I had high hopes for this book after reading others from this author but unfortunately this one wasn’t for me… The story focused a bit too much on the “previous” relationship instead of the new relationship that most focus on. Moreover, I feel like that took time away from allowing the reader to really form a connection with the new couple and really root for them. While I enjoyed this romance, it was definitely a different storyline than I was used to.

This was my first book by Mhairi McFarlane and I enjoyed it. The cast of characters are all interesting and how they are growing, changing, and moving on. There is a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, and a little bit of family redemption all occurring over the summer. The story was engaging from beginning to end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Mhairi McFarlane for the eARC.

This book was sadly not for me.

2/5

Roisin and Joe have been together for about 10 years and for the last year things have been a little rocky. Joe's screenwriting career has taken off and he has a new show premiering. When they go to watch the first episode with their group of friends Roisin realizes Joe has used private things about her life in the show. This causes her to go down a rabbit hole of ending the relationship that was already on thin ice. 

This entire book is about dysfunctional relationships, and cheating. I am not a fan of this type of thing and I don't really enjoy reading about cheating. I know this is totally my opinion, but thats how I feel. 

I also felt like this book was incredibly slow. The main happening didn't even occur until like 45% of the way in. It dragged so much. I felt like the book could have been way shorter since we spent the whole thing figuring out what was happening to Rosisin and Joe's relationship.

Roisin was a great character and the cast was very diverse, but sadly I don't have a lot of other good things to say.

Roisin's life unravels when her boyfriend uses their relationship as material for his new TV show. As tensions emerge among their friends during a weekend getaway, Roisin questions her own relationship and discovers that her private confessions are being broadcasted. Seeking refuge, she returns home to manage her family's pub, but drama follows as she navigates her dysfunctional family and the secrets revealed in each episode. Unexpectedly, she finds solace in Matt, a charismatic friend who supports her in ways she never expected.

This book was so, so very English and I certainly enjoyed Matt, but Roisin and some of the other side characters were so very frustrating. I don't want to spoil too much, but Roisin being absolutely hell bent for closure and snooping on her gaslighting ass of an ex was exhausting at times to read.

I was captivated and surprised by this book that I assumed would be a typical rom com, but which turned out to be something different and deeper and yet still so charmingly romantic. It's about the unravelling of a long-term group of friends, and how that changes the dynamics of how everyone in the groups relates to the others, especially Roisin and her boyfriend Joe. Every character is colorfully unique, and fully three-dimensional, and the plot they find themselves in is both believable and extraordinary. Witty, compelling, and utterly delightful.

This book was not what i expected but it made for a wonderful read. It is a great take on how friendship group dynamics can change in10 years. I could not put it down because I became really engaged with all these characters. It also has an arc that is unexpected but beautifully made in this group of friendships. I loved the character development and all the explorations of how much we can change in 10 years. It is not predictable and that always gets mayor points in my book. As someone who still chats on a daily basis with their college friends, this book hit close to home. This might be the perfect book club read for a group of friends.

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane.

While I enjoyed this book, I am quickly learning that MM is a hit or miss author for me. This book was not quite a miss, but it wasn't a homerun either. The storyline about Roisin, her boyfriend, and their friend group just didn't do it for me. I wasn't super investing, and I didn't really like any of the characters...so that makes it hard to enjoy the book IMO! This book is different than the other MM books I've read, but I don't think that influenced my opinion. I don't mind when an author takes a different path if the story is good, and I just found this story to be lukewarm.

I was about halfway in before the story hooked me, and that is way too long. I think readers who are more prone to DNFing would have given up before that hook happened. I never DNF, so there's that, but I'm not the norm. That being said, I did like the ending and was satisfied with the outcome...but the ending was not really worth the journey for me.

I gave this one a generous 3⭐️ because I think the book has merit. I'm just disappointed that this is the second MM new release in a row I haven't vibed with.

Rating: 3⭐️

Enjoyed the way the settings were written in this book, I felt like I could envision each location written. The author did a great job weaving the friendship dynamic into the plot.

This was my first book by Mhairi McFarlane but I have two friends her sing her praises and I am happy to report that I am now on the hype train as well!! I'm really excited to dive into her backlist.

Between Us is a story of a large and long term friend group - the main character in the book is Roisin. Her boyfriend, Joe, is an up-and-coming TV writer. His newest show, however, has similarities to their lives together that Roisin can't ignore. One of the main storylines in his show is that the male main character is a serial cheater. Roisin just can't shake the feeling that art has mimicked life in more ways than one....

Though this book is about Roisin and Joe's relationship, it also delves into the other relationships within the friend group. Be aware, though this does have a romantic arc - it is not a romance and is definitely not a rom-com (don't worry the romantic arc is not between Roisin and Joe)! However, I still wholeheartedly recommend - it's truly fascinating how Mhairi is able to weave together such a large friend group and so many relationships and make the story so compelling. It's really an ensemble cast but at no point was I confused about who was who. All the relationships and personalities felt super realistic - no character is perfect but so many of them are compelling.

Joe is truly the worst and most manipulative character I think I've ever read??? And honestly I mean that as the highest compliment - it's really hard to write a character that is SO realistically awful but Mhairi knocked it out of the park. His gaslighting of Roisin even worked on me at one point!! I truly very nearly believed him at one point - his character is honestly so well done. I raced through this book at least in part because I wanted to find out the truth!!

Both of my friends told me that Emily Henry loves Mhairi's books and I can totally see that! I think this would be a great read for fans of Emily's

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon/HarperVoyager for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book opens up with a group of friends who have stood the test of time but are now starting to “crack” as a group. Rather quickly, the book shifts from the focus being on the friends as a collective group to Roisin doubting her boyfriend, Joe, of ten years. It appears Joe’s hit show is possibly a hidden confession. Roisin is faced with uncovering the truth while also tackling conflict with her mother, keeping her friend group afloat, and rediscovering her confidence.

There is humor, passive aggressiveness, gaslighting, hidden feelings, and dark secrets that come to light. Overall, the beginning and end of this book was great! Struggled to be invested throughout this read and found them all to be unlikable to some extent.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

Mhairi McFarlane strikes again! t BETWEEN US exemplifies why she has become of my favorite authors in the past few years. There is a darkness to the plot and a messiness to its characters that would drag the story down in the hands of a less accomplished writer, but McFarlane balances these elements out with her trademark whip smart banter and a delightful sense of humor and comedic timing that makes this a breeze to read and had me laughing out loud in many places. BETWEEN US centers on Roisin, whose ten year long relationship with her partner Joe has been faltering ever since his big career break through. While on a friends holiday with their closest pals, something comes to light that forces her to begin to question not only the future of their relationship but also their present and past. The nuance of power dynamics within relationships and within groups of friends is explored so brilliantly here, and the smart, clever writing makes absolutely fly by. Not to be missed!

Another winning Brit-chick-lit novel from McFarlane. Her writing is once again so rich and skilled. She gets to show off her vocabulary by having a main character, a literature teacher in a long-term group of friends who met while working at a bookstore together in their uni/post-uni years. Roisin wonders how her 10-year relationship has fallen apart now that her boyfriend is a successful screenwriter. How does she extract herself from the relationship without exploding their friend group? But fate pushes things along when there are so many signs of his rottenness. There isn't a ton of 'swoon' in this one, not those supercharged, sexual tension-filled romantic moments, but that's not McFarlane's style. Her characters are eccentric but so believable that once they get together you just know in your bones they are going to last. Roison gets her happy for now satisfied ending. I was quite satisfied, as well. It's a great choice for readers who like a set of complex characters figuring out life together.

An encompassing look at relationships and how our perception of them can be altered with time and experience. This was my first Mhairi McFarlane book and it definitely won't be my last! The author crafted a kaleidoscope of characters that brought to life the complexities of today's relationships, be it friendship, love, or familial. Highly recommend Between Us, and will now be adding the author's backlist to my TBR pile! Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Roisin has been dating Joe for nearly a decade and their lives are thoroughly intermixed. When a weekend away with their mutual friend group to celebrate a birthday, an engagement and the premiere of Joe’s new show doesn’t go as planned, Roisin gets the feeling that she doesn’t know her partner as well as she thought she did. Once the weekend is over Roisin must follow her intuition to unravel the mystery of who Joe really is, and separate fact from fiction.

This was my first book by Mhairi McFarlane, and it was definitely not a low drama romantic comedy. The writing certainly had funny moments, but overall the story was much more dramatic than I usually expect from a romcom. The characters are richly drawn and feel completely real, like a friend group you could know. I really empathized with Roisin as she knew in her gut that something was wrong with her relationship but was continuously gaslit by Joe. I was rooting for her chance at happiness with or without a romantic partner, but I did find her blossoming romance to be very sweet and swoony.

Recommended for readers who enjoy: 🧶 unraveling the mysteries of a toxic relationship 🛋️ close knit adult friend groups ✍🏻 art imitating life 🎭 romantic comedy and drama in equal measure ❤️‍🩹 finding love in unexpected places after heartbreak

Unfortunately, the publisher does't do Between US any favors by marketing it as a romance. it's an enjoyable piece of literary fiction tht's been placed in a poor position. Romance readers will be disapointed to find a novel that's more than half-way through before they see anything resembling the love story most crave.

3.5 stars. Mhairi McFarlane is an auto-read author for me, but I didn't enjoy this novel quite as much as some of her others. Roisin and Joe have been together for 10 years, but their relationship unravels when Joe's new television show reveals a little too much about him and Roisin starts questioning their entire life together. As usual with McFarlane's heroines, I found Roisin very likable and relatable. There were a couple of reasons this book wasn't a total hit for me. First, I struggle with gaslighting in fictional relationships; I just hate reading about it, which is no fault of McFarlane's but rather my own preferences. Second, although the romance that appears well into the novel is sweet and lovely, it's way, way, way too soon after Roisin has just started learning the truth of her past ten years with Joe. Girl, take some time to be single and get some counseling! A small thing I absolutely loved: Mhairi (a name I googled to learn how to pronounce back when I first read a book by her) slickly has her character called not one but two nicknames fairly early on so that we're not left wondering about how to say "Roisin" in our heads. (Rosh & Sheen). Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for a digital review copy.

Between Us was a fun read! This was my first Mhari McFarlane book, and I can definitely see myself picking up more of their work.

Roisin's story had a good pace and following her along on her journey was really interested. I love a multifaceted main character, especially when I get to see them handle such intense situations, and it was exciting seeing how Roisin handled every step.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC of Between Us!

I really enjoyed this I enjoyed the drama waiting to find out what happens next, and what happens with Joe this is a fun book definitely more fiction than romance but still enjoyable if you’re looking for that romance element. I have never read another book by Mhairi McFarlane before but this will definitely have me checking out more.
Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this e-galley

It hurts me to rate a Mhairi McFarlane book so low because I love her work, but this just didn’t do it for me. There was too many plot points attempted in this, which made it hard for any of them to feel thorough. Joe sucks from the get go, and it’s difficult to root for them, and the lengths that Roisin goes to to catch him felt kind of juvenile to me at times. The Joe storyline leaves no room for the additional romance, and I honestly wish it hadn’t been included and had just been about Roisin grappling with this relationship and it’s end.

Meatball the cat for prez, though.

This was an enjoyable and lovely novel by Mhairi McFarlane! What makes McFarlane's writing so addictive is that the journey is so relaxing. As a reader, you are simply following the characters through their lives as if you are friends. I especially enjoyed Roisin's mystery as she uncovered her relationship with Joe. Thank you, NetGalley for this book!