Me, You and Tiramisu

Jayne and Rachel are twins, bonded together by birth and a rather difficult childhood with an absent father and rather difficult mother. As soon as it was feasible, the two headed off on their own to London: Jayne to teach and Rachel to work in design. A random meeting with a stranger in the dentist’s office brings Will back into their life: the former Billy was best friend and constant companion to the girls one summer when they were teens. All grown up Will is amazingly good-looking, just as nice and fun as before, and he and Jayne have that connection that just sparkles – laughing at corny references, enjoying their life, food and the little things.

As a person, Jayne is stuck in the ‘good girl” syndrome: always wanting to believe the best in people, she’s repeatedly disappointed by her mother’s jabs and jibes, and while Rachel, having built a skin of iron to withstand critique, Jayne prefers to ignore and retreat, letting things roll off. With Wil in her life, and her belief in his abilities and talents, she encourages his business expansion, offering cooking classes and posting ‘refreshers’ on the web for his students. When a video takes off from word of mouth in a Mom’s chatroom – the chase is on – and Will becomes an overnight star.

Oh this was fun and funny! Jayne was so ultimately sensible, if a bit too nice, and while the connection between her and Will is palpable, the pieces she doesn’t share with him, but dumps on her sister and best friend Abi are all rooted in her own damaged sense of self and worthiness. Stuffing all of that down and away to ‘get along’ and be her version of “good partner” have Jayne at a crisis point, and when the paparazzi, the pressures and even her own overactive imagination come to a fever pitch, and a quiet getaway and equally quiet engagement weekend lead to tabloid headlines, Jayne breaks. Spectacularly and completely – the only thing missing was fireworks – although flashes gratefully provided by photographer’s cameras.

With moments of drama, some new growth for Jayne as she adjusts (or aligns) her life to fit with Will’s newly adjusted priorities and dreams, plenty of secondary characters that shine brightly and bring issues and depth to the story and some truly wonderful surprises at the end- this book was a wonderful debut: engaging, emotional, and entertaining.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

First time reading this author. A very well imagined story No bad language or explicit sex. Jane broke my heart and Will made my heart smile, most of the time. A story worth reading.