"I'm divorcing you.", You said.

You just told J you're divorcing them. There isn't going to be a conversation about it. J can't figure out why, how someone could love them yesterday and resent them today. J doesn't understand why you're saying all these awful things about, throwing evil accusations, and why you're acting like a stranger when all they wanted was to love you.

But as your marriage falls apart, you both tell a story - could they both be true? Or does the truth depend on what you want it to be?

"You've done a tremendous job of labelling me as a monster. I half believed it myself now."

This is a story about love, but it's not a love story. It's a story about the complexity of relationships, about the dangers of idolisation and desperation. It tries to shine a light on the grey and unspoken homes that are filled with abuse and terror that they can't even see.

Told from J's point of view as the chaos unfolds, and interspersed with their wifes diary entries and letters, we hear very two different tales of a marriage and it's death. J takes us back to the beginning, to the first kiss, to obsession and love and lust, to a relationship that explodes and burns out without them noticing.

The story moves freely, like a conversation - J addresses the reader as though they are speaking directly to their wife, seducing us, pulling us closer and willing us to be a part of their story, to take a side. Although the prose was long and dense in parts, there was an intrigue, an uncomfortable curiosity that keeps you reading.

It's impossible not to find yourself in the pages, and you might be surprised to find yourself in both characters at times despite them being on opposite sides of a war. The thing is, J is unnamed, ungendered and unidentified. J is nothing less or more than we perceive them to be, what we believe them to be. You are forced to think - if you knew them, who would you believe? Would it change your mind if you knew more, if you knew their names, genders or identities?

Both characters are flawed, toxic and problematic - but who is really the victim? And who is blurring the truth?

"Maybe, just maybe, you would keep it and remember me and , in time, remember what you did and what really transpired between us."

What a powerful, uncomfortable and unnerving story of a couple’s divorce. I say couple as we never know their names as they’re just referred to as J and their wife, again I felt this was really interesting and left it open for people to relate to.

The book is written in the second person and looks at the fallout of a marriage exploring a number of triggers including domestic violence, gaslighting and mental abuse.

There’s a sense of drama throughout the story and I was constantly questioning who was right and who was wrong, who was manipulating who- causing me to question my own reaction to some of the things I’ve read.

This book reminds me of that quote “there’s three sides to every story my side, your side and the truth”.

An excellent but not an easy read.

Thanks you @netgalley and @serpentstail for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled a little with this book although I did manage to read to the end. The two sides of the end of a marriage was an interesting concept but given the unreliable accounts from both parties it felt a little confusing and unsettling. Another thing that added to the confusion was that the two main characters were not named but were spoken of as only I, you or J. I didn't have an issue with them not having names but when reading large amounts of text the letters I and J were not dissimilar and I often had to double check who was being discussed. I even changed the font on my Kindle to see if it made it any clearer..

What's the book about?
A detailed account of a marriage collapsing and unravelling. It's told from two different perspectives. Who is telling the truth?

My thoughts:
It's a tough book to read because of how realistic it is. It's also unwavering in it's point, rough and chaotic with it's relationships, it feels genuine and will keep you glued to the book.

This novel is a raw and often angry account of a marriage gone sour.
We don’t get the protagonists’ names nor their sex: the former mattered to me more than the latter, as I found the namelessness made the characters feel a little distant.
It’s a novel of three parts and it’s a well-written one. The middle is a bit repetitive but the first and last parts are blistering and unflinching accounts of the narrator’s perception of the relationship and the realisation that their partner is claiming it was an abusive one.
If you’ve ever had a friend who is going through a horrible break-up, this read feels a bit like listening to their heartbreaking account.
It’s balanced to some extent by their discovery of their partner’s legal documents and their account of the relationship.
I would recommend this. It’s hard and unflinching and raw and messy but it feels authentic and will have you turning the pages.

Unreliable narrators aren't a new plot device in novels, but the author managed to add interest with the ambiguity around J's gender and conviction with which both parties were convinced by their own narratives, until they were proved wrong. I found the ending slightly flat, but overall a well written book.
Thank you to netgalley and serpents tail for an advance copy of this book.

If you've been blindsided by a divorce, facing not only the trauma but the necessary practicalities then Is This Love? is a book for you. J's life implodes when their wife files for divorce. We follow J through the heartbreak and trauma, the undying belief that the estranged wife will see sense.
Written from J's perspective with interspersed diary entries and correspondence by the wife & her lawyers, Is This Love? is a powerful, emotive read. Not only is Riley's writing wonderful, but the observations, the feelings explored, the changing attitude towards the estranged wife rang so true for me. It felt very raw and real, and I'm sure it will resonate with so many readers.

A very well written debut novel. A page turner and easy to read. It was gritty, emotional, uncomfortable and challenging but I loved it. I was gripped by the honest and intimate details of a marriage breakup, told by two points of view, J and J’s wife. Kept me interested to the end.
I received a free review copy from the publisher for my honest unedited feedback.
#NetGallery #SerpentsTail #ViperBooks #ProfileBooks #CERiley

Beautifully written, whilst heavy going I just loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

I loved everything about this book. It was eloquently written with such sensitivity. The characterisation was fantastic. I could not work out whether it was a true story. It was awe inspiring and heartbreaking at times. There was also a lot of humour running through it. For people who have gone through a divorce or going through one now, it maybe an uncomfortable read.

The story shows how both parties see their failings in a completely different light. How friendships tend to divide into two camps.

This is told through the eyes of J and how the news of the break up and impending divorce and what J is being accused of makes him feel. His emotions and anger are extremely well documented. Also running through the storyline are parts of the other partners diary telling their side of the story.

We are not told the sex of J, at the beginning, so difficult to work out, however this does make a great talking point in your mind. Would you feel differently towards J if J was a male or a female?

This was very thought provoking and a very intense read. However, I could not wait to find out what the outcome was.

Praise for C.E Riley for such a magnificent read and thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review such a remarkable book.

It’s hard to describe without plot spoilers but here goes.
This started with so much promise. A written account of a relationship unravelling and told from 2 points of view. It was difficult to work out who was telling the truth and who was lying. It then became apparent that the same information was being repeated again and again in different formats and eventually became very tedious.
I skipped thru many, many pages trying to find some interest in the text. The ending was no surprise either.

Sadly, Is This Love? was a DNF for me. I promise you, I gave it a good try. I got to 41% before I stopped. The premise was good. The opposing views of what it is like to go through a break up and the different ways that each person in a couple perceives the events of their relationship. However, both characters were unlikeable, they had no redeeming features, they both seemed to be unreliable narrators and I just didn't root for either of them.

I can deal with a slow story if I like the characters. Equally I can deal with characters who aren't very nice if the story is good but for me Is This Love? failed on both.

Is This Love? by CE Riley is available now.

For more information regarding Serpent's Tail (@serpentstail) please visit www.serpentstail.com.

Beautifully written. This author is very talented. The heaviness of the character’s raw emotions almost caused me to DNF by about halfway through. I’m glad I pressed on. The story of the breakdown of J’s marriage from the moment they are told it’s over is a compelling read.

I DNF about 20% in BUT this was more down to me rather than the book itself. I thought it was very well written - I loved the use of the second person and the ambiguity of J’s gender - but as it is the story of the breakdown of a marriage it was quite heavy going and I just wasn’t in the mood for something like that.. Will probably come back to it at a later date!

I really wasn't sure about this book. Was it a true story? It was really unclear as to who the injured party was in this and who was the controlling abuser. But maybe that was the point - to show you how things can be twisted so you don't know who is telling the truth. But if the narrator was the injured party, then I have to say that it was really difficult to feel sorry for him. He came across as a huge man child - spoilt, with temper tantrums and a desire to have everyone running around after him and feeling sorry for him. And if the wife was actually the one who was doing all the controlling - she still came across as more likeable. So as I say, I wasn't sure about it. I did enjoy reading it though and it did keep me interested to the end.

I'm glad I've finished this novel, but not because it was bad - quite the contrary, it was too good and reminded me of a similar situation in my own life, as well as bringing back memories of times when I behaved less well than I might have - nothing is clean cut.

At first, the book seems like a linear narrative of an abusive relationship (such as In The Dream House, which I also felt very seen by) but as J and their wife put forward their opposing arguments, it becomes clear that there is no straightforward victim or villain. Once or twice I got confused about who was speaking, but that generally added to the book's confusion, claustrophobia and multiple views of the same events - like shaking a kaleidoscope.

One situation in the book, where one of the partners interrupts the other's event and makes it all about them, could have been lifted verbatim from my own life, and this is not the only creepy parallel I found between this book and my (largely queer) dating history. If it was clear that J and their wife were a man and a woman (I feel like a few pronouns slipped in here and there but that may just as easily have been my own bias) it would have been less interesting, as things would have seemed more clean-cut, that 'he ' was the abuser - but of course, women and non-binary people can do that just as easily.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Serpent’s Tail and C E Riley for my ARC of Is This Love in return for my honest review.

This is outside of my usual reading but I was intrigued by the blurb and reviews. J’s wife has left and J is trying to understand why, what happened and what went wrong.

We never find out J’s gender and it’s told from J’s narrative and J’s wife’s letters and information given to her solicitor.

Both parties polish their stories to make them appear to be the wronged party and anyone who has been through a breakup of a relationship will be able to see how easy it is to twist the events.

Who is telling the truth? Emotionally raw and the narratives were brilliant.

Highly recommended.

I’ve never read a book quite like this before! The penmanship is truly masterful. The dual perspectives throughout the relationship breakdown are very cleverly written. Both narrators are unreliable so you’re constantly questioning the events and desperate to find out the ‘truth’. I loved that I never knew what was coming next or where my sympathies truly lay. The absence of pronouns to refer to either narrator is something that really makes you think about your own unconscious biases and beliefs. A unique, whip smart and engaging book!

I found this a great read despite the difficult topics in the book.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was a tough read. I disliked both J and the wife, and found some of the situations described very distressing. But those characters are very well drawn and the book is breathtakingly well written. I couldn't put it down (even if at times I felt I should do so for my own mental state).

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.