Between the Pages

Nadia and Daniel are two commuters who get the same tube every morning (or whenever Nadia gets up on time to make it). They don’t know each other but Daniel would like to get to know Nadia so places an advertisement in ‘Missed Connections’ a local newspaper section dedicated to people who have seen someone on their commute who they would like to get to know.

And so begins a series of messages between the two, a number of failed attempts at meeting, and several near misses. Will ‘train guy’ and ‘coffee spill girl’ get it together? Read on and find out…

I listened to the audiobook of Our Stop, and thank goodness I did. Because honestly if I had been reading the physical book, I would probably have thrown it across the room in annoyance. To give them their due, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Felix Scott did a great job of narrating Nadia and Daniel, who both told the story from their point of view. I also liked the idea of it – two people meeting in what is essentially an old fashioned way; there was scope for romance, humour and surprise. But this book unfortunately did not work for me. The main problem was with the two main characters; in Nadia’s case, the author gave Nadia a highly skilled job in artificial intelligence as a shortcut to demonstrating that Nadia was an intelligent, modern and independent woman. What would have been more convincing would have been to have actually portrayed her as those things. Instead, she is shown as incapable of setting an alarm because she keeps getting drunk (you’re an adult for crying out loud – you should know how to set an alarm and get to your well paid job on time). She misreads obviously signals, and gets jealous when her best friend and work best friend grow close.

Daniel is portrayed first and foremost as a very woke (I bloody hate that expression but it’s appropriate here) and socially aware young man. So far, so good. Except that I really don’t need it ramming down my throat in every sodding scene. At one point he and his mate are discussing a TV show called Lust Villa (obviously based on the actual abominable TV show Love Island) and he is saying things like, “I just think it’s so hetero-normative.” Purrlease!!! He is almost a parody character at times, and drove me potty. And the date at the end of book was vomit inducing.

Sorry, but it’s just my opinion, and I’ve no doubt that lots of people probably loved this book, so don’t be put off if chick-lit is your thing. I listened to the end because once I’ve started a book I feel the need to finish it, but it definitely is not my thing!