I found this book to uplifting ,sad, funny and bittersweet ; an enjoyable read that at times transported me back to my time at University .
Arden Hall ,newly extricated from a soul destroying marriage ,unexpectedly encounters a former lover from when she was at University . Mac Bartley- Thomas is lying in a hospital ward unable to speak after an accident . Arden feels compelled to sit by him each night and when he manages to whisper a few words to her she is transported back to their passionate film based affair thirty years ago . Mac was a film studies lecturer ,Arden a naive English student determined to have a love affair.
We also get an insight into the home life of Arden she has a mother who does not endear herself to the reader and a father who seems unable to express himself . Arden herself at first does not appear likeable but as the story progresses she reveals herself to be vulnerable . The ending is lovely ,not your average chick lit read but all the better for that .

I had difficulty with this book, I didn’t like Arden & therefore didn’t really care about her story. I enjoyed the film sections & the method of telling Mac & Arden's backstory through the different films, but that was about it. I know people will enjoy this book, unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A gorgeous tale of lost love rediscovered. I cried my eyes out! The idea of using iconic films to punctuate the romance is genius and I absolutely loved it.

I loved this story. I got totally caught up in everyone’s lives and everything that had happened. I loved how Arden and Macs relationship is retold by the films they saw. This book is beautifully written. It made me laugh and it made me cry.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I’ve read a few of Fiona Collins’ books and enjoyed them so I chose this book without really reading the blurb... all in all it left me on the fence.

There’s a few excellent elements - including the titular movies - but these are set against the tale of a student-lecturer relationship and the modern day fallout of several disastrous relationships...

The movie references were excellent - atmospheric yet evocative enough so that you could participate in the story even if you hadn’t seen the film. A top 10 list of classic movies is the backdrop to this otherwise melancholy novel.

Mac is a rather despicable character and the abject woe and neediness of Arden, frankly becomes wearing. Having recently read another book with an illicit university-based relationship (The Women, SE Lynes) I was in no place to be sympathetic towards Arden. Her life hasn’t been a bed of roses and her relationship with her son is the bright spot in her life, but she swings from total mistrust to love in the blink of an eye.

All in all, this book has given me an education on some key note movies, but other than the eye candy of James, it didn’t really float my boat!!

Overall 3* - didn’t hate it but didn’t love it either.

Arden and Mac had an affair back in the 80s when he was a lecturer and she was a student at the university. 30 years later Arden discovers Mac in a hospital bed while visiting a friend and proceeds to visit him. Mac has had a brain injury and quotes film titles that represent their history. Will Arden get her happy ever after?
This was not what I expected and in a good way/ it was more than some romantic chick lit but a beautiful love story and not ashamed to admit I cried a tear or two! Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book!

The characters are complex, likeable, relatable and flawed. The dialogue leaps off the page and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Arden is looking for an epic romance at university and finds it in an affair with one of the lecturers, Mac Bartley-Thomas. She is passionate and unstoppable looking to inspire and impress and escape her childhood.

Twenty years later, she is reacquainted with Mac in tragic circumstances and revisits their relationship and the films they loved together.

These characters have stayed with me long after the last page. Mac and Arden's relationship is both wonderful and devastating. I honestly both laughed and cried. This is definitely one of my favourite books of the year so far.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Bizarrely I saw a review for this book, 'imagine One Day with movies', One Day is my favourite book and that review made me need this book in my life. When will I learn, these beautiful plain cover books can smash your heart, make you ugly cry and leave you broken.

I have been swept up in these pages, it's all been so vivid, theres not a character I didnt bond with, root for, feel for. I've been swept away by giddiness and punched so hard in the stomach I'm not sure when I'm going to get over it. One Day left me crying for days, I'm writing this review days after finishing and I'm still upset.

You, me and the movies, and music, books, long summer days and rainy nights, happiness, hope, youth, first loves, friendships, the future, the past, middle age, bad decisions and utter utter sadness.

And I'd read it again, I will read it again. I will read it again and again even though it's going to hurt.

I'm 100% sure this will be my book of the year, the book that may me cry the hardest, the book that I read with a weird sad hopeful smile until it smacked me round the face, the book that took me way longer to read than necessary because I could not see the words through my tears, the book that now sits beside One Day and Charlotte Street, my all time favourite reads.

Thank you Fiona Collins, you've broken me but that journey, that story, those movies, made it worth it.

You, Me and the Movies by Fiona Collins
I absolutely loved this. It was a lovely weave of a story using the medium of film. It did make me want to watch the films again and got me thinking about the premises behind them. It therefore ticked many of my boxes - great characterisation, a good underpinning thread to tie the story together and move it on, as well as being able to learn something new (or at least get the neutrons firing). I also loved the friendship theme and how flawed our central character was in this respect when wrapped in her own dramas yet her awakening to the value of reciprocated friendship as she reflected on her life & responses to it. A great book for a sunny beach, a rainy afternoon or bedtime switch off.

This book is a cute story that follows the lives of Arden and Mac alternating between the past and present. The past story reveals their affair 30 years ago, while Arden was a university student and Mac a professor at the same university. Fast forward to the present and Mac is in hospital with a brain injury, where Arden finds him whilst visiting a friend.

This book has a lot of film references and would be an even better read for someone truly into old classic movies! Saying that though, you can still read this book and enjoy it without having watched any of the films.

I felt sorry for Arden - she was a likeable character and I was rooting for her throughout the book hoping she'd get a happy ending!!

Enjoyed the book from beginning to end. Not what I was expecting but never the less very good and didn’t guess the ending which is good for me

You, Me and the Movies follows the story of Arden and Mac - how they fell in love at university, and then thirty years later when she comes across him whilst visiting a friend at hospital. Mac has had a bad accident, and although he can't talk, he can make small references to the classic movies they watched together.

This was such a great holiday read - it was funny, uplifting and I loved switching between then and now. I definitely want to go and watch all of the movies featured in it now too!

I really enjoyed this book, I liked how it flicked between the past when Mac and Arden had their love affair and to the present while Mac was in the hospital. I also loved how movies were brought into the book and incorporated into the love affair and how particular references meant so much to the two, however, the book did make me realise how many old movies I need to add to my own watchlist!
I loved reading about how Arden progressed as a character throughout the book, how she overcame her past with her abusive ex-husband and the ending of the novel really added to this progression, it was both sad and uplifting in many different senses.
On the contrary, I did end up not liking Mac, it angered me with how he could have an affair behind the back of his wife, even more so with things that were later found out in the book.
This is definitely a good book for someone who loves movies and a good romance book!

A fantastic read, so beautiful, sad, uplifting, funny it will pull you through the whirlwind of emotions as you read. I loved all the movie references and it was such an enjoyable read I didn’t notice I’d read half the book in what seemed like seconds. Although I struggled to want the characters to get together, I don’t really connect with infidelity regardless of the circumstances, it’s still a great story and lovely characters.

A really wonderful read


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This was a fantastically researched and well portrayed novel that pulled me in right from the very start and kept me hooked to the very end. It was beautifully written, sad, yet uplifting and left me crying and smiling at the end. It’s a very poignant love story with a brilliant interweaving theme of great films. This is the first book I’ve read by Fiona Collins and I’ll certainly read more. I’m a big fan!

You Me and The Movies is a most enjoyable read. Arden a student at Warwick university falls in love with Film lecturer Mac.

The affair ends quite awfully for Arden and she marries a a man who does nothing but control and bully her, escaping from the marriage with her son with only the clothes on their backs she builds a new if lonely life for herself. 30 years later when visiting a friend in hospital she sees Mac in a hospital bed, he has had an accident leading to a brain injury with a 50/50 chance of recovery.
When she approaches Mac he recognises her but hardly able to speak he whispers a film title to her, one she instantly recognises as during their affair they would watch films and critique them Mac loving her take on each one.

The story alternates between the past and the present and does so well. Very descriptive, with lovely characters. My daughter was at Warwick and I swear the description of Arden house in Leamington Spa is so accurate I’m sure it’s the same one she was in, slug trails on the carpets especially!

A lovely well told story with you only wishing the best for all the characters, funny and sad I rate it highly.

My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

Romance through the Movies

Firstly, I loved the film references, especially as I have seen most of the movies mentioned. The plot could almost be a film storyline: student meets handsome married lecturer, they watch films, fall in love, separate and meet again years later in changed circumstances. Loved Fiona's writing style too. However, you couldn't find two more self-centred people than Arden and Mac. At first it was hard to connect with them. I get that Arden came from an uncaring background, lost her first love and had a domineering husband (ironically called Christian, though he was anything but). She had the pluck to throw him out but I couldn't empathise with her shallow young self or her sordid romance with Mac.

Then, after a few chapters, the older Arden's wry sense of humour about her youthful self began to show through, bringing her to life. When visiting a friend in hospital, she recognises Mac in the same ward. He is paralysed and the only words he can say are iconic phrases from the films Arden and Mac watched together in happier times. She seems to be Mac's only visitor and they relive their passionate relationship through these films. As the story unfolds, you wish Arden well and hope she finds someone good to share her life with. Then along comes Mac's neighbour, James.....

A heart-warming romance, beautifully written with a strong cast of characters (and great films).

Thank you Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Netgalley for the review copy!

Unfortunately this book was not for me and I DNFed at 10%

If you’re looking for a straight forward romantic comedy or a lighthearted read, then this is probably not the book for you. However if you’re after a book with romance, which covers deeper topics as well as a bittersweet ending then this may be just the book for you.

Given that I haven’t read any of Fiona Collins other novels, I don’t have another of her books to compare it to but I really enjoyed this novel. My favourite part were the flashbacks to Ardens time at Warwick university and exploring her and Macs relationship when things were perfect and then the gradual breakdown of their affair. I enjoyed reading all the movie references that were sprinkled in to the story and how movies were a theme within their relationship. Even 30 years later, it’s the movies that tie them together and provoke the strongest memories for them. While I haven’t seen all of the movies they watched, I don’t think it’s necessary to do so in order to understand what’s going on. If you’re interested in widening your film knowledge however, their ‘list’ is a great place to start.

In terms of the actual relationship, it was hard for me to fully root for Arden and Mac as it’s rooted in infidelity. While it’s explained that Mac has a complicated marriage, cheating is still cheating at the end of the day. There’s no doubt that Arden and Mac love each other deeply but if Arden hadn’t been the ‘other woman’ then I could have fully rooted for them.

In the sections which were set in the present, I enjoyed reading about Arden reconnecting with her past and finding hope for her future. In the time between Ardens escape to university from her emotionally abusive mother, she gets married and unfortunately her partner, Christian is severely controlling financially and emotionally. Arden is a character who has been through a lot in her life and this leaves her feeling isolated from any friends. I feel like Collins does a good job here of exploring the effects an abusive relationship can have on a person and how difficult recovery can be, but also that it’s not impossible either. Reconnecting with Mac is also a step in Ardens way to finding happiness again as she considers her time with him, when she was her truest and most bravest self. Along the way she meets a new host of characters; James, a strange but sweet neighbour of Mac, Fran a friendly nurse on the ward as well as Becky, her best friend from university who she has distanced herself from.

Overall, You, Me and the Movies is a moving romantic novel with an encouraging and hopeful message and I would recommend reading it, despite the fact that I had some some issues with it.

Arden (Ardie) Hall is a divorced woman in her late forties, slowly finding herself again after an abusive marriage. An old university friend gets her to visit another university friend in hospital, and on the way out they recognise the legendary film lecturer Mac. Ardie goes back to see him and discovers that he can't speak, but as she leaves he whispers a phrase relating to one of the films they watched together. When Ardie was 18/19 and Mac was in his early 30s, they had an affair for most of her studies, and the story of their affair is told in a series of flashbacks - each relating to phrases from films they watched together. Remembering her students days helps Ardie to remember who she was and to start to work out who she is now.

It's a good premise, although I find it hard to be sympathetic to the central affair - Mac is married, and is also massively taking advantage of a student (even if Ardie isn't one of his students). Arden is a more sympathetic character as an adult looking back, recognising her own flaws and taking refuge in her love of films, as well as starting to work out to to re-connect with her friends and herself. It's quite enjoyable, even if you've not seen all the films (I haven't!) and the ending is just right.