Review | Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell

Author: Lisa Jewell
Published: October 15, 2013 (July 19, 2012)
Publisher: Atria (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 448
Format: ARC/ebook
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Women's Fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
After her grandmother Arlette’s death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs—all the usual preoccupations of a woman her age—in order to care for Arlette in their dilapidated, albeit charming home on the English island of Guernsey. Her will included a beneficiary unknown to Betty and her family, a woman named Clara Pickle who presumably could be found at a London address. Now, having landed on a rather shabby street corner in ’90s Soho, Betty is determined to find the mysterious Clara. She’s ready for whatever life has to throw her way. Or so she thinks . . . 

Review 
I received this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

This book seemed to be in three parts. You have Betty's childhood and growing up on the island with her step-grandmother, Betty living in Soho, and Betty solving the mystery. The first part of the book was pretty good. It was enjoyable but unsurprising. During the second part, the mystery is introduced and Betty goes off to try and solve it. At first, things seem to be moving along, but then they kind of go to a standstill and you see Betty doing this and that while you get pieces of Arlette's past. During the last part of the book, the pace all of a sudden picks up again as the mystery finally starts fitting together. Unfortunately, this happens very late in the book, so I spent most of the book trying to force myself to get through everything.

The mystery its self was pretty good. There were multiple layers and it was sufficiently hard to find out given the time periods and backgrounds of the characters. This made it all a lot more exciting when it all came to a close, but there was a lot of other stuff mixed in. It seemed like the story should have focused more on the mystery. I became bored in the middle of the book because Betty was making no progress and so there was very little development.

The characters were very interesting. I loved Arlette. She was probably my favorite character. She was mysterious and unique. She had a fiery personality while seeming delicate. I was shocked as some of the things that happened to her in her past.

The Asian lady that lived below Betty was also a very unique character. O.O

It was a very good story and an interesting mystery, but the development on the mystery happened kind of slowly and then all at once. I think it would have been more captivating if the mystery had been solved in more bits and pieces. I would recommend this to fans of Jojo Moyes.