Domestic Drama With A Touch Of Loss Lake. This is an engaging, real, and honestly a bit depressing look at the trials and travails of your first marriage being your partner's second marriage and coming into a situation where they already had a family with another person while you're still growing and working to establish yourself outside of the marriage as well. In that vein, Mason was startlingly real, including all of the various messy issues that can come up and even showing how finding a place to find support or even just vent can be crucial. The ties to Lake Union stablemate Amber Cowie's Loss Lake... well, in the title of my review of that book, I proclaimed "Screw You (In The Best Possible Ways), Amber Cowie" - which I still chuckle at and produced a few good laughs by those in the know. And if you do know why I wrote that, know that you'll be saying the same thing to Ms. Mason for similar (though to be clear, not identical) reasons. And that's all I'm saying about that. If you don't know what I'm referring to, I suggest you go read *both* books. :D

Seriously, this tale was excellently done on a topic and with particulars that I'd never seen done quite this way before, and that is always something I seek out and love to find. Mason executed everything beautifully, and you'll find yourself constantly reading to see what comes next. You just may want something a bit more bubble gum for your *next* read. :D Very much recommended.

I love Carol Mason's book but this story did not do it for me, the storyline felt choppy, the characters were unrelatable, I just could not enjoy this one, as I usually love the intricate stories that Carol Mason usually writes.

So so many twists and turns and I absolutely loved it!!
Carol Mason really has a way of sucking you into the story.

I really enjoyed the themes of step family life, second marriages, tension between mother and step mother. The challenges of overcoming these very realistic problems are well described, with differing viewpoints recognised. many will wryly recognise the early optimism with which Lauren embarks on her relationship with Joe, who is older and already has two children and how the pressures take their toll as real life intervenes. And a great, if somewhat unexpected ending!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc and prove my honest feedback.

I’ll start with, if you’re looking for a mystery or a thriller, or preclinical thriller, this book is not that. It seems to primarily center on family drama, the family Unit, and roles and responsibilities within it. The story takes place in a linear timeline so it’s easy to follow and is a quick read. Although family dramas aren’t totally my thing this book held my attention throughout and I wanted to see what would happen next. The characters were annoying in the way real people could be (and are) so the author did well creating these characters to be believable, as well as their struggles and flaws. There were only a few places that felt repetitive but not enough to detract from the overall story. I enjoyed the book, was well written and believable while still tackling a pretty common problem that people could face, especially in the main characters case. There were a few times I wanted to yell at the main character to stand up for herself or speak up, but that just means I was invested in her outcome. Overall, if you like family drama this would definitely be the book for you.

This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed this story! Loved the amazing characters! Highly highly recommend

This was my first book by this author, but it will not be my last.

I don't know why, but when I downloaded this book, I thought it was going to be a mystery/thriller. I think this is how it was categorized. So my expectations were different as I was reading it, and I had to adjust my mind set.

This is a family drama, a romance, a story about family. It covers marriage, divorce, ex-wives, stepchildren, and trying to manage a career and a new life. I was completely drawn into the story and the characters, I felt like these were people I knew. I actually felt like this was my bff telling me her issues - it just rang all true to me. I had all the feels while reading this, which does not happen enough. I would love another book that continues this story to see how they all fare down the road - I was really invested in these characters.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

I wouldnt describe this as a thriller, more a family drama. It is an interesting read describing the problems involved in a step family relationship. Difficult at times but a satisfying ending, and well worth a read

This is an enjoyable and well written book with a good few twists woven into it. The books delves into the role of being a step parents with our protagonist being a young doctor who marries an older man. Lauren has now found herself dealing with a sullen and somewhat difficult teenager and a boisterous 4 year old whilst also trying to keep her marriage stable.
I felt this novel really dealt well with the problems and hardship that follows a new blended family and the difficulties faced for everyone. I loved the couple of twists thrown in. This is an engaging, believable and very engaging read. I really enjoyed the storyline.

I found this a very poignant and quite emotional read. I really felt for Lauren and everything she was going through, I read this book in one day - my day off - as I couldn't put it down, the story really held my attention.
Overall I found this a lovely book, the author has such an engaging style, I especially found her depiction of teenage girls bought a wry smile to my face, a thoroughly involving and warm book, although Toby frankly made me far too broody, the sweetest depiction of a four year Old ever! (thank you Russell Crow)!

From the very first page, I knew I was going to enjoy this story. I expected it to be a different story than what I read, but after realizing it wasn't going in the direction I thought it would, I enjoyed the read.
I especially enjoyed each character and their arc and kept turning the pages wanting to know where I was being led.
I will admit that I expected more - more tension, more twists, more discovery. I expected something sinister to happen between the text messages between two of the characters, more than just a different identity being revealed, and I was being led down the path of a twist with the husband only to have there be nothing twisty about it.
For fans of thrillers or psych suspense, this isn't that book.

I’ve read previous books by Carol Mason and in this one, she manages to take the complicated subject of divorce, parents that remarry, and step into a sometimes unfamiliar role as a parent with no standing. The emotional issues attached to a split family,trying to maintain a semblance of normality for their children, that can only succeed with cooperation and lots of work.
Between You and Me, takes such a scenario and adds a much younger woman, with no children as the new stepmother, destined to fail before she’s unpacked.
Lauren is a junior doctor in a busy ER,trying to balance an new marriage to an older man and his 4 yr old spoiled son, resentful 14 yr old daughter, and a passive aggressive ex wife. Lauren can seem to do nothing right and several unfortunate mishaps, cast an attitude of a reckless step mother, unable or unwillingly to deal with children.
As her new husband begins to question her every action and sides with his ex and kids, Lauren begins to doubt herself and if she can survive this marriage or even want to.
Between You and Me is a domestic thriller, that kept me waiting for something really sinister to occur, as I got further into this book.
Carol Mason is a skilled story teller and her characters are well developed and interesting. This is a novel that kept me riveted to the conclusion.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. I thought it deserved the 5 stars.

If there is one book you read this summer this has got to be it!
I loved the characters in it and how some of them developed throughout. A definite page turner! Thank you NetGalley for this opportunity.

One of the things I love about Carol Mason (and I say one because there are loads) is her ability to make you feel like any of her characters could be somebody that you know. Ordinary people that have been thrown into a difficult situation and the harder they try to sort things out, the worse things become. Lauren, the protagonist in this author’s latest novel Between You and Me, is no exception.

Twenty-nine-year-old Lauren is a junior doctor who, whilst in Santa Monica, meets and falls in love with Joe, an older man. Although it seems to be mutual love at first sight, Lauren is devastated when Joe declares things are complicated and is unable to take things further. However, not long after Lauren arrives back in London, Joe tracks her down and tells her things have changed. The couple soon marry, and Lauren becomes step-mother to fourteen-year-old Grace, and four-year-old Toby. But far from being Lauren’s happy-ever-after, her ready-made family soon chip away at Lauren’s psychological well-being. Grace – who has some very strange habits when it comes to personal modesty - seems to hate her. And Meredith, Joe’s ex-wife, seems to treat Lauren like she’s some kind of inexperienced hired-help, putting her down and belittling Lauren’s ability as a step-mother at every opportunity. When Toby falls from the slide in the park: (a) because although Lauren is crazy busy as a junior doctor, she goes out of her way to help Meredith, who seems to think her job is way more important than Lauren's ; and (b) because Toby is a being a little shit who won't do what Lauren tells him; Meredith blames Lauren. The more Lauren tries to help her new family, the more trouble she seems to find herself in. There is a real sense of injustice at how she is treated, and whilst I would class this novel as women's contemporary fiction, it does border on domestic noir. At her wit's end, Lauren turns to an online forum for step-parents for advice, but is shocked to find others don’t seem to be so tolerant when it comes to putting up with the whims of their step-children.

Things go from bad to worse for Lauren, and thanks to meddling Meredith it looks like Lauren could lose everything, including her career as a doctor. Can Lauren turn things around? And just what skeletons are rattling around in Meredith’s cupboard?

This was another twisty and compulsive read from one of my favourite authors - and don’t you agree that cover is just stunning!

I recommend this book for fans of Emma Cooper, Kim Nash, and Jo-Jo Moyes.

Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an early copy of Between You and Me, this was an incredibly hard read that I did NOT want to put down. It got stepfamilies to a T! You really felt All of the characters feelings. Such a goooooooood book, the ending was totally unexpected. I LOVED this book, thank you Carol Mason.

I always enjoy Carol Mason’s books and this one didn’t disappoint.

When Lauren meets Joe by a Californian poolside there is an instant attraction, but for Joe it's complicated. Months later they are married and for Lauren, life has become a lot more complicated that she could ever have imagined. With an ex-wife and two children in the picture she is left wondering what exactly her role is within Joe’s life and if it is the life she really wants.

A good domestic drama which made for an entertaining read.

This was such a captivating storey. I wasn’t sure what genre it was going to be based on the premise. It sounded quite psych thrillery, but it wasn’t. It had a few heart in your mouth moments, but it was just a heartbreaking story of a woman finding love but it not being quite right.
Lauren meets her new husband one day in Santa Monica and falls for him immediately. He is the perfect guy except for one thing; he comes with a ready-made family. He has two kids and an ex-wife that is still very much present in his life. Lauren has to decide whether this is something she wants to take on. Is Joe worth it?
There were so many frustrating moments throughout the story where I just wanted to bang both Joe and Meredith’s heads together. The way they treat Lauren, I wouldn’t have put up with that for as long as she did and would have told them where to go.
There are lots of ups and downs, and you have no idea what direction the book is going to go in or how any of the situations can be resolved. I was happy with Lauren’s choice at the end, I think it was the right one, but that last sentence left me a little confused!
I hadn’t read a Carol Mason book in a while, and I’d forgotten how amazing they are. They really capture all the feels; they are brilliantly written and have wonderful well-developed characters.
I didn’t want this book to end, but at the same time, I devoured it to find out what would happen, and I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it since, so much so, I’ve not started a new book yet. A superb five-star read!

This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review. It involves family dynamics from divorce to relating to stepchildren. At times, one just wishes the story would move on. At other times, the reader wonders what will happen next. Try this one. It is honest and not all sugar and light. Blended families have problems. Blended families sometimes don’t work out. The protagonist isn’t in 5is novel is strong and honest and tries so hard.

A solid story about people just trying to make a life for themselves in the chaos that is this world. Great book if you like the family dynamics and a stepparent situation.

I really enjoyed this although at times I wanted to shake all of the characters and I did not understand how they acted like they did. I read this is one setting as it was a nice easy read but I also wanted to find out what happened next.

The ending was classic - loved it.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.