I’m a massive fan of thrillers and read on average 3 a week.

My favourite are the ones I can’t put down and stay up into the early hours to finish and also the ones where I can’t work out the ending.

This book was extremely hard to get into, I did skim through the first half of it as I was getting bored, at the same time I really wanted to know the ending.

It didn’t help that the main protagonist was so unlikeable.

The last part of the book was excellent and i had worked it out but probably because of the amount of thrillers I’ve read.

It was a good book but needed to be faster paced and more gripping from the start.

A massive thank you to netgalley for allowing me to review this book.

Although "You and Me" is rather slow and steady at the beginning, it changes at breakneck speed halfway through into a tense and perfectly planned thriller.

I loved how Rayner drew this story out - and how she played perfectly with the idea of an unreliable/problematic narrator.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this great book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon books for the advanced copy of Nicola Rayner's "You and Me".

So I had previously read "The Girl Before You" by this author, and hadn't got on to well with that, but having read the sypnosis to "You and Me" I thought I'd try another of this authors books.

The storyline follows what I can only describe as a weird 38year old women who works in a bookshop named 'Fran'.
Fran is stuck in the past with no family, no friends or no type of life, with a dead "mother" that she refers to as 'mother' at every given chance. I get that her mum (before she died) and sister we're her life, but for me- it just made for odd reading. I'm 30 and I know we're all different but I just found the character strange, boring and not someone I have anything in common with. It did make for hard reading on this occasion, and I just couldn't connect with the character in any way.

The storyline itself, relies on Fran being obsessed with the past and follows her, her sister Ellie and 'Mother' through her teenage years at Chesterfield. A boarding school her 'mother' worked at in exchange for free schooling of her two daughters. This is combined with the present and the same obsessions she has now, along with her loneliness, and fallout with her estranged sister Ellie, and the death of one of their old school 'mates'.

I found at times, the same stories were being hashed over, and the story was being dragged out. There's alot of pointless content in this book, that in my view that could of been stripped away in order to make it less of a slow read.

My rating goes out to the final few chapters in the book, when the storyline actually takes shape but having already kind of guessed the big plot twist come these final chapters- I did actually enjoy it- Everything sort of speeds up at last and then ends abruptly. None the less, this was the best part of the book and without the ending I'd of probably only given the book a 1 star.

2, 1/2 stars from me. Probably wouldn't try this author again.

Fran is a lonely spinster. As a book store employee, she spends her days reading, assisting customers, engaging in a small number of odd relationships, and watching people. Fran is obsessed with her past school days at her boarding school, in which things went terribly wrong for her closest confidante and beloved sister, Ellie. She has most disappointedly recently become estranged from her sister. As her lonely life continues, she spends more time in the past, until someone from that past ends up dead. Was it truly an accident or was it murder? As Fran searches for clues, the answers she finds are not what she expects nor hoped for.

This is the best mystery/thriller I"ve read all year! I loved it and truly could not put it down. Nicola Rayner is a great storyteller and has a fantastic way of advancing the story. Rayner keeps the reader guessing until the very end!

Thanks to NetGalley, Nicola Rayner, and the publisher for my advanced copy.

Fran lives a lonely life, estranged from her only sister and grieving the loss of her mother, alone in her childhood home. She is passionate about books, enjoys her job as a bookseller, and spends time alternately immersed in novels or caught up thinking about her past. As a student at an elite boarding school, she was an outsider, ostracized, bullied, but also met golden boy Charles, one of the only people to be kind to her, and who she still loves from afar. When she witnesses the shocking death of a former classmate, Fran is forced to face the past and begins to sense a dark deceit. The novel builds suspense incrementally, with Fran as an unreliable and sometimes unsympathetic, but compelling, heroine. Nothing is quite as it seems and the plot is twisty and unexpected throughout. A gripping read for fans of The Woman in the Window.

I did not enjoy the writing style of this book. It felt very slow. I was very bored and just didn't care what was happening.

Started off very slow and took awhile to pick up for me. I felt bad for main character Fran but I couldn’t connect with her otherwise. There were some great twists at the end but I had to slog through 80% of the book before being rewarded with any crazy parts. The writing style was also a little hard to follow for me. Overall, the book was just okay.

I really enjoyed this book!! It kept me guessing until the very end and it went several unexpected directions. It’s the perfect beach/airplane read!

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The main is character Fran. She’s a little odd and at times unlikeable (which I find so refreshing for a protagonist). She’s in her mid 30’s, works at a bookshop, and doesn’t have much of a life apart from her unhealthy obsession with a friend from boarding school. She is estranged from her only sister, her parents have both died, and she doesn’t really have friends. Then she witnesses an accident or (maybe a crime) involving a man that tortured her and her sister while at school. Fran feels she can’t go to the police because she was stalking her crush at the time. The mystery deepens as the group of former classmates come back together to grieve the man who died and process what exactly happened.

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This book seem muddled and all over the place to me. I did not like the protagonist, and found the story line unbelievable.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

Other reviews compared this to The Girl on the Train. This is another book from the obsessive woman’s perspective. However I loved the author’s writing style and the story got me from the beginning. I really enjoyed this book and sped through it. Will definitely read Nicola Rayner’s other book as well!

Good plot, believable characters to whom I could sympathise with (or not in some cases!). Fast paced with twists and turns. Hard to put down, I would recommend to anyone. Thank you.

Story moved slowly in the beginning but ends strong. The main character Fran is difficult to like and she makes some questionable choices throughout the story. The writing style is intriguing so I was still invested in the plot despite feeling a lack of connection. Copy received from Netgalley.

#YouAndMe #NetGalley
Nicola has changed the definition of bullying. An epic psychological thriller.
Meet Freaky Fran who's living with Barnwell, her cat. She has a crush on her class friend Charles who once saved her from the teacher when she didn't have her book and notes. She's the owner of a bookshop where she can help others to select appropriate book according to their need.
Once she had a family, her mom and her sister, Ellie but she's cut off from her sister after their mother died.
The story starts with Fran's narration in which she's saying that she was there on the night Dickie Graham died. Dickie was also her classmate.
Dickie once looked behind and then he stumbled in front of the train.
Now the question is that was it suicide or murder?
If it was a murder then who did it?
Characters of the story were creepy but Fran's character was really pathetic sometimes in the story. I also loved Juliet Bentley's character. She and Fran are opposite.
The story is told from the single POV of Fran.
Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for giving me an advance copy of this awesome psychological thriller.

I felt like a good portion of this book just kept plodding along, and then the ending flew by and was resolved very quickly with everything neatly wrapped up.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

You and Me is a great holiday read: it is fast paced but reveals the clues slowly and it has an unexpected ending. It was very easy to read and I finished it in less than 24 hours.

The one thing that I struggled with was the narrator - Fran. I think the aim was for her to be awkward but ultimately likable, but I found it difficult to warm to her throughout the story. However, part of the pull of this story is that you can never work out which characters you can trust - and that even extends to Fran herself.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books and Nicola Rayner for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I felt this book took a long time to go anywhere.
I was ok with that. I was enjoying the writing style... easy to read.
Then it took on a break neck speed towards the end,throwing things left right and centre that I almost found myself nodding along to ,agreeing that of course,that's what happened.
Fun times.

This psychological thriller is wonderfully written. An intense and twisty suspense until the last line, You and me is also a touching story about two sisters. They love each other and count on each other. Ellie the younger of the two is attractive and popular while the bookish and studious Francesca is awkward and ostracized. She bears the awful nickname of "Freaky Fran" at school where bullying is the law. The girls and boys they encounter at this school will play a crucial part in their adult life and not for the better. Fran becomes addicted to Charles, the only young man who has been kind to her while Ellie is dreadfully abused in a pool by Dickie and Tom who supposedly were her friends. Years later, Fran lives a sad lonely life since the pregnant Ellie left her after a fight. Fran knows Ellie had a little girl but they rarely communicate and as far as she can tell Ellie is traveling the world with her baby Rose. While Fran is stalking her adored Charles, she witnesses Dickie's plunge to death in a tube station. She thinks someone pushed him. Little does she realize that this is the beginning of a painful road towards the dark reality of life and evil minds. This book is a winner.

This book got me hooked right from the beginning till the end, and I must say I think I have found myself a new favourite author! The writing really engaged me and I love the complexity of the characters building. There were some plot twists that you kinda saw them coming but still, the engagement was real. This is a book that I would strongly recommended.

Fran sits on the bench, near the lake and watches his house, she is a sad and lonely figure who would do anything for the opportunity to spend time with him again, gaze into his gorgeous eyes and hear his voice. They haven't spoken for a long time but she knows deep within her heart that it is only a matter of time before her dreams will come true. One day Charles Fry will realise that they are meant to be together. Fran and Charles, Charles and Fran, together forever.

Then a tragic incident alters the course of Fran's solitary existence and she suddenly finds herself mixing with people that she hasn't seen or spoken to for years including Charles. But not everyone is who they appear to be secrets, lies and past deeds bubble away beneath the surface and Fran finds herself caught up in a deadly game that results in the ultimate betrayal.

This captivating thriller that has a story which slips back and forth in time between the present and the past is voiced entirely from the Fran's perspective. In her younger years she had been nicknamed Freaky Fran by her peers at Chesterfield Boarding School, a nickname that although it wasn't very nice and a bit cruel. was also a rather apt description of her. Fran was a complex character who caused me to experience a mixed bag of conflicting emotions as the story unfolded. She certainly had a number of issues but despite this she did have some redeemable qualities and it was impossible not to feel sympathy for her at times. It was whilst she was attending the boarding school that she met Charles and her obsession with him began. It was also at the boarding school were something horrific happened to Fran's sister Ellie, the events leading up to this incident are gradually revealed as the story unfolded. In the present day, Ellie has been missing for nearly three years, the last time Fran saw her, they had a massive argument and Ellie stormed out of their flat. Apart from the occasional comment on social media and posting pictures of her young daughter Rose, no one has seen her since, not even Fran. I did have a theory about what had happened to Ellie based on a aspect of Fran's behaviour but was I right, well you will just have to read this brilliant book yourself and find out?

You And Me is a well written, mesmerising and at times chilling tale of secrets, deception, manipulation, obsession, friendships and relationships that had me glued to my kindle and frantically turning the pages. I wanted to know what had happened to Ellie in both the present day and the past. The story was intriguing and kept the reader guessing, there was some unexpected twists and turns and the characters were well rounded and believable. I really enjoyed this gripping thriller and look forward to reading more of this author's books in the future.

This story about a dangerous obsession that a woman has over her married neighbor will resonate with fans of the book and series You. A creepy and wild ride that demonstrates you don’t have to be looking for trouble to find it