If I Can't Have You: A Compulsive, Darkly Funny Story of Heartbreak and Obsession

Product Information

My thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers, PanMacmillan for a copy of the ARC in return for an honest review. This story will make you cry at the injustice of it all, and will also make you very, very angry - and not just at the Powell family but the spineless police detectives and other official agencies that couldn't seem to talk to each other. The circumstancial evidence is just too compelling to be coincidence. In some ways IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU was too literary for me as I prefer my thrillers to be rollercoaster rides of explosive twists and excitement. I guess a lot of this book missed the mark with me as I felt it was meant to be more of an exploration of sorts...into what, I'm not sure. But I can still appreciate part of the idea if not the entire concept. An extra thought, I do not understand how defense attorneys - like Namey's and what's-his-name that got Anthony off - sleep at night. Their tactics are so underhanded. I think it should be a law that if an attorney gets someone like that off they need to have them visit in their own home, work for them, something of the sort for a period of time. That brings a smile to my face. Would Namey's attorney have wanted him around his own daughter? His wife maybe? Hmmmmm. No, you didn't," she said. "You knew it was Monday. Don't you tell me that. You need to get home, Josh, right now."

I read this book in three days, not just because of the book's extreme readability, but because I couldn't stand to be a part of the evil of the events described therein for much longer than that. Different but relatively enjoyable, IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU is the literary cross of "Fatal Attraction" and "Gone Girl" that is truly imaginative and compelling. Recommended though it may not be for all.The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.

On the one hand, you sympathise with Constance while on the other you dislike her intensely. She does come across as needy and clingy but then again, you have the inside scoop as to why she acts the way she does, so does that make it excusable or just understandable? Half the time I couldn't decide whether I liked or hated her but somehow I still found myself rooting for her. I guess I wanted to see Samuel get his comeuppance, because really the man was deplorable. And Dale? He was just uber creepy. I did not like him from the start. How Constance couldn't see through him is beyond me. His pointed comment about those who are so obsessed with who they are watching often are oblivious as to who may be watching them (or words to that effect)...was just super creepy. And ya know, not a spoiler since it's a matter of public record but he's now done his time and is out of prison. Oh snap - parole - so we're all safe aren't we? So after reading about him a bit I really didn't mind. I didn't *mind* it in the beginning either, it was just something I found somewhat odd. As soon as Jennifer arrived at the house and told West Valley City Police Department Detective Ellis Maxwell of her conversation with Josh, he borrowed her phone and called Josh, and when Josh answered, Maxwell told him to come home. Josh said that he needed to stop and get his children something to eat first.

Constance Little currently works as a receptionist at a private doctors surgery in Kensington. When a new doctor, Samuel Stevens, starts at the practice it isn't long before Constance is overwhelmingly infatuated with him. He's exceedingly attractive, very confident, and has an inflated sense of his own importance. But Constance can't stop thinking about him. When he appears to welcome her romantic overtures she is ecstatic. When it becomes apparent that they aren't singing from the same song sheet, he ends their brief liaison rather cruelly and Constance's infatuation turns into an obsession... WOW! It's been two days since I finished this book, and I am still feeling a huge book hangover. I love books centered around love and obsession and I just found my favorite one.

Constance is a receptionist in a doctors surgery in London who falls in love with Samuel , the new doctor. He seems to feel the same way, but he uses her for his own purposes and then dumps her. What happens next is this story. She is a vulnerable woman and his betrayal hurts her, but she does not give up easily. This is a debut novel?! Charlotte Levin's If I Can't Have You is an addictive and dark novel of obsession, love and betrayal. I wasn't sure at the beginning but the more I read the more I got lost in Constance's story. This is book that you need to read to believe. I gave a feeling that it will be a much talked about book this year. Levin’s prose is fierce and original - not once did my attention stray. It fairly bristles with anger - almost everyone in Constance’s life is subject to her cynical scrutiny, but this brings laughs too, especially when she regales us with details about her fellow receptionists and Linda and Alison.I'm not able to grasp why these words left her mouth or why Lasseter thought it a good idea to include this. That sentence alone tells me she's not smart enough to tell me anything. I can't imagine how many women this will piss off. And this is a doctor that said this. She and Lasseter, IMO, slammed any and every woman and man who have ever been a victim of rape or attempted rape. My head spins when I think about this world I inhabit sometimes.