Once again Mike Gayle has written the most perfect book! I 100% didn’t see what was coming, it was heartbreaking but beautiful!

It follows the story of two people who split up when they were 18 and then find themselves in each others lives 20 years later. Can they live happily ever after?

Five star, amazing read. Thanks so much for the privilege!

Another beautiful, poignant, down to earth, and heartfelt read from this wonderful author.

Helen is already reeling from her love rat husband having just set off on their family holiday with their two children and his new and much younger girlfriend, when Helen's first love appears on her doorstep.

They split up when they were still teenagers and haven't seen each other in years, not since Ben left to pursue his music career in London and subsequently moved to LA. But now Ben wants to leave the lifestyle behind and has come to say goodbye to Helen one last time.

Ben reminds Helen of the person she used to be, before she lost herself to being a wife and mum. Even though they aren't together any more, and haven't seen each other in so long, they still care deeply about each other as friends and Helen assures Ben he can stay until the attention dies down.

Unfortunately, his manager is not willing to let him go so easily, and Ben becomes the subject of a media frenzy, desperate to find out any information they can about his whereabouts. It soon becomes clear that the media interest is not going to die down any time soon.

📚BOOK REVIEW 📚

A Song of Me & You - Mike Gayle

I have been a big fan of Mike Gayle's work for some time. I've especially enjoyed his earlier work so intrigued by this title I was excited to dive right in.

Ben is a world famous popstar who has ran away from his life. He finds himself at Helen's door, his ex from a long time ago. Helen is currently going through a messy divorce but willing to help her friend in need she helps to hide him from the press.

This book has rave reviews but for me it was just an average read and at times I felt there wasn't a lot really happening. I also felt like this book would be more juicy considering there was a famous popstar involved but I didn't feel the story there was really a story. There was a bit of twist that came up but by then I found I just wanted it to finish. I feel awful saying that, but this just didn't quite work for me.

However, having enjoyed a lot of the authors other work I wouldn't be out of to the other books.

Also please see these gorgeous sleeves from @tea.and.fairytales.shop I love them to protect my kindle 😍

#familydrama #thesongofmeandyou #kindlereader #kindlereads #popstar #readingalwaysreading
#readingaddict #jamieslibrary #jamieskindlereads #jamiesreading #lovetoread #review #bookreviewer

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book, along with The Museum of Ordinary People, a favourite of mine
This is a perfect Mike Gayle novel. Mike Gayle really knows how to write an emotive read
Helen was a great character, one I really resonated with and wanted the best for.
This is a hard review to write without giving too many spoilers away
However this is the definition of perfect escapism and highly recommended for any Mike Gayle fans
This is a book I will revisit 🐦‍⬛🧡

Mike Gayle is a go-to author for me. It’s a guaranteed read that will make me feel something, either full of joy at the characters coming together in a community or tearing up at a relationship I didn’t expect.

Today I’m sharing a quick review of his new title, A song of me and you published last week. This book also marks 25 years of Mike Gayle books so you’ve got a great back catalogue to work through if you’ve not read of his books yet..

A song of me and you is set in England and follows the friendship of a mum-of-two teacher and the lead singer of a well known band. After years apart the two come together again, rekindling their friendship, picking up where they left off 20 years prior. Will they get a second chance at love, or will the different directions their lives have taken get in the way.. It’s got the joy, sadness and wholesome characters that I love with all of Gayle’s books.

If you want more reviews before diving in, search #asongofmeaneyou for posts from other people on the book tour!

Another great book by Mike Gayle, I don’t know how he keeps doing it! Such a beautiful story.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Helen has split from her husband after discovering his cliched affair with a younger woman. She is bitter, low, and lonely. Her sense of loss is heightened as their two children prepare to go on holiday with their Father, leaving Helen alone.

When there's a knock at the door not long after their departure, Helen is expecting the kids to have forgotten something, or one of her friends (not so subtle in) checking up on her. She gets the shock of her life when she opens the door to find Ben standing there.

He looks tired, a little rough. Probably not much different to Helen herself. But he is a world famous musician, and Helen is an Manchester Mum. Their worlds now couldn't be more different.

Helen and Ben were teenage sweethearts, but they parted ways when Helen went to University. They lost touch and haven't seen each other in years. Helen went on to become a teacher, marry Adam and have two children. Ben went on a to be a global superstar with his band Bluelight.

As much as she is delighted to see him, she can't help but wonder what he is doing in the UK, when he has a permanent home in L.A. Ben says he just wants to get away for a bit, to have a little bit of 'normality', and what better way to do so than look up an old friend.

Helen is skeptical, but very pleased. Ben has come along at just the right time. But neither of them are prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions that will follow as they begin their journey getting to know one another again...

Helen I think is a character that we can all relate to in some way or another. Those moments of self doubt that we have when someone from the opposite sex shows an interest in us, particularly when we are very interested in them.

A Song of Me and You is a beautifully told tale of friendship, love, loss and everything inbetween.

I love Mike Gayle's writing so was keen to read this one and I'm so pleased to say that I adored it. This novel follows Ben and Helen, who were together as teenagers but life took them in different directions. Helen married and had two children but now the marriage is over. Ben became a world famous pop star but he doesn't want that anymore. One day he turns up one Helen's doorstep and the novel goes from there. I loved both of these characters and Helen's children. It was such a lovely, relaxing read and I was keen to see where it was going to take me. I was shocked by some of the turns this book takes but I was so invested and I loved seeing where it ended up. This is a beautiful read and I highly recommend it!

4.5★s
A Song Of Me And You is the nineteenth novel by British journalist and best-selling author, Mike Gayle. At forty-five, Helen Morley sees herself as “A washed-up, middle-aged, part-time primary school teacher, with a broken marriage and her best years behind her.” So when she opens her front door to Ben Baptiste, eight-times Emmy Award winner and lead singer of the award-winning band Bluelight, she’s stunned. Yes, he was once the love of her life, but why would he come looking for her, almost thirty years later?

Turns out Ben is feeling burnt out by the constant cycle of writing, recording, touring and promo, and he’s on the run from his demanding manager, the influential Rocco Roberts, so like any good friend would, Helen invites him to stay under the radar in her ordinary Didsbury house. After all, her teenaged son and daughter are on a week’s vacation with their father (and his new girlfriend), so his presence in Manchester can be kept secret.

Except that her not-quite-ex-husband, Adam delivers Esme and Frankie back to their mother after an unpleasant altercation with his new squeeze. Rocco has leaked his absence to the press, and implied that Ben is mentally fragile: everyone is searching for him. But Esme and Frankie swear to keep mum, and it all works OK for a while.

But then Adam decides to play dirty about the family home; Ben feels the need to connect with his estranged younger brother; Ben and Helen realise their feelings for each other never really waned; and eventually, someone tips off the press, and the whole thing becomes a threat, not just to Ben’s escape, but to Helen’s family’s privacy.

Gayle gives the reader humanly flawed characters with depth and appeal, a plot that takes some surprising turns, and plenty of wise words and insightful observations. A sweet, funny and heart-warming romance.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.

I have read many of Mike Gayle's books, but I felt that this one was quite weak. Good enough story line and there were a few twists, but I felt that there was way too much description and information that the reader did not need or care about. Do we really need to know what the character bought in Tesco? Just seemed like a page filler really.

I will still read his books, but they used to be a lot funnier and this seemed to lack that.

Another beautifully written book from Mike Gayle, I was gripped from start to finish. So wonderfully written, with easy get to know characters. Definitely a must read for everyone

This book was epic! It covered so much plot, and so much happens. I found myself completely absorbed by the characters - I know it's cliche, but they were written in such a way that they felt like friends, and real people that I actually knew.
The plot itself wasn't particularly original - I have definitely read plots like this before. It was the characters that made this book special.

I enjoyed this book, and I constantly wanted to keep reading and wish the book had been longer so I could have spent more time with the characters.

This is the first Mike Gayle that I have read. I have heard many good things of his books. I really enjoyed this book. I loved the story where a normal mum is friends with a mega superstar musician. There's a few twists and turns, so I won't add any spoilers. Great characters and super story.

I read Mike Gayle's books yearly, and if I didn't have a huge TBR pile, I'd re read his books.

I love his easy style, I've never had to re read a sentence as everything is so intelligently and simply laid out for the readers to enjoy. Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry, but it's always a glorious read.

A Song of Me and You is no exception. I adored Helen from the off and Ben too. I was invested in Helen and how she recovered from her terrible marriage. Ben was on the scene a little too early for me, I wanted to get to know Helen and her life a bit more and I would have preferred to experience Ben's thoughts beforehand.

This is a beautiful love story with the required doses of realism, sadness and hope. I thought the Frankie and Esme were cracking characters too.

Would recommend, obviously/

A sweet and heartwarming story about a recently separated woman who comes back in touch with her rock star ex and their worlds collide. A lovely read

Helen’s life is falling apart, her husband has left her for a younger woman, her kids are off on holiday with them and she is stuck at home alone. Then there’s a knock on the door from Ben Baptiste; world famous rockstar millionaire, and also Helen’s ex-boyfriend from her teens.

This is a beautiful story of rekindled friendship and romance with some Notting Hill vibes. Although, be prepared @mikegaylethenovelist is never going to give you a straight forward happy ending 😭. I absolutely loved this one and can’t wait to read more by him!

P.S I’d also HIGHLY recommend Half A World Away

I’ve read and enjoyed a few books by Mike Gayle, marvelling at how well he writes his characters, particularly his female ones who are so life like and relatable.
This heartwarming book is no exception- as well as being a page turner it is a very emotional book which examines hidden feelings and the heartbreak of first love. Can it be recaptured in later life?
Helen is a forty something housewife coming to terms with her husband’s betrayal and the break up of her family when there is a knock on her door. When she sees Ben, her first teenage boyfriend, she cannot believe her eyes. He is now a famous rockstar and she hasn’t seen him for many years.
As the two start talking and they reveal to each other their current difficulties, they realise they still have a lot in common. However, how can it work out when Helen has a whole new life with teenage children a teaching job and a difficult ex husband whilst Ben is famous and cannot live a normal life however hard he tries.
I loved the characters in this, Helen who is struggling to do the right thing by everyone and Ben who has a warm and likeable personality but many regrets about his past and current life.
Of course I couldn’t put this book down and raced through it very quickly, it took me barely a day I think!
This is highly recommended but beware of some unexpected events as the book progresses. A definite five star read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Oh my. This book. It's either 1 star or 5 stars, actually.
1 star, because I completely don't agree with the conclusion. It was not what I was hoping for and it disappointed me completely, overly.
5 stars, because it felt like back to the good, old Mike Gayle's first novels.
It was a brilliant book, guys, on every level. Mike Gayle has this incredible ability to get into the hearts of his characters and make them living, breathing people with problems the same as yours. The banter between them feels real. It's beautifully written and the author can so well capture feelings and emotions and bring them to you in words. Life is not a bed of roses and while Mike Gayle shows it as it is, he also gives hope.

So in the end, it's 5 stars. I still can't get over my disappointment, but I will survive and in the end I've got a heartwarming, empathetic, well thought - over story with a brilliant, original plot. This is a book that made me smile with nostalgy at the teenage love, nod my head at the family dynamics so well captured and in the end made me shed some tears. A story that will get under your skin, will make you think and stay wit you long after you finished it.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a reivew.

It's been a while since I read a Mike Gayle book and I really enjoyed this. Made me laugh, made me cry.

A glimpse into the life of a world famous pop star, it sounds perfect but Ben is disillusioned and calls on the love of his life Helen. They were a couple aged eighteen until circumstances split them up two years later. Helen is going through the trauma of her husband leaving her for a younger woman, the children Esme and Frankie also need help to cope with the situation.
When Ben appears at Helen's door having disappeared from public view, the attraction that they had is still there. The couple have to be secretive to avoid Ben's discovery and stay in a millionaires property in Cornwall with the children.
After much thought Helen and Ben make a decision about their future, what will happen?