far as I’m concerned, but it was more than that which had her flailing. She did prefer to leave issues lay rather than face them which, did eventually bite her in the butt.

There are lots of moving parts in this one and it tends to sprawl rather than stick to a tidy plotline. It made for a meandering story that I could put down easily, but there was also an endearing quality where I still wanted to keep picking it back up and see Aislynn come into her own. It was missing the crispness to the plot that would make it a fab book, but there was still so much to love in the small town quirks and heartwarming moments. Pet turtle, funeral event antics, and oddities for characters were highlights. Those who enjoy gently-paced, character-driven plots against small town setting should check this one out.

I rec'd an eARC via NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review.

My full review will post on Caffeinated Review Oct 12th.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Juliet Domvile starts her book, The Goodbye Girls, by describing life’s road needing constant maintenance and Aislin Fitzgerald starting off in a sink hole. First paragraph and I identified with the protagonist.

Aislin’s life was filled with angst and grief, some fate induced, some she brought on herself. She worked as a journalist right out of college and managed to offend her BFF, her boss and the advertisers so she packed up her clothes and her turtle and took off to return home to her grandmother Letty. This, too, may have been an error in judgement as the two women have always found it hard to get along. Probably because they’re so much alike.

Back in her childhood home she and her school pal Sarah again become friends. Sarah is now divorced with a child and she, too, is back with her folks. Mutual need develops into a plan for a business the two can run together. The scheme emerges because Aislin observes Letty going to a constant string of funerals and then coming home to complain about how poorly they are run. Why not become funeral planners? The plan hatches.

Neither woman has the background nor the skills nor, let’s face it, the smarts to lead this plan to fruition but that doesn’t stop the train of progress. Soon they have their first customer. Unfortunately, it’s a motorcycle club who wants a sendoff for their murdered resident Don Juan, Twiggy. The club is the Timberwolves and they plan to invite rival clubs plus Twiggy’s bevy of married girlfriends.

Actually, although the set-up is pure gold, the author can’t quite keep the punchline going. What author Domvile can do is to pack the book with so many interesting and well fleshed secondary characters that this becomes fun to read. There’s the vet, the funeral director, the woman who runs the local eatery, the busybody, the doom & gloom finger wagger, and best of all, Secretariat, the turtle. This is a fun summer read.

#NetGalley #TheGoodbyeGirls #SummerRead

[Marigold Maybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a great story with such real characters. As someone from a small town, with extreme anxiety when I visit because of the people gossiping and watching, it simultaneously amused and increased my heart rate.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from House of Miles Books and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


A quirky book with characters I find charming. I hope there's more from Juliet Domville and The Goodbye Girls. Defiantly worth the read, book clubs would benefit from this one.

[George Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author’s bio on the back cover suggested this would be a different read and it lived up to its billing ... The Goodbye Girls is more than a fast-paced, witty alternative to the contemporary world view of funerals and celebrations of life. A great inaugural work of fiction that paves the way for more of the Goodbye Girls antics. Highly recommended.

[Rachael Fader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining

While Aislin’s general attitude was cringy at times, I thoroughly enjoyed the overall story. It displayed real life situations and peoples reactions to them. I’m very curious to see if there’s a continuation to this story as the aftermath of the funeral and the letters left quite the cliffhanger. This was my first read by Juliet Domville, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other works she has.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok once it got going, though it took some time to broach the subject of funeral planning. Not quite as humerous as I was expecting, it was reasonably entertaining . At times a bit too full of preconceptions (problems with bikers)
But all in all not a bad read.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

[Shannon Temme · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a bit too much going on and strangely not enough. There was so much happening and nothing seemed to get resolved . There were so many loose ends through out the book that I struggled to finish it . I absolutely hate the way it was ended . I did not like this one much but I do like the authors style. Edit : 2/5 and even then it’s shaky. It’s someone’s work and time and if feel bad honestly to give anyone a 1 but it’s not quite 1 . This book sounded quirky so I figured I would give it a try. The author was going in so many directions at one time . In hindsight I feel like maybe they were trying to set the book up to introduce more than one to follow but it just felt , idk, cluttered and disorganized . I don’t mind cliff hangers at the end although I do bitch about them lol. But to leave every encounter/incident whatever you wish to call it/them with no resolution …… idk . It had potential. I actually like the style. I really relate to the MC and I think many people with MH stuggles especially BPD and Bipolar disorders and emotional regulation issues will really relate also. So much missed potential !

[Joanne Hattersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC

Charming characters. Quirky characters which appealed to me. The book title grabbed me initially - putting fun into funerals. There was a lot happening within the pages and at times a little chaotic but generally,I liked it.

[Hope Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

After Aislin makes a poor choice defending her friend, not only her personal life but her professional life is destroyed. She slinks back home to her grandmother's house (whom she fights with all the time) and tries to avoid everyone she might now. As she continues fighting, avoiding, and feeling defensive and that everyone is unreasonably mean to her, she starts a funeral planning business with her old best friend (who she had been avoiding but reluctantly begins talking to again.). They get tanged up in a gang funeral and their first funeral planning adventure looks as though it may end with someone planning their funerals.

I wanted to like this book so bad. I loved the premise and thought it had every chance to be a funeral planning version of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I just could not like Aislin - I thought she was a mean girl and had a very difficult time feeling and sympathy or empathy for her. I thought she got off pretty easy with some of the events in the book and I thought her best friend and grandmother gave her more chances and opportunities than she really deserved. Again, the idea was great and had so much potential to be hilarious....I just could not like the main character.

[Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this weird book. The lead is unlikeable, but everyone she surrounds herself with is a delight and it somehow balances out very well. I love Aislin's relationships with her grandmother and her best friend/business partner. The idea of translating wedding planner experience into funeral planning is fun and the hijinks were hilarious. I hope to read more tales about the Goodbye Girls and all their crew.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars rounded up. I was so excited to read this book, as the premise is so great! Quirky and fun, taking a darker topic and handling it with a light tone, it sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, the execution was severely lacking and it ended up being such a slog to get through. This book suffers from a problem I think many debuts struggle with, which is that there was way too much going on, so none of the characters or plot points really got the attention they deserved. There were so many side characters and side tangents that would be dropped in and then never resolved. It seems like it’s being set up to potentially be a series, but a really good series can world-build and still stand alone, and I’m not sure this novel achieved that. Aside from that, I found that I personally didn’t care for the writing style at all. There was too much telling, not enough showing for my taste, making the dialogue in particular very unnatural and clunky. Also with that there was a definite lack of transition between scenes and suddenly switching gears mid-page always takes me right out of a story. Hopefully some of the writing gets tightened up before publication, but overall for me this was a dud.

Thank you to NetGalley and House of Miles Books for the review copy of this book.

[Samadhee Ismail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aislin Fitzgerald professional life as a journalist goes down and she finds refuge by going back home. Her relationship with her grandmother is strained and she didn't really want to be back in hometown as it gave her bad memories. But a niche business opportunity with her best friend Sarah soon changes everything.


Only thing I like about the book is the author's style of writing. The story started out interesting at first but it got nearly boring and I almost DNF the book. The ending wasn't really great either. However, despite the negative reviews, the author's writing style was great and I do look forward to read more of her books.

Overall, this book worth 2.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is absed on my honest opinion only.

[Vicki Hasler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light and lively novel full of interesting characters who keep you guessing about what they will do next. Millennial protagonist Aislin returns to her childhood home in a small town on Vancouver Island and ends up reconnecting with friends and family, and inevitably, herself. The Goodbye Girls weaves relevant and real world challenges with a quirky plot line about getting into the funeral business with the unique circumstances of a dead biker from a local gang as their first client. I wonder if we might see these characters again in a sequel?

[Katie Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This book felt like it had a lot going on. I didn’t start to get interested until about halfway in. I went in to this book thinking it would be darker/heavier than it turned out to be. I think a lot of people will end up enjoying this read, but it was not for me

[Cathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aislin Fitzgerald's life goes south after a tense situation regarding a dear friend, that friend's boyfriend, and her job, so she returns home to her grandmother, Letty, with whom she finds a rather complicated relationship after all the past.

After reaching an old friend and thinking about her grandmother's enjoyment of funerals, Aislin starts a new business and a new whole adventure.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this story, It started out great with a young lady returning home after her life fell apart, but I quickly grew tired of the main character and her inability to deal with even the most basic issues of her life, she became less likable and more whiny as the story progressed. All of the characters seemed so flawed and I had a hard time relating to anyone in the story.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book up until the ending. The characters were well written and relatable. I was expecting more answers to be given. At the end, I was left wanting closure as to what happens to the characters. I had so many questions. Is there going to be another part to the story, to pick up where The Goodbye Girls ended? I would certainly hope so.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reads like a screenplay for a fun and fast-moving dramatic comedy that would be a huge hit as a movie. The characters are rich in complexity and unique from each other…some snarky, some mean, most with redeeming qualities, nobody sweet except one little kid. They play off each other really well. Reese Witherspoon would make a terrific (and suitably snarky) Ainslie.

[Jean Paetkau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story full of endearing if flawed characters trying to make peace with the past and the present. Witty and relevant writing exploring difficult relationships with family and loss. A playful read with serious undertones. Much enjoyed!

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this book based on the synopsis but it ended up being slow paced and I stopped reading at 33%. I didn’t find it funny or entertaining like I had expected but I’m sure others will enjoy it.

[Malcolm Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Goodbye Girls is a tremendous, funny, sad, joyful novel of starting over & seizing second chances—at any age. The plot culminates in one of the great comedy finales, in which each finely drawn character ratchets up the mayhem to the next level. Expertly done. 👏

[Caitlyn Jimmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! It was a page turner. This is an exciting, enjoyable read with lots of drama (in a hilarious way).