***Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Hayley Doyle. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own.***

Never Saw You Coming is about Zara and Jim. Each on the heels of a life-changing situation, they meet after a fender bender. They embark on a road trip—each for vastly different reasons—and get to know one another.

Simply put, this book was not for me. It was listed in the Romance genre on NetGalley, but it didn’t feel like a romance to me. Zara and Jim didn’t have chemistry, at least in my books, and the feelings that arose were so out of left field and sudden that I actually went back to scan a few chapters to see if I missed something.

For most of the book, I didn’t particularly like Jim and I actively disliked Zara. He was an aimless shell who was stuck in a life rut and she was flighty and selfish and irresponsible. I couldn’t find a rhythm in the story and felt as though I had no idea where the author was trying to lead me. By the end, I had my answer as the story didn’t really go anywhere.

Cover to cover in one sitting! Couldn’t put it down! You won’t be disappointed! Hen you think your having a bad day someone is having a much worse one. Well written and just gripping! Highly recommend you purchase

I absolutely loved this book from the very first page. The author allows you to get to know the characters in a greater depth than any other book I have read going back and forth to the main characters in the book knowing just who's perspective you are reading about

Zara and Jim, people that in a normal life would not have met but who were destined to meet and I loved reading their friendship unfold

I didn't want this book to end!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
What an unpredictable read! I didn't know what was going to happen next. The plot definitely had a life of it's own.
I feel like Jim and Zara were so well fleshed out as characters that I now know them personally. The sadness of their situations, but also the changes they eventually made were well worth discovering.
Would've loved a longer epilogue but maybe that's just me.

I really enjoyed this book, I didn't want to put it down!

Zara can be quite impulsive which added to the fun of the story, andwhen she flies to Liverpool from Dubai to meet the dubious Nick it doesn't work out exactly as she had planned, but not one to be left miserable for long, she picks herself back up and gets on with it which is when she quite literally bumps into Jim.

Jim came accross as a generally nice guy who life hasn't always worked out for and I found myself hoping that they would both see the best in each other and make each other happy.

The book didn't always take me where I thought it was going to but I loved the little twists, my only disapointment was that I was left wanting to hear more about Jim and Zara and would have loved another chapter or two...who knows maybe there will be a sequal....I certainly hope so!

Never saw you coming, moves around Zara Khoury and Jim Glover. They are our main leads who are worlds apart.

Zara coming from a rich and well off family is a well-written character. She is a believer of true love and is ready to climb any height s for it. In this case, she leaves behind the sunny scapes of Dubai for cold and drenched life of Liverpool, all for a guy she barely knows. Her character is fun and entertaining but quite impulsive, which shows through her journey to meet Nick.

Jim is a doting son and works through a dead-end job just to be close to his mother in Liverpool. He is also a firm believer of true love but has given up hope of finding his. (So…agreed)

The story is well developed and characters likable. It is a perfect light reading for a weekend. This book takes time to trap you in the story. For me, it was after half the novel that I wanted to be sucked into the book.

The starting is a bit slow and difficult to read as the author has included the accurate dialect wording of Liverpool in writing, which takes time to grasp onto.

The characters of Jim and Zara were well defined and easy to relate to. The descriptions were so accurate that you feel like you know them personally.

The ending was a bit rushed, but still fun to read.

In conclusion, this is a light one time read. This book is for you if you are into witty impulsive female leads and a sucker for love stories.

This is a book about personal growth and opportunity as both Zara and Jim decided to free themselves of their escapism and actually live. A coincidental meeting created the lives they deserved to live as they took advantage of their true talent. They both realized they had both living surface lives and just treading along. I would love to see what happened after their final meeting at the chippy shop!

This book was so easy to get into and as a scouser I LOVED the Liverpool setting... I walk past the bombed out church everyday, I see the graduations from work on Hope Street. The author did a great job of bringing Liverpool to life hopefully for non scousers too.

Zara and Jim are likeable unconventional stars of this book who meet randomly, Zara, a visitor to Liverpool needs Jim's help when her plans go astray. Jim goes against type and ends up in Zara's unpredictable world but it gives him an opportunity to see that life is worth more than sitting in a tunnel booth everyday not living your best life!

A whole range of characters support this charming tale, especially liked Snowy, Jim's best mate and Jim's mum which added layers to the tale.

A really comforting January read... Oh and yes, 'The Asda'.

Thanks to net galley for the opportunity to review this book. This is my honest opinion.

REVIEW | Never Saw You Coming by Hayley Doyle

Zara is a hopeless romantic who decides to surprise her long distance boyfriend by showing up at his doorstep. Jim is down on his luck, working a deadend job. He gets a lucky break when he randomly wins a car on the radio. Zara and Jim’s worlds collide, literally, and they end up on a road trip together.

I love the premise and am always a sucker for a road trip romance. The cover is also beautiful, which drew me in initially.

Not going to lie, I had a really tough time getting through the beginning of this book. It is seemingly a massive info dump and did not hook me due to the mass amount of background information. I also had a really hard time investing in either of them as individual characters, let alone rooting for them romantically. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite work for me.

Massive thank you to Avon UK and netgalley for the opportunity to review!

This book had many elements I liked but overall it left me wanting a bit more. The writing was great, the characters were well developed with complex and well thought out backgrounds, plus they are the kind of people you find yourself rooting for. However, I felt the story was slow at the start and it took me quite some time to connect with it. I think the large part of having trouble connecting with the story was because I actually preferred Zara and Jim as individuals more than a potential couple. As the story progressed my opinion changed a bit but unfortunately it felt a little late in the story for me to get really caught up in Zara and Jim’s story. There were some plus and minuses for me but I’d still love to read another book from this author in the future.

The premise of this book sounded great, but more than a quarter into it I found the story lagging and rather boring. I couldn’t stick with it anymore to see if it got better.

Zara Khoury has the fantastic idea to surprise her long-distance boyfriend Nick by showing up on his front step. Nothing in her journey goes as planned and unfortunately for her, his life is not at all what he made it out to be when they met in Dubai months ago. Now she's stranded in Liverpool with a stranger whom she rear-ended, and all she can do is rely on his kindness even though he's been nothing but cranky and rude. Jim Glover set aside his life plans the day his father died, sticking around to care for his mom, barely making ends meet. When he wins a luxury car, he feels like his luck and life are both about to change dramatically. Then Zara bumps into him, literally.

Never Saw You Coming was a bit of a roller coaster. The majority of the first half of the book takes place over just a few hours, for some reason I struggle with books that move at a slightly slower pace like that. A lot of different events take place, in what's technically a short period of time, but it takes a bit to read through and I begin to get maybe a little impatient, waiting for the story to move on. There were a few chapters in the middle where small truths about the characters begin to come out (when they're trying to get to know each other) and I loved it, you begin to really see why they are the way they are and what shaped them, things make a bit more sense. It's funny and tragic all at the same time, there's some great banter between Zara and Jim. I have to confess that I didn't care for the ending, we spend so much with them rooting for them, then there's a year or more gap where things skip ahead and we see where they are, it's an hea of sorts but not one that makes you feel happy for the characters. Overall this is a pretty good read.

Zara and Jim are an odd couple, and I don't think the progression of their relationship could really end in love. I liked some parts of the book while others really dragged (like the roadtrip middle). Both of the main characters are having a hard time in their lives and make some bad decisions, bringing them together. I did however like the twist ending with Jim ending up in Dubai as a journalist and Zara staying in Liverpool to finish her degree; it also leaves the ending open to determine if they could make it work.

This was an entertaining, light read. It was a little slow to start but perked up in the second half. I did find the main female character a little grating which affected my enjoyment slightly. Overall a decent read.

I am unsure where to start with this book. Overall I really enjoyed it; however, I feel I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it.

The start of the book was slow and difficult to engage with. The scouse wording was accurate but really annoying. I live near Liverpool and know people call Asda ‘the Asda’ but reading it really irked me. Also, we all speak the word ‘me’ when we mean ‘my’ but, again, I found this quite annoying to read. However, reference to the bizzies, etc made me chuckle.

I absolutely loved Jim. Him and Zara were really well written and their characters were so well described that I feel I know them. Jim and Zara’s story was interesting and I felt hooked to the story from the 50% mark.

The ending fell a little flat as it seemed a bit rushed. Big gaps missing of how and why things happened for both Jim and Zara.

I realise I’ve moaned quite a bit, but overall I did enjoy this and would recommend it to others.

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book.

A lovely book about life surprises about falling in love when you least expect it a book with lovely characters surprises and questions.Highly recommend.#netgalley#avonbooksuk

A must read!

This story was so lovely! Zara and Jim's story started off with a bang and ended sweetly. This is the first book I have read by Hayley Doyle and it will not be the last! Perfect little romance!

Crazy and fun

Events become out of control when the unexpected occurs.

Incurable romantic Zara Khoury decides to leave Dubai and join her 'boyfriend' Nick in Liverpool. Without letting him know her plans, her intention is to to surprise him on his birthday. Although they met for only a few minutes in Dubai, by using the internet Zara and Nick's friendship has blossomed into a true romance/committed relationship. However when Zara arrives in Liverpool it's not the surprise she hoped for when she finally encounters him.

Jim Glover isn't an adventurous type, he's settled into a dull job and lives a quiet life mostly caring for his invalid mother. One day he receives an amazing phone-call that dramatically alters his life. The morning after his wild night of celebration, Jim encounters Zara and from then onwards everything changes for them both. They meet, they part, they meet again, first appearances are not always as they seem. Jim needs a shake up to become more daring and Zara could be the person to help him?

A delight to read and thoroughly recommended.

ARC supplied by NetGalley, this review is my own honest opinion and completely unbiased.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon UK for the chance to read and review it early. I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a real fun book. The story revolves around polar opposite characters Jim and Zara and I loved the different dynamics that was portrayed in the story. The opposite attracts theme with amiable secondary characters made this a totally fun and entertaining romance read. I enjoyed my time reading this. The straightforward writing style and more than good storyline made this one of the cutest book I reviewed this year.

Coming to the attractive cover and the secondary characters - especially Jim's mom and her friends , made this book an even better read. I loved it and though it was my first Haley Doyle book , it certainly wasn't my last. I really enjoyed reading this and it was certainly worth my time and review. I recommend it to all rom-com lovers. I hope you give it a try and love it as much as I did.

Thank you and Happy reading!

Never Saw You Coming is a debut novel by Hayley Doyle that has you hooked from the beginning. It was such an easy read that touched on real life issues: families, relationships. Zara was a funny and very real character that made it easy to keep turning the page.


Thank you Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for honest review.