Cover Image: A Question of Us

A Question of Us

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Member Reviews

This was a cute read. The main character was a bit to drama filled and immature at times. Ah, to be young. There were also a ton of misogynistic jokes. That didn't sit well with me. Overall, the premise was cute and the arc of the main couple was rewarding.

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A Question of Us caught me by surprise. It's been a couple of months since an adult romance has fully captured my attention, and this book definitely did. I couldn't put this down, and when I finally finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. A Question of Us is an adorable read, with best friends who become lovers and an amazing cast of characters.

I usually don't love-love the best-friends-to-lovers trope because it's always one person long-term dating someone else before they realize they're in love with their best friend or something similar that I don't really vibe with. This book is a bit of a departure from that; Simon has so obviously been in love with Clarrie for so long, but since she's scared of change, of commitment, of screwing things up, she's refused to see it. They've been best friends since they were four, and there wasn't a come-to-terms moment, that Clarrie loved Si. It was much more gradual, and I really liked that.

Also, I totally felt how Clarrie wanted to use the quiz as a means to say yes, despite knowing she likes Si romantically. Sometimes it feels better having a big decision made for you even when you know what you want. Change is scary and I definitely relate to wanting no responsibility for your feelings.

The characters were so detailed; they truly felt like real people to me. Clarrie being a mess and just trying to get her life together is such a mood. I also loved that Si is hot and a playboy, yet he's not overly masculine. He studied history and became a teacher and isn't afraid to cry in front of Clarrie. I love him! Also, let's ignore the fact that The Bachelorette has corrupted me and I picture him as one of the contestants that I like . . .

I wholehearted loved the friend group. Please give me more adult romances where the friends get up to no-good-hijinks and know each other so well! They're all so supportive of each other, and there's just so much love.

You all know that I love books where the main character likes living in their small town, and this book was no exception. Reading the characters joking with their parents and being really open with them...it was nice, it was so soft.

I think the summary makes Si asking out Clarrie to be little "can't take no for an answer," but in reality, it's much healthier than that. They're friends, and Clarrie treats it as a running joke, rather than it being unwanted advances.

And this book was genuinely so funny! It's a very British humor, which my sense of humor is very much in line with, because it's dry and witty.

I said it before and I'll say it again, but I still can't stop thinking about this book. Please, Mary Jayne Baker, I need a sequel...I'll take a novella, I'll even take a long extended scene... A Question of Us is definitely one of my favorite romances this year! Pick it up today.

**This review will be up on my blog Magical Reads on September 5, 2019.**

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Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest.
I had mixed feelings about this novel. I felt that most of the characters acted like horny teenagers and I couldn't tell if they were really adults. Simon was annonyingly persist in pursuing Carrie who is his best friend but the reader doesn't show us the depth or growth of that friendship.
This group of friends meet to play trivia games and the novel centers around those interactions which are honestly uninteresting and immature. I just wasn't taken by this romance.

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I wanted to love this one a lot more than I did. The characters were alright, interesting enough with some fleshed out backstories. I enjoyed the addition of supportive parents and some diversity. This book did move pretty slow however and the main female character was so maddening. I felt like a lot of the conflict in this one was contrived. I still did enjoy the book though and would recommend it for anyone looking for a light read.

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<i>A Question of Us</i> is a British romance about two childhood best friends Clarrie and Simon who along with their group of friends participate in pub trivia, but without much success. Simon, who has long harbored a crush on Clarrie, bets that if the team wins the trivia contest Clarrie will have to go out with him.

This one was hard to read since the book was like 95% dialogue and no exposition. This made the characters feel very flat to me. Since we never get any real insight into the characters, there's no real tension between the two leads, which is always a bummer.

The book also felt oddly dated? The characters smoke chimneys (I don't think I've read about a character in a romcom smoking since the 90s? It made me wonder if Philip Morris got into the publishing business because so much of the very little exposition is dedicated to describing them smoking) and there's a lot of time devoted to the male characters talking about the breasts of the female characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

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This was my first British based novel and I laughed the whole way through. Clarrie has a best friend named Simon who’s been asking her out for years now as a joke, or is it? Throughout the story we follow Clarrie as she tries to navigate allowing herself to love and be loved, as well as figuring out why she is so reluctant to. This book also gave me really strong ‘Friends’ vibes, except this took place in a small town and numerous pubs. I absolutely loved the pub quizzes and they made the story so unique. I feel it’s what really allowed each character to shine because in the end Clarrie’s friend group made me wish I had one of my own. Mary Jayne Baker did a great job of making the reader familiar with even the secondary characters (which I feel many stories lack), and they each served their own purpose in the storyline. My only grouse was that Clarrie really couldn’t make up her mind, and I wish the time spent in her thoughts was spent getting to know Si’s and her childhood relationship better. Overall, this book was a fun read and I can’t wait to see what Baker comes out with in the future.

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A group of twenty six year olds who spend their lives dating, drinking and quizzing is not my usual choice of novel characters but I love Mary Jayne Baker's witty books so I gave it a go. And what an endearing likeable bunch they are! Their constant banter, insults and teasing just add to the feeling of how close and caring they are, and have been since primary school. They have each other's backs. Clarrie holds Simon at arm's length because his friendship means everything to her and she can't risk losing it. After all, two of the others have tried being a couple and already failed. So when Simon gets Clarrie to finally agree to a date if they win the annual pub quiz league it's game on! We watch them get higher up the league as each quiz plays out. So, will they or won't they? A little drawn out and frustrating in places as Clarrie continually denies her own feelings but I enjoyed it very much.

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<i><b>eArc graciously provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</b></i>

<i>A Question of Us</i> is a romance novel set in the UK, where long-time friends Clar(issa) and Si(mon) decide to make a bet on their pub quiz league results. If they win, Clar will go out with Si like he's been bugging her to for the last several years. With a loss, he'll never ask her out again. But as things progress, Clar finds herself questioning if she really wants Si to lose, or if she actually wants him to win.

Let's start with the pros, shall we? This book felt authentic, for starters. You get the sense from the beginning that all the characters are friends who actually care about each other, while having fun. There's a lot of banter, playful teasing, and overall good friendship moments in this book. I wouldn't call it exactly a found family, but the MC has relationships that are important to her besides the Love Interest, which I found really important. It wasn't perfect, but it felt realistic.

Second off, all the characters felt well-rounded. Every one of them had their own story and life going on, and it didn't feel like they were just there to care or comfort the MC. They had their own stories unfolding alongside the MC's, which I think gets really overlooked in a lot of romance novels, unless the author wants to use them for a sequel.

Finally, the MC in this book suffers with anxiety. As I do myself, there were some lines that Clar mentions that I just related to strongly. Despite this, the anxiety representation — well, it's not that I think it was bad, per se. I just don't think it lived up to the potential it could have had. It <i>is</i> mentioned a couple times, but I don't think we ever got enough perspective from the MC on her feelings with anxiety. It was there, and we were told it was an issue, but I didn't feel like there was enough events to show there was an issue. Clar keeps talking about her insecurities with dating and how she gets anxious, but that's it. She tells and we listen. I wanted more.

Sadly, I just didn't like this book as much as I wanted to, so let's get into some of the complaints I have.

First off, if you're from the UK or really like listening to UK banter, you will probably appreciate how British this book is. It's filled with UK slang terms. However, if you're like me, a Canadian without a lot of knowledge of UK slang terms, you'll either have to do some googling (which I did) or just power on (which I also did, at times.) It can be a little experience breaking to see a completely foreign word, but it's manageable.

Besides that, though, I just really did not vibe with the writing style. It felt very — stilted, is the word I think works best in this scenario. Most of the this novel is simply dialogue. It was realistic dialogue, mind you, but at times it felt like I was reading a transcript more than an actual book. I wanted details, feelings and emotions. Instead, the writing made everything feel bland and vague. Like I mentioned with the anxiety, we are always told things, and very, very rarely shown things at all.

This isn't even just for feelings, but also for what the characters are doing. How they act. Where they're sitting. It made the whole thing hard to imagine, again like I was just reading a transcript. There's a mention later in the novel of the Love Interest having this one specific nervous habit — I did not find a single mention of him doing it anywhere in the book. Not once. I searched for it.

I also don't think this book delivered comedy like it wanted to. As a member of an LGBTQIA+, I didn't really appreciate how this book decided on using girl-on-girl action as a punchline sometimes. Or how it was only brought up for the male gaze — specifically to make one of the MC's friends get a hard on imagining it. I'm not kidding. Here's a quote from early in the novel.

<blockquote><i><b>"What do twenty-six-year-olds talk about at sleepovers?"
She shrugged. 'Just the usual. [...] Girl-on-girl oral sex techniques involving banana yogurt.'
Dave winced heavily. "What did you have to go and say that for?"
'[The bar-owner] has got a shower upstairs. Want me to ask if he'll run you a cold one?'
Si laughed. 'Stop teasing him, Clarrie.' [Chapter 6 / Page 39]</b></i></blockquote>

This isn't the only time it happens in the book, either; it's brought up at least one other time. I don't actually care how authentic this is to real life; wlw sex isn't for men's fantasies, ever. I wish this just hadn't been in the book at all; it put a really sour taste in my mouth.

Another thing I disliked was the use of f*g for cigarettes. Before I get any comments: I 100% know it is slang in Britain for a cigarette. I just don't know why it had to be used in this novel, especially several times, when <i>cigarette</i> or <i>going out for a smoke</i> would have worked just fine. Don't you think it'd be better, that someone can read a book without getting blindsided by a word that is very much a slur for a lot of people? It doesn't seem worth it to me. I would have edited that out entirely.

Finally, let's get to the most important bit: the romance. There wasn't any amount of particular tension I felt between these characters. Obviously they're friends, and obviously they banter. But for being in love? It didn't really feel like they were falling in love, or like they'd been in love for years. I wish there was more emphasis put on it — feelings described, instead of just being told. The Love Interest says he loves her so much, but showing it? They only really did it in ways that could have just been read 100% as platonic. I wanted eyes staring at lips. I wanted brushes of touching that left a fire in its wake. I wanted passion. This book offered none of it besides the sex scene.

In the end, I found this book was just lacking, overall. The writing style wasn't engaging; while the characters were interesting, the romance was not; and not enough emotion was put into this novel to pack a punch. Furthermore, I felt like it could have been shorter; some scenes, I felt, weren't just particularly necessary.

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A Question of Us by Jayne Baker, depicts the relationship between two friends, Clarrie Midwinter and Simon. Simon continuously asks out Clarrie, and when he bets on a date with her if the team wins their quiz league, Clarrie must come to a realization of what she wants in life and in her personal life. Mary Jayne Baker is an English author who writes very English, in the opinion of an American reader. I enjoyed the relationship between the friends/quiz league group, but was off put by the various English slang terms, as that I did not understand them to the fullest extent. If you are a romance reader and one who can and enjoys different slang; this pick is for you. I enjoyed the friends to lovers trope and how it was handled throughout the story. Clarrie and Simon were the best, I wanted them to be together from their first interaction. Although, as I mentioned before this is a very English novel, so the writing did throw me off a bit and made me put it down at the beginning, but overall I really enjoyed this novel. 3/5 stars.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The plot of this book caught my attention. Childhood friends to possibly more, especially when there's a bet involved? Who wouldn't love that?
Me, apparently. The pacing of this book is godawful slow. It's also so British that it's distracting and off-putting. I nearly marked this as DNF on a few occasions. At times, the conversations seem hectic and hard to keep track of. Then other times, my eyes glazed over because the characters are rambling. This book could do with a fair bit of editing. Multiple chapters for one event? Just get to the point already. Simon has been in love with Clarrie for forever and asks her out whenever possible. It's cute in theory but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. There has to be a better way of telling your childhood best friend that you've been in love with her for ages than to jokingly ask her out constantly and then turn around and date other girls. The reason this even gets two stars is because when the book DOES get to the point, it's decent. There are great sweet moments with Simon and Clarrie where you can clearly see how much he loves her. Every time she's drunk, she wants him but then doesn't realize that's what she wants once she sobers up? It gets very tiring and boring. The pacing is just too uneven throughout to earn more than 2 stars from me. I really wish this book was better than it was.

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This was way fun! I really enjoyed getting to know this group of friends and follow their ups and downs. As a huge fan of pub trivia, this absolutely hit all my right spots. Very charming.

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I LOVE a friend turns to more story. I also love the main character having tomboy tendencies. I loved Clarrie and Simon. I feel like they are so relatable and you really are rooting for them. These are the exact books I love reading and will be recommending to my friends

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A Question of Us tells the story of Clarrie and Si - two best friends who have known each other since they were 4 years old. Si keeps asking Clarrie out but Clarrie always thinks he is joking. However, once Si bets Clarrie that if they win the pub quiz tournament, she will have to go out with him, Clarrie finally realizes that Simon is serious. But is dating worth risking losing your best friend?

I really liked this book. I loved the British slang and setting. The book was fun and secondary characters were great. I was invested in their lives and wanted to find out what happens to their friend group. The book deals with anxiety and something all grown-ups have to face - when do you actually start feeling like a grown up? I could definitely relate to Clarrie's sentiments about feeling mature. Simon was a great love interest and I loved how he was portrayed as a human - he was cocky, but loving, a sweetheart who was not afraid to show Clarrie his true feelings. I think people who love British romantic comedies will definitely enjoy his book as well.

I received an advanced copy in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Clarrie Midwinter may be an adult, but she's not a proper adult. At 26, she's eternally strapped for cash, lives off beer and cigarettes, and hasn't had a date in years. The only constants in her life is her friends, their quiz league and her best friend, Simon, asking her out at every opportunity.

Despite having some hidden feelings, Clarrie refuses every advance because she doesn't believe a guy as handsome and as put together as Simon would ever want a complete mess of a person as Clarrie. But Simon has a plan. He bets her that if their team wins the quiz league she has to go out with him, and if they lose he'll never ask her out ever again. As the weeks go by, and their team is somehow holding on in the top 2, Clarrie must decided what she really wants out of life and confront feelings she's long since kept buried.

This book was so cute and relatable. I saw a lot of myself in Clarrie, especially in the way she approaches relationships. Her and Simon had such palpable chemistry, but also an amazing friendship. The dynamic between them and the rest of their friend group was so great, and all the banter really felt like my own group of friends. That was definitely a major highlight for me. The only tiny aspect of the book I had an issue with was since I'm not British, some of the phrases Baker used I didn't fully understand, but that didn't detract me from the story all that much. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this and definitely recommend for any rom-com fan.

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I loved everything about A Question of Us, except for the pacing. I didn't mind the focus on all the side characters and their relationships, but I wasn't a fan of how slowly the plot progressed because of it.

Clarrie has been best friends with Simon since they were children, and she's always thought his date offers were a joke. However, Si proposes a bet where, if they win the quiz competition, Clarrie has to go on a date with him. If they don't win, Si can never ask her out again. Clarrie's main issue is she thinks she's too immature to date Si and doesn't want to ruin their friendship, while her perceptions of relationships were ruined by her father.

As I stated earlier, my main issue was the pacing of the book. If the banter was cut down by 200 or so pages, I would've given this 5 stars. I ended up skimming most of the conversations because it was so dialogue heavy and difficult to understand.

However, I loved the characters and their relationships with each other. Simon was a refreshing male character who was open about his emotions and desires. It's a vast improvement to the other male characters we have in romance at the moment. I also loved the progression of his relationship with Clarrie, including the fact that they didn't start dating other people to make the other mad.

Clarrie was a humorous main character, but I wasn't really a fan of the way she consistently pushed Si away. I liked how she communicated why she wouldn't date him, though.

The side characters were all interesting, though they did take up a significant amount of time in the story, which I wasn't a fan of.

Overall, if A Question of Us was a few hundred pages shorter, I would've given it 5 stars.

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A Question of Us is one of those books that hooks itself onto your heart while you’re not looking and ends up dragging you into an emotional investment in its characters. And then it’ll leave you wondering how exactly you review a book you loved to pieces.

At heart, this book is a best friends to lovers story, where the best friends in question are physically affectionate and everyone but them is aware they’re in love with each other and kind of wondering why they haven’t yet got together. So it was already right up my alley. Simon, though, who is quite blatantly in love with Clarrie even though she’s convinced he’s taking the piss, decides that he’s going to bet a date on the outcome of a quiz tourney. Clarrie takes him up on this, and what follows is a slowburn romance that will have you tearing out your hair despairingly just because you want the two characters to get together already.

What I loved most about this book was the central role that friendships played in this story. Obviously there’s Si and Clarrie, but they’re surrounded by other friends and the rapport between all of them is so funny. There was one point I laughed out loud about five times and my sister kept giving me weird looks (to be fair, this book played right into my fairly childish sense of humour. And it was so English with the slang and everything it felt more familiar than about 90% of other romance books I’ve read. Honestly, just seeing the phrase “arse over tit” in a book… Priceless).

Si as a love interest was also so refreshing. Sure, he was a womaniser, and cocky, but he was also happy to confide in Clarrie and cry in front of her and, after having read a book where the male main character was busy holding everything inside and not even confiding in his close friends because he figured they’d pity him? That’s so refreshing. I want more of it, to be honest, because this book has shown me what I’m missing and now I’ll never be able to go back.

So yeah, I hope this has convinced you to read this book. All it’s done for me is make me want to reread.

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3.5 stars:

'A Question of Us' is an exploration of love, friendship, and insecurity with the backdrop of a pub quiz competition. It may seem random, but in this instance, it totally works. Mary Jayne Baker creates characters that are flawed, complicated, and three-dimensional, and manages to invert typical romance-y tropes to create a delightful and heartfelt tale of a friendship that could be more.

There were times where I felt a lot of frustration toward Clarrie's (the protagonist) actions; I empathized with the other characters in the novel who continually question her approach to life. And maybe that's the ultimate success of the novel: that it's messy. It feels real. The relationship dynamics and the emotional hangups all feel very realistic. And the ending is a satisfying payoff to a wholly entertaining (if not slightly frustrating) tale. I'm excited to see what Baker comes up with next!

**Thanks, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

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I loved this book! I had previously read Meet me at the Lighthouse by the same author and loved it so I was excited to read this. I fell in love with Simon as a main male character, he was so funny and charming. A great read if you love stories about best friends to lovers.

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A great summer read with likable characters and a memorable plot! It took me a little while to get in to it, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down!

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Thank you #netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars***

This novel took me a while to get into strictly because the author is English, so I kept getting distracted with the language/writing style.

That didn't deter me from reading it though (don't let it stop you either!). This is a rom com between two friends who plays trivia together and a bet that leads to love. It is lighthearted and fun.

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