<b>Book Status: Devoured. </b>
How freaking cute was that??!! I absolutely loved Minnie!!!
I completely fell in love with the story. Each and every character was loveable, realistic and relateable. This is one of those feel-good novels you’ll want to read over and over again. I am so impressed with Sophie Cousens romantic debut. Every relationship was so entertaining, full of warmth, and love. This book shows that there is always a reason behind everything that appears to be broken and that there is always a light at the end of every tunnel. The plot was intriguing, full of humour and well executed. Everything comes together perfectly. And that ending… so on point!!! I gushed and gushed over Minnie and Quinn… the anticipation killing me. I couldn’t read it fast enough.
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the premise of this book. Minnie and Quinn are born in the same hospital on the same night which just happens to be New Years Eve a minute apart and this event shapes the rest of their lives. They eventually come into each other’s lives again 30 years after on another New Years Eve and this story follows them as they find themselves drawn to each other but have quite a lot of baggage to sort out first. It’s not a typical love story and is told in the present and the past and you get to know them and their friends and family really well. It’s really funny in places and I really enjoyed it and virtually read it in one sitting ! I love the supporting characters especially Leila who is Minnie’s bff ! I found I really cared what happened to all the characters in this book and I would recommend this book to anybody who is looking for a light hearted romance with really likeable characters and a very good feeling to it. I look forward to reading this author’s other books.

I really loved this book. I was looking for a light uplifting novel and I found it in a Same Time Next Year. The writing and the characters just hit the right note for me and I read it in two sittings, The writing reminded me of other really good authors in this genre such as Josie Silver. The story is about Minnie and Quinn born a minute apart in the same hospital on New Year’s Day. These characters are well drawn, but there are also some other memorable characters in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this novel in exchange for a review.

What an enjoyable book! Minnie and Quinn had me smiling while reading this and a few tears were shed as well. Their meetings, friendship and struggles felt very authentic throughout the book. I liked the flashbacks to New Year's Eve of past years where they were in the same place and for some had no interaction with each other to build the case of their eventual face to face meeting. Because I enjoyed the ending so much, I wish there was a little more to it, I was hoping for a little glimpse into the following New Year's Eve.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Cornerstone for an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's eve of a new year 1989. Two women, Tara and Connie meet on a labour ward and both their babies are born just after midnight on New Year's Day 1990. Connie told Tara she was going to name her child Quinn, but Tara takes her name for her son Quinn, and also wins a substantial cash prize for giving birth to the first 90's baby in London.

So Quinn becomes Minnie, and Connie believes she was robbed of her name, and her luck. Minnie feels like New Year's Eve is jinxed for her, and tries to avoid ever going out. But when she ventures out to a party, her bad luck is only confirmed when she ends up locked in the ladies loo until the next morning. The man who rescues her turns out to be none other than Quinn Hamilton. And so begins the most significant life event to date.

As they reflect on years gone by, we, the reader, know that their paths have crossed before. Despite a prickly beginning, they become firm friends, and it's not long before the 'fluttering owls' Minnie feels when she's around him, convince her to take a chance and declare how she feels. But Quinn's life has left him with a fear of commitment, and of getting close to anyone and he says he just can't take the risk of disappointing her.

Minnie gets on with her life and begins to truly like who she is. So when Quinn writes to her and they meet, he is surprised and gutted when she rejects his declaration of love.

But Minnie can't get Quinn out of her head, and on New Years Eve 2020 she calls - he invites her to a boat party and she wants to prove that she is ready to take a risk. There follows a mad dash across London, not entirely without mishaps. She's too late. The boat has left. Returning home dejected, she is surprised by a familiar face, and perhaps, just this once, her new year is about to change for the better.

A sweet and charming love story that has just the right level of gooeyness, without being sickening. The damage done to us as children can hold us back, but Quinn and Minnie's story tells us that when you find the person who truly sees you, you should hold on to them and dare to try.

3.5 rounded to 4 stars.

This was a little repetitive in parts.

This is an adult contemporary with themes of romance. Quinn & Minnie were born on the same day in the same hospital and they meet by chance on their 30th Birthday. Minnie has bad luck, supposedly from birth as she should’ve been called Quinn until Quinn’s mother “stole” it and thus, she was instead named Minnie Cooper (yep).

It follows their intertwining lives over the course of a year and they both need to learn how to get over their insecurities and become happier about themselves.

The premise of this book got me really excited, but it was just OK for me. Think I was expecting more of a romance to be honest and the timeline/flashbacks confused me a bit, so I struggled with this one unfortunately. Thanks NetGalley for allowing me a copy of this ARC to review.

This book was just ok. It was a lot of drama, mostly created by the main character, but I ultimately like how the story ended. I had a hard time following the story line through the middle with all the jumping around in time, but eventually I figured it out.

It was a very cute, cozy read! I loved the premise as it was very original. It didn’t rush into the love at the ending which I really enjoyed. I only wish there was more sexual tension towards the characters once they realized they were falling for each other

This was an absolutely delightful novel. This Time Next Year swept me up and into the lives of the characters. I was more than happy to spend my free moments within the pages of this book. It really is the whole package. It is a charming, witty, quirky, lovely story that, once I was reading it, I did not want to put down.

Minnie is sure that she is jinxed. Her birthday should be a happy, special day for her, but it has always been overshadowed by her mother’s superstition and her own streak of bad luck. I loved Minnie right from the get-go, bad luck, and all. She’s a normal woman, trying to make a go of her life, career, and romantic life. While none of these things seemed to go swimmingly for her, she was still trudging along trying to make a life for herself. Throughout this novel Minnie learned to be comfortable with herself, be self-sufficient, and to look out for her own fulfillment.

When she meets Quinn on New Year’s Eve, he seems to be everything she’s not, however, she can’t help but be captivated by his obvious charm. But what makes meeting him even more rare is that they were born on the same day and at the same hospital. From their first introduction these two characters seemed destined to run into each other time and time again.

While Minnie believes that Quinn seems to live a charmed, easy life compared to her own harried existence, she truly doesn’t know him well enough to simply assume anything about his life. The one thing that she does know is that spending time with him is what she looks forward to the most.

I loved these characters. From the main characters to the secondary ones, this cast of characters was brimming with personality. I always felt as though I was right there with them, experiencing all of the highs and lows.

What I enjoyed the most about this story was how serendipitous it was. The chapters from the past and the present timelines just added to the overall romantic feeling of this story.

As I was reading This Time Next Year, I kept checking to see how much time I had left in the novel. I didn’t want it to end! This novel was completely satisfying, heartwarming, and utterly endearing. I will definitely be looking forward to more books by Sophie Cousens.

*5 Stars

I DNF’ed this book at 30% because it wasn’t what I was looking for in a romance novel. It kept flipping back and forth between past and present as well as between character perspectives but I just wasn’t enjoying it. I made the decision to put it down simply because I wasn’t connecting with the characters or the storyline. It just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how the story worked at the pace that it did and I found the male and female leads, Quinn and Minnie to be likeable. In addition I felt the other characters were just as relevant and felt enough was shared about them to make the story flow.
Minnie and Quinn are born on the same day New Years Day just a minute apart. The circumstances of their birth and their names determine their luck in life, or at least that is what. Minnie has been told by her mother.
The wash the story plays out, it seems to be the case, that Minnie has nothing but bad luck and Quinn her birthday twin seems to have all the luck.
I really liked how we got to see they’re friendship and interactions play out and the flashbacks were a lovely addition also.
Though in the end, it’s a nice lesson to learn, that we make our own luck with how perceive life and our outlook to it!
I throughly recommend this book and the warm feels it provides!!

I hoped this would be a quick and easy and I was right! While this book was shorter than some of the others I've read previously I also couldn't put it down, a feeling I haven't had for ages!

This book follows Minnie Cooper (the heroines name, yip I know!) as she tries to juggle her life. She is attempting to run a successful pie making business with her best friend Leila but she is acutely aware of the fact that the business is hanging on by a thread. Despite wanting to stay in on New Years Eve 2019, Minnies boyfriend Greg convinces her to go along with him to a work colleagues party. However, things go wrong from the moment she loses her jacket on the bus until she eventually ends up locked in a toilet with no one able to hear her shouts. Minnie is convinced this is part of the "curse" that she has had since she was a baby, and that her mum loves to remind her about which started when she was a minute too late to becoming the first baby born in the 90s, losing out to Quinn Hamilton, who not only stole her prize money but also her name.

On the morning of the 1st of January 2020 and Minnies 30th birthday she eventually gets let out of the bathroom by non other than Quinn Hamilton. This starts a string of events through the year which, being a rom com you can guess how it ends? However, it also jumps back and forth through the past 20 years, exploring different events in both characters lives. I loved that through the flashbacks you were able to piece together ideas about how they wanted similar things and, despite having completely different lives had just missed each other on many occasions.

I wish that there had been more of a look at Quinns life, especially towards the end of the book as I feel it was almost rushed and glossed over what could have been a really interesting time but that does not take away from the story.

As I said, once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down! I really liked both main characters and felt that they were realistically potrayed, with the hardships of setting up your own business and trying to stay afloat, questioning your morals to achieve your goal etc. I also really liked the secondary characters in this book, especially Minnies best friend Leila as I feel the author did a great job of exploring the developing friendships as people grow up and exploring what and how the two needed to change. I also loved the others who worked for the friends. I definitely think Fleur has her own side story to be written!

All in all this was a great book and I would definitely read more by Sophie Cousens in the future!

When it comes to the New Year, Minnie Cooper is jinxed. It all started when she was born a minute too late and the woman laboring next to her mother stole her intended name, Quinn. Thirty years later Minnie meets Quinn at a New Year's Party. The book follows their current lives with flashbacks to their chance encounters over the years, all happening on New Year's Eve or Day.

Thoughts: This wasn't strictly a romance - Cousnes did a great job of incorporating other story-lines including friendship, the lives of the families/mothers, and Minnie's business selling pies. Although I enjoyed the other story-lines, it did make the book more of slow-burn. The 'will they or won't they' was strong so even though it was a bit of slow-burn I didn't lose momentum when reading it. I would have enjoyed the book more if it wasn't so focused on Minnie - it would have been nice to learn more about Quinn. Part of my desire to have more about Quinn is related to the fact that I found Minnie to be grating at times.

You'll start this book because it sounds like a cute premise. You'll keep reading it because the plot keeps unfolding. I do recommend this read. It would be perfect around the New Year.

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the e-ARC. I received this free e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a nice read about 2 people born on the same day in different circumstances. Both assume different things about how lucky the other person was in comparison, but really their families and their selves fill the gaps that they both needed to be complete. Warm people, flows well, good holiday read

Really loved this book - a heartwarming beautiful tale with some lovely characters and a great tale of learning your worth. Fantastic friendships and family relationships throughout this book and a lovely love story (if a bit predictable). I was just sad I wasn’t reading it on my sunbed by a gorgeous pool as this is a perfect holiday read.

This book just wasn't my cup of tea.
I was hoping for a romance, but this wasn't it.
First 1/4 of the book was ok, but after that it was all down the hill for me.

Just 1.5 stars.

This was such a cute-meet rom-com! It’s the story of Minnie and Quinn, born on the same day in the same hospital. Minnie has known about Quinn her whole life since he basically “stole” her name. When they meet at a NYE party 30 years later, it’s definitely not love at first sight, but they keep bumping into each other, sparks start to fly, and then there’s a bit of trouble, and well, you can guess the end because I don’t like to put spoilers in my reviews!

Maybe it’s the quarantine times, but I’ve been enjoying rom-com books lately. I liked the twists in this one. The characters were believable with just enough quirkiness, and frankly I liked that they weren’t 21. They had some experience on them so to speak.

If this isn’t made into a movie, Hollywood is nuts! Emilia Clark would be a perfect Minnie!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing an ARC for a fair and honest review.

I loved every moment of reading This Time Next Year. I kept expecting Davina McCall at any given moment. This was such a wonderful, refreshing read. Neither Minnie nor Quinn were the type of characters I typically come across in books but now they are all I want to read.

I just loved that these characters didn’t meet and fall straight into bed together. I have authors I can count on when that is the type of story I’m looking for. Sophie is clearly the type of author that is going to bring me touching, human, realistic characters and I’m here for it.

I often like books that keep me on my toes with shock after shock factor but in the last couple of years I’ve found myself really enjoying these books that take their time, with characters that grow like climbing roses.

This book is told over the period of a year but also a few decades. It’s so clever and intricate and I adored it. I completely loved how everything came full circle in the most lovely way. I already know this a book I will reread and it will be awesome to do so knowing what I know now.

Thank you Sophie for such a wonderful book just when it was most needed.

Where do you want to be this time next year?

This book was not for me. The pacing was rather slow and I didn’t really like how the book jumped in time. It was well written and I noticed many people liked it. The slow burn was just too slow for me. I liked the idea of the story but I felt like the female lead was a bit whiney and unlikeable.

I am in the minority though so I wouldn’t say I don’t recommend it. It’s just not for me.