Book info

• Title Just Like You
• Author Julia Quinn
• Year 2000
• Genre Historical

Lucy married just the sort of man you might expect: a university graduate who runs his own business. Unfortunately he turned out to have serious dependency issues. Joseph is shaking off the memory of his last date, a girl who ticked all the right boxes and also drove him up the wall. On an average Saturday morning in a butcher's shop in North London, Lucy and Joseph meet on opposite sides of the counter. She is a teacher and mother of two, with a past she is trying to forget; he is an aspiring DJ with a wide-open future that maybe needs to start becoming more focused. Lucy and Joseph are opposites in almost all ways. Can something life-changing grow from uncommon ground? Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender and brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who may not be just like you at all.

Thoughts

This is a really interesting contemporary romance novel, because although it does follow the pattern of boy-meets-girl, romance ensues, third act falling out, getting back together, etc, it feels very grown up. The two protagonists couldn’t be more different and therefore have a lot of prejudices and cultural differences to overcome… and the backdrop to the story is Brexit and all the additional pressures and arguments that that debacle caused. Definitely worth a read, although it takes a while to get used to the quite brittle main characters.

Rating: 4 / 5