1st thing, this book is not what I thought it would be.

It was a bit hard to get into because I thought the first 12 hour night in Manhattan was rushed and kind of choppy. I also thought the majority of the book was about the 12 hours in Manhattan. I was very wrong.

From the moment Bianca and Eric parted ways this book surprised me and kept me going in directions I didn’t see coming. The two faces so many hurdles both together and on their own.

Pam, Marco, and Miguel! I loved these characters. And need more of them in my life.

Read this book. Feel all the feelings.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

This is not a typical romance format, from how Bianca and Eric met, the in betweens which span between months and years, it was a ride. I loved the speed of it all and how everything flowed and got to the point. The characters were hard to connect to but I loved how everything started to fall into place towards the end. This book read like a hallmark movie, cramming everything into a one hour and 30 minute movie, lol. BUT, I will say this, this it was really sweet read. Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I think this book has a very specific writing style and that is why the reviews vary so much. It doesn't follow what I consider a typical novel format so it's one of those things where, whether the plot is good or bad, if you're picky with writing styles then you probably are going to take issue with this.

I liked the concept and there were some interesting twists that definitely had me just going "whaaaaat" but overall I feel it was an average read.

Bianca is facing absolute despair. She tried her best to make a very good pitch which was rejected in the most devastating manner. She is in massive debt and has been sitting in the bar unable to move in any one direction. She knows she should go to her hotel room and then, in the clear light of morning try and work out what to do.
A tall, dark handsome a man walks up and stands next to her and they begin to chat. He asks her to sit with him at his table and share his wine. So begins a night of magic, a night when two people, who both want so desperately to be able to spend some time, doing something that is as far away from their everyday life as possible, come together to do just that: enjoy a magical moment in time, for just one short night only.
Eric is a famous Korean K-Drama star, Park Hyun Min; she is a thirty something woman facing destitution if she can’t get some sort of job soon. He wants anonymity, she simply wants out of her tragedy that is a life.
Together they spend the night discovering the very essence that is Manhattan; eating ice-cream, dodging fans, sitting on the steps of beautiful Church, talking about all the important things in life before finally paying a visit to the very top of the Empire State Building.
Bianca can’t help falling more than a little in love with this amazingly gentle man, he also is beginning to fall deeply in love with Bianca. She was already in love with him, via his action movies, but as the early morning light begins to break over the City, Bianca has to make a decision, to stay or go. She chooses to go.
Tragedy is lying in wait which shatters her world. Over the next two years she has only one thing that keeps her going; her love of Eric, a man she met for one night only. Fate is waiting in the wings and as Bianca slowly begins to rebuild her life, she learns to accept that good things can and will and do sometimes happen.
Twelve Hours in Manhattan is delicately written, entwining the many aspect of love, family, loyalty and acceptance into what could be considered as a modern Cinderella story, that deals carefully with the very emotions that are often pushed to one side in the modern world. The strength of family and friends when life gets tough, the wonderful side story of Bianca’s mother and the distress this causes, is very real.
Not Sleepless in Seattle with Meg Ryan as Bianca tends to feel it is, in her surreal night of romance, but far earthier and once the story begins to unfold, very difficult to leave to one side, even though the conclusion is not difficult to figure out.
Twelve Hours in Manhattan is a great read for a weekend away or for relaxing into on your holiday.

A absolute wonderful feel good romantic comedy that anyone who is a fan of the genre will fall in love with

I absolutely LOVED this book!

The way these two characters developed over their story was so passionate and oh, so very real. The struggles these two had to fight through in their personal journeys made me appreciate their growth and love even more.

I will be picking up this book when it releases and adding it to my bookshelf!

Mein Leseerlebnis

Das wunderschöne Buchcover und der sich interessant anhörende Klappentext haben bei mir Lust auf den Roman erzeugt. Doch leider hat die Liebesgeschichte für mich nicht funktioniert.

Den Schreibstil fand ich an sich ok, aber die Dialoge im Liebesroman hörten sich für mich etwas unnatürlich an. Ich konnte mir beim Lesen nicht vorstellen, dass sie in der Wirklichkeit so ablaufen würden. Das ist im Verlauf der Geschichte auch nicht besser geworden. Darunter hat mein Lesevergnügen spürbar gelitten.

Zudem konnte ich das Knistern und die Gefühle zwischen den Hauptcharakteren nicht fühlen. Beide Hauptcharaktere wirkten vom Verhalten her zudem teils jünger und etwas unreif auf mich.

Insgesamt war das Buch leider nicht mein Fall.

🖤🖤1/4

Für wen?

Wer eine Liebesgeschichte sucht, die zwischen zwei Charakteren spielt, die trotz der Unterschiede in ihren Leben zusammenkommen, sollte sich das Buch mal näher anschauen.

Schaut vor dem Buchkauf unbedingt in eine Leseprobe rein.

Thank you to netgalley and she writes press for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

You should definitely pick this up if you like Happy ending romance books/insta love then this book is for you

As for me this book was ok, I couldn't connect to Bianca as a character. I found her abit annoying in the first half of the book, the second half of the book redeemed her character for me abit.

The whole concept sound amazing but it felt abit flat.

I rate this 3 stars

Review: 3.75 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and She Writes Press for the copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me Serendipity vibes where 2 strangers with completely different lives met by chance and offered each other companionship for 12 hours touring Manhattan together and parted due to circumstances. Little did they know, they were given a second change due to determination and fate to be together.

I do love the concept of the story and am a sucker for anything featuring a k-singer/actor. I do love those little twists the author did add to the novel. It makes the story itself entertaining. Although, I wasn't too big fan of the ending as it felted a little rushed.

This story is also more chicklit based where the each character is undergoing some personal journey in some way having baggage in their lives with romance feeling like an afterthought. While the premise of the story is good, I felt like some of the characters were sadly lacking and there was a lot of time jumps in between. Eric is portrayed as this nice, charming, kind man but other than that, it feels like he lacks substance as a character. I do enjoyed Bianca's character where she is portrayed as person who picks up the pieces of her life and became successful after going through some tough times. The fact that she had a group of friends that support her success was wonderful to see. I also enjoyed the diversity rep with Bianca as a Filipino-American and Eric a Korean.

If you love hallmark movies, insta-love, fairytales and k-drama, this book is a great read!

Okay, let’s get into this…

This books is divided into three parts. From the first to the middle of the second part I was finding it a little boring, not gonna lie.

The first part: it’s when they first met, it’s literally them in the 12 hours in Manhattan, they were moments where I thought they were boring. The ending of this part tho, totally game changer. Did not expect that.

The second part: it described her life struggles more in detail, she used to put everyone’s feelings first but her own.

The third part: it’s where they meet again, this part was amazing. Eric always wanted the best for her, and she finding out some things was worthy of some minor crying moments. I love how they always find their way to each other.

I found it a little hard to keep up with this book, some times I was confused when the moment was in time frame. Some times I only knew after a few paragraphs, could’ve put something like “two months after”, “four months after”.

It was a nice read but struggled in the beginning. I was considering DNFing in the first 50 pages, but I wanted to see how would they find their ways back.

Thank you to Netgalley and She writes press for this ARC.

I was actually expecting a cute-meet, romantic-comedy present in KDrama. This book is sad; it’s about the personal life walks of each character. It seemed to drag and I want to stop reading in part 1 but I kept on. I want to love Bianca but she’s a crybaby. Eric was great. I would like to meet him but it seemed surreal. I’m thinking there should be character development but it was like at the end but short. The crying stuff with the plot twist shouldn’t have been added. I didn’t like the abortion, drugs, and overdose bit. I think it was just added for the word count. Not necessary with the story. The story should focus more on Eric and Bianca but this happened mostly in the last part of the book.

All in all, the concept was great but the delivery got me a headache. I could give it a 2 but I'm a KDrama fan so it's a 3 for me.

I just reviewed Twelve Hours in Manhattan by Maan Gabriel. #TwelveHoursinManhattan #NetGalley

This book was similar to hallmark feels. I enjoyed it at most times but found myself struggling to get through some parts. I loved the main characters and their growth and development. This is a pretty cute read!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. The love story of Bianca and Eric became more nuanced and interesting than I had originally expected. The title and description led me to expect a light hearted romance, which it was in parts. But then the author introduced some weightier topics and themes, such as grief and forgiving others and yourself. The plot was at times a bit hard to follow - there was a pivotal moment in the main characters’ relationship that I didn’t fully understand. But overall I enjoyed the story. There were interesting references to Korean pop culture and I always enjoy a story that takes place in New York City!

Rating: 4 stars ⭐️

OMG this book cover is so beautiful!

The story was easy to read and I had a good time reading this book.

This was a second chance romance about Bianca that met a famous Korean actor in a bar in Manhattan. She and Eric spend 12 magical hours together but afterwards go their separate ways. Until they see each other 2 years later and Eric and Bianca cross paths again..

Thank you to Maan Gabriel, She Writes Press and Netgalley for providing me with this arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for an early copy of 12 Hours in Manhattan. This is the story of a woman who meets a famous Korean actor in a bar and they spend 12 magical hours together in NYC before going their separate ways. Two years later they are reunited.
This story does not have great reviews, and for once I think I liked it more than the reviews! I thought it was a very sweet story about self discovery and love. It was a quick read and I actually wish it had been longer so that some of the stories within had more depth, so that there was more banter, and even for some more spice. But overall I was pleasantly surprised by this and would recommend it when it’s released next month!
3.5 stars

This story … it was like you want a lovestory so so badly, but the way to it is complicated. And these complications were sometimes a little too much. Eric and Bianca were so fu**ing cute at the beginning and I liked it, that their story has also their own ways - like Bianca’s ex husband and his career in Korea. But at some point, I missed the deeper parts of the love between Eric and her. From one to another point, they love each other - but for me there was so much missing for this love to grow like this.
At the beginning and in the end, it was I Lotte hard for me to continue reading, but the turning points were so good, that I couldn’t stop. To sum it up, this book is perfect for snack reading and for people, who search a not too deep story. Otherwise, I have to think about it, if I would read it again.

“I’m all his and he’s all mine”


2⭐️
I would like to start this review off hy thanking NetGalley, the author along with She Writes Press for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.

The Plot
I just want to make this clear that I was going to DNF this book so many times but I kept pushing through it in hopes that it would get better. It didn’t. I liked the K-pop touch that this book gave because I person have never read a book which includes a K-pop idol so that’s a good aspect of this book that it’s original. The bad thing is that the plot is dragged a lot and it’s really un organized. I’m not sure if that was done with a purpose to reflect the main character’s life but it felt very overwhelming to me as a reader. I felt like many things were added to the plot for the sake of a word count. I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t! There was a point where the plot piqued my interest like when her job was involved but other than that, I was very bored most of the time and didn’t want to read this book.

The Characters
Bianca
At first I could sympathize with Bianca and her life situation especially when that plot twist came about. But then she kept crying and crying every chapter and she just became annoying. I understand that what she was going through was “difficult” but there was no need for her to be crying over such nonsense things. For the most part, I couldn’t even understand what she was crying for.

Eric
I don’t have much to say about Eric other than that he was portrayed to be this nice and kind idol who truly likes his job and not the fame. I didn’t feel any connection towards him and my emotions are quite… blank. The thing is that he fell very flat to me. Both him and Bianca along with any other characters in the book.

—————————————————————

I personally didn’t enjoy this book but I kept pushing because I really wanted to give it a chance but that almost lead to me ending up in a reading slump which I happily over came very quickly. I just don’t think that this author’s writing is for me and that’s ok.

Thank you NetGalley and She Writes Press for my ARC of Twelve Hours In Manhattan by Maan Gabriel. 🤍

Y’all.. This book!! Just go right now and add it to your TBR. Pub date is 04/18/2023 and you are going to want to clear your schedule.

I finished this book in 2 days because I could not put it down.. My absolute favorite type of book. This is a beautiful love story that starts w 2 strangers meeting at a bar. They spend twelve hours together in Manhattan w no strings attached. Life happens and they continue on their own separate journeys.. Years later fate brings them together again.. But is it actually meant to be or does life have a way of knocking us down a peg just when things are going too well?

The plot pulled me in, there were some twists I didn’t see coming, I enjoyed the writing style. The characters were so well developed and just everything about this book, honestly, I loved it all. I will say it was heavier than I expected. In addition to being a love story, it has a heart breaking journey of self love and discovery mixed in. I do not understand why there aren’t more 5 stars reviews for this book and I truly am recommending this book to everyone I know. I would, however, encourage you to check trigger warnings beforehand.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5409530523

I dedicated a post on my bookstagram to this book, check it out here:
www.instagram.com/akersofpages

I think this book had good bones (and a fun plot) but it did not blow me away. I was a little apprehensive of the use of K drama since that is not something that I am invested in, but I think it worked without being an overwhelming storyline.

Bianca is drowning her sorrows after not getting a pitch that she was really needing to survive both personally and professionally. A guy next to her at the bar - Eric - strikes up a conversation and that begins their twelve hours together in Manhattan. Bianca eventually recognizes the man as a famous South Korean actor. They both feel the connection but the night ends with Bianca telling him why she can't be with him. Besides, she feels that he could have anyone, why would he choose her? What follows next takes Bianca on journey and we meet up with her a couple of years later. Eric is back in NY and he crosses paths again with Bianca. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and am definitely going to be checking out the author's first book.