When I picked up the Man I Never Met, I didn’t expect it to be a love story with a cancer diagnosis. I had never thought of such a thing before, and I have been pleasantly surprised and moved by the power of such a romance. Elle Cook’s The Man I Never Met is a story with deep emotional turmoil, pain, suffering, and yes, cancer. It is also a story of a great and everlasting love, the strength of human beings, the light at the end of the tunnel, and finding meaning in life, whether it be in what we do or what – perhaps more accurately who – we call home.

When Hannah picks up a call from an unknown number, she thinks nothing of it – it’s just an easygoing American named Davey who misdialed her while calling into a job interview. And when Hannah wishes him luck after clearing up the confusion, she never actually expects to hear from him again. Then she gets a text saying he got the job and he’ll be moving to London, and she can’t help but smile. Soon their texts become phone calls that turn into video calls, and their friendship becomes a relationship they can’t wait to start in earnest once Davey lands in London in a month’s time. But when Hannah goes to meet him at the airport, Davey isn’t there and the reason why changes both of their lives in an instant. With their future together suddenly so uncertain, they don’t know what to do but try to move on from each other. Though their chance at love seems lost forever, neither is never far from the other’s thoughts. Will fate intervene once more to bring the two together, or will Davey always be the man that Hannah never met?

The blurb doesn’t allude to it, but I feel its important to note such a big theme and event in the book as a trigger warning of sorts. Cancer is a big, scary thing. It can change everything in an instant. It can also be a ruthless killer, and many readers likely know of someone who they have lost to cancer. It is important to note that Elle Cook, the author, isn’t writing this for sensationalism or as something different to identify herself across contemporary romance. She lived this with her husband. She’s been in Hannah’s shoes, and him in Davey’s. The Man I Never Met is a story with roots in real life and the thoughts and feelings of real people. It is an acknowledgement and a way to share an experience close to her heart.

Hannah and Davey are precious, and I can you outright that I wanted to scream atthem time and time again for how they reacted, holding back with what they really wanted to do through selflessness or cowardice. I wanted to see them meet and anxiously awaited that moment. Grant is a true friend, an incredible person, and I have him to thank for a lot of the plot’s trajectory. It is a book where you want something to happen and you hate that it goes a different way, but it is all for a reason and the end result is well worth it. Mirand, Paul, and Joan are also incredible. This novel really is a showcase of how supporting characters give so much life and energy to a novel. It isn’t just the main characters leading the charge. I can’t say much more, but I will say the way the ending unfolds is my favourite way things could have gone.

The themes are heavy, as to be expected, and there are certainly times where it can be upsetting to read, but the overall themes and dieas are brilliant. Finding purpose, meaning and motivation in life, following dreams and indulging in creative pastimes, finding yourself and what you stand by, and fighting for what you want. The Man I Never Met shows the good and the bad, what happens when one does or doesn’t live by these messages, and it makes for an engaging and emotionally invested read.

I really enjoyed reading The Man I Never Met and I highly recommend it to all contemporary and romance readers, and especially to the contemproary romance readers. It is a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, tear-jerking read and I wholeheartedly believe more people need to read it.