Fisher meets Ivy and before they know it, Ivy is pregnant. Ivy told Fisher they didn’t need contraception so, although he is happy about the news, he does wonder whether Ivy intended to get pregnant. Ivy is in her early forties so I was also wondering if she’d heard the tick tock of her biological clock. At one point I was worried that Ivy was just using Fisher as a sperm donor. I’ll not spoil the story but suffice to say, nothing is ever as it seems.

The characters are all excellent. Fisher is a genuinely lovely guy and he’s still best friends with his mate, El, from school. Fisher and El have remained close following Fisher’s personal tragedy when the pair visited the cinema when he was a teenager. El has been diagnosed with Huntingdon’s disease and his partner, Phil, is struggling to cope so Fisher and Ivy do as much as they can to support them. Ivy’s brother, Frank, is hilarious when he comes to stay at Ivy’s flat. He’s perfectly described as a big hairy caveman! Ivy has had to live with the scars of her own personal tragedies so at times, when I found her slightly cold or aloof, I had to remind myself of what she had gone through in her past.

It’s really refreshing to read a story from a male perspective once in a while. It touches on some sensitive subjects that are told with compassion and a depth of feeling that frequently moved me to tears. I felt incredibly emotional at the end of the book and had to sit and reflect for quite some time afterwards. Usually I pick up my next book before the cover of the last book closes, but it’s a sign of such an amazing book when I paused to wipe my eyes and had a few moments alone with my own thoughts.

We received copies of this book from the publisher for our book club. One lady's first impression was that it was slightly predictable when Ivy got pregnant, but she wished she hadn't spoken so soon as it is anything but predictable.

An outstanding debut novel. I laughed and I cried - Andy Jones has found the secret recipe for a perfect book. You’ll not need a tissue when you read this; you’ll need the whole box! ( )

William Fisher and Ivy Lee meet and embark on a nineteen-day, sex-filled fling that, in the end, seems not to be just a fling. They've realized they're meant for each other.

And that is the start of a roller coaster ride over the next year. Falling in love is easy. Staying in love is more challenging. Can they manage it?

This is literary fiction, so plot isn't really a factor here. That said, the characterization is very good. Fisher--he prefers to be called Fisher--tells the story in first person. He's struggling with issues from his own past; he's struggling to understand things Ivy says and does, including her divorcing brother's extended stay in their flat.

Ivy is struggling with her own issues and her own attempts to understand Fisher, and we learn about her worries and fears and insecurities the same way Fisher does.

This is a wonderful story of the hard part of love--building a life together. Fisher, Ivy, and their friends and family are worth taking the time to get to know.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

This is a love story, but not exactly a traditional one. Fisher and Ivy both work in the film industry where they meet and begin their romance. When our story opens, they have had a wild and all-consuming nineteen day fling, and both of them know without a doubt, that they have finally found "the one". What they don't know is that their new relationship and their love for each other is about to be tested in a very big way. The next year of their lives will push them together and pull them apart as they face the uncertainty of the future and all of the heartache and joy that it holds. This story takes you on a beautiful and emotional journey that will tug at your heart strings, make you laugh, and open your eyes to all that it takes to help love survive.

Bettina P. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

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We’ve all read those lovely head-over-heels stories of people who fall in love with the assumption at the end of the story that they live happily ever after…like some kind of fairy tale. Real life is just a bit different. That’s what drew me to The Two of Us by Andy Jones, because he’s not just looking at the giddy “I’ve lost my mind” stage of falling in love but what happens afterward – what it takes to stay in love. Relationships take work, not necessarily hard work but work nonetheless. Most romantic fiction seems to ignore that reality like the plague, which can tend to make us real-live humans feel like failures if the fairy tale part of being in love isn’t a 24/7, 365 day/year, forever phenomenon. How cool is it that someone is finally looking at that in a way that’s also entertaining as well as touching?! Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=9018 ( )

A light but well-conceived romantic novel about a couple who become pregnant almost as soon as they get together, and have to find out about each other over the course of the pregnancy.... No huge surprises, but some lovely little observations about life, love, loss and the modern relationship. ( )