Miss You

What if true love doesn’t really exist?

Miss you alternates between the separate lives of Tess and Gus over a span of 16 years. Their lives periodically intersect without either of them knowing. Throughout this time, each contemplates what true love looks like and if it even exists.

Both characters face the death of a close family member early in life and struggle to have a meaningful connection with anyone afterward. Feeling like outcasts, they walk the line of doing what will make their families happy, trying to become who they truly are. We follow their internal struggle to become something more and to be content with themselves.

I was emotionally invested in the lives of each character. Both Tess and Gus felt unbelievably real and show more easy to relate to. The situations they faced that were in no way sugar coated. I struggled with the amount of cheating in the book and the casual nature of it.

Additionally, I wasn’t ready for the end. It felt like the entire book was leading up to a particular moment. As that moment arrived, I felt like there was so much unsaid. I truly hope the author writes a second book continuing from where she left off.

If you like realistic fiction this book is for you. show less

In 1995 Tess is inter railing through Italy with her friend Doll and awaiting the A level results which will make her the first in the family to go to University. Gus is in Florence with his parents, a family fractured by the death of Gus' brother. The two bump into each other a couple of times but it doesn't really register. Over the next 16 years Tess and Gus make their own ways in the world, oblivious to each other until they meet and then it all becomes clear - they were meant to be together.

Giving a plot synopsis like this makes me feel as though this is the last book I would be interested in reading and yet I loved every second of it! Tess and Gus are likeable characters and, whilst I felt real frustration with their actions and show more lives, they are sympathetic and relatable. Yet it still has a lot of social commentary on class, prejudice etc, loads of little asides that place it firmly in the era that is the subject of that section and a good dollop of pathos which is handled well. This is far better than run of the mill chick lit, Eberlen has crafted a genuinely warm book that wraps round you - it almost wants to be read on the sofa in winter with a mug of hot chocolate, it's that cosy. show less

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Talk about destiny and meant-to-be. This is a clever premise - the story of Tess and Gus, who, by fate, seem to be in one another's vicinity many times throughout their lives, but somehow they do not connect. Told in alternating chapters about each character's life, the reader is taken through the parallel stories as Tess and Gus survive tragedies in their lives and learn from their mistakes. Each story could be a stand-alone novella and I was fully engaged in their journeys. The writing is witty and the plots and subplots are believable and interesting. This is a great beach read.

Fate or chance? Does destiny exist or is everything random? Statistics can explain everything, right? Could you be happy with a number of different people or is there only "The One" for you? If there is just one person for everyone, is there a perfect time to meet that person and what happens if you meet them before you or they are ready? Questions like these come up very frequently when people talk about love and the answers can be debated indefinitely. In Kate Eberlen's new novel, Miss You, the main characters cross and recross each others' paths for years, never quite making the connection that brings them together. Does Fate keep bringing them together until she gets it right or are these chance encounters just that, chance? Tess show more and Gus are meant to be, or are they?

Tess and her best friend Doll are in Florence towards the end of their last vacation before Tess goes off to university. Gus is in Florence with his parents as they all face the sudden, shocking loss of his older brother. Tess and Gus run into each other in a beautiful, quiet church and then again on the street in Florence but they each go their own way, returning to the lives that each had planned. This may be the first time they come across each other, but it certainly won't be the last.

When Tess gets home, she is blindsided by the fact that her mother is very ill. Her five year old sister's care all falls to her and when their mother dies, Tess's dreams of university die with her. Someone has to be there to take care of Hope and that someone is Tess. Nothing about her life is the way she planned it. Meanwhile Gus is not in charge of his own life either, compelled to live up to a memory (one that perhaps isn't as honest as it should be) and choosing to train as a doctor because that's what his father wants for him and that's what his brother was doing. Like Tess's, his life is far from what he once dreamed and wanted. Both characters go along living their lives sometimes seeming to move towards each other and other times away. As they go about their daily lives, experiencing events major and minor, there are constant near misses between the two of them, times where they might have connected or met but didn't, times when they crossed each others' paths but didn't pause, times when their lives almost intersected but then didn't.

The novel is told in chapters alternating from Tess's first person perspective to Gus's first person perspective so neither of them know how close they occasionally come to meeting the other but the reader sees them slip past each other time after time after time. Spanning 16 years, the chapters sometimes jump in time, showing Tess and Gus at major decision points in their lives and giving the reader the general shape of their lives. But their lives are not parallel, nor are they combined except in the very beginning in Florence and when they finally meet in the end. For the majority of the novel, they live very separate lives, without any knowledge of each other and their situations. Both of them are damaged by their losses and face difficulties that reverberate throughout their lives and relationships. Gus always feels he's competing with his dead brother and coming up short. Tess not only becomes the primary caregiver to her sister, where things get even more complicated when their father essentially checks out after Hope is diagnosed with Asperger's, but she also lives with the fear of dying young of breast cancer just like her mother. Neither of the characters is entirely likable and Gus especially does some pretty reprehensible things but they are very real, the both of them.

The separateness of their two lives and therefore the two plot lines might cause some readers a bit of frustration but Eberlen seems to know just when to insert a near miss to remind the reader that while these two are currently living lives unknown to each other, they are in fact close enough to touch. Because of the first person narration, it can be hard to know the secondary characters and sometimes the reader needs to be reminded that these minor characters are being filtered through the main characters' eyes. After so many years of Tess and Gus passing like ships in the night, and in some ways that journey is everything, the ending feels rushed even if the reader knew that's where it was going all along. Leaving aside the predictable quickness of the ending, this is definitely a different and interesting take on the "what ifs" of life. A worthy addition to your beach bag for sure. show less

Absolutely loved it! I think some books just find a way into your life at the right time and this might be a case of that. Maybe six months from now I wouldn't feel quite the same way but this was just the perfect read for me at the moment. The premise isn't really groundbreaking as it's just a story about two people who meet in Italy and share a brief moment in time but go back to England alone. The book follows their lives for the next 16 years as they experience heartache, love, etc..

On an emotional level I just really connected with the characters, particularly Tess. I had a feeling early on this would be a tear jerker and sure enough it was. This might be a depressing read for some but I couldn't put it down as there is something show more about following characters over the course of years that just gets me every time. Really loved this one!

I won a free copy of this book from LibraryThing but was under no obligation to post a review. All views expressed are my honest opinion. show less

At eighteen, Tess Costello and Gus MacDonald both face obstacles that threaten their future happiness. After her mother passes away at a relatively young age, Tess is left with an ineffectual father and a special needs sister, four-year-old Hope. The child frequently and loudly acts out in public. Gus, who is guilt-ridden after his older brother dies in an accident, reluctantly applies to medical school to appease his grief-stricken parents. Tess and Gus meet briefly now and then, but their lives take different trajectories. They each enter into relationships with high expectations, but the joy they seek seems to be just out of reach.

"Miss You," by Kate Eberlen, spans sixteen years, from 1997 to 2013, with Tess and Gus telling their show more stories in alternating chapters. We learn about their childhoods, parents, siblings, and friends. In addition, we observe them dealing with adversity, dreaming of careers in the arts and literature, and trying to find the one person who will accept and understand them. Eberlen depicts Tess and Gus as flawed but sincere individuals who pay dearly for their missteps on the road to maturity. We also encounter other memorable characters, including Tess's best friend, Doll, an attractive young woman with a knack for getting what she wants. Meanwhile, Gus is attracted to Lucy, a pretty and good-hearted classmate whom he meets in medical school.

Eberlen explores the unexpected detours that Gus, Tess, and others take during the course of the novel. She also thoughtfully deals with a number of grim issues: autism, cancer, divorce, bereavement, and adultery. Fortunately, there are welcome passages of humor that offset the scenes of heartbreak, and the author delights us with mini-travelogues of Tuscany and mouth-watering descriptions of deliciously prepared food. "Miss You" is poignant, heartfelt, and engrossing, but it is weakened by a cliché-ridden and predictable conclusion. Still, "Miss You" is an ambitious and compelling work of fiction about dashed prospects, the futility of regret, the value of forgiveness, and life's bittersweet irony. show less

Miss You is Kate Eberlen's absolutely wonderful debut novel.

I loved the cover as it reminded me of a patchwork quilt. And then I looked a little closer at the pictures in the letters. It is two people who always seem to be headed in a different direction, never quite meeting. And that is the premise of Miss You.

Miss You opens in 1997 when both Tree (short for Teresa) and Gus are on holiday in Italy. They both happen to visit a church at the same time, exchange a few words and then go on with their lives.

Eberlen has created rich, full lives for both Tree and Gus. But not perfect - their lives are also filled with loss, grief, anger along with the happy moments. Miss You is told in alternating chapters, in the same time frame, from the show more two as the years progress. And unusually for me, I didn't have a favourite - I liked them both the same. I became so caught up in each of their lives and kept reading 'just one more chapter' to see what might happen next.

What happened next, but also where. For you see, in every new time period, there's a moment when their paths cross. Not directly at first, but in passing, without recognizing that they've already met.

"We think we choose our friends, but perhaps it's only just a matter of chance."
"Do you believe in the one? As in, there's one person out there who's destined for you?"

With every new entry and years passing, I found myself hoping for that 'star-crossed lovers' moment that their paths would cross. Do they? Will things come full circle? I'm not saying - you'll have to read Miss You to find out.

I adored this book - it's warm, witty, heartwarming and real - with a touch of just maybe.......I'm looking forward to what Kate Eberlen writes next! show less