We’ve let her know: about love, fate, and online dating by Etienne Bijnens

A Contemporary Romance Novel published by Baartele Press (03/27/21)

First reviewed through Reedsy Discovery

Summary:

“I pretend I have no ulterior motive other than to meet new people in a city where everybody is too afraid to look anyone in the eyes.” (Page 84).

Lyam is about to relocate from South Africa to London. He doesn’t want to be lonely so joins an online dating app to look for likely prospects in his new hometown. Immediately he finds Anna and plans to meet her the first day he arrives in London. But Anna isn’t the one. Neither is Kyra, Fiona, or the hundreds of other women Lyam meets up with or messages. Lyam will have to either evolve his approach to online dating or his mindset and expectations of the women he meets.

Keywords:

Love, Travel, Study Abroad, Band, Singer, Artist, Photography, England, Farewell, Bandmates, Best Friends, Brothers, Adoption, Family, Violin, Fate

My Review:

This book did not follow the typical three-act story structure but the writing style and flow of the novel reeled me in from the very beginning. It felt like the book meandered with purpose as if it was following its own structure related to the various stages of online dating. The ending came full circle and was immensely satisfying in an “aha” type moment of release. This book meets the happy ending requirement of typical romance novels, though it may take a roundabout way to get there.

The story is told through the lens of the main character Lyam as he navigates online dating for the first time. Without any guides or cheats, he will learn what most people eventually learn from online dating. Lyam will go through each of the stages of online dating hilariously, jumping to all the conclusions and hitting upon all the issues along the way. If you ever wanted a practical guide to online dating and what’s in store for you as a man trying to find “the one” then this is the perfect comical perspective. Learn what pitfalls to avoid and what perspective you should have when going into online dating while following along with Lyam and his story through several years of his life in London. His experience is both general and specific enough with online dating to provide a guide of how to adapt your expectations for online dating through the changing perspective Lyam has for his own experiences.

Can you optimize your approach to online dating, the way you structure your profile, or how you communicate with potential matches? Lyam certainly thinks he can and his attempts to do so are fascinating and his mindset before, during, and after are even more fascinating. At times they are downright comical.

This book was very relatable as well as eye-opening for what someone on the other side of the online dating match is thinking.

Lyam’s search for love wasn’t the only story told in this book. I was just as interested in Brett and Richard and how their quest for love would turn out. I was most interested in the relationship between Lyam, Brett, and Richard and how wholesome their friendship remained throughout the novel. At times I thought Lyam was being a shallow jerk when he dismissed the women he met with but then his easygoing nature with his buddies endeared him again as a sympathetic individual.

If you want to dive deep into online dating and the male perspective, you will enjoy this book as long as you don’t mind the meandering story focussed on Lyam’s changing perspective about online dating.

This novel was published by Baartele Press on 03/27/2021 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.00

Links for more information:

Etienne Bijnens‘ Website

Goodreads