If you're looking for a sweet rom-com, pick up "Us, In Pieces." Told from alternating points of view through emails, texts and IMs, it's the story of two college best friends, Adin and Lilly, who lost touch and reunite realizing there might be more to their connection than just friendship. I rooted for Adin and Lilly and also found the roadblocks in their way very realistic. The book is a modern twist on the chick-lit "will they or won't they" genre and if you love those kinds of stories, you'll love this one.

Thank you for NetGalley and Shadelandhouse Modern Press for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Oh how I wanted to fall in love with this book!!!
And I did, for the first half - the second half was maddening, it was so hard to watch these two that obviously loved one another keep flubbing things up! One misunderstanding after another made me want to bonk their heads together lol I really enjoyed this story, despite wanting them to both grow up and act like they had some common sense. I sooooo loved their story - even though only one of them realizes it, they fell in love in college. I'm still unclear as to why Lilly left OSU to begin with. I loved how the story told in alternating point of views - lots via texts and emails. They seemed to have a super strong support system that was rooting for them - yet, they too appeared to want them to hurry up and realize what they had. Adin did have some growing up to do - Lilly needed to climb out of her own head for a bit. I loved the beginning - they meet again, realize the attraction - remember old feelings - the giddiness of "Falling in Love" with an old "friend" And then - turbulence non stop - until she discovered a pretty huge secret THAT SHE TOLD HER WORK BUDDY ABOUT BEFORE SHE DID ADIN and that was pretty crappy - but it's just one more reason that I never really warmed to her character. The ending seemed sorta rushed but it was satisfying. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really enjoyable book. I liked the way it shifted perspectives frequently, but you were still able to follow the story easily. The interactions between the characters were believable for the most part. I'd read more by these authors.

I loved following along Lilly and Adin's story through the years, as it went back and forth between the past and the future. I am a big fan of stories like these, and how it manages to portray the nuance of emotions over the years. However, while super well written and engaging, when it got to the part (spoiler alert) of Nate kissing her, her getting pregnant, Adin accidentally finding out, I just felt like it was a cop-out and the book had for more potential then to end in a classic cliche.

Plus points for me - I liked the style of the book, the email and text exchanges and the switch between the points of view of the two main characters. Unfortunately said main characters did absolutely nothing for me. They both needed their heads banging together and I just couldn't feel any empathy for them at all. I also felt that there was some big mystery as to why they'd lost touch when Lilly left university that was going to also make some sense of why they were acting the way she was and were both so emotionally immature, but that never materialised.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was great! I loved the way it was written. Changing perspective between the two main characters kept me wanting more. I connected with the characters and believed the story line. Un-put-down-able!

As the text begins, it seems that Adin and Lilly are star-crossed college meant-to-be-togethers, but Adin's lack of speaking up and Lilly's pursuit of settling down and establishing her children's book career made the two become a bit disconnected. The goal of this novel is to have the two find their way back to one another, amidst obstacles of doubt, divorce, job instability, family pressures, and the nagging voice inside their heads.

I did begin by rooting for Adin, but over time, I became a bit...concerned? with his obsession for Lilly. I am all for the lovesick turned to fairytale romantic ending, but for some reason, I was hoping for Lilly's independence amidst all the drama. However, the switching point of views, mixture of email, narrative, and texts, made this text structure interesting. Thank you for the ARC, #NetGalley.

Us in Pieces by Tasha Cotter and Christopher Green

I read this book back in February, right around Valentine's day. I enjoyed how the story was told from 2 different perspectives, from Adin and Lilly. Lilly was fresh out of a divorce when Adin comes back into her life. Adin and Lilly both went to college together and Adin was Lilly's best friend. But unbeknownst to her, Adin was absolutely, head over heels in love with her. So when the opportunity to come back into her life arose, he jumped at the chance. The story is told through them writing letters to each other and their own view points on how the current situation is enfolding.

"Love is needing other people. And I mean that. Needing them. Love is when the world feels like a black and white movie whenever the other person isn't around."

This quote sums up how romantic the story is and it’s a great window into the sensitivities of love, relationships and what it means to be a couple.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this awesome book.

I received Us, In Pieces by Tasha Cotter and Christopher Green as an ARC from NetGalley. This book tells the story of Adin and Lilly entirely through emails, text messages and IM's. I've read several novels that have used this format and I find it very clever. Adin and Lilly met in college and were extremely close friends but it has now been 10 years since they've had any contact. I loved this book and I loved the characters of Adin and Lilly. I loved how much their relationship is college was tied to music and how it brought them so close together. I enjoyed seeing how they had changed since college and what they had to do to reestablish their relationship. They have their struggles along the way but that just makes their story more relatable. A great read!

**FULL REVIEW**

I truly had higher hopes for this story, the description captivating and promising...unfortunately, while not horrible, it wasn't super interesting either.

I found myself skimming through the past and only semi-interested in the present tense. Adin being more female than Lilly in most cases. It felt like a woman trying to write a male's perspective and failing to deliver. Everything from descriptions to terminology, I had to flip back to double-check the point of view more times than I care to remember.

With all that said, I enjoyed the ending. Despite the trainwreck it took Lilly and Adin to get to that point, the HFN worked for them.

"Weren't we both curious about what could have been and what still might be?"

If you enjoy slow-paced, time-hopping, indecisive characters, and a tidy ending...pick this up and enjoy. It's not for everyone, but I know some will really fall in love with this story so I cannot wait to read others' thoughts.

**2.5-3 Pick a POV, Stars**

To start with - Us, in Pieces is an epistolary novel, which some people love and some people don't. Fortunately, I'm in the category of the former and this book was VERY well done in this style. It tells the stories of not-quite college sweethearts who could never connect then and are having a pain-in-the-neck time now (10 years later) to try to sync up. There are a lot of fits and starts, all of which were very realistic. That said, I have really mixed feelings about this novel - it was engrossing and I couldn't put it down (and barely did) because I wanted to know what happened. On the other hand, i wanted to flick both Lilly and Adin in the ear because they drove me crazy and not in a good way. So in the end, I can't help but give this book a good review because it did what books are supposed to do - carry me away into another place. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. I fell in love with the synopsis, and I felt a zing of excitement when I got the approval from the Publisher for the ARC on NetGalley.

All that emotion died about 3 chapters into the book. I began bargaining with myself. "Ok, make it to 50%, then call it a DNF. Ok, maybe 25%...ok try at least to make it to 10%. Maybe it will get better. But, it didn't, and I'm embarrassed to say I had to DNF this at 10%.

There is so much promise in the plot, but the characters fall flat. Adin's narrative tries too hard to make him quirky, lovable, and witty. It falls flat. Lilly just comes across dry and toneless. Compound that with the fact that based on the dialogue, it sounds like two preteens working through romance, not two grown adults, old enough for one of them to have been divorced once. What made it worse is that it was hard to tell Adin and Lilly's voices apart. They had no individual personality, no character, no emotion.

I tried so hard to love this book and I couldn't.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more of a crime/thriller reader however this story intrigued me. I absolutely loved it, truly one of the best books I have read. I am extremely pleased and grateful to both for opening up my mind to something totally different.

Solid 4/5 stars for me! I especially loved the way this book was written- the co-narrator format and the use of non-traditional prose, i.e. emails, texts, etc., adds a particularly lovely element to this story! Thank you to NetGalley and Shadelanhouse for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found the premise of this book intriguing and exciting and I really wanted to love this book. I was eager to get reading, particularly because of the dual narrative and the way in which the story was shared through various media formats, which (as expected) I did enjoy.

Whilst, the emails and texts shed light on the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters, exposing their vulnerability, I found myself frustrated and groaning a lot at their
juvenile behaviour. Yes, it mirrored the state of their relationship and the not being able to get it together, but it became too much and I wanted it to come together, instead of the repetitive ‘will they?’ or ‘won’t they?’toing and froing.

I thought that the novel would be a feel-good love story about two people taking a chance on having a relationship despite the fears and insecurities from their youth, but I found it frustrating and I became irritable reading it.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me, but I did finish it. I needed to know how it ended, in order to have the answers to the will they/won’t they questions, but I found it a bit of a struggle.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it as an ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the format of this book, I enjoyed the mixed media of emails and different narrations. I did not love the main characters, they were very deeply flawed to the point of being unrelatable. There was an honestly and rawness that I appreciated, but it was hard to get past my dislike for the main characters.

I wanted to love this book. I was excited for the storyline. I figured it would be a feel-good love story about two people rekindling a forgotten romance from years ago. Instead, I was left very disappointed. I did appreciate the way it was written. I like how it had both Adin and Lilly's point of view. I also liked how it had snippets of their emails and texts. It was a refreshing way of writing and showed different points of view, which I appreciated. What I didn't like, unfortunately, was the main characters. I just thought the story was much too drawn out, and I felt as if both characters were just very whiny and juvenile. It almost seemed to me like the story was written while they were still in college by how back and forth they acted.

All in all, it was still a good book. I wanted to give up about 30% into the book, but I kept reading and I'm glad I did. It did end up picking up around the halfway mark, but I do think that the whole book itself missed the mark that I was expecting out of it.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

What happens if you fall in love with your college best friend, never tell them and then don't have any contact for the best part of ten years?

Introducing Adin who met and fell in love with his best friend Lilly whilst they were at college. However, Lilly never returned to Ohio University after the first year. Not that this stopped Adin thinking about her, wondering where she was, what she was doing etc. A chance conversation with another college friend leads Adin to find out that Lilly is in the middle of getting divorced. Insist makes him call her parents home in Beaufort and leads to their first meeting in almost ten years. It doesn't go well. What follows is a series of emails between them, their friends and family.

With the opportunity to see how things unfold from both Adin and Lilly's perspective. Flashbacks to their time in college and the 'what could have been' moments. The story starts slowly, however, I was soon swept up in the rollercoaster of their re-acquaintance - devoured in just one day.

I enjoyed this book but there were times when I feel like it was just dragging on and on. I get some situations need second chances but didnt feel like either one of them was willing to take the plunge to see big their love was for each other. I did like how this book gave both point of views from each character and included the conversations between text,email, and letters! Thank you for NetGalley and Shadelandhouse Modern Press for picking to give this book honest review!

Tasha Cotter and Christopher Green have given us two messed up people in "Us, in Pieces" (Shadelanhouse Press 2019) who are as much in pieces at the end of the book as they were throughout the story. I really expected to enjoy reading Us, The plot sounded interesting and the construct of using various communication devices was appealing. And who doesn't like a story where two people are trying to find their way to each other?

Lily and Adin are past the fresh dew of youth having met in college and now deep into their post graduate years. They each have gone onto careers and in Lily's case marriage and divorce. Through the machinations of friends and relatives they are brought back together and proceed to reestablish their relationship. They have left the friend zone and are grappling with the idea of being together.

Through first person narration of texts, emails, letters and actual events a reader can follow along their paths. What I found was two whiny obnoxious people whose happy place is found mulling around in their respective brains. I've never seen so much mental masturbating before in my life from two characters at this age. Such neurosis is not pretty or even enjoyable to read.