MEAT MARKET: The Laugh Out Loud, Heart Warming, Heart Wrenching, Black Comedy, Rom-Com Series Starter

The Lad-Lit Series #1

by Rob Radcliffe

MEAT MARKET

Left jobless, womanless, and even dogless, Greg finds himself at a crossroads in his life. Fortunately Greg's best mate Stu has come to the rescue. Now it's Stu's job to lead Greg down the path of enlightenment, where woman swarm by their hundreds and will pay for Greg's company.
Welcome to the Meat Market, where everything has a price, even love.

Genres: Romance

414 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2015

About the author

Rob Radcliffe was born and raised in Lancashire, England. He is a fiction author and novelist, and newly formed bloggist (it’s catchier than blogger).

He spends the majority of his days with his head in the clouds, sometimes coming back down to earth just long enough to turn those daydreams into stories by actually writing them down.

​Rob writes across several genres, ‘lad’ lit (which would be chick-lit’s naughty younger brother), thrillers, and sci-fi.

​Despite his appearance in his head shot, Rob does come in colour…and usually with both ears.

​Rob’s books are a mixture of coming of age testosterone, action, humour and general silliness. A great place to start would be at the beginning of each book, he feels they work better that way.

Reviews

[Theresa Beever · Rating 1 out of 5]

12 chapters in and nothing is happening besides girlfriend left him for her gym guy, took the dog and he punched his boss. too slow and long for nothing exciting yet.

[Kelly Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story.. yes a male version of Bridget Jones Diary but also with a bit of Californication.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, well, well. This fun-loving, heartwarming, and heart-wrenching story gave me all the feels I've been looking for in a book for ages.

Greg and his alter ego, Eric the Milkman, took us on a journey. That journey blossomed from a nerdy, content, go with the flow that was his life, with Jane to Greg/Eric, his life of escorting, redeeming himself, finding his confidence, alot of Vodka and realising what he had been missing out on and that Jane had become the bad apple in their relationship and that he could find his life again.

Escorting gave him that time to find his true self and build up that confidence he hadn't had before. Gave him a chance to find true love with Louise and make a short but lasting friendship with Patricia, which gave him that boost to continue his writing.

This book had me laughing to the point I had happy tears, and my ribs hurt too sad, but I had a happy tears at the end.

I loved the first person look at this book, too. You don't find that very often. Rob has written this book very well, and it shouldn't be missed.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining book centering about a man who finds himself working as a male escort - sex an extra cost. The underlying story in the book exposes the emotions of women and reasons why they need(?) to hire a male in the first place. The reasons make it clear that women are secretly needing companionship, respect, sexual release, reminding that they are attractive, worthy of being noticed, etc. once the vows have been exchaged. Husbands/partners aren't doing it. As well, professional businesswomen are unable to commit themselves to the time needed to establish relationships in the first place - so a brief moment has to be enough - even if it is only for attending functions.

A mad disappointing world we have created. Recommended read.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Foibles of a New Job

Eric comes home early from a conference to find that his long-term girlfriend has had an affair, left him, and stolen his dog as well. Thinking that she had left him for his boss, Eric ends up losing his job. Eric's friend Stu arrives to help him through this transition.

After a short amount of time, Eric finds out what Stu does for a living and eventually joins him. The hilarious foibles of the new job ensue, along with Eric finally writing the novel he's been trying to write for ages and finding his next love.

Well worth the time and attention.

[K.M. Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This kept popping up on my TikTok page and I was intrigued, I like Rom-com, and I wanted to read it from a make point of view written by a male. From that point it was as I expected, there was no filter, and men get away with saying more crude things. However, that wasn’t enough for me to give more than 3 stars. The concept was okay, but for me it just fell flat. A decent editor and this could be a good book. Will I go on to read book 2? Not right now, but maybe one day when I’m looking for something different.

[Emma Ludlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sat on the fence as to whether I enjoyed this. There were aspects I really liked, such as Greg's relationship with Patricia and how he was writing his novel for her to listen to. I thought the Louise story was drawn out a bit too much, but I liked their connection. I'm not sure if the spellings of "MacDonalds" and "Weatherspoons" were a typo or not, but it drove me up the wall! There were some loose ends (what happened to Jane), and the ending seemed a bit rushed. But there were funny parts. Let's go halfway on the rating for now!

[Joanne whitby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came across the author on this book on tik tok, and it seemed like a really good premise for a book, ordered this and two others in the series. And it did not disappoint at all it’s so well written, that story is a rim com for lads but so much more and the characters are amazing. Greg loses everything the love of his life and his job but his friend stu opens up a whole other world to him and with a few adjustments and the many adventures Greg’s eyes are wide opened. Honestly can’t wait to read the next and will definitely be ordering more from this author

[Bobbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meat Market by Rob Radcliffe. It took a little while for me to get into the story, but once I did I couldn’t stop reading. Enjoyed all the characters! I felt like there where four or five storylines going on. I enjoyed them all. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I plan to try more.

[Denise Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is sharp, funny, a.nd refreshingly told from the guy’s point of view—something you don’t see often in rom-coms. The writing has heart, the characters feel real, and the story kept me hooked from start to finish.

If you're looking for something that’s both entertaining and unexpectedly moving, Meat Market is worth the read.

[Simon Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Never heard of Rob before and really glad I picked this book as it was easy reading and very easy to get into. Loved reading it and have gone on to read some of his other books. Never read this genre before but will be reading more.

[L's of Kauai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know what I'd think of this book but it ended up being better than I thought it would be.
I'll give too much away with a description. It's not a "romance" though... more of a little adventure through a place/situation you most likely never encountered. Easy to relate to main character.

[Serena Barton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to get hooked

I will normally finish a book even if it’s not my favorite but I had a hard time even getting hooked enough to make that happen. Will give a different book by the author a try as I had high hopes, maybe the next one will be great.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this, 4.5 *
We follow Greg as he navigates a bad break up, which knocks his confidence, and his journey to becoming Eric the Escort. Chapter 38 was a roller coaster and my absolute favourite of the book. Enjoy!

[Coco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A politically incorrect, ribald, extremely amusing and thoroughly compelling read. I plan to read more by this author.

[Powerispower · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF after a quarter to a third of the book. It's written quite well. I just wasn't interested in the characters or there any of there antics.

[Aneta · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want a break from all the thrillers then this book is for you. I needed a bit of a rest and definitely this book delivered it. Good laugh and enjoyable reading.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25⭐

[Rusty Cat Games · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent and fun "tongue in cheek" Lad-lit. Not a genre that I've read really, but it kept me entertained, and knowing that it's a first novel, I was impressed!

[Alexandra T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the plot. The novel the main character was writing bored me so I skim read that bit!
More character development needed.

[Laura Leebody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny in places.
Not 100% sure I liked the writing style, but it was an easy quick read, 400pages flew by.
Don't think Id recommend it though

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hilarious! It’s great to read from the male perspective for once!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book having come across Rob on TikTok. It was funny and an easy read. I’ll certainly be reading the rest of the trilogy.

[melissa pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had me cackling. Some of the “spicy” scenes when he meets these women were so off the wall shocking and funny I was dying of laughter.

The storyline itself felt meh, a sniveling guy who isn’t great at much of anything and is barely making effort in life spends too much time feeling sorry for himself and is just not really super fun to engulf yourself with.

And the additional side story about his book was just so weird I ended up skipping over anything he “wrote”

Saw on TikTok. Wasn’t bad, won’t read the rest of the series.

[phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

So your a broken hearted callboy

If you want flight of male fantasy this is for you.
Easy, light and funny with a Cinderfella ending.
tongue in cheek and slightly naughty

[Zarco Dragonetti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just... no. The author is clearly able to write well, but the content just bored and annoyed me. The first thing that didn't make sense was that a McDonald's worker, working all hours God sends to pay for care for her mother, would spend £1500 on an escort to talk to, especially when she clearly pulled blokes left right and centre in clubs. Eric / Greg was an idiot who was desperate for money to pay his mortgage and live, yet spent £20k on 'nights out' in a couple of weeks. As for the book being about his career as an escort, I felt that this was touched on in a couple of chapters in summary form, at best. I expected it to be more like a male 'Belle Du Jour', but instead it was the story of a bloke who gets dumped, meets someone new and does a minor nod towards escorting to fill the time.

[Elizabeth Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally thought this book would just be about a guy getting dumped and then getting over his ex with tons of hilarious foibles along the way. I'm glad I was wrong. Granted, those items do appear, however, there is much more to the plot line than just misogynistic, goofy man troubles. Greg was an awesome character to commiserate with and watch grow into a "better" man. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to reach your best potential! I took a star off because there were loads of punctuation, word usage, and spelling mistakes. Great read though!

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought Meast Market was an excellent tale of what guys end up doing after being dumped. Greg, the main character is quite a shy individual who is thrust into this world of the single man without a clue how to act. Very funny and utterly charming I was whisked along with Greg on his journey of self discovery, I loved every minute of reading this book and with a few unexpected twists and turns it is well worth both the read and a great review.
Well done to the author, I will be logging on to your website in a moment to see what else you have to offer.

[Geraldine Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read with some utterly hilarious chapters but just too many unresolved plot lines and clunky twists. Does Louise not care he was an escort? Etc etc

[Alan Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book and thought ' it's not for me! I was even subconsciously trying not to like it, but as the story progressed I found myself wanting to find out what happens next to the unlikely escort Eric.
Without spoiling the plot. I did enjoy the book although I was mystified when our main man started to write a novel about some alien life form that I found bewildering.
Not my usual book but I did enjoy it and it is worth reading