"We'd clicked as seamlessly as on the day we first met. As though then and now had no interruption - almost like we had a history behind us, not just an hour in the sun... I wasn't looking for Joe, yet in a way it felt like I'd been on course to meet him my whole life".
Between You and Me by Carol Mason is a compelling domestic drama.
December 2017, Santa Monica, California. Lauren Matheson is relaxing by the swimming pool, when she is approached by an older man who offers her a drink. She is there to attend her friend's wedding, while the stranger, who introduces himself as Joe Johnson, is on a business trip.
Lauren always wanted to be a doctor, but ends up doing a degree in history. She decides to apply to study medicine, and gets a place at Imperial College London.
Joe is originally from Chicago, but lives in London for the past twenty years. Unlike Lauren, his private life is complicated. He's been married and has two children.
Fourteen months later, Lauren and Joe meet again. Their whirlwind romance ends with a hasty marriage. And that's where the problems begin. Joe's children refuse to play happy families.
Fourteen-year-old Grace is bent on hating her new step-mother. She is resentful and antagonistic from the word Go. Four-year-old Toby is pretty spoilt by both parents, and though not malicious, is stubborn and undisciplined. Lauren feels like a total outsider in her ready-made family. She is trying to protect her marriage and save her own sanity. Nothing could prepare her for what she thought she has signed up for.
Joe's intimidating ex-wife Meredith is a dragon in a business suit. She is so obnoxiously controlling, that Lauren's confidence is being eroded, piece by piece.
And Joe shows a different side. He is becoming a colder, disloyal version of his former charming self. He never stands up to his ex's demands, and puts his children on a pedestal. "There was a side to him I'd never witessed - Joe the father. Until now I was aware his children were a big aspect of his life, but they somehow felt peripheral to my idea of him (big mistake, Lauren!). Now I saw it: as he had once tried to tell me, his children were who he was".
A wall is going up between them, and they don't seem to hear each other.
Lauren keeps asking herself why Joe always takes the side of his daughter against her? What has happened between him and his ex? Was her marriage a big mistake? Will she ever be able to accept playing the second fiddle to Joe's children?
I don't know who I disliked more - the stepmother, the stepdaughter, the ex-wife or the husband. Even the younger child was annoying. It is such a toxic cauldron of a family, that's it's difficult to sympathise with anyone. Each of them behaves in a maddening way.
Carol Mason creates masterful portraits of perfectly flawed individuals who would leave you exasperated. You will feel equally sorry for Lauren, and frustrated by her lack of backbone. She is pretty guileless, and even immature for her age.
Don't even start me on Joe - he wants to have a younger woman in his arms, but also enjoys the part of the Disney dad, refusing to face the reality that his children might be manipulative shites brats.
The ex-wife is a controlling bully, yet you can also see that she has solid reasons to mistrust Lauren.
The young stepmother wants to present herself as an innocent victim in the noxious environment, but she is far from being a naive Bambi. The accident in the kitchen is not even a rookie mistake, it's a lack of common sense.
Between You and Me is an utterly realistic family drama, immersive and gripping. It's all about twisted family dynamics and control, with characters which are flawed but oh so real.
Purchase Link - https://amzn.to/2Pu9BCM
Author Bio –
Carol Mason is the Amazon Charts and Kindle #1 bestselling author After You Left (more than 300,000 copies sold), The Secrets of Married Women, The Last Time We Met, The Shadow Between Us, Send Me A Lover and Little White Secrets which hit the Bookstat digital bestsellers list top 3 in the week of its launch.
She was born in the North East of England where most of her novels are set.
She now lives in Canada with her Canadian husband, a rescue dog from Kuwait and a three-legged cat.
When not writing, Carol loves to read, cook and binge watch Netflix.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/CarolMasonAuthor
https://twitter.com/CarolMasonBooks
https://www.instagram.com/carolmasonauthor/
This post is part of the blog tour.
Many thanks to Carol Mason and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
The book sounds very realistic. It's interesting to read and enjoy a book while not liking any of the characters. :)
ReplyDelete