The Two of Us by Andy Jones

Out Now
Published by Simon and Schuster
Purchase from Amazon here



The Blurb:

If you loved One Day and The Rosie Project, you will fall head-over-heels for The Two of Us.

Falling in love is the easy part. What matters most is what happens next...

Fisher and Ivy have been an item for a whole nineteen days. And they just know they are meant to be together. The fact that they know little else about each other is a minor detail. Over the course of twelve months, in which their lives will change forever, Fisher and Ivy discover that falling in love is one thing, but staying there is an entirely different story.

The Two of Us is a charming, honest and heart-breaking novel about life, love, and the importance of taking neither one for granted.


My Review:

Welcome to the world of Fisher. Be prepared to enter a world of love, loss, family and friendship. I loved this book and it bought out many emotions in me. I laughed, I got frustrated and angry at times, and I cried (buckets).

The Two of Us is a fantastic book which focuses on the relationship between Fisher and his new girlfriend Ivy. They have only been together nineteen days, and when we meet them they are full on in those feelings of early relationship lust and thinking that the person they are with is just perfect and 'the one'. Quite quickly things change when Ivy discovers she is pregnant. The world and relationship changes quite dramatically from then onwards.  Do they know eachother well enough? Are they as perfectly suited as they thought they were? Is their love bullet proof and real? Does Ivy love Fisher or has he fallen foul of a trap?

As well as the relationship between Fisher and Ivy we also see into the world of his close friendship with El. El has a degenerative disease that is stealing his life from him. As his condition deteriorates he changes from a young man into someone who is totally reliant on others to do everything for him. He knows he is dying and wants to remain in control of the time he has left, and the timing of his demise. This friendship is pure, and beautiful, and very moving. Even though I knew nothing of them and their friendship before picking up the book, and even thought is a sub plot rather than the main story line, it drew me in. I felt emotionally attached to the characters and hated seeing the decline in El's health. I loved the way those around him still treated El as a grown man, and respected his dignity. And I loved the true friendship between them. It was at times very emotional reading, but handled beautifully by the author.

The whole book really tells the story through the eyes and perspective of Fisher, so I was naturally drawn to take his side and view on what happens. This caused me some internal debate and frustration as the book progressed. I grew to like Fisher and found myself get frustrated and angry with Ivy and her treatment of him. By the middle of the book I grew to dislike Ivy and couldn't fathom out why he was still with her and was almost leaping into the book to tell him what I thought. I wondered how I would handle the situation if this was really happening to one of my friends.

But then, as the second half of the book started everything began to change and so did my outlook. I can't even hint at events as to do so would definitely ruin the book for you, but I definitely warmed to Ivy and desperately wished to find a happy ending. The way the story is written is just beautiful and I could feel all the emotions jump out of the page as I absorbed them. The style of writing is wonderful and the pace of the book was just right. I felt I had enough time to get to know them and some of their characteristics well enough to appreciate the more emotional aspects that the second half of the book brings us.

The book was also clever in helping me challenge myself. I thought I had it all nailed. That I had summed up the characters and had my mind set on what I thought each person was like and what should happen. Then, bam...it changes and I have to admit that my preconceptions and judgements were wrong.

I absolutely loved this book. So much so that I found it hard to put down, and ended up cancelling my planned day of cleaning to sit down and be totally absorbed in it (ok, cleaning isn't glamorous or exciting, but this book gave me the perfect reason to avoid it).

The emotion of the book really grabbed me and I spent the last third of the book with tissues close at hand. It will move you to tears, I almost guarantee. But there is also lots of love, fun and warmth in the story that will also leave you feeling uplifted and in love with life. I am so pleased to have had to the chance to read and fall in love with the world of Fisher. I would highly recommend this book.  if anyone has loved Me Before You, One Day, Beyond Graces Rainbow or PS. I Love You, this book might just be perfect for you too.

Thank you for Simon & Schuster and Books and the City who provided a copy in return for an honest review.