by Carmen J.

In Amy Schumer’s recent Netflix comedy special, Emergency Contact, she talks about getting married in terms of finding someone who can stand you. In Really Good, Actually, the debut novel by Monica Heisey, the struggle is indeed real.

Heisey, who has written for Schitt’s Creek, infuses her novel with laugh-out-loud moments from Maggie’s dating escapades and their quirky outcomes. Really Good, Actually reads like a more modern-day Sex and the City. Instead of Carrie and her straight friends wearing Jimmy Choos, Maggie and her more rainbow-minded friends have root beer and roommate-ready budget nights. Like SATC, friendships – including some refreshing intergenerational ones – remain supreme. And while relationships and finding “the one” are hugely entertaining, Maggie proves the relationship we have with ourselves is genuinely unmatched. 

Really Good, Actually is on HCLS’s Adult Summer Reading List for 2023 and is available in print and in e-book and e-audiobook format from Libby/OverDrive.

Carmen J. is a teen instructor at HCLS East Columbia Branch. Among her favorite things are great books, all things 80s, shamelessly watching The Bachelor, gardening, and drinking anything that tastes like coffee.

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