The Man Who Didn't Call

A brilliant read! It's easy to sit and read this in one sitting or in a few days, it's so intriguing and it keeps you guessing throughout. I didn't see where it was going and the twists and reveals kept me hooked.
The Man Who Didn't Call is a really well written fun book which I'll be recommending to others. I will definitely be looking out for more by Rosie Walsh.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan Mantle and Rosie Walsh for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What totally superb story! Brilliant characters that come to life and twists and turns you never see coming. I laughed and cried all the way through. What a book and a half!

A brilliant book with charming beautiful characters. Full of twists and turns that keeps you interested up to the very end.

This is a wondeful read, a beautiful story of love, a love that arrives unbidden that feels so right...until fate throws a curve ball. Rosie has created lovely characters, they’re real, with all of life’s imperfections, they’re amusing,they’re frustrating, they’re sad, they’re happy, they are without doubt what makes this book so enjoyable. Many thanks to Rosie Walsh and of course NetGalley too.

Rosie Walsh has written novels before under the pen name of Lucy Robinson (I've read and LOVED all of these) but The Man Who Didn't Call takes her writing in a different direction and one that I am so very pleased about!
Walsh writes the most gorgeous prose with flowing descriptions and has the ability to make you feel like her characters are sitting next to you as you read. The heady and sensual descriptions of a blinding hot week of falling in love are so beautiful and then her ability to flip the tone completely and leave us cold and sad as we learn about The Man Who Doesn't Call is incredible.
This is one of the best novels I've read so far this year and will take a lot to beat. It has the most intricate plot and, with such beautiful writing, it would be hard to not fall head over heels in love with this book.

I was pleased to hear that Rosie Walsh’s new novel was coming out later this year. I had read one of her previous books ‘The Day We Disappeared’ (written under the name of Lucy Robinson) and really enjoyed it.

As I follow Rosie on Twitter I knew proofs were being sent out and was so pleased when I requested an advanced reader copy on Net Galley and was approved. (Many thanks to Rosie Wilson at Pan Macmillan for sorting that out for me!)

We start off following the main character Sarah’s journey. It’s quickly apparent that she’s in the situation where she’s met a man, he hasn’t called back as he said he would (the clue is in the title i guess! :)) and she is driving herself and her friends crazy wondering what has gone wrong.

Quickly though, there’s a sense there is more to this than meets the eye. There are letters interwoven between passages of her story, from an unknown writer to a mystery recipient. We as the reader receive flashbacks from Sarah’s mind into a troubled past that gets more detailed and complicated as the book progresses.

I won’t say much more about the storyline as it would give too much away. Suffice to say, you find yourself assuming certain things but there are hidden gems in this story and you will kick yourself later for not realising at the time. It’s such a clever story, with twists and turns and an outcome that knocked me sideways. Trust me, when you get to ‘that bit’, you’ll know!

As well as Sarah there is a great cast of characters that you come to empathise with and love. It’s not just about Sarah, there are complex issues her family and friends are having to wrestle with and you do end up going on a journey with them too. Her friend Jenni’s story particularly tugged at my heartstrings and I must admit I had a little cry for her at one point, in a chapter that ended in her utter despair.

I really admire Rosie for coming up with an original and intricately detailed storyline such as this. It kept me hooked and reading late into the night, something I haven’t done in a long while.

I recommend this 100%. I am already pushing my husband to read it and will be raving about it to all my friends. I’m sure this will become a best seller when it’s released later this year.