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The Man Who Didn't Call: The OMG Love Story of the Year – with a Fantastic Twist

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In hindsight, maybe I should have listened to the voice in my head telling me—after only a few chapters—this wasn’t going to go well and simply moved on. Instead, ever the optimist and down a BOTM credit, I decided to stuff those nagging feelings somewhere deep and forge ahead with an open mind. I could make this work, right? Ghosted started out so strong and slowly turned into a tedious and uninteresting mess. In it, Sarah meets a wonderful man Eddie, and spends seven blissful days with him. When they part at the end of that time, she knows it's love and he agrees. But then he disappears, never answering her calls or efforts to reach out. Ghosted is the book that proves I should stop doing everything I mentioned above and completely change the way books get added to my TBR. I immediately dismissed the “when Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love” because Eddie then went missing and I was super psyched for some . . . .

Thank you so much to Edelweiss, Pamela Dorman Books / Penguin Publishing Group and Rosie Walsh for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. It took until I reached the 50% mark for me to get into this. I found the first half boring and Sarah’s obsession with Eddie began to grate on my nerves. Since the reader only gets glimpses of her time with Eddie vs. being immersed in their time together, I didn’t feel their connection and began to wonder if Sarah was mentally ill. I was going to DNF and began scrolling through my tbr to plan my escape. But I had some questions about Sarah and came up with a crazy theory, so I kept on reading to see if I was right about her--I was completely wrong. I appreciated the plot twist because I did NOT see that coming at all, and I love those moments that just throw me for a loop. But I couldn't get past my dislike for the characters to make that a turning point for my negative feelings about the story. And y'all, I truly hate going after female characters in books. I think we judge ourselves and other women way too harshly at times so I guess I'll be a little hypocritical here, but I could not stand Sarah in this book. Whiny and just not a strong heroine. :( Eddie on the hand was just as dysfunctional and not very enjoyable to read. These are adults, almost 40-year-old adults, and they read like teenagers trying to navigate their first love. The thing that really bothered me the most were the chapters with Eddie and Sarah. Their conversations and interactions were just so awkward. I didn't feel the spark that they felt and their authenticity didn’t shine through. So having two characters, main characters, that are not relatable and to me, unlikable, doesn’t help. To just say it plain and simple, I wasn't sold on their epic love story. And for this to be an instalove situation, I have to be sold on it. the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication.

There’s a major twist, which threw me for a loop and finally drew me into the book. But then more and more twists come, which I just didn’t find necessary. Why couldn’t we just get a straightforward, heartfelt read and have characters face their fears and emotions instead of putting things off continuously? GHOSTED: (Verb) When someone you love disappears without explanation…Then your friends and family act like you're crazy. (Urban dictionary knows how it feels.) Sarah and Eddie met by chance. They spend seven glorious, passion-filled days together and make plans for the future. But then Eddie “ghosts” Sarah, who cannot comprehend why the love of her life would vanish without a trace. Sarah verges on obsession trying to find out what happened to Eddie and begins to question whether or not there time together was real. Rosie Walsh explores something deeper here and it really isn’t a love story but a story hidden deep within the relationship of Sarah and Eddie. She explores something common but not something often talked about or something we were aware of before reading this story as well as exploring pain, loss and family drama and dynamics, which at times does feel a bit too dramatic. I also liked the fact that the male character was coping with a parent suffering through severe depression/mental illness, and how being her full time caregiver (or Carer, as they say in GB) had limited his choices and enjoyment of life. Many of us have been in his position, felt his frustration, and his feelings of isolation and fear.

I was literally on the edge of my seat as we headed into the final chapters of this captivating story of star-crossed lovers. More than once I thought of poor Romeo and Juliet. Loved the jaw-dropping twist. Did NOT see that one coming at all! Later on we do find out why the BOY ghosted the GIRL and we get a better idea of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the situation. I will say that after I found out the who, what, when, where, why, and how, I started to lose interest. . . again. She’s kind of unraveling, and it’s kind of ridiculous, but I also kind of loved it because who hasn't been on the receiving end of being *ghosted* at least once in their lives, convinced that death-by-rejection might in fact be a thing? Ghosted is a new novel that presents a love story with quite a twist. A thirty something couple meet and spend six unforgettable days together. Their time is cut short by a long planned holiday overseas, but both vow to reconnect upon return. Only the phone call that is meant to reconnect them is never made. Ghosted is the tale of two people finding love, falling in love trying to recover after losing love. Ghosted is the latest absorbing love story from Rosie Walsh, who has previously written under the name of Lucy Robinson. Ghosted is a spectacular debut novel; it is beautifully written and perfectly paced, and I could not put it down until I was finished reading it. Walsh kept me guessing the entire time, and I thought the book was truly perfect from beginning to end. The plot and storytelling are unique, the characters are highly likeable, and the ending is both satisfying and believable. My one small complaint is that the book cover is not great; it bears no relation to the story and is not very appealing. Other than that little detail, I loved the book.When life finally pulls these two lovebirds out of their romantic cocoon, Eddie promises Sarah he’ll call…BUT…he never does. Norma and I read Ghosted with seven of our Traveling Sisters and we had some very strong views on this one that not only split us into two different Coulees but two Coulees nowhere near each other. The twist at the end, though mildly surprising, was not unexpected at all. And Walsh's constant battle with other side characters storylines in the feeble attempt to twist you up even more as the reader fails even more dramatically then the love story itself.

Ghosted starts off a bit slow and weighted down a bit as we are introduced to a story that seems like boy meets girl and they fall in love, but there is much more going on in this story than meets the eye though. For some of us we started to see a different story here hidden in the coincidences of this love story that really isn’t a love story. This is where we started to split as some of us did not buy into the love story and wanted to see more into the relationship between our two main characters Sarah and Eddie. Sarah blinded by love and what started off as an intense happy feeling of love and bliss soon turns into an obsession of thoughts as Sarah tries to find out the truth. I do apologise if I come across as vague, but I feel Ghosted is one of those novels that slots nicely into a ‘do not discuss’ category, due to the nature of the plot and the twists that occur. But what I will stress is this is a book that delivers. Ghosted is a fine domestic based family drama. It is also an everlasting love story that puts a great big spotlight on the role of fate in our lives, as well as our ability to forgive and forget. Although I did finish this book, and the ending had some touching moments, I do not feel comfortable assigning a rating. This is because, quite frankly, I skimmed through quite a bit of this. I just never connected with many of the plot points, and also thought there was way to much teenage angst present, from a middle aged woman. This was a sisters read and many loved this so.......it's quite possible it is not the book that is at fault, but myself who chose to read a book that was not for moi! This is Traveling Sisters GR Reading Group Review and it can be found posted on our themed book blog Two Sisters Lost In A Coulee Reading. So what would you do if the “one” disappears after just seven days? How long and how hard would you spend searching for them?Walsh’s book dragged at times and she was redundant at several points throughout the book with the theme but overall Walsh created a story worth the finish. I’m sure you’re very nice, and if it helps, I don’t think you’re mad, and neither does he, but. . .stop” – Martin (Eddie’s friend) Imagine you meet a man, spend six 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. The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh – eBook Details On a personal note, I enjoyed this book immensely. It read at a good pace, I enjoyed the characters, and it was different and intriguing. Before Ghosted, I was not familiar with “ghosting”. So this was something totally new to me. And there was a particular part that completely made my jaw drop. It was definitely a “Gotcha!” moment. This book really pulled one over on me! Sarah's friends tell her to forget about him, but she can't. She knows something's happened--there must be an explanation.

I've been trying to digest my thoughts and I truly just didn't care for the story. And I really hate that I didn't because I wanted SO BADLY to love it. BUT my annoyance was short-lived because the story took a turn I was not expecting! Great twist, great ending. I felt all different kinds of ways reading this book. I did wish there was more of a wrap-up at the end though. So when he leaves for a long-booked holiday and promises to call from the airport, you have no cause to doubt him. I liked the premise of the book and it did get me excited for like 4 chapters. I was interested in those 4 chapters! I didn’t get all the feels, but I had a few here and there. Sarah has been inexplicably ghosted by Eddie, a man she had fallen hopelessly in love with. She could have sworn he'd felt the same way. Sarah is heartbroken, and unable to let this love go.... She has to find out why...

Nineteen years since that day. Nineteen whole years! And I’m still looking for you. I will never stop looking for you. How many times have we heard stories from friends and family about how they met their future partner? How many of them told you that it was love at first sight or they “knew right away” that this was it? Those stories are few and far between. We will even joke to those people that their story should have been a Hallmark movie. This is one that I thought I would love - what’s not to love about a love story? But I just didn’t connect. There were several things that rang true in this novel- marriages don’t always work, accidents happen and handling grief is difficult and different for each of us. There definitely were some tough things that happened to the characters and I felt for them over their losses, over the burdens they carried. But the premise of the book that had a woman falling apart after a one week affair with a man who disappears from her life just didn’t work for me, mainly because there just wasn’t enough of their time together shown to reflect a realistic connection between them for me. If I had felt that connection, I could have gone with the flow and accepted all of the coincidences that made this feel a little contrived with a predictable ending. It’s barely 3 stars for me. Bottom line is that I’m not the audience for this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this does well with fans of romance. I upped it to 3 stars in spite of the things I didn’t connect with because I did connect with the grief expressed by Sarah and Eddie for their sisters in the letters they wrote. This was my first read with Traveling Sisters and I enjoyed getting the perspectives of others who read this, even though we all didn’t agree. I wanted mystery and amateur detective work by Sarah and plot twists and yes, fine, I wanted ghosts!

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