Another wonderful read from Mhairi McFarlane. Mhairi’s books are like deeply emotional sweet treats I get to indulge in once a year. I adore her writing and her deeply layered storytelling. She is one of my absolute favorite authors and her books will forever be auto-reads of mine.

Between Us has a little bit of mystery, a lot of female empowerment, and a nice dose of swoony moments. I feel like this cover does not convey what you’re signing up for, but I won’t spoil anything else. 😉 I loved it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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

This is the second novel that I've read by Mhairi McFarlane and I really like how she writes stories that go beyond a romance or love story as the primary storyline. At its heart, Between Us is a story of a group of friends and the dynamics of the relationships within that group and how they affect the group as a whole. In the beginning, I felt like I was watching an episode of Friends, but some of the relationships came to the forefront while other characters became less key to the storyline. I found the characters interesting, with some more likeable than others. I will say that I didn't find myself eager to pick the book up. However, whenever I did reach for it, I didn't want to put it down. I did like that the relationships were complex and realistic enough that you didn't know which way things would go, at times. I also liked the complicated mother/daughter relationship between Roisin and her mom. Overall, I am glad I read this story and will pick up other novels by Mhairi McFarlane.

I really enjoy Mhairi McFarlane's writing. Her books never disappoint. She crafts wonderfully relatable characters and offers plenty of tension, chemistry, and romance in her novels. Between Us is entertaining and engaging,, a great read

I really really really wanted to absolutely love and devour this book, but I found it to be a bit slow at times. I found that it picked up in the third half of the novel, I think I went into this one with too much of the mindset that it was going to be romance, which might have been my own fault.

Thanks to Avon, Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

This is the second Mhairi McFarlane book I've read and I am really coming to love her slow, even style of plotting. Sure, there are some kinda crazy things going on in this book (a character writes a tv show that may or may not be based on his real life cheating but definitely includes secrets from his girlfriends life that he used without consent) but it still felt like a book where slow and steady wins the race, which was a great balm for the ups and downs I've been feeling in general.

Heck, the main character (Roisin) doesn't even figure out just how big a jerk her boyfriend Joe was for the 10 years they were together until like 3/4 of the way through the book! And the final relationship seems to only really blossom in the last half of the book, which was such an interesting choice. I liked it? I think?

Regardless of the pacing, the characters felt real and I appreciated Roisin's growth through her journey and I'll keep reading McFarlane's books forever.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun book. I enjoyed it a lot!

This is my fourth book by Mhairi McFarlane and my favorite of the ones I've read. It was a unique and refreshing rom com that dealt with some serious issues in a tactful way.

This book begins with one of my favorite things -- a long time group of friends meeting up for a weekend. I loved all the dynamics of their friendships and reading about their group origin working at a bookstore. Roisin feels like her long- term relationship with Joe is coming to an end, and after doing a group viewing of his newest tv show she has more questions and concerns about the relationship.

While Joe is off to LA for work, Roisin goes to her hometown to help her mom with the pub she runs. One of Roisin's old friends comes to help, and things go from friendly to more between them -- in such a sweet and surprising way. I loved this swoony romance and was rooting for them through the ups and downs.

This book also touches on emotional manipulation and gaslighting -- Joe make Roisin doubt herself and is an artful liar. I think this all shown in a very realistic way and is something few books touch on.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this book and I really loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This might not be my all-time favorite from Mhairi McFarlane, and honestly, at the beginning, I had doubts about whether it was my kind of read. But I decided to stick with it, and I'm really glad I did because I ended up quite enjoying it.

The core of the story revolves around Roisin and Joe's relationship, which has been on shaky ground for a while. There's something off that Roisin can't quite pinpoint. They go on a weekend getaway with friends and watch the first episode of Joe's new series, only to find eerie parallels with their own lives, along with some unsettling predictions. Could it be the truth?

The book offers a multitude of elements, but I wish there had been a bit more focus on the healing process, and things didn't resolve as quickly as they did. I particularly liked the detective aspect of the story and the theme of female empowerment, which was a refreshing change from women tearing each other down.

I'd love to share more, but I'm afraid I'd give away too much. Let's just say I ended up enjoying it quite a bit!

I enjoyed this book as much as I could, it felt incredibly long with way too much fluff. Definitely more a "slice of life" style book, with the plot picking up well over half-way through the book. Great writing, just slow.

Roisin’s life is flipped upside down when she discovers that unbeknownst to her, her boyfriend is using their relationship as inspiration for his new, revealing television show.

This was more serious than the usual romances I read, but I enjoyed that the plot had so much depth beyond the romance. Honestly, it was barely a romance and more the story of a woman learning the truth behind her toxic relationship, figuring out what she really wanted and going after it. Themes of gaslighting and mind games, cheating and lies were prevalent.

The characters in this book were carved out beautifully and very convincingly. The writing was a prime example of showing versus telling. While this sometimes slowed the plot and led to overly descriptive moments, it did make for a realistic and believable progression.

Overall, I’d recommend this one to those looking for a story of personal growth and resilience, one that highlights the development of the main character, as she discovers the truth about her friends, her relationship, and her life.

The Mhairi McFarlane’s books that I have read are never cut and dry romance and Between Us was no different. It was a super slow burn and didn’t even have hand holding until 75% in! But I was SO engrossed the entire time and loved it so much. I really found it refreshing how it didn’t follow the formula of most romance books (although I don’t mind a solid formulaic romance). I enjoyed getting to know the characters and not knowing where the story was going.

I adore a book with a solid friend group and while I found a few of the friends a bit annoying or underdeveloped, overall I enjoyed reading about the group’s friendship.

I really enjoyed the main character and the love interest who will not be named in order to avoid spoilers. They were the cutest pairing and I was very invested in them!

4.5 rounded up. Thank you to netgalley for the arc!

I really love Mhairi McFarlane's writing, and she is so great at character development. Between Us is not exception! I really liked Roisin, the heroine, and found her to be authentic and believable. My only critique about this book is that there is so much focus on her toxic ex and not enough focus on the healthier love story. I would still highly recommend this book, and I will be continuing to anxiously await this author's next book!

Thanks to HarperCollins for my ARC!

I really enjoy Mhairi McFarlane’s writing, which is why I keep going back. I’ve been less connected with her last few books and this one also stumped me for awhile.

Roisin is in a long term relationship with Joe and they are part of a larger friend group that is getting together for a holiday. Roisin has been feeling less than happy with her relationship with Joe and then begins to see him in a new light. Their relationship sours and it feels like she is very quickly realizing she actually has feelings for another of the friends in the group. This transition felt so rushed and with little background. Though I felt this was the ultimate and best thing for these two, I was slogging through just asking myself “how? When? What?!”.

Thank you to Avon for a gifted copy of this book and a digital ARC. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. None of the characters really pulled me in or made me care about them.

This book was very difficult to read. It was very British? I just couldn’t connect with the characters. The were adults acting like children. The book only got semi - interesting after about 60%. It was a very slow start, and it just fell flat. It felt like a lot was happening, but also nothing?

1 star

BETWEEN US was a fabulous and well-written romance with great characters that felt like friends. The storyline was comedic and laugh out loud funny, but also felt realistic. Thoroughly enjoyed this one!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyage for the opportunity to read and review BETWEEN US.

Really fun rom-com. Will be recommending and reading anything in the future from this author. Thank you for the title.

Funny moments but also real moments, with real characters and struggles, and wow has it been a while since I disliked a character this much (the ex-boyfriend). The book has great pacing too: quick, short chapters that make it easy to read a lot but also easy to find a good stopping point (unlike long chapters where you hate stopping in the middle of the chapter but it's been going on for too long and you have to stop). I really like McFarlane's writing style and storytelling, so I'll definitely be checking out her other books.

This isn't my favorite book by the author, but it's still a very solid read and I will definitely encourage people to pick it up if only so I can introduce them to the joys of her back list!

This book had friendship, character development, love, and dramaaa. The way Mhairi can write about toxic relationships, family issues, self growth and still add humor and lightheartedness at the same time is brilliant, this book had me actually laughing out loud. I’m not the biggest fan of third person pov but surprisingly with this book I hardly noticed it and really enjoyed regardless.