The description of this book was better than the actual story. which is never a good start. i can appreciate
what the author was trying to capture during the book but it fell flat for me.

"More than"
One Night, New York
Lara Thompson


A darned shame!

I would have rated this 5 stars, except for the errors described in detail within this review.

Definitely the issue regarding the book's title certainly seems like a relatively egregious error - however I loved this story, and all side issues (quasi mafiosos, lesbian love affair, and so on).

It is a beautiful and thrilling mystery.

I was originally going to send this just to the publisher, however after discovering this book was published a year ago, I realized corrections are (obviously) unlikely to be made.

Posting on social (as well as sending to the publisher) as perhaps this will address similar confusion you might experience if you notice the same errors regarding this book's title and the book publisher's detailed description (described below) as they are both problematic.
++++++++++++++++
After finishing this captivating novel, I realized I still did NOT understand why this book is titled ONE NIGHT, New York. Due to this book's title, I almost missed out on requesting an eARC copy of this OUTSTANDING book for review, as the title prompted me to assume it was either a novel about either:

• A "Groundhog day" type of story where a pair of star-crossed lovers are forced to relive the same night repeatedly, until a certain agenda is fulfilled.

OR...

• A romance between two strangers who only have "One Night" together.
.
As I am not a fan of either of the above, I originally overlooked this title. However, after I initially read the detailed book description it sounded like a fascinating read, set in New York in the 1930's .

After I completed this novel I returned to the publisher's description and re-read it.

It quickly became apparent that the book's title is incorrect as the story does NOT take place in one night. The publisher's description of this novel is partially incorrect (in the last third of the article) where it states, "Set over the course of a single night, One Night, New York is a detective story, a romance, and a coming-of-age tale".

Perhaps the ORIGINAL outline and timeline for this novel reflect all the book's action taking place in one night, if so then it should have been changed prior to publication, as there are numerous storyline inclusions that prove the this story is NOT restricted to a one-night timeframe (it would have been entirely implausible to restrict all the novel's happenings to even a 24-hour timespan, at least in the version of this novel that I read).

Inclusions listed below demonstrate that this story spans numerous days, if not weeks or longer.

There are at least a dozen places in this story that defy the "one night" censure, however I have just included a few.

✓ Agnes is a complete rube at the start of this novel, when she is traveling to New York on a train. During this trip (and for a short time thereafter), she speaks using unschooled and unsophisticated verbiage. Within a couple of chapters Agnes' voice is well-modulated and she uses correct sentence structure, additionally she has a complete understanding of conversation subtleties, a skill she did not have during the trip to New York. These changes could not have taken place within a few hours.

✓ Agnes learned to read/write from Ben's instruction, which obviously would not have occured in just one night.

✓Throughout the novel, various characters routinely party at clubs in the evening, over-indulge in alcohol, and then go home and go to bed, waking up feeling rough the next day.

✓At one point Frances brother (who Frances lives with) doesn't come home for two days.

✓At various points during the novel after partying, Frances and Agnes then go to their respective homes and attempt to sleep (both have intermittent issues getting a full night's sleep).

✓At about 2/3rds into the novel Agnes cannot sleep, she rises and heads out to a particular coffee shop. When Frances visits Agnes that morning, Agnes' housemates direct Frances to the coffee shop.

Due to a wealth of experience working as a writer/editor, these errors were obvious, at least to me.

Again, this book is definitely worth a read, I just think it is a shame that these errors were not caught long BEFORE the book was published, by the person or the people hired to ensure such mistakes are not made.

The trouble these days with writing a book on this topic, in this location, and during this time period is that it’s been done many, many times before. Which means you have to do it either exceptionally well or exceptionally uniquely to satisfy, and unfortunately this book doesn’t meet either of those criteria.

It’s certainly not a “bad” book per se, and the writing itself is fine. But we’ve seen everything going on here before, and the other elements of a novel that might help the book succeed anyway (wonderful characters, tremendous sense of place) aren’t to be found here.

The plot is fine if shopworn, but the story lacks atmosphere and intriguing historical detail, and the characters are, at best, common to the subgenre.

I’m also never thrilled by these hayseed protagonists who come to the city and must learn to be more “open minded” (in other words, less racist. <rolls eyes>). And while they are experiencing this awakening we are all supposed to applaud them for finally becoming an actual nice person rather than the stereotypical midwestern version of a “Nice Person.” Please miss me with your “it’s not her fault she’s ignorant, she’s from Kansas” plotlines.

It’s not that this type of character evolution can’t create good fiction or produce a redemptive arc for a protagonist that you can get behind. That just didn’t happen here.

Instead we get a kitchen sink of New York historical novel themes that don’t fit together well and probably didn’t all need to be in the same book.

There are many books out there that are similar to this thematically, and most of them are better than this one.

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

On a fridget December night, at the top of the Empire State Building, Frances and Agnes await the arrival of the man who wronged them in the worst ways. Their plan is to dish out the ultimate revenge to a well deserving person.
This is a big of a romance, a bit coming of age, and a bit of a thriller. You also get a really well built up bohemian Greenwich Village scene. This is all set between things like artists, addiction, floozies, and wars while most of America is suffering through the Great Depression.
I don’t really know what more I can tell you about the story since it leads, eventually, to a thriller and a quick to wrap up ending. I don’t want to give anything away though so when you read it you can find out a lot of the things for yourself rather that have me spoil it for you!
To me this book was slow to get to what is promised from the opening of the book. It’s a lot of story to take in before ever really getting to that bit. I think that’s why I don’t consider this entire story as taking place over one night. I think you’ll have to decide for yourself how you feel about it.
I still recommend reading this. You may find that you really like it as it is well written and if you can get the audiobook, which I received courtesy of Netgalley, I recommend it. The narrator is fantastic.

I think that listening to this as an audiobook really made this for me. The narrator was incredibly, her voice was so captivating.
The story was good but felt quite long and quite slow. I love when stories go back and forth so I really enjoyed that aspect of this. I also loved that this was set in New York in the 1930s, such an intriguing time in history and I felt like that was very pervasive.
If the story had been a tad quicker and shorter, this would be five stars! Overall still a really great read!

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 35%. I found this book to be boring and a chore to read. I didn't like any of the characters and just wasn't invested in the story at all. Good premise, it just didn't do it for me.

The audio was average. Not good enough to keep me listening.

I will not be reviewing on Goodreads as I did not finish the book.

This book had so much potential but I struggled so much with the audiobook. I really wanted to enjoy this so much more, but there were too many issues. The narration had many problems and these characters weren’t well written.

A literary thriller where you're never sure if the two women will go through with it...

Agnes and Frances have a shared motive in this period piece set in, of course, Old New York. Will they come together with the guts and glory to punish the man who has wronged them both? This Depression Era crime novel/romance/coming of age story did have me riveted. Well written and well narratied.

This book was a little slow for my liking, but the story felt expansive and somewhat interesting. I also had issue with some word choices, but understand the time period may play into that. All and all, I don't think this one was for me.

This book was archived before I had time to read it, so I am not able to give accurate feedback. Thank you for the opportunity, sorry I was unable to get to it in time.

This is a historical mystery. debut from Lara Thompson. This is fast paced and I was engaged in the story wanting to see what was coming next. This is set in the 1930’s, Depression, New York City.
Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio eARC.

This book was too slow for me. it was pretty great for being a debut novel. However, the description is not accurate and does not give you a correct idea about what this novel is about.

Try as I might, I really could not get into this story, most unfortunately. I can truly see so many reasons for others really loving this book & perhaps had I tried to read it the traditional way (hardcover) I might have had more success but I couldn't finish the story because I was never drawn towards listening.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars for One Night, New York. This book was a slow burn and I never fully got invested in the characters to be honest. The ending felt abrupt but also drawn out because it was alluded to throughout the book. Not my favorite, not a bad read. #bookstagram #bibliophilemomma #bookreview #netgalley #threestars

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC audio copy of One Night, New York

On that one night in New York we open on two women at the top of the Empire State Building just before they are going to push a man to his death...but who are these women and how did we get to this moment?

Frances is a naïve farm girl from a very small Kansas town who has run away from her parents to join her brother who is living in a New York tenement in the 1930s. Along her route to her new life Frances meets the outlandish wealthy duo of Jax and Dickie, a journalist and photographer who have been trying to capture the feel of middle America. They have decided to take Frances under their wings and transform her from small town farm girl to New York socialite if she is willing to be the subject of their artistic endeavors. Juxtaposed to this lavish lifestyle of her friends Frances is equally mesmerized by the world that her brother resides; living in a dirty tenement, working at a Jazz club and socializing with criminals. When both worlds collide we meet one night in New York.

I really liked the setting and timeframe of New York City in the 1930s, I feel like the novel captured the multiple realities that lived inside this one city. I would enjoy more stories set in this era. I liked Frances as an overall character and her ability to move in and out of these different social constructs. I did feel, at times, that her relationship with Agnes was forced. Jax and Dickie were a but stereotypical but did work for the stories contrast. The storytelling switches between the current night on top of the skyscraper and Frances journey to that moment but the pacing and dialogue are well done and look forward to more work from Lara Thompson. Overall this was a very good historical fiction but I would not call it a suspense.

I had the audio version narrated by Stephanie Cannon, I thought she did an excellent job. Her timing was easy to follow and kept my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. This book had me captivated from start to finish! This was my first book by this author and I hope it’s not the last!

Argh. I'm worn out. Sadly, I picked up a book, read it, and am left wondering. Why was this written? What was the point? I had the audiobook, and loved the narrator. The book was too long. So many times I was sighing, and heard blah, blah, blah.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review One Night, New York.

#NetGalley
#DreamscapeMedia
#OneNightNewYork
#Audiobook
#StephanieCannonNarrator

I was disappointed in this and just couldn't get into it. I listened to about 3 hours of the audio and then didn't pick it back up again, and now I can't remember it well, unfortunately. I had thought it would be different than it was.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for the review copy of the audiobook!

One Night, New York implies both in title and the book description to take place on one night in New York. I suppose that is true; however, much of this book is told in flashbacks for the reader to discover the events leading up to the women being near the top of the Empire State Building.

All that being said, this historical fiction was a good listen! I enjoyed the story and found the depiction of the city and its inhabitants to be interesting. I would have liked a bit more history and focus on Swing Street, instead of mostly just on the Catagonia. Even while the club was depicted, it was brief and it was more focused on the danger and corruption, instead of showing much of the atmosphere and fun of the historic jazz street. I also feel like the LGBTQ & romance aspects of this story kind of missed the mark, but it was nice to see it incorporated.

Overall, this is a good listen/read and I'd recommend it. This is an impressive debut novel, particularly since it is historical fiction, and I look forward to seeing how this author's writing grows in future novels.