A brilliant story and unbelievably a debut. The story of Will and Rosie kept me hooked from start to finish. It was a real page turner for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. It was a pleasure.

Will and Rosie met one night on the beach and neither of them forgot it.
They come from different backgrounds but their relationship grows with late night phone calls and walks.
Tragedy strikes which will change both their lives forever.
Can their future ever be together and at what cost?

This book was reminiscent of a book I’ve loved (and reread many times); One Day. Although I love One Day, though, I actually preferred Talking at Night. To be entirely transparent in the first part I was ready to have to plot through the pages; I was worried that there’d be a heavy focus on the characters’ lives as teenagers which, although no problem in itself, I find less enjoyment in than characters I can relate to as an adult. However the story tracks the protagonists over a period of time and I found myself entirely drawn in. It is beautifully written and I can’t wait to re-read in the future.

Talking at Night is a must-read. Claire Daverley has truly achieved something remarkable by capturing the complexities of love and relationships, interwoven with intricate themes of family and mental health. This novel will leave you feeling hopeful, heartbroken, and ultimately satisfied.

Little slow moving for my taste, couldn’t really get into this novel. Nothing against the style or story from what I read, just not for me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to try it out, though.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Talking at Night
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Claire Daverley
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Literary Romance
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 6th July 2023
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: 8th June 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4/5

”She stands aside, lets him pass her into the bedroom, and thinks how all the old songs are true, how love is so often just pain, still four letters, the flip side of the same feeling.”

This book was an intimate and compelling exploration of a non-linear love story between our two main characters, Will and Rosie.

Notorious bad boy, Will, and stickler for the rules, Rosie, are opposites in every sense of the word. Will is emotionally numb whilst Rosie feels and worried about everything and more. Will is self-destructive and Rosie is an over-achiever. Yet they fill a void in each other that is worthy of the title star-crossed lovers.

This is a character driven novel, so the characters really do climb right out of the pages and enthrall me with their innermost thoughts and feelings. However, there was also an element of frustration there because both characters were so passive in their own lives; Will not caring enough about himself and others and Rosie caring far too much to form her own opinion on things.

But this just goes to show how masterful the writing and theme exploration is. The tone of the writing is so heartbreaking and tender, so melancholic in its delivery of themes of dysfunctional families, alcohol and drug abuse, grief, and depression, it’s difficult not to get completely engrossed in the sorrow of this story.

—Kayleigh🤍
@ Welsh Book Fairy🧚‍♀️✨

I had high hopes for this book, but oh my, it is a hard read. The style of writing is very much in the style of Roddy Doyle, but without the flow or rhythm to the prose. This means the love story doesn't really grab you and the characters all feel hollow. I gave up half way and took a break, but it didn't help. Sorry.

I couldn’t believe this is a debut - I was hooked and fully absorbed from the moment I picked it up. Rosie and Will are such strong, characters - this is gonna be huge.

This story is a bout Rosie and Will, flawed but such beautiful characters, who meet as teenagers. Although we get to follow their romance we also get so much more and without spoiling too much the grief aspect of it really touched me. I struggled a bit to get into the writing unfortunately, if you like Sally Rooney's writing style I think you'll enjoy this one as well. Once I did get into the writing though I enjoyed it more especially following such a real love story which was a bit of a roller coaster.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free copy to review.

It took me a while to get used to the lack of speech marks when characters spoke, but I ended up liking the writing style.

I liked Rosie and Will at first, but their story was relentlessly depressing. The last few chapters were more hopeful, though. I didn't love the story, but it was good enough. I would read other books by Claire in the future.

I think I'm in the minority of people who didn't love this book. It's been likened to Sally Rooney and I didn't like the book I read of hers either, so I think it's probably just me.

The story centres around Rosie and Will, who meet as teenagers when Josh (Rosie's twin) asks for Will's help with his advanced Maths course. Tragedy strikes (I saw that coming!!) and suddenly they are broken but constantly drawn back to each other.

The positives (for me)
*I could understand the choices they (especially Rosie) made up to a point. Beyond that, see below.
*I loved the twin relationship between Rosie and Josh, and *spoiler alert* what happens when your twin dies and you lose part of your identity.

The negatives (for me)
*I found the writing difficult to get into with many short, punchy sentences. As a result I was about 25-30% through the book before I felt invested in anyway, I didn't feel connected to the characters or the story.
*I never really cared stongly about in the love story... after a point they were just sad because of the choices they made.
*Rosie frustrated me, never fully committing to her decisions and always keeping Will on hand to fall back on, and Will making the choice to never move on, going straight back to her whatever else he had going on.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'll be pleased I've read it when this is a hit in all the book awards.

I was unable to put this book down. The story of Rosie and Will was a true love story with many ups and downs. I loved how it kept the read guessing whether they would or would not live happily ever after. I hoped they would since they had been though so much together. Great characters and a truly wonderful read.

I absolutely adored this book! I read it feverishly in about 48 hours and I just could not get enough. Rosie and Will are both so well developed as characters you can't help but be drawn to them and their story and feel everything they are feeling. I can't wait to see what Claire Daverley writes next.

I just adored Talking At Night, a wonderful love story. Will and Rosie are meant to be together, they just won't recognise the fact and keep pushing each other away. This is no rom com, though, but a romance that covers real life issues that both beautifully drawn characters have to work through. While I usually find narratives that don't include speech marks irritating, for once it didn't detract from my reading and enjoyment, such is the skill of Claire Daverley's writing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review Talking At Night.

An indepth exploration of first love, Rosie and Will fall hard and fast as teens and even after their break up, they keep re-connecting - with something significant keeping them from making that permanent commitment.
An intense powerful read that will resonate with a lot of readers, it is beautifully told and sensitively handled.

I wouldn’t normally choose to read a love story, but I absolutely loved everything about this book. I was totally invested in Rosie and Will, and just had to know how their story played out. I devoured it in a couple of days.
Thank you very much NetGalley for the advance copy.

Thanks to Michael Joseph & NetGalley for ARC.

Rosie is a perfect schoolgirl, diligent, aspirational, loyal to her family, close with her mercurial twin Josh. She meets Will, Josh's maths partner, at a bonfire, and suddenly her world feels different.
Will's background is different, as are his aspirations. His troubled past has given him a reputation he can't live down.
Over time, they talk, mainly at night, often after long gaps where life gets in the way of their ability or desire to connect.

Life happens, beautifully written and often with emotional impact as there are deaths, marriages, illnesses and career changes.

I didn't mind the lack of speech marks that niggled other reviewers - for me it helped the dream-like quality of the prose. I just didn't really believe the central premise of the protagonists' immediate and lasting connection, sustained over time, geography, life experiences. For me that seemed so implausible I couldn't get over it. Blame me and my peripatetic childhood, not forming deep attachments in my childhood or teens. I also struggled with the treatment of blameless and underwritten Simon (no spoilers). In the end, I was unmoved by the entire endeavour, which may be a little unfair to the talented writer who spent so long crafting this tale, and the people who believed in the premise.

Rosie and Will are clearly meant for each other. However, all manner of events and crises conspire to keep them apart, while at the same time, forging a link can never truly be broken.

We meet them as teenagers. We are given teasing hints about Will’s troubled background and personality, which are slowly (very slowly) eventually revealed. My niggling questions and the occasional obscure slight hints kept me reading when I was wondering whether to give up, as I can’t say I was enjoying the read.

There’s really not much joy in their story. Even during times when there are signs of hope for a happy future for them, either as a couple or separately, there is a pervading grimness to it all.

Something which irritated me no end is the lack of speech marks. Are they too much to ask? I assume it’s done with a specific purpose, but quite what the reason is, I’m not sure. I suppose it makes it all a narrative, as if it’s reported speech instead of actual speech. Is it intended to distance us from the characters? If so, it certainly worked in my case.

I give it 2 stars, rather than 1, because, although the characters and the story were not for me, some of the writing was lyrically quite beautiful.

Do you ever look at a book cover or read a book description and just know that is the right book for you, that you will love it and that it will be a favourite read? That is me and this book, I knew from the moment I opened my NetGalley email with a request now option, that this was the book I needed to read - I was not wrong.

From the opening sentence to the last full stop this book holds my heart. Days later and I am still thinking about it.
This is no soppy love story, this is a real-life, imperfect and flawed tale of two intertwined hearts who always come back to each other.

So here it is, my first 5* read of the year and one that, no doubt, will still be holding space at the end of 2023.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my copy of this beautiful book.

I like to find new authors and also explore different book styles preferably set in the UK. Talking at Night by Claire Daverley fits my more adventurous selection of trying a book that does not initially grab me but intrigue steps in.

I’m not sure why I requested an advance copy, After downloading I read the summary again and one afternoon thought let’s give this a go. I’m pleased I did. This is far from my normal go to crime and thriller, it could be described as a bit slow at times but the friendship, love and tension between Rosie and Will starts to grip which means, yes I kept on reading. The writing style is slightly odd as there is a lack of speech marks but once I got used to this, it added to the flow and the developing story of loss, relationships, dreams and hope. It really thought provoking and cleverly gets you thinking and hoping.

So although I questioned my choice, I just kept on reading and thoroughly enjoyed my time with Rosie and Will and the tensions around their relationship with each other and also with themselves. A great book and shows it’s well worth trying different authors and writing styles.
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