Constance is working as a receptionist at a medical practice when she meets Samuel Stevens, a self-obsessed egomaniac who soon uses Constance exclusively to his own ends. To Constance, the relationship is so much more meaningful than it would otherwise be, as her current circumstances have left her vulnerable and raw. So begins an obsession that will lead Constance into the darkest recesses of human emotion. Astonishingly, this is Charlotte Levin’s debut novel, except it is so brilliantly crafted you’d be forgiven for thinking it was her tenth! Brilliant. A perfect and completely terrifying depiction of heartbreak and obsession' – Sarah Powell

What I did love about Constance was her wit pipped at the post only by a lesser character, Edward, who provided the balance and sanity and light relief much needed in this tale of obsession, loneliness, fear and hope. A well deserved 5 stars. Congratulations to the author. 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. Something did come, however, a little later that evening in the form of a phone call. It made her heart beat faster, her stomach turn somersaults. I take major issue with Johns not wording her thoughts better. According to her, all women fantasize about being raped at the least, at the most we want to be raped. There is a poignant quote near the end of the book by Paul Pastor, the Pierce County (Washington) Sheriff, that needs to be repeated here: "This was something evil. Let's not refer to this, please, in public, as a tragedy. This was not a tragedy. This is a horrible murder of two little kids. Let's not dress it up. Let's not sanitize it. Let's not distance ourselves from it. It is something wrong. It is something evil."

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 is an exceptional debut novel and Charlotte Levin really brings Constance Little to life, warts and all. She’s created a character that the reader feels all the emotions for. Whilst we can’t quite agree with some of her actions, we understand why she does the things she does. She has bottled up her deep feelings about her parents and never faced up to the loss and grief properly which has caused her to behave in the way she does. Every once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the eyes of the American public. The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story – with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm. Maxwell, who more than once mistakenly refers to Susan as "Sarah," tries to get Josh to tell him who Susan's friends are. But Josh can't seem to think of anybody.

If I Can't Have You by Charlotte Levin is an all-consuming novel about loneliness, obsession and how far we go for the ones we love. My favourite character would have to be the irascible Edward. And his inscription in the copy of "Wuthering Heights" he gave to Constance for her birthday brought tears to my eyes...Cons: ending was maybe a tad too controversial for me, too long, could be a bit slow in some places

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. IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU is sinister, creepy and, in some ways, addictive. Its tense and compulsive narration gives the reader a sense of claustrophobia. The characters are impulsive, vulnerable and mostly unlikeable. While the plot itself is quite cleverly written as one long detailed letter that provides a slow burn build of tension culminating to an ugly end, it did drag a little in places but the concept itself was genius. I don’t want to give any more of the plot away as the character development is so intriguing and well done that the less you know the better. And there are some great characters in this book; every one of them adds so much to the story. Upstairs in thirty-year-old Johnny Powell's bedroom, a carefully coiled rope noose hung on the wall along with disturbing renderings of a woman with a knife running through her vagina and exiting her stomach. Johnny, whom his father and sister Alina considered an artist, had a history of mental troubles. JoVonna was frustrated. "No, she's not at work. We're really worried, Josh. You didn't go to work."EM:… If you last seen her at midnight that's the last time you've seen her, um, nobody else has seen her or talked to her since, so she's basically been missing for about twenty hours. Why have I bothered this time ? Because the verdicts not just given out of sequence, it’s put into the ‘about this book’ blurb ! So I now know what happened before I even read the first sentence ! I mean c’mon ! quote "It's funny, grief, isn't it? How you die with them. Whoever you were before has gone +... "unquote)

Jennifer went into the master bedroom. Despite the clutter, she noticed Susan's blue leather purse on a table by the foot of the bed. It contained her wallet, credit cards, and keys. There was no cell phone. The house was messy, but that was normal. There was no sign of forced entry or a robbery, home invasion, or struggle. Susan's red nylon snow boots, which she wore whenever she left the house, were in the living room. My thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers, PanMacmillan for a copy of the ARC in return for an honest review. Clad in a meringue of taffeta, tulle and blood, Constance steps onto the underground in somewhat of a daze. As the reader we are instantly drawn into her world and what happened to leave her sandwiched between a hipster and a mother with her child in a bridal gown on a train. The child was in awe of Constance's attire exclaiming "Look at the princess, mummy!" whilst pawing the rustling fabric as other passengers possibly declared her somewhat insane. In that moment, we feel her pain despite not yet knowing what it is. Has she been jilted? Or is she a runaway bride? Debbie Caldwell pulled up in her Ford Club Wagon—the one with fifteen seats to carry all the children who attended her day care—and observed how quiet her friend and neighbor Susan's house seemed. It was 9:00 A.M. on Monday, December 7, 2009, and West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City, was in the middle of a three-day winter storm. Freezing temperatures and four inches of new snowfall made the roads so icy that the local news described the streets as "mayhem." But the truth is much stranger than fiction; far darker and twisted than anyone could possibly imagine. Including Constance herself.After being trapped by the police in his driveway, Josh followed Detective Maxwell to the West Valley City Police Department to tell his story once more. The police wanted Charlie and Braden to come to the station, too. Why didn't anything happen? Why do people have to die for the police to do their jobs? If someone is capable of doing this once they're capable of doing it twice. When asked why he hadn't answered his cell phone during the day, Josh said he had kept it off to preserve the battery. He said he didn't have a cell charger. Plus they were out in the desert where there was no service. Detective Maxwell, a solidly built man with a dark crew cut, mustache, and ruddy complexion, had fifteen years on the force but this would be the most complicated and trying case of his career. Maxwell leaned through the window of the minivan and saw one phone on the center consul plugged into a charger. He also noted a second cell phone—later determined to be Susan's—in the van. Josh didn't have an answer as to why his wife's phone was in the car.