This Time Next Year is a cute, fast British chick lit/women's fiction book about Minnie Cooper (there's plenty of jokes about that) and the man who "stole" her name by being born just before her, Quinn. It's predictable, but a sweet read, and fun in that in the 2020 of This Time Next Year, there's no pandemic and lots of delicious pie mentions (with recipes at the end). There's an attempt at addressing a few deeper issues, especially anxiety, but it's in the "everyone is great by the end!" way, which is unsurprising but I wished for a bit more substance. Still, it's a sweet story and a welcome escape from the reality (aka horror) of 2020.

This is a delightful romantic comedy set in London on or around a series of New Year's Eves and New Year's Days. I loved the unique premise of the two main characters being born 1 minute apart at the same hospital and almost both being named the same name, and then randomly meeting at a party on their shared thirtieth birthday. The characters were fun and the romance was sweet and tame. Well written and entertaining. Loved it!

Minnie has blamed her lifelong bad luck on the man who stole her name and was born first on New Year's Day, Quinn Hamilton. When the two have a chance encounter on their birthdays, their lives change forever. The book is funny and romantic. If you are looking for a good holiday read, get this book now!

Beginning on December 31st until dawn on January 2nd you are best avoid Minnie Cooper. After experiencing disasters year after year on New Years Eve and Day, Minnie is convinced she is jinxed. You see, Minnie was born just after midnight on January 1st, 1990 and this is where all her troubles began. Not only was she edged out of being the first baby born in the 90s resulting in her family missing out on the prize money and promotions that went along with that honor she had her intended name stolen by the same baby...Quinn. Instead she was given the same name as a car fueling her bullies with endless amounts of ammunition for years to come. When Minnie finally crosses paths with her birthday twin, Quinn Hamilton, on their 30th birthday the two couldn't be any less alike. Quinn has everything in life while Minnie's business is barely hanging on by a thread. However the more time Minnie and Quinn spend together she begins to realize that maybe she has been wrong for not-so-secretly blaming Quinn for her life's path. Could these two opposites actually help one another discover what they really want from life? "This Time Next Year" is a wonderful debut by author Sophie Cousens. With the book starting off on New Year's Eve 2019, it was really nice to imagine what a fictional 2020 could have been like if the pandemic hadn't happened. Set over the course of the year, including flashbacks to different points in Minnie and Quinn's life, I thought "This Time Next Year" was the perfect way to round out my 2020 reading. If you could use a little levity before we all kick 2020 to the curb add this to your TBR list for the holidays. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A swoon worthy holiday rom-com with sparkling humor and witty banter. For all Minnie's misfortunes, you'll envy her wealth of friendship, eccentric family and the name stealer who might just be her love twin.

Thank you bookstagram for influencing me to read this book. I have a huge problem with book FOMO and while I usually avoid all the hyped books because my expectations are easily inflated, I'm glad I picked this one up.

What I loved about this book:

1. While this book is most definitely cute romcom, it had depth I wasn't expecting. Minnie thought she was robbed of the glorious life her birthday twin had, but she learns that everything isn't as it appears. She spent her life resentful of Quinn and his "charmed life" because he appeared to have it all, gorgeous girlfriend, oodles of money, and a successful business, while Minnie had a struggling business, an ok boyfriend, and absolutely no money. As they become friends she learns more about Quinn's childhood and that maybe money isn't what's important in life.

2. I loved the characters in this well written friends to lovers romance. Even though they were both deeply flawed, they worked on themselves to become the best versions of Minnie and Quinn. I loved that even the secondary character in this novel had great character growth!

3. I thought the random flash backs to chance encounters throughout their lives was a nice added addition to this book. Was it a bit cheesy? Yes, but it's 2020 and I'm her for all the cute cheesiness. Usually missed connections aren't really my thing, but it completely worked for me in this book.

This book was cute and slightly predictable, but I absolutely devoured it. Honestly I'll takes a feel good book any chance I can get because 2020 had been a gigantic dumpster fire. So if you're looking for smiles and a great HEA pick up this lovely book.

This book is one of the sweetest love stories I've ever read. And more than that, it was a beautiful story of a woman finding how to stand on her own, both within and without a relationship.

Minnie Cooper (yes, for real), and Quinn Hamilton were both born on New Year’s Day in the same hospital. The first baby born that year received a prize cash, and Quinn beat out Minnie by just a couple of minutes. The misfortune causes Minnie’s mother to decide her daughter is naturally unlucky in life, and reminds her of this at seemingly every opportunity she gets. I found this dynamic very unsettling and odd, especially since Minnie fully embraces being unlucky as part of her identity and expects it throughout her life.

When Minnie and Quinn bump into each other at a New Year’s Eve party, Minnie is shocked to find that she doesn’t hate the boy who ‘stole her luck’ as much as she might have thought. From there, the story turns into a cute but expected will-they-won’t-they that alternately brings Minnie and Quinn together and apart etc.

I had high expectations going into This Time Next Year that weren’t entirely met. It’s a solid romance and depictions of the two main characters lives were detailed and sucked me in. The bizarre ‘luck’ aspect of the book really threw me off and I did not find the relationship between the two characters’ mothers to be believable. If you’re looking for a cute romance though, it’s worth the read.

Review posted 12/13/20
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I really enjoyed this book. The premise was so fun and different. I will definitely be reading more from this author!

Reading “This Time Next Year” by Sophie Cousens is like wrapping yourself in a cozy and bright sweater, you might know how it will end but it certainly offers up plenty of warm and fuzzy feelings.

Romantic comedy fans can rejoice as Cousens delivers an uplifting and cheery romance in her debut novel “This Time Next Year.”

Cousens’ charming leads Minnie and Quinn have been constantly missing each other since they were both born, mere rooms apart on New Year’s Day. Minnie’s life has been less than spectacular, in fact she believes her birthday is cursed as terrible things tend to befall her on her birthday. Quinn’s life seems rather perfect on the surface, but his mother’s health has been challenging for him since he was a child.

Cousens’ radiantly crafted and laugh-out-loud funny novel will keep readers chuckling and sighing over Minnie and Quinn’s bumpy relationship through their name-stealing, penguin adopting and wild swimming exploits. Those looking for a light and heart melting story are sure to enjoy laughing along to the rollercoaster of events.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, Cousens’ novel was selected as a Good Morning America Book Club pick and a Book of The Month title.

This rom com has it all - family drama, mental health issues, quirky characters, best friends who endure, career choices, money issues, pie making, mishaps and bad luck. I enjoyed that the story was in 2020 but It also ventured back in time as Minnie and Quinn grew into the people they are now. A good book club discussion story.

Thank you so much @PutnamBooks (an imprint of @PenguinRandomHouse) & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 01 November 2020)

SYNOPSIS | Minnie & Quinn are both born in the same hospital one minute apart from each other on 01 January 1990. As Quinn is born first, he is the winner of the prize money for being the first recorded baby born in the 90s and from an outsiders perspective, his life continued to have good luck. Minnie, however believes she is cursed & they unexpectedly meet again on their 30th birthday.

WHAT I LIKED:
- all of the failed connections
- alternating timelines
- the characterisation was just delightful
- Minnie & Leila's friendship

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- Minnie's relationship with her mother. I think there was more conversation to be had there.
- very little actual romance

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book is a MUST READ for anyone that enjoys a romantic comedy, but with some serious personal growth from characters. Quinn and Minnie were both born on New Years Day, at the same hospital, and practically in the same room, but don't really know about each other until a NYE party just before they turn 30. The book was such a unique set up - going back through previous NYE's and birthdays, and showing how the two characters paths constantly cross or run parallel. On the surface, these two are very different - Quinn comes from wealth and is serious and seems shallow, Minnie is a hard worker and messy and seems to lack any sort of confidence. But as the story unfolds, and these two struggle to be friends and then become friends... they each start to realize what they want in life and who they want to be.

I really enjoyed this debut romance and will look out for more of this author's work. Cousens handles the timeline - one year straight through interspersed with different New Year's Eves throughout the protagonists' lives, really deftly. Minnie is charming, flawed, and relatable. Quinn reveals some hidden depths as a person who's life has largely revolved around a parent with severe anxiety. And both start to work through their issues, together and apart, with a great cast of supportive friends and family. Their lifelong coincidences and near misses are sweet without ever crossing into schmaltzy.

This book came at the perfect time. I loved the setting and premise, and I couldn't put it down. When I did, it was with a satisfied smile.

I really liked this one, a great story about a girl and a boy with the same birthday, January 1 and how it’s affected their lives. They were born in the same hospital minutes apart, but didn’t meet in person until they were in their 30s. The plot is great, the writing well done, and the characters memorable. I highly recommend this one! 5 stars.

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of this book and exchange for an honest review.

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!

I was over the moon when GP Putnam’s Sons reached out to me about reading and reviewing This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens - I had had my eye on this book already because of how great the premise sounded. The book is about two characters with nothing in common (except for being born at the same hospital a minute apart) who keep running into each other - it sounded like Serendipity meets One Day in December and I couldn’t wait to dive in.

This book had a super interesting timeline structure - it bounced between flashbacks and the year 2020. The flashbacks were fun snapshots into the backstories of Minnie and Quinn - they helped give both characters definition (and helped justify Minnie’s fear of New Years Day). The flashbacks were also perfectly timed throughout the book - they were great for pushing the main timeline forward. The writing quality in this book was amazing - right from the start I was hooked on Minnie and Quinn’s story, and only put the book down once while reading it.

I loved Minnie - she was a perfectly imperfect character, just trying to find her true calling in life. I really loved that even when she got knocked down (or puked on) she didn’t take it lying down, she was quick to adapt and listened to the advice doled out by her friends. Her devotion to her best friend was remarkable - she was willing to derail her life to ensure the mental health of her best friend. Reading about Minnie growing more and more confident and self sufficient was a joy - she slowly stopped looking to others for validation and learned to rely on herself.

Quinn, on the other hand, was hard to get a read on at first. He was clearly afraid of commitment and very dedicated to the care of his mother, but outside of that, it was unclear what his true intentions were at the start of the book. I really loved how the author used the flashback chapters to build a foundation for his character - through these flashbacks, Quinn’s backstory became clear, as did his motivations and overall character traits.

Now, for the most important part of any romance book - how was the chemistry between Quinn and Minnie? In short, phenomenal. This is a very, very slow burn book - the couple had a lot of hurdles to overcome before they could finally get their happily ever after. What I really appreciated was the fact that despite their off the charts chemistry, they waited to get together until both characters were in the right headspace for it - they didn’t rush into it. Trust me, the slow burn is very, very worth the wait in This Time Next Year.

This Time Next Year is perfect holiday reading - it’s cozy, romantic, and perfect for reading with a cup of hot chocolate by a fireplace. I loved it so much that I’m already planning to reread it between Christmas and New Years Eve (since so much of the book takes place on New Years Eve/Day). If you enjoyed One Day in December or the movie Serendipity, you will definitely love this book. 5/5

This book was just what the doctor ordered. It is an adorable rom-com with unpredictable twists and turns. I loved the characters, and how strong they each were independent of one another. This would make a very cute movie, especially with the New Years Eve theme. Great book!