I really did enjoy reading this story, I was hooked pretty quickly and easily became invested in the character's story. I loved the writing style and the whole will they / won't they breath-holding moments, the anticipation was palpable. The story was full of those moments which change everything, how just one wrong decision or over-considered thought can alter the future and I loved this about the book.

The characters were well developed and I felt I knew them all really well, which, to me, has to be a sign of good writing. Hannah is adorable. I loved how invested she became in her relationship with Davey, how kind she was and how caring too. She wanted to please everyone and at times I did want to shout at her to stand up for herself and see how she was being treated; especially by George.

Davey was lovely. I felt for him and the struggles he went through with his life-changing news, I felt as if I was there with him. The way the author described what he was going through and how it affected him and others so well, had obviously come from personal experience. It made my heart ache.

This book is a wonderful read, with some great side characters, I especially liked Hannah's neighbour and her best friends, they brought a lot to the story. I was a little disappointed with the ending however, it was just too rushed and I really needed to know what happened next. Despite this, I would highly recommend this story, it was a really lovely read.

Throughly enjoyed this book, finally something that has very good character development as well and an over all well-paced story line.
The book gave me a similar feel as when I was reading One Day in December, but with a lot more quickly and funny characters. I love that we get to see point of views from both of the main characters.
The very ending seems a little rushed, but it wraps up well all the same.
Aside from all the plots point and cute little moments we do get to understand and experience the emotional trauma that the main character went through, it was indeed for me an eye opener, and I am grateful that the author had given us both perspective of the patient and the people close to them.
I enjoy the relationship of the main characters as they progressed through the book, however. as they seems to be rather intense it would have been much better if the initial part of their relationship was a little bit longer than one month.
Overall, a solid rom com book the best one I have read so far this year. Thank you Netgalley and Penguin books UK for the arc.

Thankyou to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an earc of this book. I wasnt expecting the way this book played out and it hit me in the feels. i loved the relationship between Hannah and Davey and I can honestly say ive never hated a character more than george. Will definitely read more from this author

A wonderful chic-lit romance but with real depth. Intriguing and interesting characters; beautifully written. I read it pretty much in one sitting. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy in return for this honest review.

I adored this wonderful story. Hannah and Davey seem destined to be together after Davey accidentally misdials a potential employer and gets Hannah instead. There is only one problem - she lives in London and he lives in Texas. As their friendship develops, they make plans to meet. But life has other plans and they have to put their plans on hold. What follows is a well told tale of life, love, friendship, risk taking, being true to yourself and hope. I found myself laughing, crying, and hoping against hope that Hannah and Davey would get their happy ever after. I would love the author to write a follow up as I’d really like to know what happens next. If you love ‘You Before Me’ you will love this. Recommended.

This was an easy-going romcom that I wouldnt have normally read. There are emotional drawbacks in things that I wasnt ancipitating and surprises that held my gaze. The pacing was slow and the characters were monotonous however. Even thoug it was well written, I cant see myself coming back to this.

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. Obviously I liked the sound of it, or I wouldn't have requested it but I"m sure we've all been fooled by blurb before, haven't we?

After having read the first couple of chapters, I thought this was going the way of the few books that I DNF but I persevered and I'm bloody glad that I did.

Hannah answers her mobile one evening in London to an unknown international number. On the other end of the line in Texas, is Davey. He's supposed to be calling into a job interview. After making a few helpful suggestions for getting the right number, Hannah wishes Davey good luck and doesn't expect to hear from him again.

When Davey texts Hannah to let her know that he got the job and that he will soon be relocating to London, she's pleased for him. They carry on texting, then the texts become calls and the calls become video calls.

Both Hannah and Davey begin to develop real feelings for each other and are enjoying planning what they're going to be do together when Davey moves to London in just a few weeks time.
Hannah takes the day off work and travels to the airport with a homemade sign, ready to welcome Davey to his new life . . . but Davey doesn't arrive. The plane has arrived but there's no sign of Davey. Did he take one look at Hannah at the arrivals gate and sneak out without her seeing? Hannah tries to message Davey, tries to call him but there's no answer to her messages and his phone just goes to voicemail.

When Hannah eventually speaks to Davey, she is told the reason that he wasn't able to move to England after all and it's something that just turns their worlds upside down.

I shan't say anymore due to spoilers but I loved this book. I loved the characters all of which are so important to the story and every one of them are so detailed and more than just a "place-filler".
I love how Hannah isn't the woman that so many authors seem to write about at the moment. Utterly unfulfilled, no friends, no life. Hannah has a very full and varied life. She doesn't sit at home every evening and weekend lamenting the lack of a man. She is a very strong woman who, like the rest of the population of the world, doesn't always make the right decision.

I hope with all my heart that this book gets the recognition that it deserves.

I loved this! A modern love story with a delightfully old fashioned feel. Beautifully written it was at times heartbreaking but overall heartwarming, a perfect combination for me

I liked the UK vs US colloquialisms to differentiate between the characters. However, non-UK readers might not understand a lot of the references mentioned by Hannah throughout the novel E.g. locations, behaviours etc. Overall, it was a good rom-com book which wasn’t overly focused on the romance and more so the other aspects of life.

The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook is a slow burn, complicated romance. I settled in to read what I thought was going to be an easy-going romcom to escape reality for a bit, but I shortly found myself in very unexpected territory.

The author, Elle Cook, tackles a hard, emotional subject with care and respect, and even though the story wasn't what I'd anticipated, I found myself glad my initial expectations weren't met. A love interest with a serious illness isn't exactly the usual romcom material, and, to be honest, isn't a subject I'd intentionally have chosen to read, but I'm very glad I was surprised by the turn The Man I Never Met took. I hope to read more stories like this.

I did find the pacing a little too slow for my liking, and I would have preferred that Hannah's character had a bit more backbone. Other than that, I found it well written, surprising, and a book that handles a scary subject with respect.

Thanks to NetGalley, Elle Cook, and Random House for providing this ARC for me to review.

🇬🇧THE MAN I NEVER MET🇺🇸

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Firstly, I just want to say thank you to Elle Cook, NetGalley and the publishers, Penguin, for sending me this as my first ARC review! I was overjoyed when I was accepted!

So this is a tear jerker! I went in thinking this would be an easy romance but boy did it pack a lot more than that. What starts off as a brilliant meet cute between the main characters, Hannah and Davey, soon turns into an emotional rollercoaster!

Davey, an architect from Texas, accidentally calls Hannah when interviewing for a new job in London. Things quickly start to blossom and connections deepen. Not to much time passes before excitement builds as Hannah waits to greet Davey at the airport but then things take a horrible turn for the worse.

I was instantly hooked on these two characters journey both as individuals and what they brought out together with their friends and families. And I will tell you one thing, never has a book made me so thirsty before! I seriously wanted a Pina Colada or a coffee every few chapters! However, I can’t do an honest review without a spoiler so here’s your warning for the next part…




…

I absolutely hated a character called George. His control over Hannah and his fixation on her body image made me so cross! I appreciate this may have been intentional so we, as the reader, knew they were never a good fit however, I just wish this wasn’t such a big feature as it was so unhealthy and I don’t think it helped strengthen Hannah’s character.

I can’t wait to read more reviews on this and see the physical copy later on in the year!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for letting me read this great book!

I gave this book a 4.5 rating bumped up to 5. This book took me through a roller coaster of emotions and could definitely empathise with the main characters. A well written romance novel with a unique situation and there was good character development throughout.

my first book by this author! the ending was quite predictable but other than that, i loved the characters and the romance.

I was lucky enough to be sent an advanced reader copy of The Man I Never Met via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC, and thank you to Elle Cook for writing such a lovely summer read!

Hannah lives in London and gets misdialled by Davey, who lives in Texas, USA. He is interviewing for a job in London but calls her by mistake, Hannah wishes him luck and they keep in touch as kind of internet pen-pals.
This isn't an unheard of concept if you were raised with the internet (how many of us milennials DIDN'T have an internet boyfriend - though ours likely weren't real!).

I very much enjoyed how well-rounded each of the characters were. Our female lead, Hannah, is a whole person with flaws, motivations, various relationships and interested. I related a lot to her!

I really enjoyed the slow-burn 'are we lover's?' story but it doesn't stop there. This story grapples with some real issues that I wasn't expecting. We watch Hannah go through heartbreak, feeling lost and searching for direction. I couldn't put this down in places and stayed up through the night reading!

Elle Cook does a wonderful job of bringing us into Hannah's world. I really enjoyed how she captured the joy of each season throughout through careful details and gave us a real sense of how time passed along Hannah's journey. This was a really lovely touch of purposeful description!

WARNING: This next paragraph contains spoilers. If you've not yet read The Man I Never Met yet, exit out of this review and go start the book!! You won't regret it!
-------------------------------------------------------

I won't go into too much detail - but if you've read the book, you'll know what I mean.
The ending was relatively obvious. By this I mean that I felt that we were handheld excessively through the ending. I would note, as a nitpick - throughout the story we are reminded of little tidbits of info that I found repetetive, some callback moments are nice but we can put two and two together!
However I do think this ending was so heartwarming and so beautifully described that it was enjoyable nonetheless.

I would have appreciated a little more of "what happened next" with Hannah and Davey - especially after the level of *spice* we had previously - I was left wanting in that area after our Texan Cowboy returns!!!
Minus one star for these minor issues, but overall I really enjoyed this!

Note to the author: Thank you for writing this. It led me to have a serious conversation with my partner halfway through about checking himself - and then reading the acknowledgements made me cry! Thank you both for sharing this story with us all!

The man I never met is such an easy read modern romance story . I enjoyed the twists and turns of the book . The characters were well portrayed and the plot drew you in. Hoping for some more modern romances from this author!

Wow… I didn’t expect what this book gave! I didn’t read the blurb of this book as I like going into a book blind and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. I loved Hannah and I loved Davey. I was convinced through the first half that Davey wasn’t real until we got his pov. There was loads of elements in this book I didn’t expect and it took the story in directions that were definitely unexpected (not a bad thing, kept me enjoying the book). I wouldn’t day this book was predictable at all and I would recommend to anyone who wanted a different take on a romance book!

I simply adored this book. The characters were so well written that I was fully invested in them all from the start and I was cheering on Hannah and Davey all the way along. Breathtaking.

Let me admit I needed a break from this book once I found out what kept Davey from coming to the UK. But I'm so glad I finished it, it was funny and real and very much worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

This was a great contemporary romance read, yes the romance is limited as they don't meet for some time but the slow burn and build up won this book for me.

It's difficult to show characters feelings for each other during texts, phone and video calls but Elle Cook came close to nailing it. Yes there's physical attraction but for me she wrote it so well that you felt Hannah and Davey really cared for each other and this was a lovely heartwarming read which was perfect for me on a rainy Saturday.

I really did enjoy this book apart from the character of George which I guess we're not meant to like anyway but his constant poking at what Hannah's eating which made her think of her weight causing her to become insecure. Although this happens in real life I feel like I wish Hannah had more of a backbone with him, she's too timid and even her friends say this a couple of times and she's offended yet doesn't really do anything for herself or stand up to him. Even when he breaks up with her she's just calm and let's him go, not that I want her to fight for him, god no! But she could have at least been like "I couldn't love you" and told him why or had some kind of fight. Maybe that's just me wanting drama!

The writing on par with Emily Henry's writing for me, pacing that helps you read fast but not miss anything and also want to keep going. This was the first book where I actually read the acknowledgments at the end in full and loved it. #sorrynotsorry but I normally skim them really but oh my god learning that her husband went through a similar experience with cancer almost made me cry.

Unexpected! I've read a few ghosting novels recently and kept thinking that Hannah was just being led/deceived but the reality was much more devastating. I really enjoyed it though and the subplot about his/her other relationships were really telling.