#Blogtour Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane.

About the Author

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 as a bookseller. 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? Follow @MhairiMcF on Twitter

About the book

Sunday Times bestselling author Mhairi McFarlane was born in Scotland in 1976 and her unnecessarily confusing name is pronounced Vah-Ree. After some efforts at journalism, she started writing novels and her first book, You Had Me At Hello, was an instant success and she’s since sold nearly 2 million copies of her books. Between Us is her ninth book and she lives in Nottingham with a man and a cat.

Review

I have to get something off my chest - I know this is marketed as romcom, and it does have romance and it does have comedy, but that's not where I would put this gem of a reading experience. The comedy element is snarky, pithy, often vicious and soul-bearing banter. The romance is a deep exploration of long-term relationships and friendships, and how those friendships evolve and devolve as we grow and change throughout the years and our experiences.

For me this absolutely is a bit of a Fleabag - it certainly has the potential to be the kind of on-screen material that will resonate with a big audience. With the slight of a hand Roisin could interact the way Joe's character does with the audience, and wouldn't it just be grand to see Joe and his fictional character play off each other. Sounds like an interesting experience, so here's keeping our fingers crossed that this story is seen for the deep introspective work it is.

It's just so much more than recognising that you deserve better, that expecting the bare minimum of love, touch and respect isn't needy or to be framed as pushy - it's a normal expectation that no one should demean you for wanting. It's hard when your truth is merely a variation of what they consider their truth to be, and yet somehow expect you to fall in to step with the abusive and deceptive nature of it all.

I enjoyed the read. The author has a way of bringing a variety of personalities to the table that coincide with groupings we as people naturally are drawn to. The way people are capable of being supportive, loving and then simultaneously destructive and self-destructive at the same time. I think the true nature of Joe was captured so well that it could have been its own version of a psychological thriller.

Highly recommend it, regardless of whether you are looking for a laugh, some romance or indeed don't mind falling into the deeper side of the emotional well that long term relationships bring to the table.

Buy Between Us at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Harper Collins Uk; pub date 11th May 2023 | Paperback Original | Ebook | Audio | £8.99. Buy at Amazon com.