I'm counting this book as read but I didn't finish it. With about 70 pages left, I just couldn't anymore with the turn this ridiculous book took. Really I should have stopped reading very early when I was having a hard time following what any of the characters were ever talking about. The characters are THE WORST and the romance ( the second one) came from nowhere.

I really love Mhairi's writing and her ability to make me adore her main characters instantly. This one follows Roisin (pronounced Rosheen for us Americans 😂) and the fallout of what happens when her screenwriting partner launches a new series that airs her secrets for the world to see. Full of friendship, emotion, and humor, I really liked it a lot!

*This one is VERY British so the f-words are sprinkled in liberally and some of the references go right over my head but I still love the story!
*Mentions of cheating, abortion previous to the story

I am a big fan of Mhairi McFarlane so I was delighted to get her latest as an Advanced Review Copy from #NetGalley. Like her other books this one has lots of clever dialogue, a fun cast of friends, and a love story in the mix. There is a reference to Friends in the book but to me it's a bit as though the Empire Record cast grows up (and lives in the Greater Manchester Area).

TW for gaslighting which rolls into psychopathy, on ALL sorts of levels.

I think I’ve come to the end of reading McFarlane’s novels.
This is the third book in a row where at the halfway point--although with “Just Last Night” it was all of a quarter in--I just had to jump ahead to see what the pay-off was, even if it ruined some big reveals.

Opening the book with Roisin’s high school class of little s%!&s didn’t make for an amusing set-up. Detailed observations are still on-point, but it became difficult for me to recall any humor while I learned (and then promptly forgot) the detailed backgrounds of Roisin’s college friends at a weekend get-together. The reason was that Joe’s boorish behavior--amplifying Roisin’s existing ambivalence about their relationship--overshadowed it all. The set up of characters surrounding our protagonists wasn’t paying off like it used to--and unfortunately, where “Just Last Night” was too heavy, and the set-up too long in “Mad About You,” this book was the worst of both worlds. If the “old friend” turned up a little bit sooner, rather than at the 50% mark, it would still only make Joe’s existence in Roisin’s life barely tolerable. As sweet and funny and meaningful and impactful as Roisin’s scenes with the old friend are, Joe’s snideness, jabs, and subtle gaslighting (as it appears to others, but not to Roisin) created anxiety in me, not joy at the thought of his comeuppance. Besides, from what I’ve seen, psychopaths rarely experience a true comeuppance; it’s only whether their victims manage to escape.

Also, any intimacy between the main protagonists we’re rooting for is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-the (literally) one-sentence moment. McFarlane has pulled EVEN FURTHER back from “If I Never Met You.” Nothing had to be graphic; heck, “Don’t You Forget About Me” doesn’t really bring the main couple TOGETHER together till the last 5% of the book, and my fondness for the book has only grown over time. Just a little more sweetness might’ve helped erase the sour taste in my mouth from such a truly horrible antagonist.

This is not romance in a simple romcommy way - is there literary romance or is it all contemporary then?
This book has plenty of well fleshed out fully formed characters that come with baggage, agendas and a fragile heart, it has beautiful descriptions of friendship and family relationships as well as expectations and how they influence who we become.
Roisin and Joe have been together for over a decade, and as a couple they are at the center of their longstanding group of friends. One getaway weekend the friends gather to celebrate a couple of recent events, birthdays, engagements and Joe's new TV series he's been writing. But watching the first episode with this added audience, Roisin realizes that the show has secrets written that she has only trusted Joe... they were supposed to stay "Between Us". This leads Roisin to see her boyfriend with new eyes...
Rosin becomes a detective: what has been true and what has been false in their shared narrative? Has he been gaslighting her ? Is more of his tv script plucked from real life?
Things are getting revealed to the Roisin and the reader at the same rate - is Joe orchestrating or are the accusations unsubstantiated? Roisin is a pleasantly intelligent and strong-willed but also regular high school teacher main character. She is no fool but she thought she knew whom she shared her life and apartment with !
There's also interesting to look at friendships and group dynamics when a beloved couple splits up.
If you are friends with both of a couple and you know a friend is doing something questionable behind their partner's back, do you have to tell their partner?
Of course there is also romance and I was rooting for the starring couple but it wasn't the point at least not the only one!

This is a romance that I was really looking forward to loving as a romantic comedy and ended up liking as a family drama instead. It's a slow burn that felt very slow in the beginning and I didn't feel a huge connection to the characters at first. They eventually grew on me and the story had an interesting depth to it that isn't always present in romcoms. The ending was satisfying and included a HEA and that's a conclusion that always makes me smile. Give it a try, it may be the perfect dramance (new trope?) for you.

I really ended up enjoying this book. It was definitely not a romance, as I had believed it would be, but it was super well written and fairly gripping all the way through. There might have been a little exposition that could have been cut, but for the most part, the book was immersive and flew by. It was pretty interesting reading though waiting to find out the entire truth about Joe and it was very satisfying how that turned out. I liked the main character and her eventual love interest and although I would have loved just a bit more of them spending time together after her breakup before they were in love, considering the circumstances, it didn’t feel far fetched at all. If someone’s looking for a fun, light romance, this is definitely not going to be what they’re wanting, but this is definitely worth a read, which is no surprise considering the author’s previous books. I definitely look forward to reading more from her in the future
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyage for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

They say life imitates art, but what about when art imitates life? Mhairi McFarlane’s Between Us explores what happens when one’s deepest secrets and personal relationship are used as storylines for a hit television show.

Secondary teacher, Rosin, has spent the last decade of her life supporting her fiancé, Joe, as he worked to break into television. With a hit show under his belt and another one currently in production, the two find their relationship on the rocks. They have been more like roommates than partners. However, things start to really unravel on a weekend getaway.

Along with their closest friends, Rosin and Joe host a viewing party for the premiere of, Hunter. Rosin is caught completely off guard at the viewing. She is convinced the very flawed and reprehensible main character, Jasper, is Joe’s alter ego. Desperate to prove she is not crazy, Rosin does a little hunting herself. Will she discover Joe is living a secret life, or will her worries be unwarranted?

This was my introduction to Mhairi McFarlane’s writing, and I am a fan. This book isn’t afraid to redefine what a romance is. It is raw and gritty, but also hopeful.

I love how McFarlane wrote Rosin. She was a strong main character, not just for a female. Watching her evolution over the course of the story was nothing short of inspirational. She turned what could have been her undoing into motivation. As a result, she was a better person, friend, and partner for it.

About half way through the book I knew I needed to read more from McFarlane, so I purchased three more of her books. I can’t wait to read If I Never Met You, Just Last Night, and Mad About You. If they are half as good as Between Us, I will be a satisfied customer.

Special thanks to Netgalley, Mhairi McFarlane, and Avon Books for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I will always love this woman and her witty characters who howl and honk with laughter.

Matt and Roisin my messy angels who went through hell to reach their ending…or should I say-their beginning <3

There’s people who like MM’s books and then there’s people that are wrong.

I love Mhairi McFarlane books. She writings amazing characters that pull at all of your heartstrings. The characters in Between Us are no different.

A weekend away leads to a falling out between Roisin and her friends and then also ends with a break up with her boyfriend (who also has written parts of their relationship into his latest screen play) she decides to escape her current life and goes to help run her family's pub. Although her life is quite the mess, she is pleasantly surprised by which friends show up the most for her in unexpected ways.

This book was an interesting read with great, very layered characters. I will say that I had a little trouble getting invested in the story. I felt like the lead up to the main parts of the story drug on a little too long. However, once I got into the meat of the stories and became connected to the characters, it was hard to put this one down.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Hmm. This one is hard to rate/review! On one hand, I love Mhairi’s writing. I loved Roisin. And, like I’m sure you are supposed to, I hated Joe and loved Matt. However, I do think the book spent way too much time on the ending of the Joe relationship rather than the new one with Matt – the new one was a bit too quick for me, even though that is one of my ALLTIMEFAVOURITE tropes. I should have loved that! (and I did, I just wanted MORE). But reading about Joe, the cheating and lying and gaslighting and manipulating and UGH. It honestly made me feel sick at times, and even though I like her writing and the book overall, it’s hard not to associate that feeling with the book, you know? I loved certain things about it (the female friendships, Beatrice, her mum, the pub) and it still gave me good Mhairi feelings, and she’ll continue to be an auto read author for me, I just hope her next book has a wee bit more romance, at least like… before the halfway mark :)

Mhairi McFarlane has long been one of my favorites - ever since I read and loved Don’t You Forget About Me. Between Us has more of her great writing but in a more toxic package.

Roisin and her long term boyfriend, Joe, are going on a weekend trip with a group of old friends (hilariously called the Brian Club), that ends in partial disaster for Roisin. Joe, on a fast trajectory up, is a screenwriter whose new show premiered and had pieces of Roisin’s life written in. After some major gaslighting by him to her, Roisin ends it. Roisin, feeling manipulated, takes a new look at their 9 year relationship and realizes that maybe Joe is more of a manipulator and liar than she knew.

One of the Brian Club friends, Matt, helps Roisin seek the truth while also becoming closer friends until their new romance emerges. While I really liked Roisin and Matt’s relationship, I think it was a hard segue from the toxic relationship of Joe and Roisin. I wish we would have seen more romance between Matt and Roisin.
The witty banter between all the friends and the strong support between most of them helped flesh out the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this eARC. Between Us is out now.

I received an advanced copy of Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane from the publisher Avon and Harper Voyager via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Roisin’s life has been a little more strained as of late. Things with her boyfriend have been strained since he erupted into success as a television writer and her friend group has become quite strained. So when Roisin and Joe join their friends for a triple celebration, tensions rise, ultimately culminating in a viewing of Joe’s new show which very strongly resembles real life including a secret that Roisin only told Joe about her family. Now, Roisin feels like her world has shattered and goes off to help her mother in the country.

What I Loved: McFarlane’s writing style is out of this world. Last year, I read Mad About You and it was one of my best reads of the summer. As soon as I started this book I could not put it down, the characters and the story are so intriguing and I just didn’t want to put it down. This was consistently my MO while reading this. The story was super compelling and I couldn’t wait to keep reading. This book is also so smart and raises intriguing thoughts about writing and promises. Also, I really bought in to the romance (which is not Joe and Roisin) and just adored it. I did not want it to end.

What I Didn’t Like: Okay, my criticism is the book is slow moving. I feel like it takes about ~40% of the book to get to what is the premise of this book. This made us resolving the problems feel a bit rushed, I felt like this book needed more time to wrap up and make more people buy in.

Who Should Read It: People who loved McFarlene’s other work. People who love smart romance. People who like books where the woman leaves a bad guy.

Summary: When her secrets are revealed to all who watched her boyfriend’s new show, a woman processes her new life.

Mhairi McFarlane is one of my favorite authors. She is fantastic at creating realistic, flawed characters with great emotional depth, putting them into messy situations and having them change and grow. Her writing transports me and doesn’t let me go until the final page. This book was no exception.

Between Us is about Roisin who starts to question if her boyfriend of ten years has been keeping secrets from her, based on parallels she notices in the new TV show he wrote.

As the main character goes through suspicion and doubt about her relationship of ten years, you go through the same. It almost becomes a romantic mystery, are her suspicions correct or is she making a mountain out of a molehill? As the reader, are you being led by an unreliable narrator?

I loved the romance in this book even though it was secondary to the story. (I don't want to expand more for spoilery reasons)

The author is also great at depicting dynamics of a friend group. The intricacies of long term friend groups: the ties that are stronger, the ones that don’t seem to get along well at all, the WhatsApp group that generates many side WhatsApp groups… I loved many of the side characters within it. Plus they all knew each other from working at Waterstones, great tidbit for book lovers.

This one isn’t as strong as Just Last Night by the same author, which is still one of my fave books, but I absolutely enjoyed it and found it hard to put down.

Overall rating: 4.2⭐

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! I’ve enjoyed all the Mhairi McFarlane books I’ve read so far so was looking forward to this one. Between Us is more about the breakdown of a relationship rather than a love story, which made it more somber than MM’s other books. To me this made the story more engaging as you followed how it all went wrong. Roisin’s (the lead) feelings were described really well. The only things that felt off were the friends - everyone seemed slightly too hyper for people in their 30s. The other element that didn’t sit well with me was Matt’s past behaviour. Overall a good read with a nice ending.

I love McFarlane's books because they're so complex and detailed, and yet effortless!

This one fell a bit short for me though, especially by the end. This definitely isn't my favorite book from McFarlane.

It's more about a breakup than a love story, although the romance is there, and it comes from a pretty interesting place. I just felt like the momentum really slowed by the end and the answers to some of Roisin's weren't satisfying. (Although maybe that was the point, IDK.)

Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane is about Roisin and her group of friends who are going through different life changes. Her boyfriend, Joe, has a popular tv show and the new one he's written resembles their life a little too much making Roisin question a few things.

First of all being American there are a lot of references and slang that I did not get, but it doesn't hinder the plot or story.

The beginning and middle were a bit slow for me. I was interested in what was going to happen, but it took until the last 30% of the book that I couldn't put it down because a whole bunch of stuff was being revealed. I liked how it ended and the book is a solid 3 stars (I liked it, but won't read it again.) There is a romance that I wish we saw more of, like some sort of tension that there could be something there. I felt like that was left until the last quarter.

Thank you @netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I initially pegged this as a romance book based on the cover. While there are some romance elements in this book, it was definitely a story about friendships, parents and relationships. I see now its actually categorized as Women's Fic. All that to say, I did really enjoy it. Mhairi McFarline is such a good writer, her characters always feel real and complex. There was a lot of soul searching and self analyzing (sometimes the internal dialogue was a bit much) but its also really relatable.

**spoilers below***
I absolutely despised Joe the gasslighter from the start and really thought Gina was in on something with him. I didn't see the Matt thing happening until it was actually happening and I was excited to see things progress but somehow the big hookup felt anticlimactic. I think it would have flowed better if they they didn't get together, fight and then work it out because the second time around was definitely the better go of it. My favorite part of this book was the last chapter when she is talking to her students about endings actually being beginnings and thought it was quite poetic.

Contemporary Fiction

McFarlane can always be counted on when you want a contemporary romance novel that isn't simply about the romance. Her characters are nuanced, the relationships are developed, and nothing is instant and simply based on looks/chemistry. Another winner.

Roisin and Joe have been in a relationship for almost 10 years, but the past year has seen a distance between them. Some of it is due to Joe's increasing success as a writer, some of it's something Roisin can't quite put her finger on. She and Joe gather together with their core group of friends from college to celebrate their friend's engagement and Joe's new TV show. During the watching of the episode, Roisin realizes that Joe has used private moments in their lives in his program. Roisin confronts Joe and is ready to be done with the relationship, but he asks her to postpone this discussion until his return from LA.

During Joe's time away, Roisin thinks more and more about the show and believes that Joe may have been unfaithful and launches an investigation. Her findings aren't conclusive, and Joe has perfectly reasonable explanations. But can she trust him?

Roisin's mother asks her for help and so Roisin goes home to help and reflect. One of the group of friends - Matt, is on a break from his job and also offers to help. While they are both in town, they spend a lot of time together and Roisin talks through her problems with Matt. He also shares information about his past that she never knew. This exchange of confidences brings them closer.

All of the significant relationships in Roisin's life come to a head at almost the same time leaving her floundering. Information gets revealed from an unlikely source and that closes several doors for Roisin, but will she allow someone another chance?

This novel does a wonderful job of exploring the nuances of gaslighting. To gaslight someone is using psychological manipulation to cause the other person to doubt reality, their sanity or their memory. Unfortunately, many people today seem to think simply having a passionate discussion between people of opposing viewpoints is gaslighting. Roisin is involved in a true gaslighting situation and McFarlane handles all the intricacies very well.

I have too very small critiques - one - the gaslighting could probably be even more pronounced, and two - this book is very British. The terminology, the local chains/locations and the turn of a phrase can sometimes make it difficult to get involved in the story. I also felt the book started on the slow side and it took me about 1/3 of the way through to feel engaged. These are very minor complaints as I still very much enjoyed this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC of this book.

Another winner for Mhairi. I just couldn’t get over how cute she and Matt were. What a likable MMC. And of course a super likeable FMC too. I loved how straightforward she was. There was a part where she says “well I may as well just tell him straight up how I feel” and SHE DOES. What?! I don’t have to suffer from the inevitable miscommunication trope??? THANK YOU.