Between Us: The biggest rom com of 2023: smart, romantic and laugh-out-loud funny from the bestselling author of Last Night and Mad About You

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Our heroine, surrounded, supported by, and supportive of a group of close and quirky friends, dumps or is dumped by a guy that is clearly not worthy of her after their long-standing relationship goes to pot. The one thing that I love about her leading ladies is that once they understand that the relationship is over (usually because the guy is a real baddie) the guy stays dumped despite the fact that he will usually be desperate to get back with her, because she is so awesome. I wished Nate and Rosie's romance took up more of the book, and I prefer more intimate, slow-burn romances to instant love stories. Roisin has moved on and eventually starts to see one of The Brian Club in a new light, someone that has been at odds with Joe for years.

Even after they have broken up, we then go on to spend the last 20% of the book mostly on Roisin still playing detective and trying to catch him out, which did make her seem rather too obsessive. There's no on-page sex, but it's clear that there were nekkid activities that the characters enjoyed. I guess that this does chime with the repeated refrain 'slow but then fast at the end' which pretty much sums up this book!

I really liked Roisin right from the start, though I'm glad I looked up the pronunciation of her name early so all the nicknames made sense. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.

I saw the romance coming from way earlier than is natural, but only because I know the author's work fairly well by this point. McFarlane does have a formula or methodology she tends to follow: highly attractive female characters who have been deeply wronged and wounded by those they loved and trusted.And Matt, well it was lovely to just have my heart warmed any time that he was with Roisin, as you could tell that, despite how Joe was trying to depict him, he was genuinely a nice guy. The group includes Roisin and Joe who met through the group but after ten years, find their relationship is on the rocks. it’s mostly a character journey, and takes an introspective look into the truly disorienting thoughts that can creep it’s way into your brain when you’re trapped in dysfunctional relationships. I’ve read many a book that claims to be laugh out loud funny and romantic when actually, it fails on both of those fundamentals.