The Three Of Us was much different than I expected it to be, but I am happy to say that I liked it. It’s the story of a wife, her best friend, and the wife’s best friend- who is basically the the third person in the marriage of the couple in the book.

I liked the three perspectives and how it was sectioned off into 3 parts- one for each character. I felt it was interesting and well written. It was definitely different than what I usually read, but the writing was solid and the pacing, the characters, and the story itself were well done.

Many thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC.

I struggled with this book. The lack of punctuation, paragraphs, and chapters made a lot of the text difficult to follow and daunting. It was hard to tell which character was narrating at different points throughout the book. The song made it really hard for me to resonate with the characters and care about the story line.

This book was so bittersweet- not the premise/what it was about, but i mean, how i’m RATING it is so bittersweet. I LOVED the cover, i loved the title. The story i felt definitely, definitely had potential, but it’s just not quite there yet- but that is ok!
I know it’s an uncorrected proof, so i’m not sure how much more will be added to the story (if anything)- i know the editing/grammatical aspect needs attention, but the story itself i felt had potential. There were a few parts that had me legitimately laughing out loud-like, cackling. I just feel overall like this book was a bit underdeveloped. I enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed what it was about, but i’m really hoping for the final revisions the grammar, editing, and even some of the structure/body gets some attention. Plus, i hope some more is added to it- the end was a major cliffhanger- which, if there’s going to be a sequel is a great idea! If not, there wasn’t any closure :(
All in all, structure-wise (due to the lack of the editing) it felt like i was reading a long email versus a book. It wasn’t too long (100ish pages or so?), and the conversations within the story rarely had quotes around it so it was a bit hard to read in that, it was tough to figure out who was talking and when. But this is an unedited version; there’s plenty of time for corrective work and structure focus! I definitely enjoyed the storyline, and to be honest when it comes out as a final version, i’d really like to re-read it and see what changed, if anything, and how it came to be in completion! I’m really looking forward to the final version!

i first want to thank netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC! my rating for this book would be around a 2.5 but i couldn't bring myself to round up to a 3. i think the story could've been interesting, but it lost steam for me at the end. one of the issues i had was the difficulty differentiating between who was talking and what was being said. there were no quotation marks used in the book, so i often had to go back and re-read parts to figure out who was speaking. the second issue i had were the long chapters. i like that each part of the book is broken up by one of the character's pov but i think it would've been great to have chapters within the parts and not just long parts. lastly, none of the characters were likable. i'm not sure if that was the point of the book, but i wish there was one redeeming likable character i could root for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for letting me read a digital ARC of The Three of Us.

The premise of the novel is different and unconventional. There are only three chapters, from the point of view of the Wife, the Husband, and the wife's best friend and third wheel in their marriage, Temi. The entire novel takes place within less than a 24 hour period and mostly inside Wife and Husband's home. We get Wife's point of view first, giving background on her and Temi's friendship, how she met Husband, and how she sees her life now. Chapter Two changes to Husband, and we get his version of their first meeting, their life together, and his opinion of Temi. Lastly, we get Temi's side of this three-sided relationship, how she feels about Wife and her life decisions, and what she wants to happen.

As you may have guessed, we are never told Wife and Husband's names. No matter the point of view, they are referred to as the wife/my wife and the husband/my husband. This is definitely unexpected and unconventional, but it seems to work well within the writing, which completely grabbed me right away. I finished this in record time. Although there wasn't a lot going on except talking, reminiscing, and drinking, it was still an engrossing story and I could hardly wait to find out what the twist would be at the end. The relationships between the three of them slowly unravels as you proceed through each point of view, learning just a little bit more every time.

The characters are, at times, likeable, sometimes empathetic, possibly loathsome, but above all you understand them. You understand that they've each made decisions that they thought were the right ones, that maybe other people didn't agree with, and that's just how life is. We all understand how that goes.

The only thing that truly detracted from this being a five star rating was the lack of quotation marks for any type of dialogue. For the most part, each person's chapter was a monologue of current and past events, memories of conversations...and it was sometimes difficult to figure out where the dialogue stopped and the internal monologue started back up.

All in all, this was an intriguing story, different from anything I think I've ever read before. I truly commend the author for a job well done!

Thank you, NetGalley, and the Publisher, for the early copy of this book in exchange for a 100% honest review and thoughts.

This book is not for everyone, and it was definitely not for me. This book follows a husband, wife, and the wife's best friend named Temi. It focuses on their lives and how their relationships with each other. Personally, I found this book quite easy to read through since nothing of consequence or importance seemed to happen. I expected more when reading the description, but it just seemed like the main character could not choose between her relationship with her best friend and her husband. Again not much happened, and I personally found the dialogue extremely hard to follow due to the format. Thankfully nothing really profound was said. This book was definitely not for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of THE THREE OF US by Ore Agbaje-Williams.

"Being yourself, I say, being true to yourself, and then of course being honest and upfront is absolutely key to any relationship. Without that, what are we? Anything built on a lie or secrets isn't going to last....My friend's husband has his brow creased in confusion. Yes, he says slowly, shocked by his own agreement with me. I nod at him and turn back to my friend and put my hand over hers on the table. That's why I think you should tell him." p272-3

This is a story in which not much happens because everything has already happened and is already happening. The reading experience mirrors the overlapping experiences and emotions of the three main characters: a Nigerian house wife living in London (I *cannot* find her name in my digital copy right now, but I think Agbaje-Williams may have intended this), her equally name-challenged husband, and Temi, her best friend. On one side, Husband is traditional, works a traditional job, has traditional wants and desires for himself, his life, and of course his wife (whom he never refers to as anything else...my wife). On the other, Temi has little use for relationships and even her history with Wife is jarringly transactional. She is preoccupied with potential--her own, Wife's, men's general lack of it, in her estimation--and she prizes above all independence -- intellectual, emotional, sexual... reproductive. And between them both thinking always what is best for everyone is Wife. Poor woman.

Throughout the book, the husband and Temi increasingly vie and compete for the attention and loyalty of the wife, who I came to think of eventually merely as, "that poor woman." These conflicts create a great deal of the tension and the entirety of the storyline that carries this book forward to its conclusion (which is unfortunately a little weak due to a complete lack of denouement, I'm afraid).

But I think the real story here is in the subtext. If you ask me, Agbaje-Williams designed Husband to represent that old undeniable patriarchy, and Temi to represent an old screechy kind of feminism that throws as many people under the bus as it tries to help. And Wife? She's stuck in the middle.

Poor woman.

One of the best things about this book is the experimental form. From big to small, Agbaje-Williams made beautiful choices to support the narrative she built. Three sections, each from a different third of this rather odd love triangle, each written in a well-developed style for the speak. In all sections, no speech indicators. No quotation marks, line or paragraph breaks, very few dialogue tags. As though to reinforce the overlapping nature of these characters voices, sections, lives.

I loved this book. Looking forward to ordering a copy of this one.

Rating 4.5 stars rounded up
Finished August 2022
Recommended for fans of contemporary fiction, women's fiction, romance, love triangles; readers looking for diverse voices and stories; readers interested in feminism

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for a honest review via NetGalley and the publishers.

I’ll be honest a book with minimal plot and heavy character development is not my go to. The author had some stylistic choices that aren’t a preference of mine as well (no chapters, quotations for dialogue)

I do love a multiple perspective piece and this book hits that! Overall I was hoping for more content to the story but appreciate the dynamic of a struggling friendship and struggling marriage and each wanting to claim the woman they know/knew. Very quick read!

A fast read however I found some of the characters to be unlikeable but I think that was partially the point

Man sometimes a book just isn't for you - and this one wasn't for me.

I found the way the book was formatted to lead to me not enjoying it. It needed smaller paragraphs, less run on sentences and more structure. I got lost within the writing multiple times, which completely confused the heck out of me.

I didn't particulary feel invested in the characters or care that much about where the story went for any of them.

Unfortunately this wasn't for me.

thank you so much to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

this book follows three characters, their interconnected relationships, and how said relationships can inevitably unravel over time. it explores the effects of differing personalities, all of which are very unique and well drawn. something else i enjoyed in this was the writing itself. the plot was interesting and i found myself surprised on multiple occassions. also, i found myself enjoying the pacing more and more with each part.

something i think that lowered my enjoyment of this book was that it was a bit hard to read. while i liked the three parts themselves, as we got the three character's differing POVs, the lack of sub-chapters made it difficult for me. also, due to the lack of quotation marks and the longer paragraphs, i found myself occassionally confused as to what was dialogue/who was speaking, and i needed to go back to reread.

overall, i found this book interesting, and i definitely liked exploring the fallout between the very flawed relationships of these very flawed characters.

This book follows a married couple, specifically one day in their lives, along with the wife's friend Temi. The story is split into three parts, narrated separately by the three characters. I liked the different point of views, especially since Temi was much more opinionated compared to the wife, who was more complacent with her life. I enjoyed reading Temi's point of view the most because she was opinionated. The husband and wife were both a little dull.

I oddly couldn't tell if I liked this book or not, solely because it was such a fast read and the ending happened so quickly. I wish the ending lasted a little longer and we could read more of the fallout, but the story ended kind of abruptly. Another thing that initially threw me off was the lack of punctuation whenever the characters spoke, but I was able to adjust to it later on. Overall, I liked the story and the writing, but I just wish the ending was explained a bit better.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very fast read that covers the day in the life of a married couple and the wife's friend. There are three sections, from each of the character's perspective.

I enjoyed the building of the story as we learn a little about each person and their past and how they met and how they relate to each other.

In a nutshell, the friend is not cool with the wife being married. She and the friend had a life before marriage and she really wants it to go back that way and will do what it takes to "rescue" her friend. She does not like the husband.

The wife is probably the dullest character even though I enjoyed her bit too. She's a little complacent and not very strongly opinionated, like her friend. She is happy to be married but she just likes doing the bare minimum.

The husband is the breadwinner. He likes being married because his wife doesn't have drama in her life and he likes things simple. And now he wants a child and the wife agreed finally that it would be okay.

The friend intervenes and the ending is pretty jarring, you are really left thinking, WTF just happened????

I really liked this and am looking forward to more from this author.

definitely a character study of marriage and having a best friend who is single and not letting things go.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. There were no high points or climaxes.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this uncorrected proof! This was a fun read, from three perspectives, a husband, a wife and their third wheel, the wife’s best friend. Great character study.. not quite a romance, not quite a drama but an overall interesting depiction of a relationship with no boundaries. I loved the three viewpoints which kept the reader invested, even though nothing major was happening or changing!. I will be looking for more books by this author!

Unique plot and a great story line. I enjoyed characters and thought the story was great! Hope there will be another book!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC! 3.6 rating probably? This was a very fast read which was a relief, but I did genuinely enjoy the writing. It definitely isn’t for everyone - the lack of punctuation for when people speak may throw some people off, and while I adjusted, I did definitely have moments where I had to read the line before to double check who was talking.

I wish the ending had continued on for just a few more moments, because I kind of read and went “wait that’s it?” It felt like the fallout needed to be included for me, and had it been added I would have definitely enjoyed it more (though I think I see what the author was trying to do!).

I did enjoy the three POVs. I found it telling that only the best friend Temi had a name, and that the husband and wife didn’t - it made sense, since Temi had a more active role than either of them have had in their own relationship. And the idea that Temi and the husband don’t give the wife a name, but instead refer to her as “my wife”/“my friend” was just such a nice detail - how they see her in terms of what she provides for them, not as who she is on her own, despite both of their insistence to the contrary. It was very well written and a very interesting book, even though I weirdly don’t know if I liked it or not.

What amazing book !! The characters were well written , the plot was unique . You can not put the book down . Once you start you won’t be able to stop , It is not a predecible book . I really enjoyed it .

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Quick read, unique story with a plot that was interesting.

Excellent book. Good story line and I love the cover. The way this book ends there will be a follow up.