"Do nothing, and nothing happens. Life is about decisions. You either make them or they're made for you, but you can't avoid them"
'You Had Me At Hello' is a funny and romantic story set in Sheffield, close to Manchester, UK. I absolutely LOVED the writing style. If you've read Me Before You, I'd say the writing style is very similar. So why didn't I give it a higher rating you ask? Well, this one gets 3.5 stars because the story didn't totally grab me and the pace was very slow at times. I also think some scenes could have been deleted as they didn't provide anything important to the story. But apart from that it was a very decent read, I'm glad I gave this one a try, specially for the writing style.
This is the story of Ben & Rachel. They met 13 years ago when they were studying in the University. Rachel has a relationship with Rhys back them and Ben is single and they both start a very beautiful friendship. Yeah, I know, something is gonna happen, right?
13 years later Rachel is a journalist and she's still in touch with her best friends from Uni except for Ben. When you start reading the book you don't know how they parted ways after University so you are all the time wondering what happened and what made them lose contact. You'll get your answers eventually.
Caroline, her best 'happily married' best friend tells her she's seen Ben in town and as her life has been turned upside down after her breaking her relationship with Rhys, she decides she wants to see Ben once again. But Ben is not that single hot guy anymore, he's married now...
So this is the premise of their story, the book goes backwards and forwards all the time and you get to know more about their story when they were younger, what they felt for each other, what happened between them and what made them to come apart.
"Men who are hopelessly hung up on someone else tend to make crap boyfriends..."
There were some butterflies moments that I absolutely loved and even though the pace was very slow I loved the last part of the book. An Epilogue would have been nice.
"All I can say is, if you were my girlfriend, I'd certainly be desperate for you to take them off"
This is a story about friends being in love, about friendship, about co-workers who are bitches and a story about second chances.
"I don't know what Ben saw in you"
I stop, think, turn. "...Himself?"
What I didn't really like? That part when Ben accused Rachel of trying to break his marriage. Seriously? That was very soap opera-ish, didn't buy it, especially when he was in her same situation 13 years ago.
If any of you are having second thoughts because you think there is cheating in this story, please open the spoiler. THERE IS NO CHEATING AT ALL ;)
Thanks for our BR, La-Lionne
