Between Us: The biggest rom com of 2023: smart, romantic and laugh-out-loud funny from the bestselling author of Last Night and Mad About You

£9.9
FREE Shipping

Between Us: The biggest rom com of 2023: smart, romantic and laugh-out-loud funny from the bestselling author of Last Night and Mad About You

Between Us: The biggest rom com of 2023: smart, romantic and laugh-out-loud funny from the bestselling author of Last Night and Mad About You

RRP: £99
Price: £9.9
£9.9 FREE Shipping

In stock

We accept the following payment methods

Description

stars** The curse of high expectations from one of my favorite authors who I mostly rate 5 stars, or, less often, 4 stars. The flow, as I said, was not good. As other reviewers rightfully noted, this is the slowest book ever. It takes almost to the 40 percent mark for Roisin and her long-time boyfriend, Joe to even have a conversation about the state of their relationship. The weekend away took til the 40 percent mark! That could have been cut in half. And even then, things don't get resolved until the 77 percent mark, and even then we get a twist/reveal at the 84 percent mark. When Joe and Roisin join their group of friends for a weekend away, it’s a triple celebration – a birthday, an engagement and the launch of Joe’s new crime drama on TV. Having the friend group meet while working in Waterstones was also such a nice touch, as a book lover. Mhairi McFarlane’s books are always among the most anticipated releases I have in any given year. They’re books I know I’m guaranteed to like and Between Us was no exception to this.

I didn't anticipate some of the twists that came, but the more disappointed I became in one character, the more I gravitated and adored another. Even the supporting cast is incredibly well done. The end result was perfection. I eagerly anticipate her books every year and I am never disappointed. Rosie and Joe met while working at Waterstones, a British bookstore chain, a few years ago. After finding a job as a teacher, Rosie supported Joe to pursue his writing dreams for years. He finally makes his big break when his screenplay gets a green light from Hollywood producers. The TV series he's created has resemblances to GOT but with a better ending (I wish!). Rosie cannot believe their life's trajectory changes with this imminent success. They decide to celebrate both Rosie's birthday and their friends' engagement party by getting together with their longtime friendship group to watch the pilot together. But when Rosie starts watching her boyfriend's precious work, he realizes he wrote about them. She feels like she's punched in the face when her secret, which she only shared with Joe, is revealed on the episode, and this is not the only bomb he threw on her lap. The leading guy of the story is a liar and cheater, and even the supporting characters are carbon copies of their common friends. Some angel at Avon Books granted me access to Mhairi McFarlane’s novel, and I dropped everything I was reading and raced through it in 12 hours! It was delightful to experience McFarlane’s narrative voice again, which is always kind, psychologically astute, and funny as hell.Over the next few weeks, Roisin becomes a bit of a sleuth, begins to heal her estranged relationship with her mother and begins to realize she has feelings for a long-time friend. While I found the storyline engaging, I felt the character development was uneven among the members of The Brian Club. The descriptions of Roisin’s interactions with her students added a touch of levity to an otherwise serious novel. The book really centers around the end of their relationship, albeit just in Roisin’s head at first. A lot of the beginning is her considering whether or not it’s right to end things, given the new revelations. It’s no small thing to break up with someone she’s built a life with, and she wants to consider all her options. I liked that while she turns to Gina and Meredith for advice, and then to Matt for help, they all support her while also maintaining a realistic tone. By that, I mean it’s easy for Roisin to spiral in this situation but the three of them keep her on a more sane path. So, these books are not romance per se, but there is a romance that is the heart of the story and is HEAVILY EARNED!!! Maybe not everyone feels that way but I do! Also as someone that grew up with a core friend group and also still has a smaller version of the group with the same friends today (with lots of drama yay) you can imagine I find literally every aspect of her writing engaging and perfectly tailored for me. As the group head out on a celebratory weekend away; tensions soar and relationships halt as incidents give cause to create a rift between them. At the center is Joe's latest crime drama, where the first episode seems to mirror actual events, causing Roisin to question her own reality.

I really enjoyed the way this was laid out and especially enjoyed the relationship between Roisin the other women in their friend group. The open and honest communication they had was a 180 from the way Joe spoke to Roisin throughout most of the book. When Joe and Roisin join their group of friends for a weekend at a country house, it’s a triple celebration – a birthday, an engagement and the launch of Joe’s shiny new crime drama on TV.For Roisin, it’s a chance to connect with the group of friends she made a decade before, working at Waterstones. But for Joe, it’s a distraction as his writing career soars.As the weekend unfolds, tensions are revealed between the group and Roisin’s sense of foreboding about her own relationship grows.And when the friends watch the first episode of Joe’s drama, she realises that the secrets she told him are right there on the screen.But is that all he’s used? What if the fictional hero’s infidelity also isn’t fictional after all? Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – eBook Details Roisin knows that Joe’s police procedural television show is not exactly a documentary. To start with, Joe isn’t a detective. However, when she spots one personal scene taken straight out of her own life, she can’t help but suspect more of the show has been lifted from reality. I saw the romance coming from way earlier than is natural, but only because I know the author's work fairly well by this point. And I'll have to say that I approve. He was all the good things and with his own struggles to overcome in the story. I liked seeing his authenticity, even when you can see he could do better (not least because he gets there in the end). The dark moment made me sad even as I could see both sides of their break. Roisin couldn't let go of the hurt right away and I'm okay with that because, in the end, they have a grown-up conversation and end up stronger for it. The story is about Roisin and her boyfriend Joe and their group of friends. I do not even want to touch on the storyline as I don't want to give anything away. However, for me, this was a very different book for Mhairi and unfortunately it didn't live up to her past stories.Unfortunately, some of the narrative did feel a little bitty. The depth of the feelings of the new love interest appeared so very suddenly and there are some awkward conversations which could be avoided by people just being honest with each other. I guess that this does chime with the repeated refrain 'slow but then fast at the end' which pretty much sums up this book! Between Us highlights the ups and downs of friendships/relationships in your thirties, family trauma, and the difference between a gaslighter and "the one who has been there all along". I had higher expectations for this book as a devoted fan of Mhairi McFarlane, but don't get me wrong, I still devoured it and enjoyed her brilliant writing style. This book delves into gaslighting, exploring dysfunctional and manipulative relationship patterns that blend into emotionally consuming family dynamics. At least I easily got into the story, enjoying the friendship drama, self-growth, and second chances theme.

It is a short (and fast?) conclusion but very very sweet and says everything that needs to be said. I love Mhairi McFarlane's books and this was no exception . . . it's clever and engrossing and sharp' LOUISE O'NEILL Overall for me, it is a good book and one I think a lot of people will enjoy. I am so glad I continued as I loved the ending and the romance. Some of the issues I had are definitely based on my particular likes and dislikes so I would still definitely recommend reading this one! Speaking of Joe, I liked that as readers we knew something wasn't adding up about his behaviour but you didn't know exactly what he was up to. Having him be a TV writer where it appeared that he'd allowed life to inspire his work, was really interesting too and I was just waiting for him to be found out and called out by Roisin.I did appreciate the side plot around Roisin and her complicated relationship with her mother, and enjoyed their dynamics. McFarlane does have a formula or methodology she tends to follow: highly attractive female characters who have been deeply wronged and wounded by those they loved and trusted. The conquering hero tends to be out-of-this-world attractive. Mhairi McFarlane is probably my favorite women’s fiction author. Everything I’ve read from her is simply beautiful and keeps me up until the early morning (hence this review at 3am). I was struggling to find time to read this one with my final college semester starting but after midterms this week I just read as much as I could.

I'm giving this four stars, the downgrade because so much of this was, I don't know, McFarlane flavored? I mean, I predicted a bit too much based on knowing the author's other work. It's still very much my cuppa, but without any off-setting highlights to thrill me. Also, the humor was much more understated and banter is one of my favorite things about this author's work. She's so ridiculously talented . . . consider this recommendation my personal gift to you and your life' EMILY HENRY For the first half of the book, I was thinking of DNFing every chapter or so. It took at least half of the book for me to get into the storyline and to actually care about the characters. I think this is because I didn't particularly like them as a group of characters and the storyline just wasn't for me. It had a kind of a mystery/detective feel which I'm not really a fan of.Between Us introduces the reader to uber-cool protagonist Roisin, her partner Joe, and the rest of the self-proclaimed Brian Club (Meredith, Gina, Matt & Dev) who have been besties for the better part of a decade. The problem for me in Between Us is that I think Roisin’s experience with Joe doesn’t really provide a natural segue straight into a new romance. While I came to like Matt, and understood the basis for their connection, for me their burgeoning relationship didn’t have the sense of inevitability that is present between the couples in McFarlane’s previous novels, and the balance between the romance and angst wasn’t there. These are my kind of romances that make me immediately give it five stars and a dignified personal recommendation from me at the end of the year. Haha. Anyway. Mhairi writes with such magic, I am completely in awe . . . smart, funny, compelling – all things I’ve come to expect from Mhairi McFarlane’s books and more’ LUCY VINE



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

Delivery & Returns

Fruugo

Address: UK
All products: Visit Fruugo Shop