This book… this book… I could rave about this book until the cows come home! I absolutely adored it.
I’ll admit that it took me a good few pages to get into, but once I completed the first chapter I was absolutely hooked – so much so that I read it in two days
I think there are some books that are just pure enjoyment, and if I could, I would bottle up the joy this book gave me and I would keep it forever. It had be laughing from start to finish and contains some of the best banter between two people that I have ever read – it was absolutely perfect and hilarious.
Minnie was such a well-rounded character. I definitely saw a lot of myself in her as she was constantly finding herself in awkward and uncomfortable situations, and I know exactly how that feels, as sometimes I am a walking, talking embarrassing moment waiting to happen! But, I thought that this just added to her quirkiness and loveability, and I only with that Minnie was a real person because I think I want to be her best friend.
When it comes to romance books I can be quite picky with the writing, as it’s very easy to over-explain, under-explain or simply make things ridiculously cheesy… but I needn’t have worried with this as the writing was so well done. The small details and breadcrumbs that Sophie Cousens leaves throughout are impeccable and I audibly gasped when the lightbulb moment happened in my brain regarding the brandy creme patisserie scenario! I did not see that coming whatsoever, and it was such an excellent twist! The romance was excellent, well thought out, and not cliche in the slightest.
I also love the fact that this story takes place in 2020, though an entirely different 2020 than the one all of us experienced. Somewhere in a parallel universe, where Covid never existed, Minnie and Quinn’s romance exists.
This was such a feed-good story from start to finish, and if you’re going to read anything over the festive season, then make it this.
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Note: there is also apparently a film adaptation in the works for this book, so I am very excited to see what it’s like! I feel like the problem with adaptations is that what they bring to life on screen rarely looks like what I envisioned in my head, so I often find myself disappointed… but, I’m holding out hope that this film will be a good one – especially if it retains all of the wonderful humour and banter that makes this book so perfect!
Favourite lines:
✨ ‘If you lived in a city for long enough, Minnie thought, the streets and places where life happens fold inwards like paper, making space for new memories. Yet visiting old haunts and a long forgotten road was like stretching the concertina out again – the memories leap out, fresh as the day you folded them away.’
✨ ‘All you can hope for is to do more good than harm in this life.’
✨ Minnie let out an involuntary high-pitched noise. She clutched a hand over her mouth, turning the sound into a strangled sort of sneeze.’
✨ ‘No one’s too small to make a difference; just ask Greta Thunberg.’
✨ ‘Better to be hated for what you are, than loved for what you’re not.’
‘Profound,’ said Minnie. ‘Where did you read that – the back of a cereal packet?’
✨ ‘Life can’t just be about coupling up like yoghurts in a multi-pack.’
✨ ‘Don’t cry about something you wouldn’t cry about in five years time.’
✨ ‘Ah, Coco Nuts, we meet again. I see you have foiled my cunning plan to steal all the fruit in Fruitopolis.’
✨ ‘Be a good companion to yourself and you will never be lonely.’
✨ ‘She picked up a perfect red leaf from the ground, examining the intricate pattern of vessels mapping its thin surface. So beautiful, yet only created to last such a short time before its role on this planet was over, and it would decay into mulch. An unremarkable existence, and yet to look at it – how remarkable.’
✨ ‘Life is change – if nothing’s changing, you aren’t living.’
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