I'm going through my backlog of ARCs and I'm so glad I requested this one at the start of the year. It was a really enjoyable book that I probably wouldn't have known about if it weren't for NetGalley.

Virtual Strangers centres around Ada's life as she finds out that the man she'd been in love with was actually married and his wife was about to give birth. Ada is crestfallen and decides to quit her job and life in London and go back to live with her mum in Edinburgh. She starts working as a publicist for a local celebrity and tries to put her life back together, and we get to go along for the ride.

The fact that this story is set in Edinburgh was the main reason I decided to request it, especially because I got an audio version of this book, so I was able to enjoy the Scottish accent. I went to Edinburgh for the second time last year and it is the most stunning city ever. I can't wait to go back. This was Sam Canning's debut and I thought the author did a wonderful job, and so did the narrator, Lesley Harcourt.

Thank you very much to Zaffre/Bonnier UK Audio and NetGalley for this ARC!

I enjoyed this story, and I thought the narrator was great. At the beginning, I found Ada so annoying and self-entitled but I can say I was satisfied by her character development by the end of the book (not something I always expect from a from com!)

This book had me laughing out loud on several occasions and in the end, I loved the arc of several relationships and how they resolved. I will admit that the epilogue did confuse me a little and left me wanting more, would have preferred not to have listened to that bit at all! But overall an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this audio book. I did find the main character a bit irritating though & felt it went in longer than it needed to.

Great setting in Edinburgh (I really want to visit it again) and great characters.
The you've got mail vibe is big and add a fun element with the Agatha Christie talk.
The main characters are not perfect but have flaws, I liked that.

The narrator did a great job.

DNF

I'm sorry but this audiobook was not for me.
I couldn't connect with any of the characters, especially the FMC. I really tried and I did listen up to 30% of the audiobook but eventually, I had to call it quits.
This book gives out massive "you've got mail" vibes which I love. However, the dialogue between these online characters was awkward. The FMC was all around very awkward in general and I will admit I suffered a lot of second-hand embarrassment while listening to this book.
The humour in this book, also, wasn't for me. I was waiting for the joke to sink in and unfortunately, it didn't.
That being said, in the parts, I did listen to, the author did an amazing job at the descriptions of the landscape and cities.

Overall this audiobook wasn't for me, however, I would like to thank the publisher, the author and Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled to get into this; a lot of the time when I listen to an audiobook I have to remind myself not to get distracted, but unfortunately this one didn’t capture my attention. The narrator was great, but the plot just didn’t hold my interest as much as I’d hoped.

I’ll give this a try when I’m on holiday as that tends to give me more focus! I had good hopes and it could be a good beach read/listen, but I just couldn’t get into it right now.

Two things enhanced my experience with this book. One was the fact that I was actually in Edinburgh (where the book was based) when I started and finished listening to it. The second was the narrator. There was a light, fun tone which she maintained throughout the book that had me wanting to see the inevitable happen.
I say inevitable because it is not difficult to see where things were headed or what the twists in the tale were. Despite knowing almost exactly what would happen, Ada learns her lessons well as she faces every new setback. She moves back into her mother's house when she has to unceremoniously quit her PR job. She has a best friend waiting in the wings to take care of her. She takes some things for granted while stressing about others. By the time the story comes to a close, some of the things switch places.
Ada is trying to get her company off the ground. She has only a single client, and because she feels beholden to holding down that one person, she takes a lot of crap on his behalf. In the evenings, she indulges in her Agatha Christie fandom, which leads her into an old-fashioned pen pal love story. That part does not feel real enough, and so when pushed, she starts to show interest in other places.
There is enough discussion about the effort that goes into getting a business like Ada's going that it feels like part of the story and not tacked on to provide a background for the events to occur.
Ada is not perfect. She herself quite freely admits it. But that is not used as an excuse to keep making mistakes. Ada doesn't make the same mistake twice, which makes the entire book quite fun to listen to.
Normally I do not get long durations to listen at length to one particular book, but the humour, the narrative voice and the general book had me finishing it on a short holiday to Scotland( The combination was completely unplanned!)
I would recommend the audio version to fans of this genre who like to go outside the standard US/London setting.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own listening experience.

I thought this was a really typical romance book. There were no surprises, you knew from the beginning where the story would go, however it was still really enjoyable. The characters were fun and I liked that they were a little nerdy too. I especially loved Ada’s mum, I wish we got to see more of her. I also liked friendships in the book.

Loved the journey! The plot was predictable and not so dissimilar to other online chatting romance novels but it didn't detract from the story and it was really enjoyable to go along for the ride while Ada caught up with what the rest of us already knew.

Steve was a nice comedic surprise, i dont know why Ada put up with him, far too much hard work.

Overall a nicely written, enjoyable read, ill be keeping an eye out for other books by this author

Oh my my, what a wonderful discovery!
This book is the perfect romance, it ticks all of my boxes:
✨ heroin trying to figure out life
✨ nerd MCs (I wish I liked murder mystery, because that would have made this book so much more appreciable)
✨ the slowburn, or rather, the fact that Ada and Fraser become friends first and lovers eventually
✨ the setting!
✨ the chemestry, both online and in person, was to die for

Narrated by Lesley Harcourt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Story by Sam Canning ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have not been so invested in a fictional relationship since The Flat Share.

This played out like a movie in my head. I loved everything about Ada and Fraser. I wish these people were my real life friends. I'd love to go on a double date with them ♥️💙

I can't believe this is Sam Canning's debut novel. Definitely an author I'm going to follow closely.

Listened to this on audio - loved the Edinburgh accents - which really made the book for me.

Having been to Edinburgh several times I could picture the locations in my mind.

Not so much of a romance and the bits with her best friend Amal were so sad - but very believable.

I didn't see the ending coming.

An entertaining read.

This book was so fun to listen to in audiobook form and was a really funny and lighthearted read. I loved the storyline about the Agatha Christie fan fiction, that was really funny and unique. Fraser was a fantastic male love interest, and I was rooting for them all the way through. Overall it was very enjoyable and a quick read. Would definitely read more from the author and the audiobook narrator was fantastic!

Firstly, thank you for the approval for the audio book of Virtual Strangers.
I enjoyed the plot of the story and the characters involved. Although for me this felt like a slow burner, the character development came through really well, especially for Ada. My favorite relationship was the one she had with Myster-E (even though he ends up being Fraser too) and also the one she had with Amar. I appreciated the humour and introspection of the characters.
To touch on the audio and narrator, at first I struggled to adjust to the accent being from South Africa, however I adjusted and could clearly understand the narration. I enjoyed her way of narrating, by really putting the emotion into it.
I give this audio book a rating if 3/5. I would have liked the climax of the story to be moved forward and without it ending so abruptly once Ada found out Fraser was Myster-E. But the characters and the humour made this story for me.

I AD-ORED the Edinburgh setting since it's one of my favorite city and it added some special vibes! It's the most predictable story you could ever read but it was still extremely nice and relaxing. You don't need to think or worry about something unpredictable and it did get slightly boring towards the end. The romance was nice, a cute rom-com but, to me, the most enjoyable thing about this was the setting. 3.5 stars.

Virtual Strangers is a really enjoyable story set in Scotland. I’ve not listened to many audiobooks but I loved that the casting for the readers reflected the location with Scottish accents. I found myself really looking forward to each section I listened to following Ada’s adventures of work, friendship and love. It felt like there were a few storylines that interlinked. Ada’s online conversations with the mysterious Mr E and her growing relationship with cafe/office friend Fraser. I’d definitely recommend this audiobook.

I would've liked this book a lot more if I had read the physical/ebook version because the narration sucked. That is my problem since I now see that I could've read it as an ebook, but I couldn't get away from the narration and dnf'ed the book after about 15 minutes.

This book kept me company on many walks. The narrator was great and I was engaged throughout.

The story was great and I loved that it was based in Edinburgh. The humor throughout the book kept me chuckling away. The growth in Ada from the beginning to end of the book was my favourite self love at its finest.

After her past relationship came crumbling down Ada decided to quit her job and move back home to start her own PR business. She sets up shop at a coffee shop where she meets Fraser. They get along really well. But there’s also Myster-E, they connect on an online fanfic forum and have never met in person. Yes, it’s a little sketchy but Ada is thorn about her feelings for the two guys.

This is such a good romcom, I might even go as far to say it has everything you could possibly want. It’s funny, flirty and also has some deeper moments. When I say everything comes crumbling down for Ada it really does. Trigger warning for this one is cheating and postnatal depression.

Other then the romance the reader also gets a front row seat to Ada’s personal journey. As she gets to know herself again. The friendship between Ada and her best friend Amal is so interesting. They’re in such different parts of their life but there’s so much love between them.

One thing that caught me of guard a little is the narrators accent, Scottish. Even though I knew the book is set en Edinburg but I grew to like it as I listened. But since English isn’t my first language i have to admit it was slightly difficult to understand some words. Overall this is just so good, I highly recommend it. It truly gave me The flatshare vibes, which is high praise because I absolutely loved that book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for the advance audiobook.

I very much enjoyed the audiobook and the reader! There was so much personality from all the characters and the relationships felt normal and not over embellished.

It’s very much a millennial You’ve got Mail, but with a nice change.
I loved the main character, and her flaws. Especially how she grew within the story and was just a right laugh.

Very much an easy listen and I feel that any romance readers will have a fun time with this story.