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stephbookshine's review
3.0
*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
You, Me and Other Stuff is a light-hearted romcom with a unique hook: the main characters tell their stories in alternating chapter flashbacks, each to a different stranger.
We join Sarah at a bar, as she recounts the history of her friendship with Declan to a sympathetic businessman she has only just met. Then we skip over to Declan who is being held hostage and pouring his woes into the flirtatious ear of a co-hostage co-worker.
The story flashes back to when Sarah and Declan first meet as children, and shows them forming a wobbly friendship that is shaken and, on more than one occasion, smashed to pieces by various poor decisions and misunderstandings over the years. The one that leads to Declan’s hostage situation is a real doozy – I’m not sure I would be able to come back from that one!
Both Sarah and Declan make their share of mistakes, and they both have their fair share of flaws, which makes them more believable and easier to empathise with. Well, most of the time, anyway. Sometimes I just wanted to scream at them!
The only aspect that didn’t ring true for me was a sudden change in one of the side characters, from sympathetic to monstrous in the blink of an eye. It felt like the change was used to excuse Sarah’s behaviour and how she treats the people she is supposed to care about – like it’s okay to treat someone poorly if they turn out to be awful after all.
That minor quibble aside, this is a fun will-they-won’t-they romance, with plenty of surprises along the way. The storytelling format really worked to get across the two very different perspectives in a clever way, and it was interesting to see the characters develop from children to adults, falling in and out of friendship along the way. Definitely one for romcom fans!
“So Declan was a childhood sweetheart?” asked Mark.
No, never. We became friends but stuff always happened which often led us to fall out over the years. Our first falling out was when we were thirteen…”
– L.M. Barrett, You, Me and Other Stuff
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2020/01/13/you-me-and-other-stuff-l-m-barrett/
You, Me and Other Stuff is a light-hearted romcom with a unique hook: the main characters tell their stories in alternating chapter flashbacks, each to a different stranger.
We join Sarah at a bar, as she recounts the history of her friendship with Declan to a sympathetic businessman she has only just met. Then we skip over to Declan who is being held hostage and pouring his woes into the flirtatious ear of a co-hostage co-worker.
The story flashes back to when Sarah and Declan first meet as children, and shows them forming a wobbly friendship that is shaken and, on more than one occasion, smashed to pieces by various poor decisions and misunderstandings over the years. The one that leads to Declan’s hostage situation is a real doozy – I’m not sure I would be able to come back from that one!
Both Sarah and Declan make their share of mistakes, and they both have their fair share of flaws, which makes them more believable and easier to empathise with. Well, most of the time, anyway. Sometimes I just wanted to scream at them!
The only aspect that didn’t ring true for me was a sudden change in one of the side characters, from sympathetic to monstrous in the blink of an eye. It felt like the change was used to excuse Sarah’s behaviour and how she treats the people she is supposed to care about – like it’s okay to treat someone poorly if they turn out to be awful after all.
That minor quibble aside, this is a fun will-they-won’t-they romance, with plenty of surprises along the way. The storytelling format really worked to get across the two very different perspectives in a clever way, and it was interesting to see the characters develop from children to adults, falling in and out of friendship along the way. Definitely one for romcom fans!
“So Declan was a childhood sweetheart?” asked Mark.
No, never. We became friends but stuff always happened which often led us to fall out over the years. Our first falling out was when we were thirteen…”
– L.M. Barrett, You, Me and Other Stuff
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2020/01/13/you-me-and-other-stuff-l-m-barrett/
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