Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Everything Between Us
SERIES: Pink Bean #3
AUTHOR: Harper Bliss
PUBLISHER: Ladylit Publishing
LENGTH: 240 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2017
BLURB:
The only size that matters is your heart’s.
When phD student and Pink Bean barista Josephine Greenwood meets her feminist idol Caitlin James she’s starstruck. But when Caitlin starts showing a more than friendly interest in her, Josephine can’t believe Caitlin’s advances are genuine.
Her issues with her own body and how people see her threaten to cut off any prospect of romance before it has the chance to blossom. Will Caitlin be able to break down the walls Josephine has built around herself and open her mind to the possibility of romantic happiness?
REVIEW:
As always when picking up a book by Harper Bliss I know it’s going to pull on my emotions, this one was no different, however it pulled on more of my angry emotions than feel good ones.
This story is told in first person, present tense, something I’m not a huge fan of but Harper manages to do well. However, being stuck in someone’s head who starts to grate on your last nerve isn’t a good thing.
Initially, I thought I’d found a kindred spirit in Josephine. Most women who have struggled with their weight, and societies views on being overweight, will be able to relate. My heart went out to Jo when she recalled her mother moving the pavlova out of her reach, and other little things that were done to help but did more harm.
So while I could relate, for the most part, I felt the issue was overdone. When Jo started saying things like, “Am I some sort of pity project for you? Or do you get a weird kick out of dating a fat girl?” and making many other self-deprecating comments, when Caitlin showed her nothing but desire and kindness, it wore damn thin. Jo’s beloved younger sister was born with Down’s Syndrome, and while I’m sure her love for her sister was supposed to endear Jo to the reader it made me dislike her more! One would think having a sister born with a disability would put life a little more into perspective.
Moving on, there are a lot of subplots going on – convincing Jo she should sing, a lovely poem Caitlin recites that the reader isn’t privy to the lyrics, Jo’s flatmate and her boyfriend making the decision to move in together, two of the heroines from a previous Pink Bean story talking of moving in together, the issue of not being able to orgasm with a partner, and to cap it off Caitlin doesn’t believe in monogamy and Jo does.
In summary, this story felt like a filler to me. Sure there were some touching moments and it’s well written, but there were so many loose threads, and due to my dislike of Jo, I didn’t ‘love it’.
Will I read the next in the series? Of course. I loved books 1 & 2 and as the saying goes, you can’t please all the people (me) all the time.
RATING: 
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