I was invited to read this book via the Pigeonhole digital book club, and thought the premise looked intriguing. Gem and Will had been together since they were kids – and have since split up and moved onto to new lives and partners when Will is involved in a serious car crash, and left with a brain injury. When he wakes, Will has little recollection of anything from the previous couple of years, including his new partner, his new job, and the first person he asks for – is Gem.
Gem, however is a bit broken. Yes, she’s in a new relationship with a fellow teacher, Richard, that fast-forwarded a bit due to lockdown happening, but she clearly isn’t over her breakup with Will and finds the whole situation really difficult to get her head around. The man she thought was her future before he obviously hurt her – badly – is awake and thinks that they are still a happy couple. To complicate matters, it’s obvious that she’s still has strong feelings with him, but it’s indicated that he’s responsible for their break-up.
So far, so good. Will is utterly confused. Gem is clearly struggling to be around him, his brother isn’t speaking to him (is in fact in another country), and no matter how hard Will tries to find out what happened to him before the accident and why everyone is acting so weird around him, no-one will tell him. Instead they all come up with excuses as to why they can’t tell him. The guy has a brain injury! Surely someone would tell him? To me this plotline felt contrived to keep the anticipation building and pad out the book a bit – the whole ‘what did Will do?’ interested me at first, but by the time we finally find out, it wasn’t a surprise as we’d pretty much worked out what happened by then anyway. As I mentioned earlier, I really liked the premise I just felt that not telling us what happened to Will earlier made the story drag. There were also a couple of other thinks that irked me – characters demonstrating unpleasant behaviours that seemed out of character – presumably to make sure that by the time we came to a particular point in the book, we’d have taken against them and be ok with them being ‘wronged’, and a couple of far fetched scenarios – but the latter is ok, it is fiction after all!
Saying that, I was not expecting the ending (extra ½ star for that alone!) and I really liked it. I also liked Will, who seemed like a good guy who suffered a bad experience, but the real star was Gem – she was real and had genuine issues that she needed to overcome and I think she was way on the road to doing that by the end of the book. I enjoyed seeing her mature.
Somebody I Used to Love is an emotional read and It’s obvious that the author understands heartbreak, and betrayal – that really came across in the novel for me. I enjoyed the relaxed way it was written and from multiple viewpoints. It’s an easy read and I’d probably have whizzed through it if I was relaxing on a sun lounger. I’m sure this will be a firm summer favourite for those who enjoy “will they – won’t they/second chance” romances.
Published by Canelo Romance on 27th June 2024
About the author: Eve Ainsworth
Eve Ainsworth is a public speaker, creative workshop coordinator and award-winning author who draws from her extensive work with teenagers managing emotional and behavioural issues to write authentic, honest and real novels for young people and adults.
Her acclaimed award winning young adult novels explore real life, contemporary issues that are relevant to teens such as bullying, relationships and mental health concerns.
Eve’s adult debut Duckling with be published by Penguin Random House in Spring 2022.
Eve has had short stories published in magazines such as Writers’ Forum and Prima and articles posted online for The Guardian, The Metro and Booktrust. Eve is also a champion for working class voices, has set up the Working Class Writers Network and is an experienced mentor.
Please check out her website www.eveainsworth.com or follow her on X @EveAinsworth
Urban Bookworm 