Before I Met You

I’ve read quite a few of Lisa Jewell’s books, but I didn’t realize this was a historical fiction novel until I started listening to the audiobook. Honestly, it had potential early on but I ended up greatly disliking it for a variety of reasons. Most of the characters made poor choices and unrealistically faced unequal consequences, which made the outcomes highly unbelievable. Also, the descriptions of many characters were grossly fetishizing, especially for POC characters. I also took issue with the narrator (a white woman) doing certain voices for characters with accents. This is partially to do with how Jewell wrote the characters, but still felt ick. With historical fiction, there is often has a very thin line between accurate and insensitive. I struggled with this one on the time jumps back to the 1920s, but the current day storyline’s descriptions were just poorly done, both in regards to specific characters and the poverty of urban spaces/who lives in them. Finally, the romance aspects of this book just drove me up a wall. I try to be open minded with historical fiction as there is often a romance arc within them, but all of the characters treat their romantic interests so poorly and still are somehow forgiven and taken back with little question. It’s just so infuriating to me. This one was definitely not for me.

Loved this book! A perfect summer read for those chick lit and general fiction readers out there. It will have you rooting for both Betty and her grandmother, Arlette!

I liked it a lot. Mainly Arlette's story, she's a great character. The story itself seemed predictable at the beginning but then it picked up and I didn't see the twist coming. This part of the book it's set in one of my favourite time periods, the roaring 20's, so that only added to my liking. And the jazz, of course. Now Betty, I found her to be a little... stupid sometimes, and it was quite annoying but I got to liked her towards the end. And I definitely loved John, he made Betty's part of the story bearable and he's just so lovely <3 The writing flows and the characters all feel very real. At times it felt a little dramatic but all in all, it's a good book.