A clever, tender, and romantic novel for readers of Christina Lauren, Jasmine Guillory, and Sophie Cousens, this laugh-out-loud debut is a perceptive reminder that fate can have a sense of humor, and that love can happen…In a New York Minute.
Franny Doyle is having the worst day. She’s been laid off from her (admittedly mediocre) job, the subway doors ripped her favorite silk dress to ruins, and now she’s flashed her unmentionables to half of lower Manhattan. On the plus side, a dashing stranger came to her rescue with his (Gucci!) suit jacket. On the not-so-plus side, he can’t get away from her fast enough.
Worse yet? Someone posted their (entirely not) meet-cute online. Suddenly Franny and her knight-in-couture, Hayes Montgomery III, are the newest social media sensation, and all of New York is shipping #SubwayQTs.
Only Franny and Hayes couldn’t be a more disastrous match. She’s fanciful, talkative, and creative. He’s serious, shy, and all about numbers. Luckily, in a city of eight million people, they never have to meet again. Yet somehow, Hayes and Franny keep running into each other—and much to their surprise, they enjoy each other’s company. A lot. But when Franny’s whole world is turned upside down (again!), can she find the courage to trust in herself and finally have the life—and love—she’s always wanted?
Title : In a New York Minute
Author : Kate Spencer
Format : eARC
Page Count : 304
Genre : contemporary romance
Publisher : Forever
Release Date : March 15, 2022
Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★
Hollis’ 2 star review
Welp, I’m sorry to say this wasn’t at all the fun swoony romp that I thought it had potential to be. I only really requested this because I had seen mutuals review it early and really enjoy it so I am very likely to be an outlier on this one.
What I appreciated most about this story was the dialogue around the trend of posting photos or videos of people without their consent and creating a narrative out of it. A narrative that, sure, maybe is often right but so often can be wrong. And that’s what happens in In a New York Minute. What looks to be a meet-cute of epic flirty proportions is nothing more than a terrible sequence of events happening to one individual and another individual stepping in to do the bare minimum and help. But with their viral moment, these two strangers end up reconnecting and, through the magic of New York and also fiction (fate?), end up running into each other again and again.
This is your typical opposites-attract romance but I hesitate to call it grumpy/sunshine; mostly because we’re told Hayes is grumpy and stern and remote all the time and yet we never actually see it. But that’s kind of the limit of his personality beyond being successful and fit. Except we’re told by his bestie that he’s kind and generous and all these other things, too, so that we know he’s a good guy. But shouldn’t we only see that when he interacts with his love interest? So we’re surprised instead of.. well.. unsurprised by his “uncharacteristic” behaviour? But hey, what do I know. He does date a lot of blondes though. Franny, however, is your usual klutzy but charming artistic soul with baggage. She has slightly more personality but that could just be because she’s poor and constantly struggling and so is having to constantly ping pong off one conflict to the next. But she’s brunette! And thus the opposites they do attract.
Beyond the whole social media angle, the only other thing I liked about this was how the connections between these two played out and thus how their slow-burn relationship built. I didn’t feel the connection (nor did I like the writing so that was a double fail) but I appreciate what the author tried to do.
About said writing, though. We are told over and over about.. literally everything. Franny’s origins. Hayes’ dysfunction with social niceties and how he’s grumpy (though other than the former we hardly ever see it and he’s constantly more social or able to laugh and get along with everyone than he is not). How eco-conscious everyone is about everything (it was less inspiring and more annoying because it felt shoehorned in for no reason) even while all these big brand name or luxury item references were constantly sprinkled throughout; I’m sure you can do, and have, both but it just felt weird. The fact that we had like two solid chapters in the beginning dedicated to characters not being able to comprehend that a man gave a woman his jacket. I felt like I was having a stroke because I didn’t understand the hang ups. And don’t even get me started on the third act conflict. Also, there were also a few minor inconsistencies but it’s an ARC so I’ll allow it, assuming it’s cleaned up before release.
But just, overall, this was really underwhelming. This has all the elements I think most people will enjoy but it’ll really depend on how the execution works for each reader. For me? It didn’t.
** I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
A Take from Two Cities 