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A review by thisfishlikestoread
You And Me, Always by Jill Mansell
2.0
Reading the book blurb, I expected this to be fun, engaging read. Plus I am a sucker for best friends-turned-romance chick lit. It gives you enough feels, keeps you engaged and entertained enough. That’s what I expected. Sadly this one didn’t meet the criteria.
Narrative
It’s a third person narrative. I started the book and it seemed harmless enough. But... the plot was such a mixture, like a badly made salad, if you will. I wanted to enjoy it, but I really couldn’t.
The story and plot
Oh boy how I despised the story was turning out to be. I was so mislead about the whole damn blurb! It suggested two long-life friends turning into more, the movie star as the third wheel and Lily’s backstory right? You are so wrong! As you can already see it’s too much of a plot for one book. But hey there’s more. The story includes 10 other point of views, yay!! * If looks could kill, my e-reader would be on fire*. You know when you decide to go for a movie with your close friends, and annoyingly there are some new faces tagging along with you. This book felt like that!
Here’s the thing, the many characters in a novel is not a problem. It’s their off-point story telling like this that kills a decent idea. What the author has done is squeeze at least three more love stories into the novel. So the leads as per the blurb just end up being a joke. They are in the background.
Plus the big “conflict” that every romance novel has? It’s hardly convincing, it is as an afterthought and gets resolved in three pages. The author can surely write well, but in this one read like she didn’t bother.
Pace
Pace is okay, was engaging. I kept reading on in hopes to find a meaty interaction between the main leads. Sadly that didn’t happen. How do you like book that is an engaging read but with terrible plot? I feel tricked!
The characters
The main leads are immature. The appeal of quirky characters finding the “one” is appealing but this novel made a caricature of that.
I didn’t like any of them. In fact most of the characters seemed similar; they were just an extension of the other characters. Plus with multiple characters and their point of view, you didn’t even get to know them really well.
So okay maybe their mannerisms are similar, happens. The physicality too? All the females look the same in the novel, as per description. Same goes for the guys. So many characters and all same.
Last Thoughts
There were some funny moments but they weren’t enough to float my boat. I regret reading this. It wasn’t horrible writing, in fact it was good in certain parts. However, the book really was a hodgepodge , a terrific mess. So many plots and unnecessary side stories. The only reason I completed is coz I hate leaving a book unfinished.
The thing is I was expecting a keep-your-brains-aside but fun to read experience and this didn’t even match that. If you like the best friend-romance thing, you’d be better off reading [b:Just One of the Guys|2884065|Just One of the Guys|Kristan Higgins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1396310436s/2884065.jpg|2910293] .
#bookreviews #novels #romance
Narrative
It’s a third person narrative. I started the book and it seemed harmless enough. But... the plot was such a mixture, like a badly made salad, if you will. I wanted to enjoy it, but I really couldn’t.
The story and plot
Oh boy how I despised the story was turning out to be. I was so mislead about the whole damn blurb! It suggested two long-life friends turning into more, the movie star as the third wheel and Lily’s backstory right? You are so wrong! As you can already see it’s too much of a plot for one book. But hey there’s more. The story includes 10 other point of views, yay!! * If looks could kill, my e-reader would be on fire*. You know when you decide to go for a movie with your close friends, and annoyingly there are some new faces tagging along with you. This book felt like that!
Here’s the thing, the many characters in a novel is not a problem. It’s their off-point story telling like this that kills a decent idea. What the author has done is squeeze at least three more love stories into the novel. So the leads as per the blurb just end up being a joke. They are in the background.
Plus the big “conflict” that every romance novel has? It’s hardly convincing, it is as an afterthought and gets resolved in three pages. The author can surely write well, but in this one read like she didn’t bother.
Pace
Pace is okay, was engaging. I kept reading on in hopes to find a meaty interaction between the main leads. Sadly that didn’t happen. How do you like book that is an engaging read but with terrible plot? I feel tricked!
The characters
The main leads are immature. The appeal of quirky characters finding the “one” is appealing but this novel made a caricature of that.
I didn’t like any of them. In fact most of the characters seemed similar; they were just an extension of the other characters. Plus with multiple characters and their point of view, you didn’t even get to know them really well.
So okay maybe their mannerisms are similar, happens. The physicality too? All the females look the same in the novel, as per description. Same goes for the guys. So many characters and all same.
Last Thoughts
There were some funny moments but they weren’t enough to float my boat. I regret reading this. It wasn’t horrible writing, in fact it was good in certain parts. However, the book really was a hodgepodge , a terrific mess. So many plots and unnecessary side stories. The only reason I completed is coz I hate leaving a book unfinished.
The thing is I was expecting a keep-your-brains-aside but fun to read experience and this didn’t even match that. If you like the best friend-romance thing, you’d be better off reading [b:Just One of the Guys|2884065|Just One of the Guys|Kristan Higgins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1396310436s/2884065.jpg|2910293] .
#bookreviews #novels #romance