If I Can't Have You

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My thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers, PanMacmillan for a copy of the ARC in return for an honest review. Janet Brown is a woman used to not standing out. She cleans offices for a living, has few friends and lives with an emotionally abusive husband. We gradually learn some of the details of her life, and it’s hard not to feel sympathy for her. Please don’t expect it to make sense. That’s the whole point. It doesn’t. On one hand, I’m a rational person who friends come to for solid advice; someone who’s been a director of a company for 20 years and who has written a novel. On the other, I think I may die because I’ve passed through the traffic lights on Liverpool Road, crossing the line of my invisible boundary. If I Let You Go is as scrumptious as it gets: lusciously lyrical prose wrapped around an irresistible protagonist, amid alternating layers of intrigue and humor. I DEVOURED it!

Astonishingly, this is Charlotte Levin’s debut novel, except it is so brilliantly crafted you’d be forgiven for thinking it was her tenth! The ending is written in a way that you can draw your own conclusions and I liked the fact that things were not rushed and wrapped up in a bow neat and tidy. Levin was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in English before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television. Levin currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. I really liked Constance and so many times I felt like reaching out to her. Bless her heart. The ending was satisfying though, and I can't give it any less than 5 stars. They say if you love something let it go… I won’t be doing that. Not now. Not Ever. You made me happy and then you left me - If you love someone NEVER let them go. That’s why for me this is just the beginning, I know you will understand and be happy with me again soon.

If I Can't Have You

One thing it does have in common with others of its purported genre is its readability. There is a creepy compulsiveness to the story, a sense from the start that things are going to go tits up. You just don’t know how and when. In this sense it shares something in common with Harriet Lane’s Alys Always which also features a woman insinuating herself into the lives of others. What makes this protagonist’s journey so seductive, however, is both its plausibility and its possibility. We might like to believe that Constance Little is none of us, but in reality she is all of us, for who can tell what lies around the corner of our lives, what particular synergy of experiences, or accidents of birth will presage the perfect storm towards tragedy? Indeed I was. Originally Levin’s novel was entitled An Explanation of Love - and stripped down to its barest bones, that’s just what it is - an explanation of what love is and what love isn’t. When the new doctor at the surgery where Constance works as a receptionist shows an interest in her, she thinks she is falling in love, except that what transpires between she and Samuel Stevens is anything but love. So beautifully written, such a devastatingly compelling story… I can honestly say it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read – it is without shadow of a doubt, EASILY up there with Girl On a Train and Eleanor Oliphant.’– Ruth JonesSamuel, the day we met I knew I’d finally found what I’ve been waiting for.You.Happiness, at last.Then you left me.And now I am alone.Everyone I love leaves in the end.But not this time.I’m not giving up on us.I’m not giving up on you.When you love someone, you never let them go.That’s why for me, this is just beginning. If I Can’t Have You by Charlotte Levin – eBook Details read #readreadread #readersgonnaread #reading #reader #readingcorner #readmorebooks #readstagram #readersofig #ifiletyougo

After a night out drinking with her friends she wakes up the next day in hospital having survived a horrific train crash and saved the life of a little girl but with no memory of the event. Thrust into the public eye and seen as a heroine, Janet slowly starts to regain memories of that night and it’s not quite what everyone is led to believe.If you want a story to get its fingernails into you and have you both wanting to cover your eyes and not stop reading, then this is the story for you.