I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book was a rollarcoaster. I really didn't know where this was going based off of the synopsis, and there were definitely twists that I didn't see coming. By the end, though, I thought I knew where it was headed, but still, it surprised me.

The main character, Fran, wasn't very sympathetic in my opinion. She was a stalker and didn't really try to hide the fact once she was found out. She was somewhat selfish and at the same time, a loner. She has a few people she would call a friend, but they're more acquaintances. Even her sister has left, gone for three years after a huge fight, and never returning to introduce her daughter.

The mystery revolves around one of Frans stalking sessions. She witness an old school bully die as he falls in front of a train. OR was he pushed She tries to piece together her memories to figure out what actually happened. While connecting with people from her school, the mystery unravels and becomes very convoluted.

One thing I really liked about this book was that no matter how complicated the plot was and how much was going on, I was never confused. The pacing was great and the twists were revealed perfectly. They were spaced perfectly as to never drag the plot and never become annoying with all the reveals.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and plan to read the author again if it's anything like this one.

The start of this book was quite slow and I really wasn’t sure where it was heading. However about halfway through things started to speed up and improve. From that stage I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen. This is a gripping and thrilling read which once I got into it I loved.

4.5 stars, rounded down to 4.

You and Me is a compelling psychological thriller that gets more and more twisted. Fran is obsessed with Charles, and has been since school. Now, at the age of 37, it's more sad that anything else. So much so, in fact, that you're certain that's what the book is going to be about. But it isn't. There's a deeper mystery here to unravel, and to say that it's surprising would be an understatement.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Holy crap. I thought I was reading a thriller about a crazy chick obsessed with a married man. But You and Me was so much more than that! I read this one slowly and I don't know if that made the first half feel slow, or if I read slowly because the story was slow. But when it picked up, the story took off. I thought I knew what was going on, and I kinda did, but then 🤯 check this one out when it hits shelves 10/1! 🌴🌴🌴🌴 4/5 thank you NetGalley for my copy!

The protagonist of Nicola Rayner’s novel You and Me is Fran – a somewhat sad, lonely character. She works in a bookshop, is a creature of habit and shuns socialising whilst longing to be part of it. She lives alone in a flat that she shared with her mother until her death. She misses her sister and her niece, but they are travelling and she relies on social media and the odd message from Paris, or Thailand or postcards to plot their whereabouts.

We meet Fran at the opening of the book at South Kensington tube station as she indulges in another of her obsessions – tracking ‘him’. He is Charles, the boy, now a man, that she met and formed an attraction for at boarding school and he is with another old school friend – when a tragic accident occurs on the station platform. We learn that he is married with twins and that Fran not only follows him through social media, but through information gleaned will follow him in reality, watching from afar; even standing concealed outside his home to witness his family life.

We learn that Fran was always the one on the outside in the school circle; the one who is in the butt of tricks and jokes that are neither kind nor funny. She is used to being in the margins whilst dreaming of being in the centre and Charles shows her a kindness and she knows that one day he will wake up and want to be with her.

Given all these circumstances one would expect to sympathise with Fran, but I wanted to shake her and tell her not to be so self-indulgent; to help herself and be interested in those around her who did try to communicate and help. She really is her own worst enemy.

The plot is really well-structured; an explosive event at the opening, then a stultifying section where nuggets of information nestled in the day to day events of Fran’s life and a totally unexpected, torrent of revelations. Brilliant!

This is a great psychological thriller that will not disappoint. What a great film this would make. Fingers crossed.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Thank you avon books and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. I honestly did not know what way to take this book. Confusing at the start and very creepy. An unusual read, very well written and great storyline. Would recommend to a friend too.

Francesca is a lonely woman who is estranged from her only family. She watches from afar as former classmates move on from their pasts until she witnesses one them fall to their death in front of a train. The only problem is she believes it was no accident. When she is thrust back into their lives her world is turned upside down but she believes if she could just get in touch with her sister and get Charles, the man she has spent most of her life obsessing over, alone, that she can figure out what happened and hopefully earn both her sister and Charles' affection once again.

I love an unreliable narrator. It makes a story so much more interesting. Francesca is far from reliable. I love how the author built the story so that I had predictions early on about what was happening but that there was no way to figure it out until close to the very end. I was happy that bits and pieces of what I thought was happening turned out to be true in their own ways but that it wasn't an exact bread crumb situation. I wanted a bit more from the ending. I wanted to know more about how things turned out and felt that the book ended abruptly after the climax. Overall, it was an intriguing and exciting story.

This was better than I could have expected.

Fran was so interesting as she written as unlikeable which is unusual in books. This book is a creepy slow burn that keeps you gripped until the final page!

I wasn’t too sure about You and Me when I first started reading it but then I looked and found I’d read almost half of it in one sitting. It turned out to be a gripping, thriller of a book that I found hard to put down. The book focuses on Fran. She was a loner at school, never really fitted in with the popular kids and that has carried on into adulthood. Her only family is a sister she never sees and a niece she’s never met. Fran witnessed a terrible crime that she hopes will bring her closer to her former school friends but it opens a world of secrets. Well written with some great twists and turns. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author for the chance to review.

I found this book to be a real slow burner but I was kept interested to the end by the way the author kept 'drip feeding' one new fact after another. The plot was well thought out with each twist more surprising than the last. It kept you guessing until the end, when everything as very neatly resolved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon books for the advance copy of this book

Fran, or freaky Fran as her soubriquet goes, is a character to be reckoned with. Frumpy, friendless and estranged from her sister, Fran’s idea of a good night out is following around Charles Fry who she is obsessed by. Charles is everything Fran isn’t — good-looking and popular; he also has money to burn. Fran has fixed on him for many reasons — Charles was a boarder at the expensive school that Fran attended because her mother was a teacher there and the fees were waived, and when Fran’s sister was the victim of a terrible crime at the school, it was Charles who helped to pick up the pieces.

This is no thriller where the characters have been made to fit an outlandish plot. Rayner’s characterisation is stellar — Fran is an unhinged personality who I wanted to spend time with. Indeed, if you like your narrators unreliable then Fran is most definitely for you. The rest of the cast are superb too - from the people Fran works with at the bookshop to pupils from the past who attended Chesterfield Boarding School (— the dastardly Dickie was fascinating, for example).

Rayner’s writing is second to none, super stylish and accessible. A novel written by a most gifted author, I enjoyed this story immensely. PS - I adore the title!

It took me a while to get into this, predominantly because the main character is not easy to understand but beneath the obsession is someone who just wants to fit in and be liked. The story flows well and you do question the motivation of the characters, the flashbacks to her time at school go a long way to explaining her relationships with many other characters and by the end of the book I was totally engrossed, it was well worth persevering.

This book is about Fran who is obessed with Charles. She stalks him. The start of the book is very slow and made me think about giving up. I cotinued reading and ended up thinking the book was okay. There were some unexpected plot twist and I liked the ending. But I never really felt connected to Fran and don't understand her obsession. Some parts were really good, while other parts were tedious.

As soon as I saw this book was recommended for fans of "You," I knew I had to read it.

Fran, a loner who was made fun of in high-school, spends her days pining after Charles, her high-school crush. One night, Fran's stalking ways takes her to an overcrowded subway platform where she witnesses a terrible crime. Fran sees this as an opportunity for her and Charles to connect on a level that they never have before. But as the secrets start to come out, Fran's life is flipped upside in a way that she never sees coming.

This book had me hooked from the beginning and completely blindsided me at the end. The twists and turns keep you questioning throughout the whole story, while distracting you from the annoying character that is Fran. I would definitely recommend this book!

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of You and Me by Nicola Rayner; I enjoyed her first novel The Girl Before You and looked forward to delving into this one! Rayner kicks the mystery off immediately, giving some melancholic family background, then straight into the cataclysmic event which I suspect will springboard us to past important,and possibly life-damaging, cruelties. Curious already? So was I...And there’s nothing like a funeral to reveal vulnerabilities, more se rets and it’s a great way to push the plot points; it’s not a spot in the book when you want to take a break! Rayner does a good job of fleshing out the characters as they interact with each other, always referring back to their college days to deepen the conflict. Fran is made to be off-putting in the eyes of her old mates and there was definitely a traumatic event that binds them...but what, and is Fran as weird as she appears to others? As she continues with her story, the reader has reasons to doubt her perspective...are people really acting as she describes or is it inly in her mind? This is definitely part of the appeal to this mystery, the questioning Rayner provokes, along with an undercurrent of doubt. The mystery picks up steam as you approach The Reveal and you will not be disappointed! Bravo, Nicola Rayner, you stumped me!

I don’t know where to start with this review. I was intrigued by the blurb and storyline and couldn’t wait to dive in. It started out great but failed to keep my attention. I couldn’t get into it with the story or characters. So it was just okay for me. But just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it’s not someone else’s book of the year. So I hope you will give it a read and decide for yourself.

This is twisty, fast paced and addictive. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can totally see it as a Netflix feature.

I really enjoyed the beginning part of this story, the characters were very well thought about and I really liked the main character. I wasn’t sure where the story was going or how it was going to end and felt that as the book was nearing the end it was rushed a little and all the answers crammed into the last few chapters.

An okay book, although it was well written it didn't have the 'grab' factor personally for me and I began to lose interest halfway through.

Based on this I don't think I would read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.