Between You and Us - Kendra Broekhuis - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Kendra Broekhuis

GENRE: Women's Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: March 12, 2024

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A good story about the choices confronting the main character when she steps into another version of her life. Raises some good points about decisions and regrets, but the protagonist and some writing choices left me a tad dissatisfied. Still, a nice option for readers of family-oriented drama with a partial sliding-door theme.

Plot Preview:

Leona has been battling grief since her little daughter Vera died a year ago. In a bid to repair their marriage and also to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, her husband David arranges for a romantic dinner at an upscale restaurant, even though they can barely afford it. 

When Leona enters the restaurant, she takes some time to realise that she is the same but her life is different. This wealthy David opposite her isn’t the husband she has known all these years. The luxury car David drives and the lavish home they go to after the dinner apparently belong to them. But the biggest surprise is that little Vera is alive in this alternate life. 

Now Leona faces the tough choice of ‘you’ vs ‘us’: life with her loving David or life with an aloof David but also with her dear Vera.

The story comes to us in Leona’s third person perspective over two timelines, with the past timeline updating us about Leona and David’s relationship, and the present one depicting her struggles in the alternate realm.

Bookish Yays:

😍 David: the only realistic main character. I like his depiction in both timelines, even when his flaws are highlighted. Leona’s friend Edna would have been in this section had she had a greater role. 

😍 I always like books that make me wonder what I would do if I were in the character’s place. Leona’s situation offers a lot of such opportunities, as does David’s.

😍 The frustration of wanting to conceive and the grief over the death of a child both are written in a way so raw and touching! The author’s bio on Goodreads reveals why this depiction feels so heartfelt. Much strength to her! 

😍 This isn’t a debut book but it is a debut fictional work. The author’s non-fiction roots show up at times when the content focusses on facts, but I'm not complaining as these aren't obtrusive to the flow. The stats add to the impact of certain key events. 

😍 One of the characters suffers from panic attacks, and as someone who has been through the same, I found its portrayal very realistic. Even the strategies of handling the attack are authentic.  

😍 There is a slight Christian undertone to some of the decisions and actions, especially in the second half. (I admit, this took me by surprise as I didn’t know that WaterBrook & Multnomah is a Christian publisher. Mea culpa!) I like how the religious aspect never overpowered the main theme and stayed subtle. Good for us believers as well as manageable for those who don’t. 

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 Leona was tough for me to like. At times, she seemed narrow-minded and adamant about her wishes. I wish Leona had grown on me as the story progressed. That said, I did empathise with her feelings for her child – that was her most endearing feature.

😐 The two timelines are utilised to bring us up to par with the couple’s past and present. While I found Leona’s quandary in the current timeline interesting, the rest of it was somewhat repetitive and OTT. The past timeline was much more compelling in its emotions and events, which made returning to the contemporary timeline a chore.

😐 While the plot offers a good story thanks to Leona’s unusual situation, the proceedings are mostly standard. Not much novelty here. Even the final decision is easy to guess. 

😐 The sliding-door aspect is interesting, yes. I love how Leona’s problem was not just how to get back but also to decide if she wanted to return to a life without her daughter, making the “you and us” in the title so potent. But the resolution of it was too smooth and too convenient to be believable. (Even taking into account the believability level of a multiverse timeslip.) It is a good fit for the genre and I do feel happy for the characters, but I wish the settlement of the problem had been more powerful and memorable. Also, unlike most sliding door stories, we get to see only one dimension actively. 

Bookish Nays:

😕 The “All rich people are jerks” trope is much overused in this story. I wish some of the secondary characters, especially Leona’s mother-in-law, had been portrayed in more realistic shades. 

😕 Some key moments and discussions happen off the page and we hear of them only retrospectively. For instance, when Leona decides to tell a character about belonging to another world, we don't see the continuity of that scene for several pages, and even after that, all we get is a brief reference to it, without much of the shock or disbelief or scepticism of the person who heard the outlandish revelation. Even when one such conversation with another character happens on page, the reaction of the listener is too cool and easily accepting. (I would have freaked out either in excitement or in panic had someone told me that they were from another dimension!) I wish the crucial scenes had been written in detail and more convincingly.

😕 There are several scenes involving armpit hair/sweat/poop, all of which felt crass than funny. They weren’t needed in such a genre at all, and brought down the appeal of a serious, emotional work.

 

All in all, this is a good read, but it wasn’t a memorable one for me. It was creative in some ways, and even offered a couple of surprises, but for the most way, the proceedings are easy to guess and a majority of the characters are unidimensional. 

Recommended to general fiction readers looking for an emotional book about the choices and what-ifs of life. This book would also be a great option for book clubs, and it even comes with a set of amazing discussion questions.

My thanks to WaterBrook & Multnomah and NetGalley for the DRC of “Between You and Us”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.