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literaryhaunt 's review for:

The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook
2.0

This book started off so promising, which didn't surprise me as the premise was also very promising. The meet-cute stemming from a misdialed number reeled me in. I didn't love Hannah from the beginning, but the way she and Davey interacted was so sweet that it made up for my disconnect with her. I read through the first third of the book very quickly before it stopped working for me personally.

The twist is not what put me off of this book, but the aftermath of the twist. I had already found Hannah rather dull and rude if I'm being honest, but then the story takes a turn into this weird and awkward new relationship of hers with someone who lacked character consistency. I pushed on because then, out of nowhere but blessedly, the book becomes dual POV. I enjoyed those portions of the book, but it took up surprisingly little space. It felt to me as if the important parts were rushed and the rest of the book was a bit stale and slow. I never ended up warming up to Hannah.

I think this book had a lot of potential at the start and it seems to be garnering a lot of great reviews so perhaps I was just not the right reader for this story. I don't think this was a bad book at all, but I didn't think it was a good book.

Thanks so much to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine as well as NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts