Firstly, a huge thanks to NetGalley and Viking for giving me a preview. Hornby has been my favourite author for years, so this was a real treat.

Just Like You is a fantastic read, and easily Hornby's most plot-driven, page turner yet. Whilst his novels are often centred around self-reflection and the internal conflict of his characters, Just Like You flows from one scene to the next with the ease of a screenplay. This makes it incredibly difficult to finish a chapter without starting the next.

The novel's theme about Brexit and divided opinions are obviously very relevant, but it's not preachy whatsoever. Instead it's a plot-point that guides the overall narrative, which is ultimately about the relationship between our protagonists, Joseph and Lucy.

One surprising element was the happy ending (at least I found it a happy ending). I recently re-read High Fidelity and About a Boy and, whilst optimistic in some ways, you can't help but think life may return to its normal, sad state for Rob and Will. In Just Like You, however, I felt like I was watching the end of a romantic comedy, and thought Hornby was ticking some boxes to gain a large readership. Regardless, not everything has to be tragic.

All in all, a fantastic book. I hope Nick Hornby doesn't muck around or get bogged down with screenplays, because I want another novel soon. Especially another one like this.

I found this book very dry and I struggled to feel any connections with the storyline, the characters or their interactions.

A story of Lucy and Joseph, two quite different individuals who fall in love with Brexit as a backdrop. The author has tackled many subjects in this book from politics to race, divorce to drug addiction and class to interracial dating amongst a few. I really enjoyed the first half of the book which has the usual great writing and humour of a Nick Hornby novel but I found the second half a bit of a let down and didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

I fully appreciate the topics the author tackled but just found they got a little jumbled and even diluted the relationship that as a reader I really wanted Lucy and Joseph to have. If you are a fan of Nick Hornby then I’m pretty sure you will still enjoy this book but for me it didn’t’t quite hit the spot.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I was thrilled to see a new book from accomplished author Nick Hornby, and it didn't disappoint.
The story is of teacher and mother of two Lucy, and Joseph, set within Brexit Britain in 2016.
The book covers many political and social issues that are still current and relevant today. I found the characters representable and fallible, although at times not realistic, (who needs real....reading is escapism after all) but did feel that the book lost it's way towards the end, as if the inspiration for it had also run out.
I really enjoyed reading this book, but felt the end left too many unanswered questions, and disappearing characters and was therefore a little flat.
Lots of food for thought though! And made me smile!
Thank you

Slightly disappointed with this book! I enjoyed the characteristics but found the story line quite basic and wasn’t sure where it was going! Also the Brexit stuff was unnecessary! Read the whole book in a few hours!

Thanks for an advanced copy. The book tells of two people aged 22 and 42 and their evolving relationship. There is a lot of talk about Brexit as it was based during that time. Finishing this book was a trial as it lacked a gripping story and was not humorous.

Rather like the many debates around Brexit mentioned in this unusual love story, when trying to decide if I enjoyed this book or not, I find myself sitting very much on the fence.

On the one hand, I did very much enjoy sharing the moral and social complications of experiencing a relationship with a hefty twenty year age gap - Lucy, a White, 42 year old female English teacher dates her 22 year old, Black, male babysitter, Joseph.

Then, on the other hand, I often found myself confused or second guessing if what I *think* just happened, had actually just happened - On more than a couple of occasions the story seemed to jump into different scenarios or glaze over important facts. Suddenly Joseph would feel sick ‘after it was over’ and I had no idea what had just happened. Similarly it’s only long after we’ve met certain characters when we learn that they too (like Joseph) are Black. I felt lost or like I had been led clumsily in the wrong direction on more than a couple of occasions. Which was unexpected for such a well known, best-selling author.

For what is no doubt a love story, it discusses a lot of important topics around race, class divides, age divides, educational divides, government benefits, political stances, closed mindedness and prejudice around all of those things. Which I think is very tactfully and bravely done.

Favourite quote:

He was very interested in feathering caps and he didn’t mind which bird the feathers had fallen off.

I’m excited to hear what my friends think about this one. I got through it in just 2 sittings, but I definitely wouldn’t class it as ‘great’.

Within paragraphs, this book reminded me why I love Nick Hornby’s writing so much. His characters feels like funnier versions of people I know and none of it feels forced. Having read some quite serious books on matters of race recently, this addresses many of the same issues but without feeling like a lecture. Just Like You is a great story, laugh-out-loud funny and very, very well written. I really loved this book!

Prior to Just Like You, I had no experience of Nick Hornby's books. It was an author I knew about but never really picked up and finishing this book showed me I might not have missed much.

The book tells the story of Joseph, 22-year-old and Lucy who is 20 years older. He starts working for her as a babysitter and their relationship evolves for another 200 pages with Brexit referendum in the background. There is a never-ending doubting from both sides about the age gap relationship being even possible. Honestly, the only few things they have in common are they joy of sleeping together and discussing Lucy's children. Other than that, there is not much to the story.

I don't think Hornby really build his characters sufficiently to peak your interest in their story. They are exactly as you would imagine them to be from the very beginning. Joseph is a young, indecisive boy who wants to be a DJ and live his life. Lucy is ahead of the English department (yes, she is a reader, shown mainly by using fancy words when her character is described or speaking) which is a complete opposite of Joseph who thinks that tv would not be invented if God wanted us to go to the theatre. Come on, why would these two even enjoy spending time together? Oh, on top of it are racial, political and family issues. Cause being just intellectually different is not sufficient.

I think this book tries way too hard to create something that would just not work, in real life and sadly not even as a novel. And if so, it would work much better as a short story, saving up a lot of time for the author and especially the readers.

Once again Nick Hornby writes a brilliant character study, this one about falling in love, being yourself and accepting both. regardless of external pressures. This is a story to sink into and read in one sitting It's clever, subtle and amusing.

I haven't read anything by Nick Hornby for quite some time so I was interested to know how this new book compared to the books I'd read in the past.
It's about Lucy,a middle class,42 year old single mother who forms a relationship with Joseph,a 22 year old black man who works in the local butcher's shop and has aspirations to be a DJ.The book covers the pre-Brexit vote period from 2016 to 2019, and among other things deals with racism,class division and the problems caused by differing opinions on Brexit .
It's an easy but thought-provoking read which touches on topical issues in a light -handed way,with many moments of humour.I liked the character of Joseph,but wasn't so keen on Lucy and wasn't entirely convinced by the relationship between the two . However,I enjoyed the book in the main and admired the way it dealt with contemporary issues .
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinions.

I'm a Nick Hornby fan, About a Boy, High Fidelity and A Long Way Down all novels I enjoyed, so I had high expectations for this one.

We meet 22 year old Joseph - butcher, babysitter, football coach, wannabe DJ, and 42 year old teacher Lucy, mum of two, separated from alcoholic husband. In the beginning I warmed to both these characters, and was keen to see the direction their surprising romance would take and whether they would make it.

I like that it takes an ambitious run at many topics - interracial relationships, age gaps in relationships, separation, alcoholism, economic divide, police prejudice,Brexit, the list goes on, and there's something quite refreshing about that. I also think the sense of time and place is captured really well as you really feel 2016 London radiating from the novel complete with the hum of pre and post Brexit emotion.

Without spoiling anything, I think for me however, the setting and atmosphere is more fleshed out than the novel's characters who feel a bit of a stereotype - with Joseph presented as lost, and Lucy as wise and worldly..maybe this is conscious and they counterbalance each other. Not sure. Bar Lucy's children, none of the other characters are particularly likeable, and do not seem to help advance the plot in any way.

There is a lot of tension bubbling but it never seems to quite boil over or spill out into the story or its characters. Joseph is confusing - passionate at times, firm about some things, fickle about others, finding himself , then on a destructive path, but keen to make something of himself. Lucy by contrast is passive - in denial about her feelings, afraid to rock the boat or stand up for herself and completely focused on what others would think of her actions.

Perhaps this is just a snapshot of life in 2016 and two characters rather than the 'will they won't they' it sets out to be in the beginning (which is fine) but I still would have liked fewer topics, with instead greater clear focus on a few and more development of the main characters and plot.

Overall this was a humorous, light and quick read, a bit like Normal People but with more big issues mixed in. I do agree with other reviewers that this would make for a good adaptation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the chance to read this.

This is an interesting story of an unlikely relationship between two people who on the face of it have nothing in common at all yet are attracted to each other and have to work out how to make their relationship work.
Personally, I'm not yet ready to relive the Brexit vote and I'm not sure why the book can be so even-handed about Brexit but so unequivocal about Trump. It sometimes feels more like an academic exercise in opposites attract than a real relationship but Nick Hornby is as ever a pleasure to read.

Nick Hornby's writing pulls you in straight away, with multi dimensional characters that you care about.

The progress of the story makes you keep turning the page, it was a late night by the time I finished this book but very much worth it.

This is a difficult review to write because I am - or have been - a big Nick Hornby fan. However I am very unsure about this novel. Whilst Hornby's writing is as solid as ever, I felt very unsure about the plot and the characters.
The story is told from two different viewpoints, neither of which the author is and certainly I felt the female POV was quite tropey and one dimensional, I would therefore hazard a guess that potentially the other POV was also not what it might have been had an own-voices author written this.

Despite, I am sure, being written and edited with the very best of intentions, I'd ask that instead of publishing white male authors writing from these viewpoints, I'd ask that we allow own-voices authors to tell their own stories. And then if we are simply looking at this from a diversity lens, whilst it is 100% important to have a diverse array of characters, it should not be something that an author is praised or given kudos for because then you're basically praising an author for writing about people, which they should be doing anyway, or you're "othering" diverse characters.

I'm so sad to write this because I do have a lot of respect for Hornby, I know he's done a lot of work with underprivileged communities and in literacy - and was lovely when I met him once. I'm just not sure about this novel.

This is a brilliantly written novel about the complications of modern day relationships.. no spoilers, but it’s a proper ‘will they or won’t they’ page turner.
Just Like You follows the story of Lucy, a forty-something divorcee with two young sons, and Joseph, a twenty-something Black guy living in a predominantly white community. It’s a great story and one that meant will relate to. Nick Hornby has a wonderful writing style and gets you hooked into the characters’ lives as soon as you start reading. A fantastic read.

This book describes the real badminton of love between two people. The characters have depth (and flaws) leading you never to know whether this is a perfect match or an awkward fumble.
A really well written book that initially seems a slow burner until you realise it’s all part of the real time love story

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this prior to publication.. I'm a bit of a fan of Nick Hornby, and have enjoyed many of his books in the past, but to be quite honest I just couldn't get into this one. I found it a bit lacking story wise, and just didn't engage enough with the characters to particularly care what happened to them in the end. I found the characters outside the main two far more interesting.
In general if I'm not getting on with a book I do put it down, however I did persevere with this one so that I could leave a review. I give this book 3.5 stars, mainly as fan of Nick's writing, which again I'm a fan of. But this definitely isn't one of my favourite of his.

This story started well, with an interesting concept which I felt had real potential. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't hit the mark at all.

Though it started well, I felt the story just lost the plot and got too wrapped up in the UK Referendum rather than focusing on the budding relationship of the couple. The couple, Lucy a 42 year old teacher and Joseph a 22 year old man who works several jobs but has no real direction yet, is lacklustre. The writing didn't go into their real feelings about each other or their relationship. there was no depth to that perspective of the story and that left me feeling unconnected with the characters. Joseph lacked passion about anything, not his work, future, family or even his new relationship; there was scope for him to be far less apathetic about his life and love.

Secondary characters popped in and out but seemed to have no real impact on the story. It would have been nice to have known more about how their feelings towards the age difference and racial aspects of the couple affected their decisions.

For me, it felt dull, there was no sparkle, no humour and no depth of character. The story had huge potential but it was lost amongst a rather dry story. Not one of Nick Hornby's best I'm sad to say.

This is not a typical story of love between two people. I think the age difference between the main characters makes it a good read, given the fact that both are of different origin too. I enjoyed the book immensely.