You, with a View

This book is easily a new favorite of mine. I will say, the first couple of chapters start slow, but if you hang on, it soon becomes a magical adventure about family, love, grief, secrets, failure, and passion (the career kind). It has a little bit of everything. It all starts with a great premise: Going through the belongings of her grandmother who recently passed, Noelle finds photos of her grandmother with a guy who was clearly not her grandfather. Intrigued but unsure of where to start, she calls on social media to help her out and, lo and behold, the grandson of the mystery man contacts her! Excited to learn more about her grandmother, she rushes to meet them both…only to find out that the grandson is her nemesis from high school who is now uber successful while she moved back with her parents. What ensues from there is essentially “Letters from Juliet” but WAY better.

While it may start out as the perfect romance book of enemies to lovers (which more on that later ;P), this book goes in deep on the hard topics. It covers grief and how to deal with a loved one even after everyone else seems to have moved on. It deals with feeling like a failure when you used to be on top of the world. It deals with finding your passion in life and learning to be be brave enough to follow it. It deals with the importance of relationships to help you through the hard times as well as the good. This book was so touching, and I don’t think I’ll be able to forget it anytime soon.

While it is hard to pick the best part, I truly believe that the characters are the star of the show. Noelle is so relatable as the main character. She’s open but feisty. Paul is also such a sweetheart that you instantly love. I mean who doesn’t like the old man who was willing to go on a 2-week hiking trip just to bring Noelle some closure?? And then you have Theo, who knows just how to push Noelle’s buttons while also being endlessly charming. Its the perfect mix of characters.

The romance was also really well done. It wasn’t overshadowed by the story of Noelle learning more about her grandmother. Noelle and Theo had such good banter and chemistry that I was instantly rooting for them. They also were really mature in how they handled things. I won’t give any spoilers, but I never felt like I wanted to shove my head through a wall which is a huge plus.

I could talk about this book for ages, but it would all boil down to the same thing: This book is awesome. GO READ IT!! Seriously. You won’t regret it.

After two extremely bad novels, I needed a winner to overcome a severe reading slump - and this one served very well. Amusingly, the one genre I never used to read - romance - led me straight back to reading.Noelle, going on 30, has lost her beloved grandmother Kathleen, her job and her flat; the latter, adding insult to injury, leading to her moving back into her childhood bedroom at her parents'... At that point, still deeply grieving, Noelle finds out that Kathleen had a great love before her eventual husband. Her curiosity piqued and in continuation of an old secret-trading game Noelle and granny played, she finds Paul, her grandmother's old lover, and his grandson - her college “nemesis” Theo.Theo has become a hotshot entrepreneur, a Forbes' 30 Under 30 - you get the gist. There's something rotten in the state of Denmark, though... Together, our three protagonists go on a roadtrip to the core of their respective relationships.This is the basic story and, of course, Noelle and Theo fall for each other in a enemies/rivals-to-lovers situation. What made me basically plough through this novel over the course of two days was the sensitivity with which all three protagonists are portrayed: Scarce are the “cheap shots” and yet “You” exudes an atmosphere of kind, sensible and sensitive lightness without being without substance.The banter between Noelle and Theo is entertaining and funny and their more serious interactions feel heartfelt and honest. Throughout the entire novel, the story and its protagonists never leave the realm of plausibility.Both Theo and Noelle have serious issues in their lives but Noelle slowly opens up to Theo and their mutual trust grows while they get to know each other again. There's attraction early on but no “instant love” but personal growth in vibrantly and lively depicted environments.There's also no third-act breakup: Yes, there's a conflict but it arises completely naturally and believably. It's also dealt with by the author in a very sensible and sensitive manner - I could very much relate to Theo's unfortunate behaviour and in the 25th year of our marriage (haha, C.!) I'm very happy to have found a person who acted (and still sometimes has to act) just like Noelle does at a certain point.Paul is also a well-used asset and I really think the overarching backstory of his relationship with Kathleen really added to the mix. I really, really liked the epilogue as well. A brilliant and very fitting idea that I've actually never read before.Even among its countless siblings in the romance genre, “You” stands strong and tall.The missing fifth star is due to some choices of the author I don't fully approve of but which only marginally diminished my enthusiastic reading of a very nice, charming, and refreshing romance novel.Thus, very easy, very deserved four stars out of five.Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam