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The Mess Of Us
“Dear World, so, obviously we made a mess of it. Inevitably. Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing to you again, would I?”
What do you do when the man who beat your boyfriend into a coma is about to be released from prison? What do you do when that man is your boyfriend’s older brother who wants to make amends?
Now a couple, Lou and Joe are struggling to get over the traumatic events of two years ago. When Joe’s brother Leon is released from prison, they must decide if either of them are able to forgive and forget what he did.
Meanwhile, an unexpected pregnancy throws their lives into chaos and when tragedy reawakens Lou’s self-destructive tendencies, she faces losing everything they have built. Can she fight her body image demons once again? Can either of them trust Leon? As Joe and Lou try to decide whether bad people can truly change, they are about to have one mess of a summer.
What do you do when the man who beat your boyfriend into a coma is about to be released from prison? What do you do when that man is your boyfriend’s older brother who wants to make amends?
Now a couple, Lou and Joe are struggling to get over the traumatic events of two years ago. When Joe’s brother Leon is released from prison, they must decide if either of them are able to forgive and forget what he did.
Meanwhile, an unexpected pregnancy throws their lives into chaos and when tragedy reawakens Lou’s self-destructive tendencies, she faces losing everything they have built. Can she fight her body image demons once again? Can either of them trust Leon? As Joe and Lou try to decide whether bad people can truly change, they are about to have one mess of a summer.
271 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 14, 2025
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About the author
Chantelle Atkins
45 books77 followersI have been writing stories since I was a very young child, and I write for the same reason I read a lot; I have to! It is always the character that comes to me first, usually a unique and persistent voice with a particular dilemma or circumstance. The rest of the story and plot will flow from there, but I will have had many conversations with the character before I start to write! I love writing dialogue, and personally wince when I read dialogue that seems unrealistic or false. I think my work is character driven,and falls under the gritty contemporary fiction genre.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 7, 2025
Chantelle Atkins is noted for her raw, gritty, earthy writing, often exploring life's underbelly up-close-and-personal, and often behind closed doors. This is exemplified by her short novel, The Mess of Us, the sequel to her equally powerful, The Mess of Me. The first novel introduced us to Lou, a conflicted but durable young protagonist entering the early adult years of her life. She continues her challenging journey in this mesmerizing tale, dealing with her ongoing relationship to Joe , the young man beaten senseless by his brother in the first book and still plagued by demons, and even more with her internal emotional and mental conflicts haunting her sense of self-worth. Lou struggles with her role in the ongoing messiness of life, unburdening herself to the one subject grounding her survival: her unborn baby, to whom she is telling this tale of burgeoning adulthood.
Chantelle Atkins uses Lou to convey some hard-won wisdom - raw, gritty, earthy, and life-serving. One passage, in particular, grips the reader by the throat as Lou gives her unborn child a potent lesson on surviving the messiness of life.
“But do you know what sucks most about life? How you can't duck out of stuff, no matter how bad you want to. How you can't just say no, fuck off, not doing it. How you have to get on with it, again, and again and again.”
Gritty, raw, and true, this inadvertent morsel of sage advice sidles up to another suggested revelation by the author as she edges toward the story's climax. A kind of redemption seems to find its way naturally into one's transition from youth to adulthood, even if that redemption is complicated, incomplete, and messy. The reader is left rooting for (if uncertain about) the futures of Lou and her group of wayward friends.
Chantelle Atkins uses Lou to convey some hard-won wisdom - raw, gritty, earthy, and life-serving. One passage, in particular, grips the reader by the throat as Lou gives her unborn child a potent lesson on surviving the messiness of life.
“But do you know what sucks most about life? How you can't duck out of stuff, no matter how bad you want to. How you can't just say no, fuck off, not doing it. How you have to get on with it, again, and again and again.”
Gritty, raw, and true, this inadvertent morsel of sage advice sidles up to another suggested revelation by the author as she edges toward the story's climax. A kind of redemption seems to find its way naturally into one's transition from youth to adulthood, even if that redemption is complicated, incomplete, and messy. The reader is left rooting for (if uncertain about) the futures of Lou and her group of wayward friends.
January 21, 2025
The Mess Of Us
I had the pleasure of reading this brilliant tale twice as an early reader. This is the sequel to The Mess of Me which I loved too.
This is a moving young adult story written in a diary style to the baby of eighteen-year-old Lou and Joe.
Lou hates putting on weight. She discovers she is pregnant and the family rally around to support the young couple. I loved the touching parts with Lou supporting Joe when he is reunited with his vicious brother. And how Joe came to terms with grief and how Lou grew up in the process. She began to understand the reasons why Joe's druggie brother believed in the way he did. And, surprisingly, he entrusts her with a secret she must keep.
The friends grow up, life changes.
Lou and Joe are both so likeable you just want to give them both a warm hug. Especially Joe! He's a rare kind of boy.
Lou's friend Marianne is the opposite. She is about as toxic as you can get! But she has a vulnerability too which was always there.
There is a softening, compassionate edge to this story which understands but doesn't excuse villians who can be damaged too.
Highly recommended for YA readers and anyone who loves stories about growing up.
4 stars 🌟
https://mjmallon.com/2025/01/21/book-...
I had the pleasure of reading this brilliant tale twice as an early reader. This is the sequel to The Mess of Me which I loved too.
This is a moving young adult story written in a diary style to the baby of eighteen-year-old Lou and Joe.
Lou hates putting on weight. She discovers she is pregnant and the family rally around to support the young couple. I loved the touching parts with Lou supporting Joe when he is reunited with his vicious brother. And how Joe came to terms with grief and how Lou grew up in the process. She began to understand the reasons why Joe's druggie brother believed in the way he did. And, surprisingly, he entrusts her with a secret she must keep.
The friends grow up, life changes.
Lou and Joe are both so likeable you just want to give them both a warm hug. Especially Joe! He's a rare kind of boy.
Lou's friend Marianne is the opposite. She is about as toxic as you can get! But she has a vulnerability too which was always there.
There is a softening, compassionate edge to this story which understands but doesn't excuse villians who can be damaged too.
Highly recommended for YA readers and anyone who loves stories about growing up.
4 stars 🌟
https://mjmallon.com/2025/01/21/book-...
February 14, 2025
I had the honour of reading this as an Advanced Reader Copy [ARC). You know how sometimes a story fills you with warmth and you utter the words – This book…ah, this book at the end and for a long time afterwards? The Mess of Us is this book.
I fell in love with the wonderful characters beautifully written by Chantelle Atkins.
Lou is pregnant and eighteen. She tells her story to her unborn baby. Her boyfriend is Joe, and along with his two brothers, and her friend Marianne, the story evolves around them.
It’s menacing in parts, and it deals with social issues of life in the city and on a housing estate. The angst of teenagers growing up and the problems they encounter was challenging. As a result storyline kept me hooked from start to finish.
To be able to tell a characters mood just by the way they sit, takes skill. A quirk of an eyebrow, a grimace, or silence tells us so much about a person. That’s what kept my attention throughout. It was so sad and poignant in parts making me fill with the emotion of these characters who like real people.
I absolutely recommend this story. It’s truly wonderful
I fell in love with the wonderful characters beautifully written by Chantelle Atkins.
Lou is pregnant and eighteen. She tells her story to her unborn baby. Her boyfriend is Joe, and along with his two brothers, and her friend Marianne, the story evolves around them.
It’s menacing in parts, and it deals with social issues of life in the city and on a housing estate. The angst of teenagers growing up and the problems they encounter was challenging. As a result storyline kept me hooked from start to finish.
To be able to tell a characters mood just by the way they sit, takes skill. A quirk of an eyebrow, a grimace, or silence tells us so much about a person. That’s what kept my attention throughout. It was so sad and poignant in parts making me fill with the emotion of these characters who like real people.
I absolutely recommend this story. It’s truly wonderful
February 9, 2025
Oh brilliant as ever. Totally and utterly transports you into another world and you become immersed in it. The world is partly familiar, I grew to know and love these characters in the previous book plus it draws greatly on the thoughts and feelings of being a teenager and the trials of life this presents. The other murky underworlds are just beneath the surface and we are shown how close they can be for anyone and how anyone could so easily get drawn in due to circumstance.
The feelings are raw and familiar, almost too familiar based on the main theme which I don’t want to spoil but unfortunately have experience of, albeit in later life. The more sensitive themes in the book are exquisitely handled very thoughtfully and insightfully and couldn’t have been written better, in my humble opinion. The way the book gently draws in overlaps from a previous series is also a dream and feels seamless. I’m not doing a great job of writing up how much I loved reading this and how sad I am to have finished it. More please!
The feelings are raw and familiar, almost too familiar based on the main theme which I don’t want to spoil but unfortunately have experience of, albeit in later life. The more sensitive themes in the book are exquisitely handled very thoughtfully and insightfully and couldn’t have been written better, in my humble opinion. The way the book gently draws in overlaps from a previous series is also a dream and feels seamless. I’m not doing a great job of writing up how much I loved reading this and how sad I am to have finished it. More please!
March 11, 2025
Mess of us
Again, another terrific book. It continues the story of the teenagers, two years after the previous book finished, again tackling subjects important to young adults. Excellent writing and engrossing.
Again, another terrific book. It continues the story of the teenagers, two years after the previous book finished, again tackling subjects important to young adults. Excellent writing and engrossing.
March 2, 2025
3.5 stars - I did enjoy the book - it was a good sequel to the Mess of Me. I was keen to know what would happen.
February 27, 2025
This book is a sequel to The Mess of Me, and it was so great to revisit the characters two years later. By now, Louise and Joe have turned 18 and are navigating their first steps into adulthood and their best-friends-turned-couple dynamic. When an unexpected pregnancy and a horror from their past reemerge, Lou begins to wonder if their love can survive. Like the first book, it deals with heavy, everyday topics, but there's a hopefulness baked in, too, making it a satisfying and compelling read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews