I love Ruth Jones- she's a fantastic actress and screen writer and has now turned her hand to writing novels. Her style reminds me very much of Marian Keyes - very warm, real stories about the challenges of family and friends - all very Welsh, obviously! The three girls in this book are followed from primary school to their mid fifties, which is quite some feat - and I found the book funny, heart warming and heart breaking in equal measure. Thanks Ruth, and to Netgalley for an ARC, in return for an honest review.

I love Ruth Jones’ work as an author, actress and screenwriter. She has the perfect balance of wit and compassion and she’s very adapt at mixing the two very carefully. The story is based on three friends from Wales, and being from Wales myself originally and about the same age as Ruth I could totally relate to the scenarios she so very clearly describes. The era of the 1980s was one of the best ever, with its innocence and unfaltering music and fashion scene. I could hear Ruth Jones’ voice when reading the novel. She’s has created brilliant characters with complex backgrounds, but not too complex’ that you can’t relate to them. If you like to read an easy going novel with twists and turns revolving around the turbulent lifestyles of three friends over three decades, and their battle to keep friendships alive; then you’ll love this book. Read it! Ruth is masterful at character-based writing.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book which shows the ups and downs of best friends. It is so true to life, with laughter and tears running through.

Judith, Lana and Caitlin are best friends from the age of five. This story documents their loves and lives until the type old age of fifty two!! Friends aren't easy and need to be worked at. Fat paced and interesting characters within each sub plot. A great read and second novel from Ruth Jones

Us Three follows the friendship of 3 young girls from primary until their early 50s.

It covers the trials and tribulations of friendship. All which would be sorted with good communication, but all of which is relatable in real life.

A fun read which would be a great holiday read.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this book! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it took me back in time to friendships and travels from the past..

As usual in my reviews, I won't re-hash the plot (plenty of other reviews out there doing just that!). I loved many of the characters (the warm and lovely Kelly family, Solomon, George) and found others repellant, self-centred and manipulative (as they were obviously written to be!).

I like the way the plot interweaves different time strands - that's how real life works, when something that happens now takes you right back through time and you remember people and events you haven't thought of for years.

I haven't read anything by Ruth Jones before - but will certainly keep an eye out for other works!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

What an enjoyable read in these unsettling times. It was an easy read about life long friendships ,love and relationships. I don’t usually read books like this one but I couldn’t put it down. Great characters,I really wanted to be part of the Kelly family, easy reading . Will be a great beach read.

I have to admit, I was expecting more from this author. The storyline was okay, but I didn't really feel like I could connect with any of the characters. I expected more humour, more insight into each character's actions, the history that underpinned it all. Big things happen, then suddenly it's years and years later and everything has moved on.
The concept is great, though. Who doesn't acknowledge the power of female friendship? But - can friendships forged when we're still in single digits really be expected to last? Can you have friends for life, or are friends for a season the best we can hope for? Here, this question is asked and answered - but I think the depth is missing, which is a shame.
Ruth Jones is such a good writer and you can hear the speech as you read it, not just the Welsh accents, but the passion and the fury and the fun and the love and the laughter. I just feel that here she has skimmed the surface of something that could have been great.

This story follows the lives of 3 friends from their teenage years up until their 50s, documenting their highs and lows. I found this book very addictive I just wanted to find out what happened to these characters next. It also made me feel a range of emotions from anger, laugh out loud moments, and pure sadness. Ruth is a wonderful writer who really manages to bring characters to life and will read what ever she writes next.
Thank you to Netgalley for a ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

A thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more of a crime reader however I am extremely pleased and grateful to the author for opening up my mind to something totally different.

I loved this book and read it in one sitting. The storyline felt so real as it has probably taken place in every girl’s life. It’s a story of childhood best friends navigating their way through one another’s life. It’s funny and sad! Witty and dramatic! I feel like I am best friends with them as their characters were so well developed. I was drawn to all thee girls for different reasons. I think though, that the main feeling I had from reading it is the resilience and strength that friends provide for us all in our journey through life. 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Lana, Judith and Caitlin have been best friends since primary school, and have always been there for each other. Nothing can come between them....... can it? This follows their relationship ups and downs - lots of both along the way. This was an enjoyable read.

I really loved the first book by Ruth Jones so I was really excited to get to read an early copy of Us Three. The book is about three women who were best friends in primary school and swore on a chocolate bar wrapper to always be there for each other. Things fell apart slightly in their twenties and this book documents how their lives are still entwined years later. I found the book a little hard going from about halfway through and felt as though it should have been an easier read at the subject is quite light. Overall it's warm and witty but I just felt as though it was a little too long.

Over a Curly Wurly wrapper three eight year old Welsh schoolgirls swear an oath to be friends for life. Lana, Judith and Catrin will be friends whatever else might happen in their lives. At eight it feels like such an uncomplicated truth but little do they know what fate will have in store for them.

The three main characters are beautifully observed. The women just leap off the page at you and it is easy to feel like a bystander in their difficult but uncompromising journeys through life. At the end of their A Levels the girls organise the trip of a lifetime around the Greek Isles. A last hoorah together before they all go off to University separately. A trip that changes each of their lives forever although none of them realise it at the time.

Us Three is the second novel from Ruth Jones – more famous for her television writing, particularly the sublime Gavin and Stacey series. It is one of those rare books that it just such a great shame when the book finally ends. Their realistic and messy relationships that genuinely make Us Three feel like real friends to everyone that comes into contact with them. Incidentally it would make a fabulous television series. Can I cast the amazing Caroline Sheen as Lana please…?

Supplied by Net Galley and Bantam Press in exchange for an honest review.

UK Publication Date: April 16 2020 Sept 3 2020. 384 Pages.

A fabulous warmhearted book. Three girls Caitlin, Lana and Judith have been friends since childhood and after they return from a backpacking trip round Greece and Cyprus which they'd planned after finishing their exams they each started out on a different path. The story revolves around them and their families, Lots of emotions, secrets and disappointments along the way but can they remain friends or will life take them in different directions. Fabulous characters and a wonderful story of love,loss, and betrayal and beautifully written by Ruth Jones .A 5🌟read

I love Ruth Jones, I think she writes very well, from Gav&Stace to this novel about three friends and how they grow and struggle to maintain the tight bond they swore to on a Curly Wurly wrapper.

This is the first novel from her which I read and overall, I enjoyed it - it was a nice story to get lost in and take my mind off this quarantine. The story is thought out and plenty happens, there's plenty of drama, the characters are well developed and complex.

The only think I will say - and I am aware of how an industry/world with such dynamic as ours will take it - is that characters who are not white are still written awkwardly in many predominantly white stories. For example a character in this story has 'her long Jamaican hair in a plait' and brings a 'Jamaican cake' - there is no real reason for the Jamaican prefix (we already know they're black) and just saying 'her long hair' or 'ginger and caramel cake' would have done just fine. Subtlety would have been more stylish. Pointing out that this character is Jamaican every time they were in the story just stuck out uncomfortably especially as no-one else had their ethnicity so obviously pointed out every time they were in the room.

What a book! Us Three is the first book by Ruth Jones that I've had the joy of reading, and it definitely won't be my last.

Spanning the lives of best friends, Catrin, Judith and Lana, Us Three is a touching exploration into love, loyalty, loss and the power of friendship and how it defines us.

So refreshingly raw and real were Jones' characters that I slipped so effortlessly into each of their point of view narratives. I cried through their heartbreaks, laughed during their highs and was utterly gripped by their dramas.

Warm, witty and just plain wonderful.

I do love Ruth Jones, but I can never seem to get Nessa out of my head! The entire way through reading this I just felt very 'Gavin and Stacey'...except with a LOT more drama and a lot of cheating.

Cheating is very much a trope Ruth Jones writes a lot about, and it makes me instantly dislike it. I get her books tend to span out over a number of years - but it's the Justification of why characters do it that just niggles at me. On top of that, I didn't particularly like any character (well, except Gareth and George but definitely none of the main characters)

Anyway - lots of drama, plenty of POV's to keep you turning those pages, plenty of secrets given throughout to keep you reading... just unfortunately - not a favourite.

I know this is woman's fiction but as a male fan of Ruth Jones (particularly Stella ) I thought I would give this a read . I started to read it and thought I may have made a mistake . I carried on reading it and got sucked in to the characters and really enjoyed it . Ruth's humour comes through in places but it is a serious story about the relationship between three girls who have been best friends since junior school . The differences between the family backgrounds of each of the girls is well described . The story starts when the 3 girls Lana , Judith and Catrin prepare to go on a first teenage holiday to Greece and what happens on this holiday and in the years after , charting their relationships with each other and family members .All in all an enjoyable read.

This book is fun, heart warming and totally relatable. Packed full of friendships and their toils, this novel is destined to become one of 2020s favourites.

What a brilliant read. This is the first Ruth Jones book I have read and it won't be my last!
The story of three best friends, of their loves and lives. Such an emotional, relatable journey of their close friendship and of all the dramas that can bring!