This book stood out to me months ago so I was thrilled that I got it for my birthday, along with a few others. I'm literally getting through several books a week at the moment so I really hope you don't mind all of the reviews!
'Imagine you meet a man, spend seven glorious days together, and fall in love. And it's mutual: you've never been so certain of anything. So when he leaves for a long-booked holiday and promises to call from the airport, you have no cause to doubt him. But he doesn't call. Your friends tell you to forget him, but you know they're wrong: something must have happened; there must be a reason for his silence. What do you do when you finally discover you're right? That there is a reason - and that reason is the one thing you didn't share with each other? The truth.'
My review
I'm quite fussy that when it comes to the romance novels, I tend to stick to the same authors who I know just get it right every time but there was something about this that just seemed perfect for me. It was a story I knew I could get lost in so once I spotted it, it was instantly added to my to be read list. That being said I did struggle a little at the start and I was worried I was going to be let down. I found the story started off really slow and normally I can tell from the first few chapters if a book is going to be for me or not but luckily that feeling didn't last too long and it eventually started to pick up.
The Man Who Didn't Call tells the story of Sarah and Eddie in flashbacks where we find out about their short week together and how they ended up falling in love so quickly, and then we go back to present day where Eddie has disappeared after their wonderful time together and Sarah is desperately trying to track him down. At first I did think it might have been better to have Eddie and Sarah's full week together first rather than switching back and forth but thinking about it now, I liked the change in pace and getting more of their story in little bits. Each chapter flowed well into the next despite several narrative changes too. For most of the book we just hear Sarah's side so it was nice towards the end to get Eddie's point of view too. I mentioned in my review of One Day In December that you don't often hear from the man in books like this so it was nice to know how he was feeling too.
Obviously I'm not going to reveal what actually happened for Eddie to disappear but I found the reveal absolutely brilliant. For the most part, I had absolutely no idea what had happened - had he died? Was he secretly married? Was he at all who he said he was? but the twist wasn't what I expected at all. It was heartbreaking, and from then on I knew I was in for a serious emotional rollercoaster. Surprisingly though, I didn't connect with the characters at all for at least half of the book and I wasn't really sure if I liked any of them. I don't know what it was but I didn't have that feeling of really wanting things to work out for them like I usually do in a love story but all of that changed towards the later half of the book. By the end I was so invested in Sarah and Eddie's relationship, I needed to know things would be okay, but I can't tell you whether that ends up happening or not. There are so many twist and turns, I could never guess how it would end which I just loved. It wasn't predictable at all.
Whilst I did wonder at first if this book would end up disappointing me after being so excited to read it, I'm so glad I stuck with it. It might not have packed quite as much of an emotional punch as other books have recently, and was a little up and down sometimes, but it certainly leaves you on the edge of your seat right until the very end. I'd actually be really keen to read more from Rosie Walsh in the future now!
Have you read The Man Who Didn't Call?
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