If I wanted to read another novel where people spend the first pages wandering around in 2016 going 'It'll never happen' I would read Jonathan Coe's Middle England, which is a lot funnier than this.

A quick, light, easy read about about a relationship between a young man and a significantly older woman. There’s nothing especially gripping about the plot and it skims such a diverse range of subjects (age difference, Brexit, racism, alcoholism, divorce, and several more) that I felt as if it was an exercise in checking boxes. The promised comedy wasn’t evident, although I did chuckle once or twice in the final quarter of the book.

As a novel, it was disappointing, but I can imagine that it would make an enjoyable, funny film in the hands of the right actors and director. Perhaps it was written with a film in mind.

No regrets from reading it, it was perfectly ok to unwind with at the end of a busy day, and I’m sure plenty of readers will enjoy it. Hence my rating of “good” with 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This is my unbiased review.

Just Like You is a jam-packed read that covers a lot of topics, as it navigates the love story of a couple with a 20 year age gap. It's an honest and heartfelt read.

Take as many different social issues as you can - Brexit, sexism, ageism, racism, careerism (not sure that is a real one but you get my drift) - shake them up, add a white 42 year old woman and a 22 year old black man and you get 'Just Like You'.

I was pleased that the female divorcee was having a good time after having to deal with an alcoholic husband but I did not get the feeling that Joseph actually loved Lucy enough to put up with all the aggro their relationship caused him. It is all very twee and I am sure will make a lovely Richard Curtis movie with lots of right on actors showing their woke credentials.

All in all it is fine, a love story if you will, nothing to scare the horses unless you really can't stand another mention of Brexit, in which case close your eyes now!

Just Like You is a love story, a keenly observed and understated romance between two people, who have so little in common, it’s a wonder their paths ever crossed in the first place.

She’s 42, middle class and white. He’s 22, working class and black. She’s educated, he isn’t. She loves books, Shakespeare and wine. He loves raves, football and beer. Lucy and Joseph are like chalk and cheese, but they are drawn to each other like moths to a flame.

This is no passionate, angst-ridden love affair. Lucy and Joseph’s story is tentative, sweet and beguiling. Their awkwardness as they tiptoe around their differences utterly charming. And their attempts to bridge the generation gap had me smiling with old-fashioned motherly indulgence.

Hornby’s setting for this unlikely romance couldn’t be more apt: London 2016, EU referendum, a time of heightened political, social and racial division. He doesn’t labour the point, but the message comes across loud and clear: How can a love like Lucy and Joseph’s possibly thrive in circumstances like this?

But thrive it does, sometimes faltering, but steadily blossoming; both characters wholly convincing in their conflicting desires and anxieties. It’s a wonderfully modern love story, and I fervently hope that we will one day see it in the movies.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book; it was lighthearted and funny in parts whilst making social commentary on some of today’s bigger issues; our divided nation (the referendum), relationships with an age gap, race relations. I think Brexit politics are sadly still very much relevant to today, if anything our society is even more divided so it’s interesting to think back. I liked the characters and whilst there wasn’t in depth information of the ins and outs of their relationship or emotions particularly, it gave you an opportunity to extend their narratives further in your own imagination. Highly recommended.

This novel was everything I wanted it to be. Not easy to get me reading about the B-word happily but I devoured this and wanted to re-read it from the start as soon as I'd finished. It touched on pertinent themes but didn't feel irritating or like it was trying too hard to be 'relevant'. Nick Hornby at his best. I even approved of the ending, and I often struggle with the note on which novels end.

42 year old Lucy and 22 year old Joseph fall in love. Lucy is head of English an inner city comp. Joseph works in a butchers, where he met Lucy, at a leisure centre, as a babysitter and as a DJ. She is white, he is black. Joseph moves in with Lucy against the backdrop of the Brexit vote.

An exploration of an age gap relationship, of black vs white and politics. It's very readable and wryly funny in parts. I never really had the belief that Lucy and Joseph were in love though. As for the Brexit vote and immediate aftermath, it all seems very distant now.

Great believable characters. Hornby who has been one of my favourite writers, since I picked up my copy of Fever Pitch, produces a story of 2 people from entirely different circumstances who just happen to fall in love. Set against a backdrop of Brexit with a bit of politics thrown in.

Nick Hornby is undeniably one of the most important British authors of the past 25 years, and this, from the reviews I've read so far, is set to become one of his finest works. Sure, the topic of a Brexit has been dealt with before, but for me, Hornby has made a better fist of things than, say, Jonathan Coe, whose 'Middle England' was nominated for the Booker Prize last year. In addition, his study of race-relations in post-Brexit Britain could not have come at a more important time, given the incredible response to the recent BLM movement. This was a funny, clever and timely novel, and I hope it will gain all the attention it deserves when it's published in September.

Was thrilled to be accepted to read the new Nick Hornby. I am a massive High Fidelity fan so was expecting great things. Unfortunately this wasn’t for me . I would say it’s a political romance almost. Deals with some issues that unfortunately are now so dated because of Covid. Brexit seems a million years ago now . I also didn’t feel the two main characters had a lot of chemistry and I wasn’t feeling ever to read it . Sorry

This was a hugely readable book - sharp, intelligently observed, warm and insightful, with great dialogue. I fear it will be fairly polarising because it's both very Brexit-centric and London-centric, and I did indeed find the focus on the 2016 political landscape made it feel a bit dated. That said, it was nevertheless a really skilful novel.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This sounded like such a promising story and I was so excited to receive an arc but unfortunately I couldn't get myself to finish it. I had never read a book from Nick Hornby and after hearing amazing things about his book, I went into this anticipating to really enjoy it. The story centres around Lucy, a 42 year old mother and Joseph who is a 22 year old 'wanna be' DJ and the ways they start a relationship. Initially, I enjoyed Nick Hornby's writing style but eventually found it falling flat and I was losing interest. I wasn't connecting to any of the characters and that is definitely the reason that I had to trudge through the novel before DNFING it.

This book feels so last year! The whole agonizing over Brexit, etc. has been over shadowed by the Coronavirus crisis, the lockdown and Black Lives Matter. If you are going to write a book with that much political content, it is going to be past its sell-by date before it is published.
Apart from that, the relationship between Joseph and Lucy is just not believable, at all, on any level, especially in the long term. Nick Hornby is very much a London writer and all his books have that setting. Imagine queueing outside a butcher anywhere else, unless you are social distancing! (And spending over £100 on meat). Some of the dialogue is quite funny, but there is far too much talk about sex. Lucy's sons are amusing.
Hornby has tackled too many issues here and has not done so very deeply, making it a lightweight love story which does not work for me.

I was over the moon to be approved for this one as I'm a huge fan of Nick Hornby's books and this one didn't disappoint. The characters were great and Nick tackled topics such as Brexit, race and class. Joseph was a real lovable character and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. A solid 4 star for me.

Nick Hornby writes entertaining and yet thought provoking tales of the ordinary person. There is nothing standout that's one can point to as to why the books are so readable, but they are.

A good read for when you want some light relief from the world around you.

I love Nick Hornby and all his books. This one was no different. The characters are likeable and the plot is credible and written with his trademark wit and humour, A must read for any Hornby fan.

Lucy is 42, white, a teacher, separated from her husband and has 2 sons.
Joseph is 22, black, single and has several part-time jobs, one of which is a Saturday job at the butcher's shop Lucy uses.
She gets chatting to him and asks him to babysit for her football-mad sons. You can see where this is going...

They are, on the surface, completely wrong for each other. But something clicks.

The book addresses race, age differences, class, Brexit, politics in general, Trump - all serious subjects, but handled with such a light touch that the book is a gloriously funny read.

Thoroughly recommended.

I’ve read a couple of Nick Hornby’s books in the past and enjoyed them very much but sadly, this one was a let-down for me. I found it boring and felt that the characters though likeable were so mismatched in every way and on completely different wavelengths. Lucy’s boys were great characters, and I enjoyed them, But for me, the book was overlong and drawn out

This sounded like such a promising story, and I was so pleased to be accepted for an advance copy. Sadly it failed to live up to the hype for me. I’m a fan of Nick Hornby’s writing, but this was a major disappointment.
The two central characters, Lucy, 42 years old, white, Head of English, and Joseph, 22 years old, black, butchers assistant and wannabe DJ, somehow or other get together and begin a relationship. Though it’s hardly a relationship. He comes to Lucy’s house every night, either to babysit her two boys, or he arrives later, after the boys have gone to bed. Lucy and Joseph then watch an episode of The Sopranos, have sex, then Joseph goes back home, where he lives with his Mum.
To begin with, Joseph seems older than his 22 years, and Lucy behaves more like a giddy teenager than a 42 year old mum of two, with a responsible career. Both characters come across as shallow and superficial, and I didn’t feel I was getting to know either of them any better by the time I abandoned the book, at 61% in. Neither character rang true for me, both make some very strange choices and decisions which make no sense. I simply couldn’t get a handle on this book, there is so much dialogue between different characters; two- way; three-way; and four-way, as well as group discussions, and much of it makes no sense at all. Add in the Brexit referendum and resulting angst, rage and confusion amongst voters on both sides, and the non existent plot line becomes even muddier, and very boring.
Maybe the author was trying to be amusing, or maybe he thought he was writing a screen play. That could actually work, as the dialogue might have a chance of coming to life if it was delivered by good actors. It might even be funny. But as a novel, I’m sorry to say it falls flat.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this title.