Sub-par, unfulfilling and not particularly engaging - a tale set against the backdrop of the Brexit vote which was not particularly satisfying.

This was a fun easy read. I laughed aloud quite often as I read which is always a good sign. Lucy is a school teacher. She married young, had two children and followed the script to a tee but realised eventually they she wasn’t actually happy so when we meet her she is on the verge of divorce and although she isn’t looking for new life, it finds her in the most unexpected of places. Joseph, working at the butcher counter meets her for the first time there, an encounter which is the start of something entirely new and unexpected. He’s almost young enough to be her son, and his background is not remotely similar to hers, but they really hit it off and love blossoms in the most unlikely of places.
This is a fun, easy real, another enjoyable creating of Nick Hornby who I find never disappoints!!

When single mum Lucy was looking for a babysitter for her two sons, 22 year old Joseph seemed the ideal candidate. With the boys safe at home, Lucy embarks on a few dates, but gradually comes to the realisation that the person she’s most attracted to is Joseph. Can love survive a 20 year age gap and the censorship of others?

I really enjoyed Just Like You. As with all Nick Hornby books, events move along at a gentle pace, with many incidentals interspersed with the main drama, in this case the Brexit vote and aftermath. The characters of both Lucy and Joseph are well rounded and the interactions work well. And, although she doesn’t appear very often, Joseph’s mother is another great character. Her feelings about Joseph and Lucy’s relationship are complex, as would be expected.

Another great story from the pen of Nick Hornby.

I found this an interesting idea. We can date someone with everything in common and the correct socio-demographic and it leaves us flat. In comparison we can find ourselves with someone who is not at all appropriate but the connection and chemistry is undeniable, Lucy is divorced with two pre-teen sons. She is ready to get back into dating and she has been set up on dates with appropriate men of the right age and class. Instead she finds a connection with a man from a younger generation, different race and class. They don't even share similar hobbies or interests. But there interest in each other escalates quickly. The biggest issue is how will her friends and the rest of society judge her.
I found this easy to read with a steady pace. but overall it didn't have a huge impact on me and I'm already struggling to remember the details. Entertaining but not my most memorable read.

Honest, revealing and warm account of contemporary love and relationships.

Hornby shows us here that he isn't just a master of articulating the male viewpoint, he creates a heartily credible female lead as well, flitting between the two as we watch an unusual love story spark to life.

Two very unlikely souls live their lives out - Lucy, the 40-ish Mum and English, almost-divorced from an alcoholic, and Joseph, 22 and holding down several jobs while he works hard at creating the music he loves.

Lucy is Joseph's customer in the butchers', and her babysitting needs force the two to speak more at length. With a mutual attraction on both sides, reticence to act on it, flirty text messages and finally movement that begins a relationship, we move between Lucy and Joseph's viewpoints as they each consider the 20-year age gap from their very different lives and stances.

I enjoyed the creation of the world of each character too, Joseph's Mum, sister and friends, and his part-time, multi-job lifestyle, the way he interacts with a young woman his own age. Similarly, Lucy has screen-fixated children, an ex-husband, and a potential (similarly-aged professional) love interest that all contrast strongly with Joseph's.

Hornby gets to show us modern life from both sides at the same time, the disparate races/cultures, ages, the two very different sets of values and interests (this is set in the just-post-Brexit Britain).

I'm a near-contemporary of Lucy, literary-minded myself, similar age, children and interests, so I more strongly empathised with her views, but I loved how Hornby writes the younger man. His attitude towards dinner parties and grown-up conversations, his cringing at her dancing, but also his conflicted feelings about an older woman he clearly feels strongly about.

The relationship feels real, evolving naturally as the pair puzzle out where it can go, where they want it to go. It's not a fairytale, mistakes are made, dead ends taken. It's messy and confusing but also exciting and loving. It's love, it's what real life love is.

Amusing, insightful and a story you feel invested in, I really want this to make it to the screen alongside its brothers. Could be his most accessible and widely read book so far, with audiences on both sides of the 'gender divide' wanting to know how Lucy and Joseph end up.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.

I was really excited about receiving Nick Hornby's newest release. I have high expectations for Nick Hornby. Unfortunately, Just like you did not meet them. It was an okay read.

We follow Lucy, who is searching for love during a particular atmosphere: the backdrop of the Brexit vote.

Even if it was a quick read, I was really bored. I did not really like Lucy so I could not relate to her and her story. In the other hand, I really like how the author picture different people, all trying to find a new place in this world post Brexit. Besides, it is really well written.

In conclusion, this book might not be for me, but I'm sure it might interest some of you!

It's quite a while since I’ve read a Nick Hornby novel, so when I spotted this one I thought I'd give it a whirl. Just Like You is a love story set in a period of time leading up to the referendum and beyond.

Protagonist Lucy is white, middle class, in her early forties and teaches English at a state secondary school. Separated from alcoholic and drug addict husband Paul, she lives in North London with their two sons Al and Dylan. This wonderfully entertaining tale begins with an amusing scene at the local butchers, between Lucy and her friend, Emma. Joseph, the other protagonist, is black, twenty-two, works part-time at the butcher's, is a lifeguard at the leisure centre, is also a part-time football coach, babysits and occasionally DJ's. He attends church every Sunday with his mum, with whom he still lives. Lucy and Joseph are polar opposites, and nobody could have predicted that they would be a match as they met over the butcher counter. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect...

With humour present from the outset Nick Hornby bestows the reader with intelligent, astute and tender insight into a relationship that defies ordinary societal boundaries. As Lucy and Joseph venture into a relationship, they face hurdles in terms of their ages, differing political and cultural backgrounds and the narrow mindedness of others.

I absolutely loved the humour and dialogue between many of the characters in this book. Conversations between Lucy and Joseph highlighted their many differences. Although there were other fellas who might have been a better match for Lucy, I found myself found wanting their relationship to survive even knowing they faced an uphill battle. There was a lack of bitterness or recrimination which is unusual in a love story, especially when there are hurdles to overcome. The characters were emotionally mature so that Lucy came across as calm, efficient and pragmatic in dealing with her feelings for a younger man. Joseph, for his part, was an untypical twenty-two-year-old, displaying great maturity yet still able to indulge his immature side when he wanted to.

Nick Hornby's intelligent style of writing allowed the descriptions of their relationship to be realistic and insightful. Just Like You was easy to read, and I could engage fully with Lucy and Joseph’s predicament. I thoroughly enjoyed watching their progression as a couple, and I appreciated that this love story was not sugary sweet or too sentimental. Though questions were raised about acceptance of relationships between people from different backgrounds, this was approached with a light, comedic slant that did not deter me from reading on. An appealing, wise and funny novel that should not be missed.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Penguin via NetGalley at my request, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

I was excited to receive Nick Hornby’s new novel. This book is a twenty-first century love story that follows our main character Lucy and her life finding love against a backdrop of broken Britain in 2016 after Brexit.

I struggled to get into the story, I have little interest in reading about politics, (I didn’t realise politics would be an important aspect of the story) and I found it a little boring reading about Brexit and the decisions and disappointments that came with it.

That being said, I did enjoy following Lucy’s journey in finding her way in the world and enjoyed her as a main character.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read Just Like You by Nick Hornby in exchange for an honest review.

Just Like You tells the story of the unlikely romance between 42 year old Lucy and 22 year old Joseph and it's not just the age gap that sets them apart. On the face of it they seem to have very little in common, their backgrounds, interests and friends are poles apart but despite this they seem to click.

Their story is set against the back drop of the Brexit vote and Nick Hornby gets the atmosphere and attitudes of this period spot.

Just Like You is an easy, page turning read.

I was given a copy of Just Like You by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Another good book from Nick Hornby, this time looking at relationships and disappointments against a backdrop of a broken Britain in 2016.

It was an interesting book depicting people from very different backgrounds starting afresh and finding their place in a new world. However, not as good as some of his earlier works. The characters felt a bit 1 dimensional in it with all the younger characters having very little interest in politics, all the middle-aged middle class characters voting remain, all the middle class older characters voting leave and all the middle-aged lower class characters being tricked by the 'bad government' into voting leave. This to me felt like a vastly over simplification of what happened. It felt like a cast of misfits all put together to prove a point, but none of the cast having much depth to them or their views. It just felt abit patronising in places.

That aside, the rest of the book did have enjoyable moments in it. Lucy was an interesting main character struggling to make her way in the world after the end of her marriage and the end of her faith in people. It was well written and I wanted to find out what happened to the characters within, I just wanted to like it more than I actually did.

It's been a few years since I last read a book by Nick Hornby, in particular 'High Fidelity' and 'About a Boy', and being books I greatly enjoyed I was then very keen to read Hornby's new release, hoping it would be full of the interest and humour in previous books of his. Sadly, how very disappointed I was. The book is mainly set in a very white middle-class part of London, where our main character Lucy lives with her two young teenage boys. Having split from her husband, who we find out was an alcoholic and drug user, she is still seeking some companionship as she enters her early forties. As the plot has it, so she meets Joseph, a local part-time butcher, who is half her age, black and coming from a very different background. Whilst there are different issues being explored in this book, mainly through Lucy and Joseph's relationship with the issue of class and cultural differences, the real overarching and disappointing part about the book was that it was wholly based on stereotypes. Whilst we all know of course, stereotypes do derive from somewhere, and we do know that racism and such other unacceptable opinions from people exist in society, sadly against different groups. However, in the current cultural climate of 'BLM', this stereotypical divide made me feel very angry, that the author - of a white middle class background himself - had portrayed events and society in such a way! I too am a white teacher and whilst not overtly open about it, I would consider myself middle class with the type of house and area I live. However, in the current climate, schools and other such organisations are currently promoting 'BLM' against the portrayal of stereotypes. The suggestion in the book that all while middle class people are racist, with references to views on Brexit, how 'Southerners' (aka Londoners) see things (as opposed to Northerners), and at a school quiz night the suggestion that only a black person would recognise pictures of black celebrities seems very narrow minded. I know many white middle class teachers who gladly delivered food packages to vulnerable families during the recent lockdown, and who would also recognise many celebrities of different backgrounds, including those from a black background. I don't know anyone from my profession who sends their children to private school or who reap the benefits selfishly of their own salary without thinking of others.
Joseph at one point also accuses Lucy of being racist, as she suggests he may know some people who are good singers - in my opinion, a logical thought as he is working in the music industry, nothing to do with his race or colour - but that he takes to mean only 'people of his colour can sing'. This to me suggests that if all comments people make are taken in such a way, then some people need to take the chip off of their shoulder and perhaps take some comments at genuine face value - which is what I felt Lucy was doing. I'd have actually been outraged if I were her! However, it then seems ok that Joseph is able to have his own uninformed opinions that if a white middle class man is rude, then he must be one of those 'arseholes who follows formula one'! The suggestion that people who follow formula one has anything to do with class, race or being an unkind person again I felt was quite unjustified. I'm sure Lewis Hamilton would have an opinion on this! In the cultural climate where we are striving to narrow any kind of division between class and race, all this book did was highlight how narrow minded this can all be presented by a very middle class white man. Whilst I'm not denying that racism and such issues do not exist, especially in particular circles, to present it in such a way for me just clearly shows the lack of creativity and sheer empathy the author has really given this issue, especially with such recent events. My thanks go out to netgalley and Penguin books for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this. Sadly, I will not be recommending this book and will not be reading another of Hornby's books again.

I'm no going to lie, it took me a few chapters to get into the book, but I was glad that I didn't give up on it.

The relationship between Lucy and Joseph seemed unlikely at the beginning but reading how they gelled together via the relationship of Joseph and her sons made it realistic.

Joseph seemed to be like most 20-something-year-olds I knew and I liked that about him. His family dynamics were well thought through.

The fact that the book was written through Brexit added another feature to the "love story", as much as I have heard enough about it, the fact that Joseph sat on the fence actually made me feel less guilty for having the same views.

I would like to rate the book a 3.5 but it doesn't let me so I'll add on an extra half to be kind.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the early read.

This was an easy book to read with characters that I felt were relatable. The story is of a relationship between Joseph a young 22 year old black guy and Lucy a 42 year old separated, white woman with two kids.
I liked how the narrative was written and could easily imagine how the conversations between characters were taking place.
The subject of the impending referendum vote was an interesting mix to the relationship.

Excellent. I really enjoyed this. Essentially it’s a love story, a rather unlikely love story, between a 42 year old white middle class woman and a 22 year old black working class man. What I liked about the book is its even-handed approach to what in lesser hands might have ended up as a melodramatic tale of star-crossed lovers battling society’s prejudices. But here Hornby tackles his subject with insight, intelligence and a real understanding of human emotions. There are some serious subjects tackled here – racism, the fall-out from Brexit (and although some reviewers have said this dates the book, I beg to differ, the fallout is still very much with us and will be for some time to come), divorce, alcoholism and so on, Hornby never makes a drama out of a crisis but allows his characters time to move through their dilemmas with empathy and understanding. A great read.

I found this to be a good read, not as engaging as some of Nick Hornby’s previous books but still well worth reading.

Nick Hornby is back and as brilliant as ever. With his masterful use of dialogue, Hornby explores barriers to relationships and the impact of Brexit.
Telling the story of the unfurling relationship between Lucy and Joseph, Hornby deftly tackles differences in generations and ethnicities and the impact both have on our understanding of others and of building relationships across these potential divides.
Nick Hornby is a master of characters and dialogue – this is a book you won’t want to put down.

I thought Just Like You was going to be much more of a fluffy, escapist read than it actually was – and that’s no bad thing. It’s a poignant, perceptive and entertaining novel about what happens whn we fall for someone deemed ‘outside of our usual circle’ – in whatever way that may be. In this story, 42-year-old mother Lucy begins a relationship with 22-year-old Joseph, and it’s not just the difference in ages which proves to be a point of differentiation between them – Joseph is black, and Lucy is white.

Just Like You is wonderfully written and very perceptive (though I’d expect no less from Nick Hornby) and, as it’s set around the time of the Brexit referendum, it brings back so many memories of what Britain felt like during that time. The observations and details given are perfectly presented, transporting me back to 2016 and the rifts that were suddenly built between people who you’d never imagine to be ‘voting the other way’.

There’s obviously plenty of talk about relationships, sex, and what makes two people fit together (or not) and it’s all written in such a way that I don’t feel like it’s ever cheesy or cliched. The plot flows brilliantly and the characters drew me in: they’re likable and feel convincing and realistic, like people I could meet on the streets of North London (where I’ll be moving to in a few weeks’ time, incidentally!)

I’d happily read more about Lucy and Joseph, and felt sad when I had to say goodbye to them at the end of the novel. Definitely recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I haven't read anything by Nick Hornby before but have heard lots of good things so thought I would give it a try. I was expecting heart-warming, funny but thought provoking and while this can be described as that it all felt a bit too forced for me to be lauded. I couldn't really relate to any of the characters and found the backdrop of the Brexit vote uncompelling. I found it slow going and a chore to read in parts, but did want to see how everything developed. I did enjoy the kids.

Well written, but not for me.

The book is about a relationship between an older woman and a younger man of a different race. It takes place in the backdrop of a changing world with Brexit. I thought the book read well with interesting characters, and it was funny in places. The only downside is that it did lack a bit of direction in places, but I guess that can be true to life. It perhaps did not tie up everything at the end.

Nick Hornby is the master of writing imperfect but lovable characters and this was no exception. A look at what happens if love finds you in the most unlikely point of your life and how a couple that might seem good to the outside world might not be the couple that should be together. Thanks Netgalley!