When a couple of copies of You, Me, Everything by Catherine Isaac arrived as surprise book post I was thrilled. One was for me and one to pass on so I have given that copy away to fellow blogger Sarah at Sarah’s Vignettes and I hope she enjoys it too. Now I’ve read You, Me, Everything, I’m even more thrilled to have received such a surprise through my letterbox.

You, Me, Everything will be published by Simon and Schuster on 19th April 2018 and is available for pre-order through these links.

You, Me, Everything

You and me, we have history.
We have a child together.
We have kept secrets from each other for far too long.
This summer, in the beautiful hills of the Dordogne, it is time for everything to change.

My Review of You, Me, Everything

A summer in France will bring more than a suntan for Jess, William and Adam.

Pass me the thesaurus. I simply do not have adequate vocabulary to express how much I love You, Me, Everything. Let me be honest, it isn’t the most literary work of fiction I’ve ever read, it doesn’t have a heart thumping plot with visceral murder and psychologically challenged protagonists, but I absolutely adored every moment of being submersed in the lives of those in France. I truly believe it will be hard to beat You, Me, Everything for my book of the year in 2018.

What appeals to me so much is the natural style Catherine Isaac writes with. The direct speech is perfect so that it’s like listening in on real conversations. The descriptions of the area are so evocative that they appeal to all the senses and enable the reader to place themselves alongside the characters and experience exactly what they are experiencing. The general flow of the novel is seamless with the perfect blend of present and past events that gradually reveal all kinds of information. The plot too is wonderful. There are twists and revelations arising so genuinely that I found myself enraged, uplifted, devastated and touched in a rollercoaster of emotion. Underpinning it all is considerable humour too so that I found myself laughing aloud at times and smiling through tears at others.

The themes too are utterly sublime. I can’t say anything about the major one as it will spoil the story for others, but let’s just say that Catherine Isaac has done her research meticulously and woven this strand into the plot with consummate skill. The exploration of love, relationships, parenthood, grief, friendship and identity make reading You, Me, Everything feel like sharing an experience in humanity and life. Not a single word is extraneous; every syllable contributes to the joy – and it is joy – of reading You, Me, Everything.

The way the characters are presented is genius. I absolutely loathed Adam at the start and could quite happily have got in the car, driven to France and punched him. He evoked such strong feelings of hatred and indignation. However, Catherine Isaac ensures the reader has to adapt and adjust their feelings and I won’t say more than that! I really don’t like children and usually find their representation in books twee or unnatural but William was a triumph. Not only did I feel I could tolerate him – I actually wanted to meet him! But it is Jess who holds my heart. She is so vividly human that it is hard to accept she’s a character in a book and not a real person. Having finished the book, thinking about her can still reduce me to tears – and indeed I sobbed on the train reading You, Me, Everything.

I didn’t read You, Me, Everything. I lived it. I loved it. I will never, ever forget it. I want to shout it from the rooftops that EVERYONE should read You, Me, Everything. It is, for me, quite perfect.

About Catherine Isaac

Catherine Isaac was born in Liverpool, England. She studied History at the University of Liverpool, then Journalism at Glasgow Caledonian University, before beginning her career as trainee reporter at the Liverpool Echo.

She rose to the position of Editor of the Liverpool Daily Post and wrote her first book, Bridesmaids, while on maternity leave, under the pseudonym Jane Costello. Her nine subsequent novels were all Sunday Times best-sellers in the UK.

You Me Everything is her first book writing as Catherine Isaac.

She lives in Liverpool with her husband Mark and three sons. In her spare time she likes to run, walk up mountains in the Lake District and win at pub quizzes, though the latter rarely happens.

You can visit Catherine’s website for more information and follow her on Twitter @CatherineIsaac_. You’ll also find Catherine on Facebook.