Reviews - Between Us | The StoryGraph

1.65k reviews for:

Between Us

Mhairi McFarlane

3.63 AVERAGE

tyraisreading's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

An easy read but nothing to write home about

artwithkarte's review against another edition

3.0

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

sna's review against another edition

3.0

Yeesh this guy sucked

bookwormpages's review against another edition

4.0

Thanks to Harper Collins UK for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I went on a journey with this book. I requested it because I’d been wanting to read this author’s work, and I somehow thought this was a romance (I didn’t properly read the synopsis – rookie mistake). Then, after requesting it, I looked up the plot summary and while it sounded interesting, it didn’t seem like my vibe, but I decided to give it a go since I’d committed to reviewing it. The first time I picked it up, I was so confused and I just didn’t gel with the writing style, but then a few chapters in, I was absolutely hooked. What a ride!

This book follows Roisin, whose boyfriend, Joe has just released a new TV show. They head out on a weekend away with their friends to celebrate this (among other things), and when Roisin watches the first episode, she realises that Joe has used her personal life as inspiration. Then she starts to wonder if there are other bits of truth in the TV show . . . Such as the fact that the main character, who reminds her a lot of Joe, has been unfaithful to his partner.

While Roisin and Joe’s relationship drama is definitely the focus of the book, there are loads of other sub-plots involving their friends and family. Instead of taking away from the overall plot, as sub-plots often do, these were all very interesting and added to the story. I was invested not only in the characters but also in where the story was going.

The characters were the highlight of this book. While this book does have a decent plot, it’s definitely still very character-driven, and the characters absolutely made this book. They all felt incredibly realistic and, and even though Roisin is the main character, all of the other characters still felt very distinct and well-fleshed out. This book was such a character study and I loved getting to know all of the characters and getting insight into their relationships.

The writing was also excellent. It was witty and funny, and it brought the story to life. My issue with these types of books is usually that, because we spend so much time with the characters doing mundane things, it’s easy to get bored. Luckily, that wasn’t the case with this. Even when the characters were simply hanging out and chatting, their banter was so well done that I couldn’t put the book down. I will say that there’s a lot of slang in this book, and I had to look up multiple words and phrases to figure out what was happening. Another thing that kind of jarred me was the way the chapters were structured. It often happened that a chapter would end while the characters were in the middle of a conversation, and then the next chapter would just start where the conversation left off, which was a bit odd for me.

Overall though, this book surprised me in the best way possible and essentially gave me what I was looking for from Sally Rooney’s books.

jennycupcakes's review against another edition

4.0

Ironically, started slow and ended fast.

b0nsa1_'s review against another edition

3.0

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was a nice read but not that special. I feel like the new relationship would have needed more time. I was not really into the beginning of this book. Was kind of hard to keep going.