We meet Yasmin, Alice, and a man that Yasmin sees lurking ​at school and around town ​and who she thinks is going to abduct Alice. Yasmin is a misfit and tries to win Alice's friendship at all costs.​

Alice is a popular girl at school. The supposed abductor's name is Samuel and is very odd.​ When Yasmin actually meets ​Samuel, she sees him in a different light and wants to spend time with him and his dog, Bea.

I felt bad for Yasmin just because of how she worked so hard to befriend her classmates and ​Samuel ​and how she didn't even fit in at home. Alice and her friends were quite mean to Yasmin and made it difficult to understand why she tried so hard to get their attention.

THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON is written with Yasmin speaking to​ ​Samuel ​even when she isn't with him. That​ was​ a bit​ odd and a bit confusing​​. When ​Alice does go missing​, Yasmin continues to befriend Samuel even though someone else has been accused of the abduction, and Yasmin won’t mention Samuel to the police. She seems to have some obsession with him and wants to protect him.

THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON was very different to the point of ​being ​extremely odd​ and something I normally do not read​, but ​it is​ well written and kept my interest because I wanted to find out what really was going on.

The ending was just as interesting as the rest of book and carried the same oddity along with Yasmin who will continue to haunt you even after you turn the last page. Even though THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON was not a normal read for me, my rating is a 4/5 because of the different writing style and the creativity needed to carry out the plot.​

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

True dat!

Publication Date: 7th May 2015 from canongate books.

Source: Netgalley

Yasmin would give anything to have a friend… And do anything to keep them…

First of all I read this in one sitting pretty much so beware of picking it up in your lunch hour or you may end up getting the sack. Highly addictive – the voice of the main protagonist, Yasmin, being so deliciously delightful whilst at the same time very tragically sympathetic, will mean you just simply HAVE to get to the end of her story.

Secondly I would caution against reading too many in depth reviews of this book once they start to appear (and they will, trust me) before reading it yourself. I’m going to tell you a little of the story but not much – I had no real clue going in where it was going to take me and I’m glad about that because it was purely exhilerating, sometimes sad and often very  very insightful.

Yasmin tells the tale – she has an obsession and crush on the popular girl in school, Alice. Yasmin is overweight with emotional issues and not popular at all – in fact she suffers at the hands of her classmates regularly, Alice amongst them, this does not stop her adoring from afar. One day she spots something and after that everything starts to change and she finds herself on an unexpected path.

The novel is a darkly fascinating look into one damaged girl’s psyche, Yasmin’s thoughts and actions painting a sad yet realistic picture of a teenager with issues. What Tasha Kavanagh has done to my mind, is taken a realistic core, that of a girl coming of age in less than perfect circumstances, then put her in a rather odd situation that allows a deeper and more insightful exploration of all the issues these years can bring. Wrapped up in a highly compelling, truly excellent plot that will absolutely surprise you all the time, it is one of those stories that will leave you emotionally on edge – the final sentence is definitely going to come back to haunt me.

Beautifully written, you only ever hear from Yasmin, everything is seen through her eyes and her own sometimes skewed beliefs. She is an enigmatic, not always likeable but ever captivating person to follow along with, this is a true character piece in every sense of the word.

That’ll have to do you – apart from to say, this is Highly Recommended. One of the debut’s of the year so far for me, I shall talk about it more nearer publication. If you have a “must have” list for this year I really would like to suggest you consider putting this on it.

Excellent. Really really excellent.

Happy Reading Folks!