Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.
Expected: 1 August 2020
When Minnie meets Quinn at a NYE party, it’s clear that they’ve got nothing in common – except for the strange fact of their being born in the same place at the same time on New Year’s Eve. He is a privileged party boy who believes the world is his for the taking. She is a hard-working realist, whose lack of confidence tends to hold her back.
Opposites don’t really attract…it’s not like this is a rom-com, right?
But if Quinn and Minnie are from different worlds, why do they keep bumping into each other? And why is it that each frustrating interaction somehow seems to push their lives in the right direction? Could it be that instead of clashing, their different outlooks might complement each other?
Perhaps now is the time for them to finally come together...
The Review
What a great debut from a new author. This is a contemporary love story featuring "love twins" jinxed Minnie and privileged Quinn. Minnie's jinx started (and is especially bad) around New Years which is also her birthday and also the day Quinn stole her name (as well the cash prize for being the first baby born in 1990). Despite being from such different worlds Minnie and Quinn are inexplicably drawn to each other, finally meeting on their 30th birthdays having crossed paths unknowingly many times before.
That's really the essence of this - fate and finding your "player two" - which is great and something I believe in (kinda) but the number of near meet cutes for this pair was slightly unbelievable. That said the author has an effortlessly easy writing style, cleverly intertwining the present-day story with these past fateful moments. As well as being told across multiple timelines, there's also two points of view Minnie's and Quinn's which is one of my favourite narratives.
Both main characters were engaging. I mean who couldn't like warm, funny, jinxed Minnie who takes losing her coat with house keys, getting puked on and locked in a of all night in her stride because that's just a typical New Year's Eve for her. But, like Minnie I fell for "cardboard girl" Quinn, a boy who seemingly has it all (looks, money, success) but because of family responsibilities can't entertain love, like the story of a penguin at a zoo who fell in love with a cardboard cutout that couldn't love him back.
There's lots of laugh in this and not just provided by Minnie's bad luck. One of my favourite moments being Leila's dream over-the-top Disney themed proposal complete with singing animals, knight in shining armour, mermaids and nutella pancakes only for Leila to reveal she had no recollection of ever having 'asked for such a thing.
The big thing I enjoyed about this was that it wasn't just a romance or even a romcom. It was about relationships in general between friends, family and of course of the romantic variety. It was also thought-provoking and dream inspiring with its sub plot of Minnie's pie business and typical New Year's Eve question of "where do you want to be this time next year?"
Finally, I enjoyed the London setting - who knew you could actually wild swim at Hampstead Heath?
The author
Sophie Cousens worked as a TV producer in London for more than twelve years. This Time Next Year is her debut novel.
Follow @SophieCous on Twitter.
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