Book Review: This Year’s for Me and You

Author: Emily Bell

Publisher: Penguin Books 2022

Genre: Adult Fiction (Romance)

Pages: 375

Date Read: December ’25 – January ‘26

Main Characters:

Celeste (Hannah’s best friend)

Hannah (Celeste’s deceased best friend)

Eddie (Celeste’s Ex fiancé)

Vik (Hannah’s partner)

Patrick (Hannah’s previous neighbour)

Blurb:

Hannah and Celeste have been best friends since they were eighteen, when they made a pact to spend every New Year’s Eve together. From Dublin to London, the two are inseparable: that is, until tragedy strikes. When Celeste discovers a list of Hannah’s New Years Resolutions, she is determined to complete them. Little does she know that doing so will reunite her with someone from her past… Through Hannah’s last wishes Celeste begins to rediscover life again, one adventure at a time. But could the biggest adventure of all be falling in love?  

My review:

Before I get into this book review, I wanted to give a little bit of detail into how I came to pick this book up. I don’t usually opt to read mainstream romance novels although there have been the odd one or two books that I’ve read in the past. This book was actually given to me by my mum when she was terminally ill in hospital back in 2023. It was part of a gift pack that she was given from The Lewis Foundation (https://www.thelewisfoundation.co.uk/) . They are a cancer charity that delivers gifts, care packs and support to adults battling cancer. I cannot tell you how wonderful their support was for my mum whilst she was in hospital over Christmas and I felt that it was important to mention them here. Unlike me, my mum was never much of a reader. She enjoyed reading the odd magazine and indeed she had several piles of magazines left around her house. Books on the other hand were something that she occasionally bought with good intentions of reading, maybe flicked through them a few times, but ultimately never got around to finishing. In fact, I don’t recall her ever finishing a single book… so, when she was gifted this, it promptly found its way onto my bookshelf to be read at a later date.

 As this is a book about new year’s resolutions, I wanted to read it around December/January time. Last year I was already busy reading another book whilst also being knee deep in newborn nappies and feeding equipment. So, for this reason, it has been sat on my ‘to be read’ pile for a while. This December just gone, I thought it was the perfect time to finally get this book out. As expected, it was a very easy read and packed full of festive nostalgia. As the blurb already gives away, Celeste takes it upon herself to complete her deceased friend’s list of new year’s resolutions of which there are conveniently twelve. The beginning of the book flicks between the present day and past events as we get to understand a bit of the backstory about how Celeste and Hannah first met and their pact to always celebrate the new year together. Obviously when tragedy strikes it rips a hole in the main character’s world and brings about change. Hannah’s demise is talked about in the book but thankfully not in any great detail. The story mainly focusses on the fallout from what sounds like an epic friendship. The book is split into numbered chapters, some of which also highlight the start of a new month as Celeste works her way through the year and her friend’s list, determined to tick off one activity a month. It is an easy story to dip in and out of as not only are the chapters fairly short (There’s 34 plus an epilogue), but it also includes smaller sections with clear page breaks in between.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. The characters were very relatable and the book touches on a  lot of modern-day social media trends and influences. The list of activities for Celeste to complete was an interesting mix of new experiences that make me curious as to whether to try some of them out for myself. There are two main potential love interests, and the book teases the reader at points as to which one Celeste will actually end up with. Let’s just say that I was pleased with her final choice. On the flip side, I felt that the last six chapters moved the story along quite quickly. A lot of big plot twisting events seemed to happen all at once, and I personally felt like the main character suddenly appeared to be a bit reckless compared with the rest of the book. Part of me enjoyed the sudden spontaneity but I also wanted the author to delve into those scenarios with a little bit more detail. It was all just a little bit too sudden for my liking.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, if your looking for an easy nostalgic read especially around the end/start of the year. But in my honest opinion, there are better books out there.

Star rating: 3.5 out of 5.