Book Review and Giveaway: The Best Thing I Never Had

By Becky Gulc

**Giveaway is now closed**

The Best Thing I Never Had by Erin Lawless is another fantastic debut novel by an author I'd happily read further novels from in the future. But whats it all about?

This book is about seven University students who couldn't be closer in their university heyday in 2006/7. It's about bonds developing and breaking, and asks whether broken friendships or relationships can ever be repaired later in life.

The novel starts in the present, 2012, when two of the friends, Nicky and Miles, announce their engagement and we are shown the different reactions to the upcoming wedding by the other five friends. To say there is some apprehension about all getting together again after five years is an understatement. With the apprehension building up, the questions surrounding what went on between this set of friends to break some of the bonds allow us to go back in time to 2006/7 for the first half of the novel.

Here we learn what university life was like for this set of four female and three male friends. With one couple in love, a couple of cases of unrequited lust and love, and an awkward developing romance that could fracture long-standing friendships, there is a lot going on.

Without wanting to spoil what goes on, needless to say I was intrigued to see how the wedding in 2012 would pan out following what is basically a big messy fall out amongst several members of the group at the end of University. What happens in 2012 is covered in the latter part of the novel.

I enjoyed the narrative and was drawn in immediately, wondering why each character had so much angst about attending their friend's wedding, and it worked well by having a good chunk of the novel set in the past and later the present, without constantly flitting between the two.

I found the number of characters confusing for quite a while when reading this, but my head soon got around who was who, and who felt what about whom else, but I did keep having to do a little recap in my head initially. It wasn't long before I felt strongly about what I wanted to happen/not happen between the characters and who I felt was in the right/wrong when events unveil themselves. Because I felt so strongly, I was almost shouting at the book at some points when I could see where it was frustratingly going. I think i would have found it a little less frustrating if Leigha's feelings for one of the friends had been covered in more detail in the early parts of the novel; this seemed minimal, so I had little empathy to her feelings for the most part though.

Overall, I thought there was good character development, particularly for those whom I considered to be the more central characters of Harry, Adam, Leigha and Johnny. By the end of the first half, I couldn't wait to find out what happens in the present and whether my hopes for the characters were realised. I was very happy with how things were tied up at the end, it felt realistic rather than contrived.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. If you want to be reminded of University days and how happy yet complicated friendships can be (in a more care free time in someone's life as well as when older), this may be the book for you. I'd love to see some of these characters feature in Erin's future work.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK for the book in exchange for an honest review. They have TWO e-books for some lucky readers anywhere in the world! 

How to win:

Please tell us about someone from your past you'd like to reunite with.

One entry per person.

Please include your e-mail address or another way to reach you if you win. Entries without contact information will NOT be counted.

Open worldwide. Giveaway ends April 16th at midnight EST.