How We Met

by Katy Regan

[Leah]

Katy Regan is an author I’ve both enjoyed (One Thing Led To Another) and really did not enjoy (The One That Got Away). So when I heard of her third novel I was a bit concerned I wouldn’t like it. But I had to buy it because I really, really liked the sound of it. I love books about groups of friends. They are so rare, as most Chick Lit novels are consumed by other things. How We Met sounded like it would be a brilliant book because how exactly can a group of friends continue to be the exact same group of friends when they’ve lost a vital member, when they’re grieving their loss. I was mighty impressed with the novel. I really, really loved it.

How We Met does what it says on the tin. It’s about a group of 6 friends – Mia, Fraser, Norman, Melody, Anna, and the linchpin, Liv. A group of 6 friends who become 5 when Liv dies on holiday in Ibiza, appearing to fall into the sea to her death. We open with Mia talking to Liv in a garden, and although we never actually meet Liv bar a few pages at the beginning, she’s the novel in a nutshell. Everything that Mia, Fraser, Melody, Norm and Anna do is, in some way or another, related to Liv. So when Norm finds a list of things Liv wanted to accomplish before she turned 30, the friends see it as something they must complete, something that will keep Liv alive in their minds. As the weeks and months pass, and things come to light the friends never expected, the list seems to be the only thing keeping them together, as without Liv, it just isn’t the same any more.

How We Met absolutely and utterly blew me away. From the first page I was captivated by the storyline, by the characters, by the writing. The writing, perhaps, was what surprised me most. Third-person present tense and rather than follow all 5 friends, we followed Mia and Fraser, perhaps the two most important people in the group and the ones who could perhaps be construed as to have the most guilt over Liv’s death. Normally I don’t get on with third-person writing, but Katy Regan nailed it and I was captivated by the book. It absorbed me, and even when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it and wondering what was going to happen next. It was that kind of novel. Regan’s writing seems to have matured so, so much since her last novel and this novel was spot-on.

I thought the characters and plot were superb. The friends and the friendships and the way they acted toward each other rang so ridiculously true it was unreal. They felt like proper character, proper friends. Because so much focus was on Mia and Fraser these were the two characters I cared about most. Mia was so sweet, and lovely, and I just wanted the best for her and her little boy, Billy. I adored Fraser from the start, even when he was being a bit of an idiot (a regular occurrence, sadly, but I still adored him which says it all). I just kept hoping he would wake up and smell the coffee and realise what was in front of him and that nothing, absolutely nothing, could bring Liv back. Melody, Norm and Anna add some nice balance to the novel and even though they weren’t always front and center, I did find them to be fascinating characters.

I think How We Met was an utter triumph. It was everything I wanted in a novel and I was so impressed. It made me laugh, it made me well up with tears, it made me frustrated (in a good way), and despite the fact it’s not the happiest of novels, it never felt depressing. Regan’s writing is sublime, and although the novel took me nearly two weeks to finish, I never forgot a bit of it. I actually was so sad to finish the novel, and you know it’s been a good book when you don’t actually want to finish it! I thoroughly recommend How We Met. It’s the best novel about friendship I think I’ve ever read and I have never, ever known a dead person to be so, so important and so prevalent in a book, and that isn’t even a bad thing, as Liv seemed so cool, and it would have been nice to know her a bit better than just through friends. I loved the book. It blew me away and I can’t wait for Katy Regan’s next book because this one was off the scale fantastic.