Review by libertyreads789 - Between Us

libertyreads789 's review for:

Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane

3.0

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Before I get into the bulk of my review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at HarperCollins for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I read my first Mhairi McFarlane earlier this year and when this showed up as available to request I just had to. I enjoyed the other novel so much and this one sounded so different to me. In this novel, Between Us, we follow Roisin whose long term boyfriend has a show coming out that all of their friends are excited for. This is his second tv show as a writer and he’s been given permission to take chances in a way he didn’t get to with the first show. But Roisin is thrown when she realizes that Joe stole parts of her past, private and intimate things she’s shared with him and him alone, to make an exciting and risky show. She breaks up with him and moves back with her mom to help run the family bar for the summer. But help comes in the form of a close friend who she probably shouldn’t be getting these butterflies for. Between Us comes out on August 8th and is available for preorder now.

I want to start by saying that the premise on GoodReads and the premise I’ve given here are both somewhat misleading. I would say this is a Mystery novel about Roisin and Joe’s relationship and trying to find the truth buried in his lies rather than a romance between Roisin and her friend Matt. The romance is there, but it doesn’t really start until 71% of the way through the novel. It made it so the romance felt too fast when it finally did happen since no romantic feelings or attractions appeared in most of the novel. I wanted to feel more of the romance/attraction between Roisin and Matt since this is the couple we’re supposed to be rooting for in the end. But the author spends so little time discussing their relationship and their interactions with one another before the last 30% of the novel. I get that technically they were both in relationships at the start of the novel and Roisin takes longer getting out of hers. But once the romance finally started going I think we needed more romantic moments between the two of them to really feel it. And maybe it wouldn’t have felt so sudden if Roisin had voiced a thought like, ‘I can’t believe I’m feeling this for a friend I’ve know for a decade.’ Just some sort of incredulity from the couple that it was all happening so quickly. Because then we can all share some sort of disbelief before letting suspension of disbelief kick in. Am I fully making sense? Probably not. Let’s move on.

Things I liked: 1) the first part of the novel giving us a glimpse into Rich People Drama. I’m a girl who loves some Rich People Drama. Keep it coming. 2) When we got down to the nitty/gritty of who Roisin and Matt were, I could understand their coupling and how they could end up dating. I don’t know that I like the going from zero to ‘I love you’ in 6 seconds but with some more dialogue I could possibly accept it. 3) The fact that this feels new and fresh. We’ve all read the Romance novels where the main characters goes back home to hide from a fresh heartbreak/drama and discovers love again with a friend from their past. But this felt fresh and new because we had Roisin who wanted to get to the bottom of her deeply unhealthy relationship with Joe. It felt like a Mystery novel that turns into a romance when there’s 30% left. But that’s kind of also what I don’t love about it. I like the Mystery, I like Roisin finding ways to get answers, I just wish the author had managed to throw in a little more romance before the 50% mark? Also, this ends up feeling like the conflict is something between the two main characters we’re supposed to be rooting for where I usually like Romance third act breakups that happen due to circumstance. I want the two main characters to have to face an external conflict together in order to make the relationship work.

So, now I’m so conflicted because I enjoyed reading this while I was reading for the most part. I liked the mix of genres. I didn’t totally buy the romance. But also I read the whole thing (over 400 pages) in two days while also having work. So? I come in at a 3 for this one because I’m really torn about this book.

Content Warnings