It is time to review our January/February book club pick, our first TMC read of 2021! This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens. How exciting!
We follow the story of Minnie & Quinn who are born at the same hospital, on the same day – New Year’s Day and (by chance) meet on their thirtieth birthday. We follow them over the span of one year and they discover that their paths have crossed many times before!
We shared the discussion post on our Instagram yesterday and it had such a positive response! You all absolutely loved the book and fell completely head over heels for the two main characters.
MY REVIEW:
I feel like this book was the perfect way to kick start the book club; it was funny, heart warming & romantic, whilst also delving into deeper topics such as anxiety. What makes the anxiety representation special, in this book, is that it doesn’t just mention it and brush over the topic. It really explores anxiety & how it can affect family members.
I fell completely in love with Minnie and the way she struggled with knowing exactly what she wanted to do with her life, feeling like she was constantly taking 5 steps forward and six steps back.
It wasn’t just the relationship between Minnie & Quinn that made the book special to read; it was also their relationships with their family & friends. Not only did they have to overcome their own issues throughout the book but they also had to figure out and address the family dynamics they both had.
Minnie’s best friends Leila, was such a lovely character & their friendship was great to read – Leila was everything you hope to be as a friend and you constantly saw how much she loved & valued Minnie, she was always encouraging her to believe in herself more.
I loved the pacing of the book & Sophie’s writing style is fab! I really enjoyed the time jumps throughout, they weren’t too confusing to keep up with and they really added to the story!
I have already pre-ordered Sophie’s upcoming book, Just Haven’t Met You Yet and I can’t wait to read it!
YOUR THOUGHTS:
“I love how Minnie represents normal women, she’s not an fantasy character, she’s true life, it’s ups and downs.” – Vanessa from @Raising.Freddie
“Quinn’s mother and anxiety, that hit me. It actually made me want to sort my own shit out because I can have real anxious days and there no way I’d want my own boys to feel burdened to me. It’s sad it’s affected Quinn’s life so much.” – Sarah from @berry_tired_mama
” I liked that Minnie was more complex than just someone you want to get with the guy at the end. There were times I was rooting for her so much, especially following interactions with her mother and that lasting bitterness about the name, but then there were times where she frustrated me so much too and I could see the roots of that in those earlier interactions.” Jennifer from @Jen_f88
“I absolutely adore Minnie, I think it’s clever how anxiety is raised throughout the story. I loved how it was easy to follow from each character and changing years too.” – Jessica from @Jessicas_countrylife
“One of the best books I’ve read recently and the perfect way to start off the year. It wasn’t your regular cliche rom com but it had so much more depth to it” – Soffy from @TheMumAffairs
“I absolutely love that we can see the year 2020 play out in a covid-free way, just a nice little bonus 🙂 and the flashbacks were great, they really added to the story and didn’t confuse me.” – Beth from @This.Mums.Life
We hope you enjoyed our February book club pick! Make sure you head on over to our Instagram to find out which book we are reading in March.
I need to read this! Sounds so good. Thanks for sharing
This book sounds amazing. I will definitely be adding this book to my reading list.
goalofhappiness.com
I really need to read this book. This blog post is genius, it’s great to see genuine reviews from a handful of my favourite bloggers!
Rosie
I loved this book! Definitely agree that the characters and pacing were spot on!
Never heard of this book, but it sounds truly great! I like a book when they describe deeply anxiety instead of just brushing it off! I Will add to my TBR thanks for sharing x
This book sounds so lovely and heartwarming, and I’d reckon I would get on with the character Minnie x
Great review of a brilliant book. It was one of my first reads this year and I really enjoyed it. It is not often that I like all the characters in a book but I genuinely liked them all in this book x
I need something a bit heartwarming to read at the moment so thins sound ideal — thanks for the review!
I read this book last week and loved it! Love the review x
Oh this sounds like a great book! I’m already in love with Minnie’s character just through your couple of sentences description of her. Thanks for the recommendation – great review!
I have never heard of this book but it sound like a great book. I will add this to my to-be-read list.