Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book. After reading the summary and some of the early reviews, I looked forward to reading it this month with the rest of the thrillers, but found myself having difficulty staying connected to the characters and the plot. Potentially considered a slow burn, I needed something exciting to keep me interested in the book enough to make it through to the end.

Thank you for allowing me to give my honest opinion.

You And Me is a disturbing thriller that was a book of two halves for me, the first being very slow going and the second being fast and exciting.
This book had me almost giving in at a quarter of the way in but boy am I glad I didn't. Fran is a loner, she only has a very small group of friends, her sister, Ellie was her life but is now estranged from her and unfortunately has no contact with her niece because of this. Ever since she's been stalking her school crush, Charles, until she witnesses something terrible that will start to change her life.
I would have preferred this book to have kept the same pace throughout as the ending was a good one and I very nearly missed out on it!!! This is the second book I've read by Nicola Rayner and although slow to start it was a good thriller so hopefully there will be more to come.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Fran Knight is now in her 30’s and works in a bookstore. This is a perfect job for her as she loves nothing more than reading. She lost her mother not long ago and she grieves her yet. Her younger sister, Ellie and young daughter, Rose, move from place to place and Fran never really knows where they are. She misses them so much but a disagreement has kept them apart.

Fran and Ellie attended a co-ed boarding school where their mother worked as matron. An intelligent but plain and shy girl, Fran was bullied a lot. Ellie, on the other hand, was an excellent swimmer, beautiful, and took no crap off other students.

Dickie Graham, the school show-off and trouble maker, had a crush on Ellie but she was off-hand with him. Fran fell in love with Charles early on and loves him to this day. He is her everything and all she lives for.

Dickie recently died when he fell or jumped in front of an oncoming train. He and Charles had been out drinking together when he fell. It just so happens that Fran had been out that night too and through the masses of people waiting for the train, saw Dickie fall. If he jumped, why?

Dickie’s widow, Caroline, has a baby daughter named Daisy. Many friends have come together to comfort her in her grief. Charles has been devastated by Dickie’s death. Caroline befriends Fran and they get together now and then for coffee. But something doesn’t seem right and Fran isn’t sure what’s going on. But the bullies remain and it seems that they will never change.

Fran wants so much to talk to Ellie but can never get her to agree to come home. Where is she and why won’t she come home?

The book seems to drag for so long readers are promised an explosive ending so I stuck with it. I’m so glad I did. Whew! Good book. Don’t miss it.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books for my ARC. Wow! This book had me engaged from the start. There are shocks from beginning to end. Fran is a strange and awkward loner. Her unhealthy obsession of Charles, a friend from school, dominates every aspect of her life. Lurking in the shadows, waiting for a glimpse of her self proclaimed soulmate leads her to witness a tragedy that will force her to come face to face with her greatest fear. Suspense, dread and a total sense of unease, drives this tale of deception and denial. Definitely recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Our narrator for this creepy little story is Fran, a bit strange and VERY obsessed with Charles, a school crush. Sadly, Charles is now with Fiona. The book begins with Fran witnessing a death on a subway platform of a former schoolmate, who is there with Charles. We understand that Fran is a somewhat unreliable narrator as we read on. The story starts out slow, but picks up nicely. Add to the story the fact that Fran is also missing her sister, Ellie, who is off with her young daughter traveling the world. It’s a pretty well-done story of obsession and mystery, and I was caught off guard by the twist at the end. A fun read! Thank you to #NewGalley for this arc of You and Me.

This book was not at all what I anticipated going into it. With saying that, I’m sure I would of loved either story. I found this book so long and drawn out. So much happened, but nothing really happened. It was like adding too many plot points into the story that didn’t matter much.

This book had me so intrigued. Fran was such an interesting character. She was an unreliable character but that didn't make me dislike her. The way this story went surprised me. I did not expect it to happen the way it did but it kept me on the edge of my seat. I read this book in one sitting because it held my interest so intensely.

Highly recommended.

Wow! This tale of obsession seems like it is going to be predictable, but it was anything but predictable! The fact that the narrator, Fran, was not only unreliable and likable made it easy to like her and get frustrated with her. That is the perfect character, as I love when my feelings about the main character in a book change as I get to know them.

Waiting at a railway station Fran sees 2 old friends from school. Her obsession Charles and Dickie her nemeses. Dickie will fall to his death but Fran believes it’s not an accident. Our main character of Fran is not easy to like with her stalker like character and it’s not easy to get into her head. There’re some real dark secrets to be brought to light but it takes a good part of the book to get going to a thrilling ending. I would say keep with it as there’s a lot of flash back’s to school days and the cruelty that can effect future lives.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You and Me – A great story

Fran is a lonely spinster, stuck in what was the family home in London block of flats, her mother is dead, and her sister left a couple of years ago. She works in a bookshop, which gives her a reason to leave the house, and sometimes like to sit by a pond near the home of an old school friend.

Fran is clearly obsessed by her days at boarding school, even though she was known as freaky Fran there. She is also obsessed by her sister and the niece, whom she has never met. She relives those times at school and the reasons behind her loneliness and the split with her sister.

Her lonely life comes to a shuddering halt when she sees two people of school, one of whom happens to die that night. Fran is sure that he was killed, or did he jump in front of the Underground Train? In the aftermath of the death, Fran’s social life seems to take off and she feels out of her depth but happy to be making some reconnections. She cannot understand why her sister is not in contact too often.

All becomes clear as the book continues and when the truth is revealed, will she finally be able to contact her sister? Will she still have her new friends?

At first, You and Me, starts slowly and gathers pace slowly, but when it does you get an exciting and interesting read. The author has an excellent writing style, which is engaging and makes the reader want to read more. A great plot and story, well written.

You and Me is a gripping psychological thriller by Nicola Rayner (author of 2019's popular The Girl Before You), exploring themes of obsession, guilt, family relationships and the far-reaching effects of past trauma.
Francesca Knight, approaching 40, lives alone and works in a bookshop, spending her free time obsessing over and surreptitiously stalking the man she'd had a crush on at school and has never forgotten. Since her mother's death, she has become estranged from her younger, more beautiful and outgoing, sister Ellie and lives a lonely life in the family flat on an estate.
One night, while trailing Charles in central London, she witnesses the shocking death of Charles's old friend Dickie Graham, who bullied Fran mercilessly at school and was guilty of some as-yet unnamed crime against Ellie. From a crowded underground platform, Dickie falls in front of an approaching train - or could he have been pushed? Fran is sure that Dickie recognised someone in the crowd in the seconds before his death, but she can't admit to anyone that she was there, as her pursuit of Charles would be revealed.
For Fran, Dickie's death has a silver lining - it legitimises her getting back in touch with Charles, who is now married with twin children. She also develops a friendship with Dickie's widow, Caroline, who recalls her husband as a troubled man, far more sensitive than Fran would ever have given him credit for. Who could have wanted Dickie dead? Fran and Caroline set out to uncover the truth, while Fran becomes increasingly frustrated in her efforts to heal her relationship with Ellie, who is only contactable sporadically via social media.
You and Me employs the trope, perhaps over-used of late, of a psychologically fragile middle-aged single woman as an unreliable narrator. Fran is a pretty delusional and pitiable figure, clinging onto misinterpreted tidbits of body language as signs of Charles's hidden love for her. She's never managed to shrug off the emotional dependence of her dysfunctional and unhappy time at the exclusive Chesterfield school, where she percieved Charles as her saviour from constant ignominy. As the author notes in her acknowledgments, "...I've thought a lot about the delusions and disappointments of obsessive romantic love - how we can get it so wrong and how much more the infatuation tends to say about the subject than the object of affection."
The plot is a slow burn, as the events of the past, or at least Fran's perception of them, are gradually revealed, Fran encounters her past classmates and the fog around current events rises. The dramatic ending is fitting but shocking.
This is a well-written and compulsively readable thriller, which I would recommend highly to other readers.
My thanks to the author, the publisher Avon Books UK and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication.

3l5 stars rounded up to 4

Fran is obsessed with Charles. She's had a crush on him since they were at school. Wj3n she was following Charles home one night, she witnessed an accident, the death of a former schoolboy from their era. Fran is also estranged from her sister and niece.

The story starts off slow but it soon picks up. There were some unexpected twists. Fran is qjite a creepy character who is not v.ery likeable. She had been a bit of a loner at school. The mystery between Fran and her sister goes deeper throughout the book. There is some thrilling and suspenseful moments in the book and the ending I didn't see coming.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #AvonBooksUK and the author #NicolaRayner for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You and Me is a creepy little story which takes the meaning of stalking to a whole new level. Fran has been obsessed with Charles Fry since they were at school. Now in her mid-thirties, Fran is reluctant to live her lonely life without some sort of contact with Charles as she really believes that they were meant to be together. However, Charles is married, with a beautiful wife, and twin daughters, and by comparison, Fran is frumpy, old before her time, and doesn't compare favourably.

What then follows is a well put together study in toxic relationships as not only does the book focus on Fran's obsession with Charles but it also features a mystery concerning the whereabouts of Ellie, Fran's younger sister, and her niece, Rose, who she can only contact sporadically, via Facebook.

The story is quite dark in places and opens up several terrible secrets from Fran's past all of which come to light when she witnesses something catastrophic on the London Underground. This dreadful situation acts as a catalyst for how the rest of the story eventually plays out. The characterisation throughout is excellent and even though you know Fran's obsession borders on the dangerous, she is never vindictive or cruel, in fact she's rather a sad and lost figure, I really came to like her and could understand why she acted in the way that she did. However,throughout the story there's definitely a creeping sort of menace which the author uses to great advantage and which fills you with a sense of dread as the story progresses.

It's not often I don't figure out what's going on well before the final denouement but in You and Me I really didn't what was coming and that is what makes this story such a compulsive and addictive sort of read and it's why I'm delighted to have it as my Featured Book of the Month

3.75 ⭐️’s

Holy crazy people! From the start it’s apparent our main character leans on the stalker side of personalities. Oy vey. Hide yo husbands, y’all!! Not really. Just one husband.

Fran has been obsessed with Charles since school age. One night when she’s following him, she witnesses another one of their classmates (who was pretty evil), fall to his death in front of a train after a night out drinking with Charles.

That leads to Fran questioning Dickie’s death and if it really was an accident. She questions former classmates, Dickie’s wife, and even her own sister, whom she hasn’t seen since she left town after having her baby a few years prior.

This book kept my interest overall, but there were a few places I found myself getting a little bored. Some of the twists were predictable, but there was one detail that I missed, so that one got me!

Overall, it was a good start to October for me.

Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for the copy for my honest review ❤️

I was in a bit of dilemma midweek. I'd finished a great book and was looking for something new to start that would draw me in quickly. I was suffering from what's known as a book hangover and was finding it hard to engage with something new. I picked up several books and began reading, but nothing grabbed me. That was until I read the opening chapters of the latest book by Nicola Rayner, You and Me.

Now here was something I could get behind. Those first two chapters suddenly became half the book, and within 48 hours, I'd finished it. This was a real page-turner. It was totally compelling yet an uncomfortable read at times.

We find out right from the off that Fran, the main character, is stalking someone. It turns out to be Charles, an old school friend who Fran has been obsessing over for years. Hmmm, that's a little uncomfortable, yet during the unravelling of this tale, it's hard not to have sympathy for Fran once we find out what she's endured.

I won't spoil the plot as this one twists and turns like a twisty turny thing, and Rayner continually plays with the reader and makes us question who are the good guys and who are the villains. And just when you think you can trust someone, well, I'll let you read it and figure that out for yourself.

I do like reading crime books. Often hidden amongst the thrill of it all, are some strong societal messages, and this one had me feeling all sorts of emotions from Rayner's plot that involve bullying, abuse, childlessness, obsession, closed circles, power and in particular entitlement and how that plays out and impacts on the lives of others. The discomfort of not fitting in and being on the outside is also very well done.

This one is on the shelves of your local bookshop now, or wherever else you may buy books as it was published on the 1st October. But beware if you buy it, you can forget any household obligations you had down to sort because once you start this one, you definitely won't want to stop.

Thanks to Nicola Rayner, Avon UK Books and NetGalley for sharing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first novel by the author and found it interesting as the description and cover caught my attention.

It started at a moderate pace and I was confused as of what I was reading but powering through; it picks up and some puzzle pieces are finding their place in the big picture.

I was interested to see what truly transpired, what precisely Fran sees in the tube scene, if it was unquestionably that or, as we know, sometimes in shock cases, our mind is playing up and will show only what we want to see, like a safety blanket.

I couldn’t get close to any character, more so I just didn’t admire Fran, not even felt sorry for her, it was just something that I couldn’t get out of her, always lonely and strange behaviour, always so… strange plus the stalking obsession is not for me at all.

As a thriller, the story is compelling and an excellent one with many twists and turns that many people will appreciate, but wistfully I wasn’t sold on it.

A bit slow of pacing which also became erratic towards the middle and end - it wasn't very consistently put together which I don't normally like. I like cohesiveness of a story and not having to be bored to death in the beginning. Interesting to read about an obsessive woman rather than the other way around. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Actual rating 4.5 stars

You and Me by Nicola Rayner is a tale of obsessive love told in the voice of Fran. It’s a sad, twisted tale of not belonging, of never finding your place in this world, a tale beginning during the school years, one that involves numerous other pupils and carries on into the present day.

The target of Fran’s obsessive love is Charles Fry, now married to Fiona, father to two children, living in the Cotswolds at their family home Honeybourne. Fran first meets Charles at Chesterfield, a boarding school where her mother holds the position of matron and where sister Ellie also becomes a pupil. Her infatuation stems from his kindness in the face of unpleasant behaviour towards her from other pupils and so Fran continues to stalk Charles (and his family) in his adult life. On one of these stalking occasions Fran witnesses a terrible accident. Another former pupil of Chesterfield, Dickie Graham, a good friend of Charles, falls beneath the wheels of a tube train. The platform is crowded, Dickie apparently inebriated but in the split second before tragedy strikes, appears to recognise a face in the crowd. Who is this person and why does Fran choose to keep secret the fact she has witnessed his demise? Is it because the face he recognises is hers or is it because as a former target of his constant bullying she is happy that he’s met an untimely end? The doubt is quickly sown by Fran herself as to whether Dickie’s fall is an accident or intentional with someone pushing him. This is an intriguing opening and one that draws you into the strange world that Fran inhabits.

Bless Fran I couldn’t help but feel she’s earned her moniker of Freaky Fran, with her obsession with Charles Fry wildly out of control, years after they have parted ways. Living a reclusive life now her mother is dead and her sister Ellie abroad and mostly incommunicado I can understand why she latches on to the smallest of kindnesses, given her past experiences. Her pleasure at finding a friend in Caroline, Dickie’s wife, is tangible having spent a lifetime of feeling like a misfit, friendless apart from Meilin, a friendship which is carried over from her schooldays at Chesterfield. That she believes she has finally arrived in the real world, with a normal life beckoning is quite heartbreaking but there’s no getting away from the fact Fran is most definitely an oddball and quite a creepy character. From very early on I was trying to decide whether Fran is a reliable narrator given her strange stalking behaviour and the fact the reader only has her perspective on all that is happening now and in the past. Part of me felt extremely saddened by the kind of live she has lead, working in a bookshop, practically friendless and childless with one failed half hearted attempt at a romantic relationship. Fran not only appears obsessed with Charles, quite literally the only person at Chesterfield to show her any warmth or kindness, but the way she talks of her sister Ellie and young niece Rose borders on obsessive too. It’s like she’s living vicariously through other people’s lives, particularly in terms of her burgeoning friendship with Caroline and daughter Daisy. I couldn’t help but feel they are subconscious replacements for Fran’s absent sister and niece. If you didn’t know otherwise you’d be forgiven for thinking that maybe Ellie and Rose are actually figments of Fran’s imagination given her often abnormal delusional behaviour which at times is extremely shocking. Part of me wanted to laugh at how ludicrous she is, wanted to shake some sense into her yet another part of me felt wary and distrustful, unsure of what she could be capable of. Whilst I wanted to believe her interpretation of events at the boarding school and the subsequent years, I couldn’t trust her, convinced she’s not of sound mind. Obviously the way Fran relates details of the death of her nemesis Dickie Graham,hiding the truth of that night from Caroline, it’s impossible not to wonder about her involvement in this tragedy. Mostly I was mesmerised by Fran and the way in which she is consumed by her obsession with Charles. I found her to be an absolutely fascinating character.

Through Fran I could well imagine the atmosphere of life in a boarding school and the type of personalities shaped by this kind of institutional living. Living in an environment where a sense of entitlement, privilege, sporting prowess and high achievement prevails, bullying and extreme forms of prank playing shape Fran and Ellie’s experiences, which perhaps may be to blame for Fran’s descent into her own lonely fantastical world. Bullying is bullying regardless of where it takes place and I defy anyone not to feel hatred towards the likes of Dickie Graham and Juliet and Tom. Whether Fran or her sister Ellie have allowed that hatred to fester to a point where they may decide to exact revenge is up to the reader to contemplate. I loved the dark nature of the narrative, the intensity of which increases with every chapter read, pulling you deeper into the recesses of Fran’s mind. I wanted to know what had occurred at Chesterfield to prompt Ellie to stop swimming,why the sisters have such a bizarre adult relationship, why Ellie is roaming abroad and why Fran still believes she has a future with Charles.

You and Me has a depth to it that took me by surprise taking it above your average psychological thriller read. With a market saturated with this genre I think it’s hard for a storyline to really stand out but this one definitely does. I liked that there were two mysteries to solve, although I think it’s fairly obvious that the key to solving the mystery surrounding Dickie Graham’s unfortunate demise lies with Ellie. If you can understand why Fran’s sister takes on a ghost like appearance throughout the narrative, and why her fleeting presence is only alluded to, a presence that is never within solid grasp then you will have the answers you need. Except the author does a fantastic job of keeping the reader on tenterhooks, delaying that moment of enlightenment, holding your interest from beginning to end. I loved the premise for this thriller and Fran as a character so although this is the first book I’ve read written by this author it won’t be the last. I would highly recommend and my thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

I'm always up for a stalker read... I'm not sure why. I hate stalkers or even clingy people but maybe that's what I love. They are the most terrifying characters in a book because you know they're unhinged. They are not capable of making good judgments so you're already on edge.

That's why it was a little disappointing when I almost put this book down. Fran is a sad character. Everything about her life is sad. The mother who she refers to constantly that is dead. The sister and memories of their closer times. The hard part was the slow pace that built up this character's backstory. The mysterious sister was supposed to draw me in but I wanted to get to the rest of the plot.

Luckily the ending was fantastic and really the second half of the book redeemed it so I went middle of the road on this one. A good thriller with some intriguing stalkery but not great overall that I would reread.

A story of obsessive love and how it blinds one to so much else around them.

Fran is a mid thirties, introvert who is closest to her now estranged sister Ellie. She watches a bully from her School days fall to his death in front of a train. She uses this as an opportunity to get closer to her school crush Charles. As more people from her school days come in contact, Fran realises that all is not what it seems.
The story started out slow for me and I almost didnt intend to finish it. But it picked up pace after a few chapters and is a delightful read from then on.
The twist is amazing, not what I thought it would be. Looking for more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books for the ARC