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
£2.80
‘Everything you want from a rom com and satisfyingly knotty with proper, recognisable characters. She just gets better and better’ JOJO MOYES
‘I LOVE her books PASSIONATELY and this is her best yet’ MARIAN KEYES
‘She’s so ridiculously talented . . . consider this recommendation my personal gift to you and your life’ EMILY HENRY
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.
But when Roisin sees secrets she shared with Joe play out on the TV screen, she knows that between us means nothing at all.
Roisin finds herself searching for clues to the truth – about her life, their history, and the man she thought she loved. And it’s then that Roisin finds the most unexpected plot twist of them all. Among those same old friends, there’s a surprising potential for new beginnings . . .
EVERYONE LOVES BETWEEN US
‘Mhairi McFarlane’s ninth novle is a treat . . . totally swoonworthy’ The Times
‘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
‘I love Mhairi McFarlane’s books and this was no exception . . . it’s clever and engrossing and sharp’ LOUISE O’NEILL
’No one writes like Mhairi and somehow she gets better with every book. So clever, so heartfelt and so unbelievably funny, Between Us is a perfect book’ LINDSEY KELK
‘So funny and smart. She’s brilliant at writing characters you really fancy, and characters you love to hate’ DAISY BUCHANAN
‘Mhairi is simply the best of the best, I adore everything she writes and I’m forever in awe of her talent . . . she makes me howl with laughter’ EMMA HUGHES
‘Buoyant and funny and warm, but still with enough realism and wryness to satisfy the cynic . . . A total treat!’ NIAMH HARGAN
‘Another cracking read, but something different too. Wise, clever . . . a brilliant rollercoaster of a romance’ PERNILLE HUGHES
‘A heart-swelling romance’ Best
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Additional information
| Publisher | HarperCollins (11 May 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1261 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 436 pages |
by MarianneRC
This book tackles a number of difficult issues in relationships ~sometimes almost too many to cope with! The characters are believable and brought to life very well. Roisin as main character is strongly portrayed. I question as I usually do whether the male characters would describe their emotional states as candidly as they do but this is a good read and recommended.
by Snappy Dragon
I have read all of this authors books and while this is not my favourite (Jamie Carter is always going to be hard to measure up to), it is still a engaging read with relatable characters and a few good twists and turns before the end. I disagree with other reviewers who felt the first half of the book was slow- this authors skill is painting relatable characters that you feel are part of your friendship group and want to root for as the story progresses.
It is not a rom-com- Mhairi McFarlane does make me laugh out loud with her excellent northern turn of phrase, but she manages to hide some serious thought provoking issues under this which very much puts her writing in the next level from other fluffy rom-coms.
Absolutely worth a read.
by Carol
I am a big fan of this author’s fast-paced and witty writing. I greatly enjoyed the dynamics between the group of friends who form the cast of this story. A developing relationship created an element of romance, and, as I’ve come to expect from this author, some great one-liners that sum up a situation without any further detail needed. With a good amount of intrigue to keep the pages turning and a happy ending, it made for another great Mhairi McFarlane read.
by Amazon Customer
Easy to read story
by Aisha Reads Books
For some reason when I started to read this book something about it wasn’t clicking for me. I don’t know what it was.
I took a good 2-3 weeks away from and came back and was immediately engrossed in the story. Mhairi McFarlane *loves* a slow burn and as always this doesn’t disappoint.
I loved Roisin’s character and the growth that every character was able to make.
I will never doubt one of my favourite authors again – I’m the problem
by little bookworm
Roisin and Joe join their friends for a weekend in the country for a triple celebration, part of which is in honour of Joe’s latest television show – a crime piece that he has penned. Roisin is shocked to see things that she had told Joe in confidence playing out on screen, and as time goes on she finds herself wondering if other parts of the show are also inspired by real life, such as the lead character’s infidelity?
Mhairi McFarlane has been one of my favourite authors for a while now, and as such I was sorry to find that her latest offering did not live up to expectations (though admittedly they are high for this author). I do think there has been a change in her writing over her last couple of books, a move away from chicklit and more into women’s fiction territory, and whilst I thought this worked really well in Just Last Night, it has left something a bit lacking in her last two books for me personally.
As with her last book, the focus in Between Us, is very much on a failing relationship, and whilst there is a new romantic interest for Roisin, who I liked, this aspect was just covered far too fast to feel any real connection to, and as such just didn’t come off as believable or as a relationship to feel invested in. And whilst I appreciate that McFarlane perhaps wants to cover more ground than just romance in her books, one of the main reasons I fell in love with her as an author was for the great chemistry between her romantic leads, which unfortunately seems to have become very much a side aspect to her books nowadays.
On a positive note, the book still has McFarlane’s trademark humour, and I did actually really like the friendship dynamics at play in the Brian Club, as they call themselves. I thought McFarlane did a good job of portraying a group that have been friends for a long time, but are at that point in their lives when things are changing and some of them are drifting apart, such that the future of the friendships seem to hang in the balance, and there is this feeling of nostalgia for what once was. The group felt believable to me, and some of my favourite parts of the story were centred around the group as a whole.
I liked Roisin, however, I will say that at this stage, McFarlane’s heroines are beginning to feel a bit samey. I despised Joe, and as such the fact that so much of the book was taken up by him did begin to grate on the nerves. It was very clear even before his show aired and aroused Roisin’s suspicions, that the relationship was fraught, and given that Roisin was already contemplating ending things with him, things just seemed to drag on unnecessarily. Even after they have broken up, we then go on to spend the last 20% of the book mostly on Roisin still playing detective and trying to catch him out. I do appreciate that McFarlane was trying to explore gaslighting and manipulative relationships (and not for the first time either), however, for me personally having so much of the focus on a relationship that is already basically over just didn’t make for a compelling read.
I did appreciate the side plot around Roisin and her complicated relationship with her mother, and enjoyed their dynamics.
Overall, the book was still enjoyable, mainly due to McFarlane’s engaging writing style that made the book an easy read. The pacing perhaps felt a little off, with the first half rather slow, and then a bit too much happening in the second half. For me the book probably worked best when it was exploring friendship dynamics. I do hope in the next one, McFarlane doesn’t spend the majority of the book focused on a break up or an ex, as she now has in her last two books.
by Hazel
Loved this romance book – for a change it was believable and not slushy. Good author.
by Lisa
This is possibly the best book I’ve read in a long time. I read a Q and A with Mhairi McFarlane a while ago and she said she had to really plot this book out and you can definitely tell. It’s so tight and well done.
Roisin and Joe have been together ten years. We’ve all been there either a relationship, a friendship, a career, and thought “gosh is this really where I want to be? Do I even like it here or am I just going through the motions?” And this is where we start out here and you think it’s just going to be another one of those out with the old, in with the new, kind of books which would be fine. But then it takes a turn.
Without going into spoilers, this isn’t really a romance, although there are romantic elements to it, it’s a story about a woman’s journey to find the truth about what she believed for the past ten years. Is her bf who she thought he was, and if he isn’t who exactly is he and who is she that she didn’t see it? There is second guessing, gaslighting, mansplaining. There is a cast of extras including friends you like, friends you aren’t sure about, a mother who is questionable but you can’t help but like, and even an overweight cat which is also a bonus. I read the book even second guessing myself, I was thoroughly gaslit!
This is definitely a one click buy!