I liked this book about Fran, who has been obsessed with Charles since school 20 years ago. The fact that he’s now married with two children doesn’t faze her. She leads a lonely life with her mother dead, and her sister travelling and only contactable by email. This really picked up towards the end and became quite gripping.

Great book, This is completely unpredictable and captured my attention very quickly.
I have devoured this book in just one sitting.
This is a book which I will be recommending highly.

Wonderful author I was drawn right into the story multi layered characters that come alive so so tense.Kept me up reading late into the night guessing ball the way.#netgalley#avonbooksuk.

This book started off slow for me but definitely picked up the pace towards the end. I liked the writing style but struggled with Fran’s character. At the beginning she seemed crazy and obsessed but towards the end she became a little more likeable. It was a quick read that held my attention with some curveballs I wasn’t expecting!

This was a good, twisty book that I couldn't put down. I stayed up until 1 in the morning to finish it because I needed to know what happened next. It was well plotted and well written.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. First, it wasn't all what I expected based on the summary. This isn't necessarily bad, but it is a very different book than the one teased. It started out super slow for me, and really remained that way until the last 25% or so. Even though there was a lot of different (and interesting!) things happening, it didn't feel like there was much of a plot. However, I thought the ending was great. I wish the rest of the book's pace was fast enough to compare to it.

I wanted to love this. I’ve been exclusively reading the genre. And I’ve yet to truly be let down.

This just didn’t quite make it for me.

It felt dragged out for the majority of the story.

The plot twist was easy to guess.

You and Me is a dark and twisty story. Although to me it starts out slow, it’s picks up speed in the last three or four chapters. It was interesting and I liked the surprise ending. Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the e-ARC of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Do you remember Rachel Watson, the protagonist from The Girl On The Train? How about Eleanor Oliphant (who, by the way, 'Is Completely Fine')? Now add a splash of Joe from Caroline Kepnes' book, You, and you have Fran, whose eyes we see through in Nicola Rayner's latest thriller, You and Me.

Fran is socially awkward. Fran is lovesick. Fran is an outsider.

Fran is scarred from her time at boarding school, as is her younger sister, who she hasn't spoken to in years. Her only happy memories from that time are of Charles, the most popular boy in school and the man Fran knows is the one for her. He may be married with children but she's just biding her time until he realises they are meant to be, then she'll be ready with open arms.

As Fran observes him discreetly one night, she witnesses a tragic accident, But what if the incident wasn't so accidental? As those involved in some way with Fran's school ordeals all those years ago begin to encroach into her life again, Fran finds herself trapped in a web of deceit and her own lies.

Fran doesn't know who to trust. Fran doesn't know she's in danger.

I loved the understated way in which Fran's character traits and history are gradually revealed to the reader. There is little fanfare with these insights and yet they have a huge impact on the reader's perspective of Fran. There were times when I disliked her and pitied her but there were times when I rooted for her too. Some readers may prefer their psychological thrillers with more of a high octane pace but this novel is ideal for those who like the more insidious drips of discomfort leading towards the final shocking truth.

I'm struggling to say a lot in this review because I want other readers to experience the twists, turns and shocks for themselves! I think this will be a love it or hate it novel but I am firmly in the love it camp. I'll be recommending it to all my friends and followers as one of my top five reads of the year.

You And Me By Nicola Rayner is a book to remember!
This book blew me away with its shocking storyline.
I couldn't tell you the last time I read a book this good!

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for this great read!

I am just finding my feet with thrillers and thank netgalley and the author for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.
Easy to follow and the writing style was good. I struggled with the slow pace at the start and was glad when the book sped up.

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!