This Chick Read: Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens

Laura is a hopeless romantic who works for a lifestyle magazine that focuses on love stories. When she travels to Jersey, the place where her parents met, she accidentally trades bags with a man on her plane and after looking inside decides her may be the one, her perfect match. She hires a local cab driver named Ted to ferry her around to all of the sites of her parents infamous love story, and also to help her find the man who has her bag, she learns a lot about life, love, and what she wants for her own happily ever after.

Sophie Cousens has quickly become one of my go to authors for quirky, fun, and emotional love stories. Just Haven’t Met You Yet sounded sweet and it was! It also exceeded my expectations. Laura was a driven romantic. I say driven because every accidental moment becomes a sign of love and well, most of us don’t live like that. At first it was annoying, but I quickly got into the rhythm of her character and let myself believe in the spirit of her character. I also fell in love with her driver Ted.

Ted and Jasper were Laura’s two love interests. One was the man she was destined to meet, the one whose bag was packed with all of the signs that they were meant to be. Ted, as the grumpy and cynical cab driver, quickly grew to be my favorite character. His unruly appearance and sad story were meant to tug at the readers heartstrings and he tugged the hell out of mine. As Laura searches for her parents love story she is also trying to find herself and her own true love and Jersey may just be the place that she’ll find it.

There were some really lovely moments in this novel. Hanging with the neighbors by the fire on Ted’s dad’s last day before going into a home, making the jewelry with sea glass, the list goes on and on. If you can’t find something in this novel to love then, well, you shouldn’t read romance novels. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* Just Haven’t Met You Yet

Copyright 2021 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

This Chick Read: This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens

Minnie Cooper and Quinn Hamilton were both born on New Year’s Day, their mothers going into labor in the same hospital at the same time. Quinn’s mother gives birth first and wins a cash prize for delivering the first child of the year and also names her son the name Minnie’s mother was going to name her, in essence ruining all of her mom’s plans. Her father named her Minnie and her mother blamed her for every bad luck thing that happened making Minnie believe that her birthday was the worst day of the year. When she meets Quinn at a New Year’s Eve party and realizes he is THE Quinn Hamilton that stole her name, she tells him the story and he’s charmed by both the story and her. Over time they run into each other and develop a friendship, each learning a little bit more about each other’s lives. Minnie, who always thought Quinn’s life was charmed realizes that not everything is as it looks and there’s a lot more hidden beneath the surface. This story plumbs the depths of Minnie and Quinn’s lives intertwining them until it seems fate has brought them together for each other.

This novel centers around several relationships. Minnie’s friendship with her best friend, Minnie’s relationship with her mother, Quinn’s relationship with his mother, and then, of course, Minnie and Quinn’s relationship with each other. Besides the story that revolves around our two central characters I really enjoyed their relationships with with their mothers. Minnie’s was especially fraught with tension. Her mother let that one evening overshadow how she raised her daughter making her critical and kind of a complainer. It was neat to see that relationship evolve once she and Quinn met and her mother started evaluating her behavior. Quinn’s own relationship with his mom is loving as he’s a caretaker for his sensitive and kind of unstable mother. He loves her but also knows that she’ll need him to care for her for the rest of her life. That weighs on a person. The story navigates through these relationships with love, humor, and a realness that brought solidity to a story that wasn’t unpredictable.

This Time Next Year is a really funny book. I tried to read it quietly while in the room with my husband and there were several moments where I was holding in my laughter while crying. I love a story that makes me laugh and this one definitely did that. The silly moments were well balanced with tender, emotional moments making this a really well balanced novel. These character were three dimensional making this novel very easy to escape into. I really liked these two characters, in fact I liked every one in this novel. They were quirky, different, difficult, and really interesting, but it was Minnie and Quinn who pulled it all together into one cohesive multi-dimensional group.

I, like a lot of readers this year, have had trouble falling into a book, so when it happens it makes an impact. This Time Next Year was that book for me. I really liked the main characters, the conflict, the resolution, and the humor that they kept through all of the drama. The story was very intricate with each piece fitting together creating a unique story and a fun experience for the reader. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase! This Time Next Year

Copyright 2020 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.