Scan barcode
A review by bethandthebooks
Nobody But Us by Laure Van Rensburg
2.0
I really thought I'd enjoy this as it seemed really dark and thrilling. Unfortunately, I struggled to finish it as it's very repetitive and too long.
It follows Steven and Ellie who go on a romantic weekend-getaway for their six month anniversary. While one of them is looking forward to spending time together, the other has a much darker idea for how the weekend will pan out. Once they arrive they realise that neither of them is who they say they are and that they're both keeping secrets.
Steven is a respected professor and Ellie is a student. While I think this is an important topic to discuss, there were so many times I nearly didn't finish this. I probably would have enjoyed it if I cared about Ellie as it's a very character-driven story, but I couldn't connect with her at all even when her tragic backstory was revealed. Steven is just unlikeable from the start.
There's a great twist near the beginning that gave me high hopes for the rest of the story, but then nothing happened until the end. Steven and Ellie spend so much time talking as she tries to convince him that what he's doing is wrong, but he can't see it. It's so repetitive and I was skim-reading most of it. It just felt like we were going round in circles. The way the narrative flows isn't very smooth either. It abruptly flips between the past and the present with some diary entries dotted throughout. I was disappointed with the ending as it felt very rushed and I thought it didn't match up with the synopsis. I was expecting it to be so much darker.
While this is an important topic to discuss, I found the book disappointing and not what I was expecting.
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
It follows Steven and Ellie who go on a romantic weekend-getaway for their six month anniversary. While one of them is looking forward to spending time together, the other has a much darker idea for how the weekend will pan out. Once they arrive they realise that neither of them is who they say they are and that they're both keeping secrets.
Steven is a respected professor and Ellie is a student. While I think this is an important topic to discuss, there were so many times I nearly didn't finish this. I probably would have enjoyed it if I cared about Ellie as it's a very character-driven story, but I couldn't connect with her at all even when her tragic backstory was revealed. Steven is just unlikeable from the start.
There's a great twist near the beginning that gave me high hopes for the rest of the story, but then nothing happened until the end. Steven and Ellie spend so much time talking as she tries to convince him that what he's doing is wrong, but he can't see it. It's so repetitive and I was skim-reading most of it. It just felt like we were going round in circles. The way the narrative flows isn't very smooth either. It abruptly flips between the past and the present with some diary entries dotted throughout. I was disappointed with the ending as it felt very rushed and I thought it didn't match up with the synopsis. I was expecting it to be so much darker.
While this is an important topic to discuss, I found the book disappointing and not what I was expecting.
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*