The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me

by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice

[Leah]

As soon as I heard about Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice’s debut novel The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me, I thought it sounded brilliant! I really like novels that are about friendships and not just current friendships, but ones that have been going for years and years, and especially when it’s friendships between girls and boys. I know, girls and boys can’t be friends yada, yada, yada, but I sometimes feel that they can and I was very, very interested in Holly and Alex’s story. There’s seemed different to most girl/boy friendships, and I was very pleased to receive an early review copy. I couldn’t wait to get stuck in, because if I love any kind of books more than girl/boy friendships I also love dual narratives. So I was really only ever going to love this book, because it just ticked ALL of the boxes for me.

The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me is, as I’ve already said, about Holly and Alex. Holly and Alex haven’t seen each other for eleven years, after Holly decided to go and confess her love and found Alex not entirely interested in what she had to say, so she left their home town for University having not said a word. Now, eleven years later, Holly’s working as a PA, sleeping with her boss (though it’s not that kind of deal, he isn’t married, it’s an actual relationship – though it’s also a secret relationship) and she’s happy. Until Alex comes barrelling back into her world, having just got a job at a school in London, and reminds Holly of just how easy their friendship used to be. Until it becomes something more than friendship, but is Holly willing to put her feelings on the line again, and are they actual, new feelings or just residual ones from eleven years ago, and how does Alex feel in all of this?

I really, really loved The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me, I knew pretty much from the first page that I was going to enjoy it. Sometimes you just know, and I just knew. Holly and Alex’s friendship bursts from the page, and the Prologue just reinforces that feeling inside you. The narrative then skips back and forth between Holly and Alex, in their new lives eleven years since their last meeting, but it also introduces us to key moments from back when it all went pear-shaped, and I loved those little tid-bits. It felt like I was spying on their teenage selves, and I just wanted to bash their heads together (something I felt quite frequently whilst reading). That’s the thing with a dual narrative – if YOU the reader knows how the characters are feeling but the characters are oblivious (because they’re always oblivious, bless their little heads) it does lead to a sense of frustration, but I never felt frustrated while reading because as much as I wanted Holly and Alex to admit their feelings for each other, I sort of enjoyed seeing them dance around the matter, it made it worth for when (if?) it eventually happened.

The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me is such a special, enjoyable book. I literally raced my way through the pages desperate to see how it concluded and if, indeed, the title would still be true come the final page. There was a really worrying moment towards the end where I thought it was all going to go pear-shaped (AGAIN) but the ending was absoutely satisfying, and it sort of suited the book perfectly. The whole book was just so brilliant! I loved the see-sawing narrative, going from Alex to Holly to Alex to Holly, it’s always great to be able to see into the thoughts of your two main characters, and the two people you sincerely hope will end up together come the final page and these were two real, wonderful characters that you truly come to care about. The whole book was so warm, so witty and so wise, about second chance love and it’s a lovely tale of how friendship can survive almost anything – even an eleven-year separation, that’s the mark of a true friendship and Holly and Alex’s tale will stick with you long after you’ve finished. Laura and Jimmy are fantastic writers, and I could barely tell that it was written by two different authors and it’s written so well, and I just loved every single page