When I first started the LDR Book Club, I was delighted at the possibility of reading books around long distance relationships. I wanted to share in the experience and see such a difficult topic in literary fiction instead of relying on the large number of non-fiction that’s on the market. While reading these books, I plan to look into how enjoyable it is while being in a long distance relationship and my thoughts and opinions will be based on those aspects. These posts may contain small spoilers, so please proceed with caution if it’s a book you’re interested in reading.
In my search for these books, one of the first ones I came across was The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook. Published October 27, 2022, this book introduces us to Hannah and Davey who accidentally calls her when trying to dial in for a job interview in England, where Hannah is from. After wishing Davey from Texas good luck on his interview, she later receives a text message saying that he’s gotten the job and will be moving to London.
Throughout the first third of the book, we’re brought into Hannah’s life and her budding romance with Davey that starts off as a series of text messages that move along to phone calls and video calls. Things are going great – Hannah’s happy with their current arrangement, especially since Davey is going to be in London soon enough. They never quite define what they are, but that’s okay because they’ll be in the same country and can experience life together. And then they can finally put a label to what they’re doing.
Finally the day comes for Davey to arrive, and Hannah, sign in hand, goes to pick him up. However, Davey doesn’t arrive. Clearly, as readers, we’re aware that something bad to have happened because why else would he not be in London? It takes a few days for Davey to finally get in touch with Hannah and then the shoe finally drops – Davey has cancer.
I had already started to get frustrated with the book, but my frustration occurred much earlier.
The one thing I will say is that long distance relationships lend themselves well to books offering a dual perspective. I’m generally not a fan, but when a large component of being long distance means living together but separately, there is a lot of life happening where only one side ever knows what’s truly going on.
This would have been a lot better if Hannah and Davey were, you know, together as a couple (not in person – we’re going for long distance here) for a large portion of the book. The constant negativity of both characters for various reasons made this a tough read, and I personally love reading what I consider “darker” content. There were walking red flags galore on both sides, and even in the moments Hannah and Davey were “together again” it felt dull, and early on, I just felt as though there was a lot of toxicity between the two. This toxicity came individually and when they were brought together in various events later on and in their respective situations.
I strongly considered not finishing this book and throwing it on my slim pile of DNF books. I don’t frequently not finish books, but this one I really was not a fan of. I’m more than aware that I’m most likely going to be more critical of books featuring a long distance aspect, but this one I think I would have felt the need to DNF well before then.
I love romantic stories involving second chances and the possibilities of “what if?” I can appreciate a book centered around tough life issues and things such as cancer – The Fault in Our Stars, as cheesy as it is, is one of my favorite books and has been since I read it. I cried at the ending of other books with similar things – chronic illnesses, missed opportunities, and missed connections. But this book genuinely fell very flat for me.
The author’s note at the end explains why she decided to write a story involving a cancer diagnosis. I can appreciate the reason why, especially as someone who also writes a lot based on real life and moves it to fiction. However, I genuinely wish that this was not in the category of long distance relationships and that the realism over how these relationships come across and develop was more something. I don’t know if I want to say I wish it was more accurate, because all long distance relationships start off differently, but this felt too much.
There was no real development of their relationship. A friendship, sure, but I didn’t feel like rooting for Hannah and Davey. There’s a lot of build up in long distance relationships that can occur very quickly, but also can lure you into a sense of security. I didn’t even feel the honeymoon stage when the two were in a “are we, are we not” situation. But maybe that’s the problem – this felt more like a situationship than a relationship.
I wanted to enjoy this book so much after not taking it out from my library for far too long, as if waiting for the right moment. Perhaps there was a part of me that waited because I knew I wouldn’t like it.
For anyone looking for a book on long distance relationships, I do not recommend this book.
Rating: 1/5 Stars
The book for February will be The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory, a book I’ve taken out several times but still haven’t gotten around to read.
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