Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Man I Never Met

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook

10 reviews

lanayagraham's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don't know... it was well written, but slow and a kind of sad wandering path to each other. Dis not like the constant fat-phobia and borderline emotional disloyalty (?). The beginning was so fun, didn't like the middle, and felt a bit conflicted by the rushed, but satisfying ending...

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genevieve_and_her_books's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

I feel like this book is trying to be Bridget Jones in 2023, but it kept all the parts of Bridget Jones that aged really poorly. It took far too long to get to the premise given in the back cover synopsis (my Kindle said I was 40% through once we finally got there). The majority of the book is

just them two not talking to each other at all, which is not an interesting conflict.

I also felt that the

serendipitous meet cute that finally brought them back together was rushed and so contrived you could see it coming a mile away. It's also telling that if not for the contrivance, neither of the characters would have had the wherewithal to solve the conflict.

All in all, not a book club pick I'm particularly thrilled by this time around.

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kaitrates's review against another edition

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Between the rampant fat phobia, the lack of content note re: cancer, and the stuttery writing, i simply couldn’t continue.

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kfmcf's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

I enjoyed the first few chapters of this book before it got really soapy. This book also takes place over the course of two years (refreshing), but Hannah (FL) does not have ANY character growth and we spend the majority of the time seeing her in a toxic relationship. It's odd.

There's also a lot of alcohol and fat phobia and I have to suspend a lot of disbelief at the ending.

I think this book too a little too much autobiographical aspects from the author's relationship overall. Also, no reason for Davey's POV to just appear 100 pages in. Totally unnecessary and muddle Hannah's thru line.

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jalynd5630's review against another edition

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medium-paced

2.0

I like the storyline, but I could not give it a higher rating, because there was so much fat, phobia, and body image talk that it took away from the story.

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kellieapo's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

The characters were frustrating at times but overall I enjoyed this book! The plot was interesting and unique. I would’ve rated it higher if it didn’t have so much diet culture bullshit.

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meredithamadee's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I thought this book was really sweet and had much more depth than a typical romance. I don’t know if I’d even call it romance. It’s about two people who meet via wrong number and form a relationship online. They are set to meet but them something unexpected happens and changed everything for both of them. It was sad but sweet and a satisfying ending :)

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nattyj21's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The premise of a wrong-dialed number, a connection for two people across the world was well done. I enjoyed the relationship that blooms between Hannah and Davey. I appreciated that we get an insight into both of our main characters' lives. The relationship that they share is very sweet.
The side characters for both Davey and Hannah were enjoyable. With Davey's best friend and Hannah's neighbor being a stand-out.

My two issues are these:
The side relationships that Hannah and Davey have were very toxic. Hannah's boyfriend is the worst, and I would have appreciated her dumping him LONG before she actually does. His obsessive behavior with her weight and diet was terrible. Add to the fact that he is rude to all her family and friends.
The other issue was something that may have just bothered me. Davey leaves his job, and before he starts his new job he is diagnosed with cancer. He's still in Texas, so where does he get insurance to pay for this? Is he rich enough that he can pay out of pocket? Ok, again this may have just been a thing I had an issue with, but it constantly pulled me out of the story.

Overall, this is a sweet romance that tackles tough topics.

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robynnewilliams's review

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

TW: cancer, weight loss, fat phobia.

I’m not a massive romance reader, however this was one that I hugely enjoyed.

I really liked the ‘one that got away’ trope, despite the fact that it equally frustrated and devastated me at times (hello, the airport scene?!).

I really liked Hannah as a character, and enjoyed her friendships. I do feel like she could have had a bit more spark about her at points, especially when I was almost yelling at my kindle for her to sack off George.

I do wish we had more of Davey and Hannah’s relationship included in the book. I feel like it focused a lot more on her and George, and their evidentially awful relationship. I so wish we had more than a couple of pages of Hannah and Davey actually interacting in person.

Other than that, it was a really enjoyable read!

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theemptymasq's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

This is my first book review through NetGalley and I had been hoping to get off to a better start. While I have only recently started to get into the romance genre, I am aware of many of its flaws, which were unfortunately prevalent throughout this book. The Man I Never Met felt very bland and unoriginal for me, following a generic plot that was easy to foresee. The characters could have been fleshed out more and there should have been more explanation for the main character’s actions as, to me, it seemed that most things she did were very blatantly to progress the plot, rather than because it is how she would respond. The book was filled with overused and boring tropes, such as the favourite amongst romance authors, unfortunately including the classic ‘’laminate character is attractive but doesn’t know it’ trope. This, alongside the consistent but largely subtle hints of fatphobia made this a difficult read.

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