I received an Arc copy from Netgalley for which I am grateful but unfortunately cannot count myself as a huge fan of this book. The use of dates at the beginning of each chapter seemed pointless I kept having to go back in the book to see if i was missing something from the time line which was just moving forward through the year. Then not only do we go back but we develop a day count which to me made no sense.

The plot line with Cecelie was evident and understandable and did have some merit but for three-quarters of the book I had little inkling as to Kate's need to be in the narrative at all. Yes she knew Hector but they hadn't been in touch and apart from odd thoughts he wasn't part of her life now.

For me all the action happened too late in the plot line I had a real struggle to keep going through the book. There is page after page of description of Cecilie turning on computers, hearing her co-worker arrive and serving cakes and less about romance than i would have expected

I loved this book and couldn't stop thinking about it when I had to tear myself away from it. I really enjoyed learning about the contrasting worlds the characters live in as they are described in rich detail and am considering a visit to the Arctic Circle which was not on my bucket list previously. The mixture of narrative and messages works really well as their relationship slowly develops and there is an excellent array of supporting characters. I'll definitely be looking out for this author in the future.

A beautiful story of love and heartbreak. Loved this story as it kept you intrigued but was sufficiently emotional and lighthearted.

I enjoyed this book but the concept was quite confusing .
I did persevere with it though and made a satisfying read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Aria for the book but this was a no for me.
I loved the plot but I found it not well developed. The timeline was so confusing! I found very hard to connect with the story and the characters, all very cliché for me. There are three stories and one of them (Kate's) I found it bothersome. And the main love story didn't appeal to me at all.
Maybe I started bad with this book, since I'm Spaniard and I found a lot of mistakes with the Spanish words (it's not "gallegita" but "galleguita") and our culture. For me that's a very big mistake and puts me totally out of the reading.
This was a disappointing one for me but I hope any other reader give this book a chance and find it lovely. Sadly, not my case.

An enjoyable read. I liked the concept and the story, but I did find at times that it was hard to keep track of the timeline of things, as it kept jumping between then and now,

Fantastic book. A little confusing at times as back and forward a lot - nonetheless very enjoyable. A lot happens to the 3 main characters which kept me wanting to read more.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is a good story and although I enjoyed it I did not really like it, if that's make sense. Not much else I can add really.

Romance novels are not really my thing, so I was initially skeptical about this novel. I loved the cover art and well, I had to take the plunge at some point. And I'm glad I did. It is not exactly a new theme, the story of a long distance relationship, but as they say, the devil is in the detail. Even though I might not want to love there, I quite enjoyed the sojourn into the world of Cecilie, Hector and Kate.

Based around 3 characters: one in Mexico, one in Norway and one in England. The ones in Norway and Mexico connected but the one in England appeared to be in a story of its own until the last few chapters. The relevance was unrelated for most of the book. Not high on my list of priority reads but ok

There is a sweet, fairy-tale feel running through this book, mainly due to Cecile, a beautiful girl living in Tromsø, within the Arctic Circle, in Norway. She is a mass of contradictions, beautiful, and dainty, yet she wears Doc .Martins; delights in synth-pop and electronica music but plays the harp for relaxation. She works at three jobs, in a library, a café, and as a mixologist at the hotel where her twin brother is manager. She browses an Internet forum for fans of Depeche Mode, and comes across Hector Herrera, a Mexican, living in Xalapa, Mexico with a Spanish wife, Pilar. Hector leads a chaotic life, he is a political cartoonist for a local paper by day, but at night he and his girlfriend (then wife) party too hard, and he still finds time to help out at the local orphanage, where he spent part of his childhood. And in England there is Kate, who had her young heart broken by the young Hector, something that Hector occasionally ponders on, and regrets. Kate is married, with three children, and although she has no proof she suspects that her husband George is seeing someone else.

This unlikely trio weave a delightful story, although Kate's story is mostly incidental to the main story. Hector is fascinated by this fellow Depeche Mode fan he encounters on the forum, and when he eventually sees her face, when they FaceTime - he is smitten. His life with Pilar is chaotic. He tries to grow up and become a responsible person, and she mocks him, and goes out with her friends, and other, dangerous company, and she and Hector start to drift apart. So the romance between two rather lonely people is conducted entirely by email, and FaceTime. There is a certain poignancy in how honest they are with each other, and how attached they become. They are making plans to meet up when a catastrophe occurs, which causes them to cease their correspondence for a time.

Eventually Hector meets up with Kate, unaware that Cecilie is watching. They no longer have any romantic notions, but it is a cathartic meeting for both of them, both realising what they have to do to sort out their lives. And both go forward with a new determination. The ending is very sweet, and you just know that everything will work for all three of them, their lives will change very much for the better.

A most delightful read.

I enjoyed this book and found it a nice light hearted read. It took me a while to get into but I was rooting for Cecile and Hector to finally find each other. For a lot of the book I was confused about Kate and where she fed into the story, although that become more obvious later on. I'm still not sure that she was an entirely necessary character though as I didn't feel her story added a lot to the overall plot. Having read so many thrillers lately, it was nice to read something where I wasn't second guessing the plot and expecting a twist. A lovely light read that kept me interested.

Cecilie, Hector and Kate are spread across the globe. This book is the captivating tale of how they meet and their relationships. From Norway to Mexico to England spanning several years. This book is delightful. Fantastically descriptive passages drawing you into the snowy wilds of Norway and the demons dancing in Cecilies head to hot and passionate Mexico where Hector lives and works but wants more to England where Kate challenges her marriage along with organising everything PTA. The threads of the story channel to a satisfying conclusion. Loved it!

Three storylines - one story. Two of the storylines - thirty year old in Northern Norway and 36 year old in Mexico form an online relationship and fall in love online. He gets married (while allegedly deeply in love with his online friend), and the marriage is a disaster. They eventually meet and marry and all ends happily.

The third storyline involves a British woman, stuck in a boring marriage with a cheating husband, who had a romance 20 years earlier with the Mexican. This adds nothing to the book and appears to be just padding to make the book a bit longer.

Without the third storyline, this would be a charming and quirky romantic novel, Suspend disbelief and enjoy it on holiday, but don't think too deeply about it!

A story about two people who met online and fell in love and...are thousands of miles apart? The blurb was already interesting and I as waded into the story...happy sigh. This story is fantastic (thousands of miles apart), sweet, modern (chat room??) and just altogether great!

Cecilie and Hector stumble across each other in a chat room for Depeche Mode and form a friendship, later into something else, despite the fact that Cecilie is in Norway and Hector is in Mexico. That and that life moves on despite the time zone differences. Two people cannot be more different in background and in culture but could not be more connected to each other than these two.

This is a story not meant to be inhaled but to be savored...and I'm truly getting curious as to what is a cloudberry (which I googled) and how yummy is that cloudberry cake, and the ice cream shop in Tromso. Anyway, this love story moves slowly, taking us back from the start and the present day Hector and Cecilie, but it doesn't feel slow and anticipation builds rather than boredom. Will they ever see each other in person? Do they or will they make it?

Thank you very much NetGalley and publisher for this copy. I love it!

Quite a nice love story. There is a little bit of to and fro within the story that can be distracting. But all in all, an enjoyable read.

I loved the cover of the book! It seemed to set the scene for the crazy story!
Cecile and Hector, living thousands of miles apart, one in the Arctic, one in Mexico? How was this ever going to work out?
There was some beautifully descpriptive writing about the two countries, I did find a lot of the story quite confusing, and had to keep going back to see who was who. Poor Cecile apparently abandoned in Paris, seeing Hector walk away with Kate. I felt Kate was a bit of an anomaly and could have done without her.
All came well in the end, which is how a good love story should be.
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.

An enchanting love story which is refreshingly different. Zoe Folbigg delightfully paints wonderful images of life in the snowy wastes of Norway with the extremes of seasonal daylight to the vibrant and colourful Mexico. The story covers 5 years of the main characters Cecilie and Hector communicating via the internet and their lives couldn't be more different. However they form a deep friendship/relationship on line with all the ups and downs of their lives in their respective countries. As a third thread there is a character, Kate, who lives in England and, apart from a connection with Hector before his relationship with Cecilie, it is hard to see what her character will add to the book, however, all is revealed in the closing chapters and it's very touching. I took to and empathised with Kate as a character and think she could certainly be the subject of a future novel.

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the book and the only reason I didn't rate it as 5 stars was the actual continuity as the times and dates kept jumping about, this was OK at first to put the story in context but got more annoying as time went on as one lost when events were occurring. I kept having to return to the chapter titles to see the dates certain events were happening whether in the past, present day, or future. Apart from this the story flows well and makes a good read.

I found the settings delightful and well described but I couldn't connect to the characters so found I couldn't read on further. I'm sure others would enjoy the book and the diversity of the different worlds. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Distance ‘ in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

It’s the story of Hector Herra from Mexico-who meets Cecile Wiig on an online fan blog/chat room. They fall in love.
Beautifully written- It is a true love story and everything was described in such a beautiful way.
I enjoyed Zoe Folbigg writing I am now going to look at reading ‘The Note’