Just Like You: A Novel

A newly divorced mom of two, Lucy wasn’t looking for love when she met Joseph, a twenty-two-year-old who works at the butcher shop and still lives with his mother. He is different from Lucy in every way imaginable, and yet they have a connection that Lucy has never experienced with anyone before. As Joseph and Lucy navigate their budding relationship while also exploring romances with other people, and with Brexit as the backdrop, Nick Hornby crafts an artful narrative about love and living in the moment.

While a contemporary romance at its surface, Just Like You offers a glimpse into British politics, existentialism, and social stigmas, making it more than your average chick lit novel. The prose moves with quick-witted pacing, and the interactions between Joseph and Lucy provide humor as well as warm fuzzies. The unpredictable ending offers numerous implications for readers, again taking it one step beyond the expectations for a novel of this genre. Overall, an interesting and fast read that will give readers something to chew on, even days after finishing the book.