The thing I loved most about this book is the fact that the characters feel so real. They are almost exactly the same age as me and I really believed in them. Now that I have finished I really feel that I will miss them, especially Catrin and Sol and her dad. The story was great and there were lots of twists and turns I didn't see coming.

I loved Ruth's first book 'Never Greener' and I'm glad this one was a match for it. It's a story of friendship and the real ups and downs of life: romantic relationships, parenting, living away from relatives. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to trying to keep friendships going when life gets busy and being at different stages to each other. I really cared about these characters and at times didn't like them also. It was a bit rushed in parts i.e people declaring undying love very early on in courtship but it was also unpredictable too. From the opening chapter I thought I knew what was going to happen but I was proved wrong. I hope Ruth's next book is as good as the first two. Thanks Netgalley for allowing me a pre-release view of this book.

An enjoyable read, this book flowed and it was easy to keep reading on.
A tale of three girls, friends from childhood, and the trials and tribulations they encountered over the years. There were highs and lows along their journeys and you were kept engaged throughout. The characters were well described and made me reflect on my childhood friends.

Jude, Lana and Catrin - school friends since age 8. This is the story of their lives and their friendship. I really enjoyed this book.

The are some books that make your heart and souls happy... this is most definitely one of those!

Within just a couple of chapters the characters literally come alive, full force and full of vigour. So amazingly written you can picture every expression. The characters are 100 % what make this book so bloody brilliant. Even the minot characters were just as three dimensional as the main characters which isnt usually the case in this genre, Father OLeary was a clear favourite of mine!

A story of friendships, lasting and broken. Love in its sweetest and rawest form. Grief and the everyday dealings of testing long life relationships.

Truly heartfelt moments make this ever more engrossing and with a touch of wit its extremely easy to plough through in one sitting.

I honestly couldn't rate any higher. A perfect work of fiction that's left my heart full.

The biggest thanks to netgalley and Random House UK for the ARC.

After enjoying the debut novel from Ruth Jones I was excited to receive a prepublication copy of her second.
Us Three tells the story of three childhood friends and the trials and tribulations that come with a friendship spanning decades as they grow up, grow apart and experience life together and apart.
Would recommend.

I liked this, a story about three friends and their developing lives over the course of many years. The only thing I didn't like was the over-use of Welsh valley slang. I've lived and worked there and never heard people speak like this. I loved Ruth Jones' writing for Gavin and Stacey and it worked there but reading it - well It did get irritating Still, it was an enjoyable read.

Ruth Jones came to my rescue with her second novel, Us Three. I've found myself unable to read due to the pandemic and the scary, unknowable situation we now find ourselves in - anxiety shatters my concentration.

But I really wanted to loose myself in a book, so picked up Us Three and was delighted when I found myself actually engaging and finishing it. I had previously read and really enjoyed Ruth Jones' debut novel, Never Greener and the tone of her second book is very similar. There's a focus on the nuances of relationships and friendships in a small-town setting. The overall effect is cosy and comforting, even when a drama is playing out in the story (and there were a few through the story). Exactly what I needed from a book at the moment.

Us Three tells the tale of Lana Lloyd, Judith Harris and Catrin Kelly - friends since school, they have known each other their whole lives and were always an inseparable trio. The summer before they go their separate ways to university, they take a girls' trip to Greece, where things happen that change the course of their lives.

Told across three points in time; when the characters are 12, 37 and 52 years old, we get to see how their friendship develops and how they all cope with love, loss and the multitude of events life throws at them.

It was so enjoyable to spend time in the company of these ladies and not think about the pandemic for a few hours! I loved the Welsh colloquialisms too, and the way Ruth Jones writes so you can hear the accent coming through, it really makes the characters feel rounded and real. The book had the feel of a Sunday night TV drama, and I've always had a soft spot for those. Us Three was the perfect piece of warm, witty, easy-to-read escapism that I was looking for.

A very easy read, it flows well and tells the story of 3 friends as they grow up. Families, work, life, ageing are all covered and the stories of the 3 women are explained in turn. The men in their lives don't get too much of a mention!

This would make a very comfortable holiday beach read, with sangria on hand. Just take it for the tell-tale signs of Ruth Jones in it!

Well this is another wonderful book by the fabulous Ruth Jones. As a huge fan of hers and of “Gavin and Stacey” I fell in love with this book as soon as it started. Whether intentional or not there were lots of Nessa-isms throughout which made me laugh out loud.
The writing is fantastic and I loved the 3 main characters, the story of their friendship is glorious and it’s a journey of everything they went through!! I strongly recommend this wonderful book!!

Us Three is the second novel from Ruth Jones. The novel follows three best friends Lana, Judith and Catrin.

The three friends, at a very young age, make a pact that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. The novel follows the girls throughout their teenage years, early adulthood following into parenthood. Along the way Jones delves into the external relationships of the three girls, with their parents, their spouses and their jobs. Can the girls' pact stand the test of time?

Us Three has a Marian Keyes feel to the novel, it's not exactly a holiday read but has an easy style of writing to it, even when handling the more difficult situations in the novel. I would definitely read more from Ruth Jones in the future and I am actually going to go back and read her debut novel on the back of this read. My only complaint is that the male characters of the novel do not feel as developed emotionally as the female characters are, but I dont think that this detracts from the novel as a whole.

Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Bantam Press for the copy of the book to review.

Loved this story! I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ruth Jones (writer of Gavin and Stacey) but she did not disappoint and I hope to read more from her in the future. An absolute natural writer, I read this brilliant book in one sitting. Great characters, great insight into life and friendships, very well written with a good mix of events which touch on all the emotions. Highly recommended, I rated this 5⭐️.

This is a warm and nostalgic story of childhood friendship in the 1980s and follows the lives of Catrin, Lana and Judith up to the present day. It's an easy read with some memorable characters and I really enjoyed the back story of George and Patricia. However overall I'm not sure this novel really lives up to promise. It doesn't really go anywhere and loses some vibrancy in the later sections.

This is a smashing book that covers the life long history of a friendship between 3 girls. I love that the story covers all stages in their lives and has lots of ups and downs. I found all the character's to be very believable as they dealt with differing lives.

I absolutely adore Ruth Jones, she can do no wrong in my opinion. This has been a fantastic read and one that I have found utterly impossible to put down. This captured my attention and I have loved everything about it. Definitely a five star read which I highly recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book, a true journey of friendships, love and grief. It was emotional and times but done beautifully. I was equally invested in all three of the main characters and each of the side stories, it wasn’t over complicated and was set out/formatted well!

I did enjoy this although I found the characters a little shallow. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, I thoroughly disliked one of the three main ones although I’m not sure if I was supposed to. I don’t like the use of “alright, how’s it going, alright?” I’m from the welsh valleys and not once have I ever heard anyone greet another person in that way.
Having said that, the story was well told and it did hold my attention until the end.

Heart-warming, poignant, life-affirming story of three very different Welsh women: Lana Lloyd, Judith Metcalf and Catrin Kelly. Told in part through flashbacks to previous decades, the reader is invited to join their lives, loves, tragedies and triumphs spanning three decades. The story is brimming with Ruth Jones' trademark wit, humour and knack for tugging at the reader's heartstrings and I absolutely loved every word, every sentence, every paragraph, every page. We meet the three women as teenagers preparing to go on a rites of passage holiday; island hopping around the Greek Isles after their A-Levels. From charting the very early years of their friendship we follow their lives through first loves, heartbreak, marriages, children and divergent career paths: acting, medicine and local government. A cataclysmic event between Lana and Judith (Jude) has devastating consequences for their friendship, fracturing the bonds that once held them so close and the ripple effects of which are still being felt over thirty years later. The story packs a powerful emotional punch with humour and pathos in droves, as well as all the warmth and compelling, believable characters we have come to love Ruth Jones for. Thank you for the ARC review.

Catrin, Judith and Lana mat in their first week at primary school and became inseparable. They even took a vow to be friends forever but would that last as they left home and started their adult lives?

Well written with twists and turns along the way, I would definitely recommend this book.

I was slightly unsure about Us Three for the first few chapters. I felt I could hear Ruth Jones’ distinctive voice too much in all the characters. However, as the three central women became more distinctive she faded away and I became totally absorbed. It’s the story of 3 childhood friends and moves through their lives from teens to mid 50s. There is warmth, humour , and rather a lot of sadness in their lives and you find yourself really carrying about them. I was close to tears at one point. Ruth can really write and manipulates her reader with ease, it’s a wonderful book and deserves to do very well.