My Five Word TL:DR Review : Michael and Marnie go Walking

You Are Here by David Nicholls is a step away from my usual reading.  I read One Day a long time ago by this author and it always stayed with me so on a whim I decided to request this one and to be honest, it didn’t disappoint.

This is a story about two individuals that seem to be living in the shadow of life.  Time is passing by and both feel like their chances have come and gone.  However, one very persistent friend, is absolutely determined to work her magic and throw a few of her friends together and see what happens.

So Marnie and Michael meet on a walk.  From the start things seem to go wrong.  The weather is unkind.  One of the friends doesn’t turn up and Marnie is attracted to someone who also dashes off in a hurry.

A bit of background.  Michael is a teacher with a love for geography.  He and his wife were struggling in their relationship and have now separated and Michael is struggling to come to terms with this often taking himself off on long solitary walks.

Marnie rushed into a marriage that always seemed a little ill fated only for her husband to leave her for another woman.  She now spends most of her time working from home, editing books and living a fairly quiet existence.  Neither of them want to be cajoled into socialising so being thrown together on a rather challenging walk definitely leads to some funny situations.

To be fair there isn’t too much I can tell you about this.  It does exactly as you would expect.  It’s a charming and well told story of second chances and finding love in places you’d least expect.  The writing is enjoyable and there’s a consistent pacing as we travel from place to place, climbing peaks, suffering sore feet, being drenched by torrential rainfall and gradually spending some time unwinding together at the end of a day having achieved a rather strenuous hike.

I liked Marnie and Michael.  They’re both a little grumpy at first – well, Marnie makes an attempt at a little dressing up and light flirting but when this goes wrong she is absolutely determined to prove that she can do this challenging walk.  She has a good sense of humour that I enjoyed and the banter between the two is good fun.  Michael is curmudgeonly and ill kempt at first appearance, he likes to wax lyrical about rocks and really doesn’t put too much effort into anything, but to be honest, he’s simply got used to keeping his own company and not really having to try and please others.  He simply wants to walk – by himself.  Is it really too much to ask?

Overall this is a lovely read.  Light and amusing.  If you’re looking for that perfect beach read I highly recommend this.  It’s a heartwarming read with characters that have become hurt by life and have shied away only to find out that love is still a possibility – which isn’t to say everything goes swimmingly of course – you’ve been warned.

I received a copy through Netgalley. courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars