Book Club #1 This Time Next Year

[Miscanthus]

Finished the book the other day throwaway(second book of year) and posting stream of consciousness thoughts before reading others' comments.
Not my normal type of book, very lightweight and frothy, felt almost teenage reading. I did like the writing style though. Only spotted one typo
Interesting plot device of the New Year (pre Covid) / birthday/ what were you doing / where do you want to be this time next year.
However, jumping back and forward has been done to death by students of the East Anglia school of creative writing or whatever it's called....and can be annoying.
The heroine was quite engaging but was a contradiction in that she had started a company (buying a lot of expensive equipment, hiring staff etc), was unconventional, but was also quite timid with hangups and a thing about being unlucky....very Bridget Jones.
The hero was understandably messed up by his demanding mother but you saw very little interaction berween them.
Was this a book about how your parents mess you up, or a love story, how your name defines you, how you can survive against all odds?
A couple of thoughts on the plot....
I didn't understand the sudden transformation of Minnie's mother....
There was very little basis for her relationship with Quinn's mother.
The ' sliding doors ' moments where they nearly met over the years were a bit cryptic and not fully explored...and then we had the Hampstead ponds wild swimming coincidence....
Completely confusing a close friend's dream engagement with a throwaway teenage comment
We didn't really get to the bottom of Quinn's relationship with his mother other than 'carer'
I didn't believe that his mother had suffered so much the she was agoraphobic and nervous...yes she was divorced but financially comfortable...what other trauma had she had?
The business didn't stack up....'accountant' (her friend), driver, three other people, London rent, van, yet hardly any output/income.
Why just pies? Unfair to quiche!
How did she get funding when she clearly had no business plan, had some sort of charitable ethos and employed misfits
Why did it take Lucy to suggest using corporate clients to underwrite more 'deserving' ones? It would have been more likely that Quinn would use his expertise to advise this
I could go on about the business...
To sum up....light start to the year, enjoyable but lacking substance.

 

[PixelGirl]

I don't know how many people follow the Niomi Smart thread but I was imagining Quinn as Joe Woodward for most of the book and then the chapter where he's in India with a vapid girlfriend obsessed with taking photos of herself was just *chefs kiss*

The exact same scene played through my mind when I read that.

 

[prinnygrace]

Why just pies? Unfair to quiche!

This proper made me chuckle. Absolutely no reason for the pies

 

[PixelGirl]

I did enjoy the book, a very easy read. All the way through I kept being reminded of films I'd watched in the past so I think it would stand on its feet better as a film rather than a book. I felt as if the author is a big fan of Bridget Jones/Notting Hill/Hampstead/Friends for instance and had once been told the slip of a story which she'd fleshed out into a full book. Someone mentioned how they didn't understand why it was mentioned that Lelia didn't remember the conversation when they were 15 years old about her perfect proposal. I think this was due to the fact that Leila as a character was light and fluffy, and words just brushed off her. However, Minnie took everything that was said to heart and analysed everything (I saw a lot of myself in her which was a bit annoying) so it was likely Minnie would remember that conversation verbatim and Leila would not.

Their business approach annoyed the heck out of me, I couldn't figure out how they were affording rent, overheads, staff, etc on such a small turnover of pies, plus they were selling them to the needy, at what price for goodness sakes? The name of the business! Just kept picturing tooth fillings being removed from pies (I'm an artist, so a weird imagination comes with the territory).
Characters - Connie (reminded me of a friendlier version of my Mum)
Dad - blimey, nice but, why the hell didn't you step up earlier, why wait until it conveniently fit the plot?
Greg - Argh, I was convinced he was going to end up in a relationship with Clive
Leila - Have had friends like Leila in the past, they always seem to do well whatever life throws at them, even when their wedding was flooded out someone (Minnie and Fleur) stepped up and sorted it for her. (God, I sound bitter here! LOL, very Connie!)
Fleur - I loved this character most of all I think, I would cast Lisa Kudrow as her, she fits that Phoebe character.
Bev - felt she was the one everyone kind of felt sad for, her sadness kind of crept out of the book for me, I kept wanting to give her a metaphorical kick up the arse.
Alan - more could have been made of him maybe, there were hints of his past life, but nothing more.
Minnie - Nice but too much like Bridget Jones in my mind. There were so many coincidences in this book, more than seemed normal to be honest. Some of the clothing issues were too like scenes in Bridget Jones.
Quinn, I swung between liking him, feeling sorry for him, wanting to punch him. I could totally see a young Hugh Grant playing that role. It's been done to death already I know, but I feel this storyline has been done to death too.
Tara, a believable character, I could see this being true. Who to play her, Megan Markle maybe, just for fun LOL

I have a feeling that there might be a sequel to this! What would it be called I wonder?

PS, I can't help wondering about the amount of mileage she got out of a simple name, Minnie Cooper, who in their right mind as a parent doesn't consider how a first name might sit with a surname when naming their child? I don't believe it didn't occur to them at all, that was almost more unbelievable than their first business model.

 

[Dexy]

I did enjoy the book, a very easy read. All the way through I kept being reminded of films I'd watched in the past so I think it would stand on its feet better as a film rather than a book. I felt as if the author is a big fan of Bridget Jones/Notting Hill/Hampstead/Friends for instance and had once been told the slip of a story which she'd fleshed out into a full book. Someone mentioned how they didn't understand why it was mentioned that Lelia didn't remember the conversation when they were 15 years old about her perfect proposal. I think this was due to the fact that Leila as a character was light and fluffy, and words just brushed off her. However, Minnie took everything that was said to heart and analysed everything (I saw a lot of myself in her which was a bit annoying) so it was likely Minnie would remember that conversation verbatim and Leila would not.

Their business approach annoyed the heck out of me, I couldn't figure out how they were affording rent, overheads, staff, etc on such a small turnover of pies, plus they were selling them to the needy, at what price for goodness sakes? The name of the business! Just kept picturing tooth fillings being removed from pies (I'm an artist, so a weird imagination comes with the territory).
Characters - Connie (reminded me of a friendlier version of my Mum)
Dad - blimey, nice but, why the hell didn't you step up earlier, why wait until it conveniently fit the plot?
Greg - Argh, I was convinced he was going to end up in a relationship with Clive
Leila - Have had friends like Leila in the past, they always seem to do well whatever life throws at them, even when their wedding was flooded out someone (Minnie and Fleur) stepped up and sorted it for her. (God, I sound bitter here! LOL, very Connie!)
Fleur - I loved this character most of all I think, I would cast Lisa Kudrow as her, she fits that Phoebe character.
Bev - felt she was the one everyone kind of felt sad for, her sadness kind of crept out of the book for me, I kept wanting to give her a metaphorical kick up the arse.
Alan - more could have been made of him maybe, there were hints of his past life, but nothing more.
Minnie - Nice but too much like Bridget Jones in my mind. There were so many coincidences in this book, more than seemed normal to be honest. Some of the clothing issues were too like scenes in Bridget Jones.
Quinn, I swung between liking him, feeling sorry for him, wanting to punch him. I could totally see a young Hugh Grant playing that role. It's been done to death already I know, but I feel this storyline has been done to death too.
Tara, a believable character, I could see this being true. Who to play her, Megan Markle maybe, just for fun LOL

I have a feeling that there might be a sequel to this! What would it be called I wonder?

PS, I can't help wondering about the amount of mileage she got out of a simple name, Minnie Cooper, who in their right mind as a parent doesn't consider how a first name might sit with a surname when naming their child? I don't believe it didn't occur to them at all, that was almost more unbelievable than their first business model.

I went to school with an Emma Dale so it was believable to me.

 

[Squiggle]

I went to school with an Emma Dale so it was believable to me.

I met a Kelly Welly once on a school trip. She was showing us round

 

[Oops...]

Finished the book the other day throwaway(second book of year) and posting stream of consciousness thoughts before reading others' comments.
Not my normal type of book, very lightweight and frothy, felt almost teenage reading. I did like the writing style though. Only spotted one typo
Interesting plot device of the New Year (pre Covid) / birthday/ what were you doing / where do you want to be this time next year.
However, jumping back and forward has been done to death by students of the East Anglia school of creative writing or whatever it's called....and can be annoying.
The heroine was quite engaging but was a contradiction in that she had started a company (buying a lot of expensive equipment, hiring staff etc), was unconventional, but was also quite timid with hangups and a thing about being unlucky....very Bridget Jones.
The hero was understandably messed up by his demanding mother but you saw very little interaction berween them.
Was this a book about how your parents mess you up, or a love story, how your name defines you, how you can survive against all odds?
A couple of thoughts on the plot....
I didn't understand the sudden transformation of Minnie's mother....
There was very little basis for her relationship with Quinn's mother.
The ' sliding doors ' moments where they nearly met over the years were a bit cryptic and not fully explored...and then we had the Hampstead ponds wild swimming coincidence....
Completely confusing a close friend's dream engagement with a throwaway teenage comment
We didn't really get to the bottom of Quinn's relationship with his mother other than 'carer'
I didn't believe that his mother had suffered so much the she was agoraphobic and nervous...yes she was divorced but financially comfortable...what other trauma had she had?
The business didn't stack up....'accountant' (her friend), driver, three other people, London rent, van, yet hardly any output/income.
Why just pies? Unfair to quiche!
How did she get funding when she clearly had no business plan, had some sort of charitable ethos and employed misfits
Why did it take Lucy to suggest using corporate clients to underwrite more 'deserving' ones? It would have been more likely that Quinn would use his expertise to advise this
I could go on about the business...
To sum up....light start to the year, enjoyable but lacking substance.

I agree. I didn’t find many typos but the editing was rather obvious throughout by over-spacing between words.
I think the raison d’être of the author might have been to write a modern-day Bridget Jones.
Tara was a flimsy character who was made to fit the story-line and therefore had little substance.
Unfair to quiche!
She would never have got funding - especially from charities - they would not have invested due to the accounts being so poor! Charities would only invest in a business that was buoyant - otherwise they would be wasting the money they had raised and would get into trouble with the Charity Commission and might risk losing their charity status.
If Quinn was a Business Analyst he would have known that paying up-front for thousands of pies would not have helped - too far fetched! This made him look bad at his job and deffo not worth £500 per hour! Big mistake...
No stand alone characters apart from Connie - but even Connie was under-developed in many ways.
I wondered how awful it must have been at midnight and midday with so many clocks chiming! Also, someone with such a clock fetish would not have left them unwound after fixing them. So this didn’t add up either...Also, surely the father would have stepped up sooner...
Some of the play on words puns were a bit heavy going...at times. I remember Jilly Cooper getting a lot of flack for this years ago. Unfairly maybe.
I completely agree - there was little basis for and highly unlikely that Tara and Connie would have picked up their ‘friendship‘ after 30 years.
I agree - more of a young teenager’s book perhaps.

PS, I can't help wondering about the amount of mileage she got out of a simple name, Minnie Cooper, who in their right mind as a parent doesn't consider how a first name might sit with a surname when naming their child? I don't believe it didn't occur to them at all, that was almost more unbelievable than their first business model.

Yep! Agree

 

[Elle]

Fleur - I loved this character most of all I think, I would cast Lisa Kudrow as her, she fits that Phoebe character.

Perfect casting IMO *chef's kiss*

I have a feeling that there might be a sequel to this! What would it be called I wonder?

This Time Next Next Year

 

[Miscanthus]

I went to school with an Emma Dale so it was believable to me.

I went to school with Joy Peace. ..thank heaven I didn't have that name

 

[RahRahSkirt]

I really appreciated this first Tattle Book Club choice - I liked the inexpensive Kindle purchase option (cost me less than AUD$3); the light & frothy storyline; the tribute to important friendships; the spanning of time (& the various NYE events) in order to develop the storyline; the London references (as an Aussie who's visited London briefly, I have great fondness for all things British, & love it when books are set there); the quirky comedy; & the timing of reading a book about New Year at a similar time of year.

Like others, I think the book improved as it progressed. A chapter or two in, I was uncertain about whether the flitting from NYE to NYE would be sustainable - & was concerned to see that I still had such a lot of the book left to read, as it already felt quite predictable - but I settled into it & enjoyed witnessing Minnie's character development. While Minnie's pie business felt incongruous & Tara & Connie's rapid changes felt forced, I was nevertheless happy to suspend reality & just immerse myself in the pleasure of reading a classic chick-lit book: it's been a lovely holiday read!

I definitely got Emilia Clarke vibes from Minnie, & loved the author's note at the end re: books freeing us from isolation: the author's comments made my day! I would consider reading other books by Sophie Cousens; her experience in TV is evident in her writing, as this book does seem to lend itself to a film.

It's great reading everyone's commentary!

 

[Yel]

bad at his job and deffo not worth £500 per hour

The author seems to think that business consultants charge like solicitors . She really should have done a bit more research into businesses.

 

[sugarhoneyicedtea]

I didn't love it. I read a lot of cheesy chick flick books and this one didn't really seems to have the same vibe as others I have read, it has been mentioned before but I feel like it was written by an older person trying to get into the mindset of a younger woman.
There were a lot of lost opportunities in my opinion, I guess it was down to us as a reader to make the connections that Minnie and Quinn had many crossed paths moments in their life but as neither of them knew about them (apart from the kiss) I didn't feel like there was as much significant at the end when they got together. Also a bus driver changing his whole route on New Years Eve to help her get to the docks? I highly doubt a London bus driver would even entertain the idea.
For me there was not enough warmth, I didn't really like any of the characters and it felt rushed. BUT I did enjoy an escape from life as we know it to think back to a time of being in London without a mask or any social distancing.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

I forgot to mention as well as the Friends finale ending the unbelievable bus part made me imagine it being the Knight Bus from Harry Potter

 

[twilightgarden]

I got through it but it was hard work for me! I couldn’t warm to the characters and found them irritating.
Lika others have said, some parts don’t add up. The mums seem to have personality transplants and mental health problems are instantly sorted by a vegetable patch? Nah.
I just didn’t really like the story and the picnic at the end was So much cheese.
I just don’t really like romcom but I’m pleased I tried something different.
nice to see others views.

 

[Oops...]

The mums seem to have personality transplants and mental health problems are instantly sorted by a vegetable patch? Nah.

nice to see others views.

Tis’ true gentle reader - tis’ true

 

[Deepsigh2018]

I quite enjoyed this book. I had been in a reading slump and it was nice to read again in my downtime.

I found this book very easy to read i'm glad for the first book it wasn't something complicated. The book was very predictable and Minnie annoyed me in the first part of the book acting like it was all Quinn's fault that her life was not how she wanted it. I also felt annoyed that in books like these the women always end up with the rich business man. It would have been nice if he just had a regular job. I felt Leila's long proposal was unnecessary especially as she didn't remember saying it.

Overall I would recommend this book as light reading. It was enjoyable if not predictable. I liked how their lives were always intertwined. 7/10

 

[Dexy]

I quite enjoyed this book. I had been in a reading slump and it was nice to read again in my downtime.

I found this book very easy to read i'm glad for the first book it wasn't something complicated. The book was very predictable and Minnie annoyed me in the first part of the book acting like it was all Quinn's fault that her life was not how she wanted it. I also felt annoyed that in books like these the women always end up with the rich business man. It would have been nice if he just had a regular job. I felt Leila's long proposal was unnecessary especially as she didn't remember saying it.

Overall I would recommend this book as light reading. It was enjoyable if not predictable. I liked how their lives were always intertwined. 7/10

Or a twist to point out money isn’t everything. Minnie and her mother seemed to blame everything on her name and not winning the competition. I don’t understand why the author didn’t have the win-fall turn out to be be detrimental to Tara’s life. Say she then got a spending addiction or it was the cause of her marriage to break up for example. Nothing too heavy as I understand these type of books don’t go there.

 

[Ding123]

The short answer is that I personally really enjoyed the book, I am a low key hopeless romantic so love stuff like this to get lost in. It was a lovely light read that couldn’t have come at a more accurate time of the year, especially given the times we are living in.

I guess the long answer is that, whilst I felt the book was light, there were some serious themes throughout, delivered in an attentive way. One thing I will say though, is that I felt like the book was in 2 halves. The first part was quite slow, the seeds to various themes planted, with not a great deal happening. And then the other half it completely changed. For example Minnies character development was great but I felt like it was from 0 to 100 quite quickly. It’s probably because of the way the chapters are structured to skip months, as a reader I felt we saw the start and the end of that development. Not the middle.
Overall, I’d recommend! Liked the main characters, apart from Greg, hes a right twit! God knows what she saw in him. Felt emosh when her dad offered to sell his clocks for her to set up the business again and glad she gave Quinn a second chance, as I think that’s a major theme in the book, second chances.

Can’t wait to hear what everyone else thinks!

Yeah I agree! I read it on my kindle and from about 60% onwards it was really good but the first part was definitely slower and I thought harder to get into!

I’m so glad Minnie & Quinn got together in the end but absolutely loved how needed to have her independence and ‘find herself’ first.

I really enjoyed Connies development. I disliked her in the beginning but could kinda understand her coldness. I really loved in the end how she softened and how her relationships with Minnie and her dad (can’t think of his name!!) improved.

 

[Definitelyme]

I agree with what others have mentioned about the first half of the book being slow, and second part seeming to whizz in. It definitely took a while to warm up, then it all seemed to happen at once - it could have been more gradually done IMO.

I likes how the whole of Minnie's family evolved during the book. I think that while the mum's transformation seemed sudden, if her friendship with Tara had been ongoing for a while before Minnie knew, then perhaps it was a longer process than it seemed? And the dad selling his clocks for his family was very sweet - a lovely family man.

Quinn was the absolute typical romance novel male lead. Wounded and scared to commit, until the female protagonist makes him see love clearly. All very cliche BUT absolutely the type of book I read, so I can’t complain!

meanwhile the character of Greg was so much made out to be a selfish, horrible guy. I thought it went a bit far with that, he could have been a regular guy she just realised wasn’t for her. And the whole book filled with ridiculous puns was a bit OTT I thought.

One thing which makes me go "meh" about the book is simply the fact that it was obviously written In advance of last year happening, and so it felt odd to read about all the things they were doing when we know it simply couldn’t have happened. I wondered more than once why the author didn’t write it ENDING at new year 2019/20 instead of starting thee and writing in to the future.

Overall, a good little read, probably a 6/10.

 

[Aussiemumma]

I thought the book was ok, a light chick flick, nothing heavy or deep.

I feel like there was too much filler but would have loved to have seen the character development of Minnie and Quinn and how they overcome their issues, maybe a book from Quinn's perspective would be good to expand his character and his relationship with his mum, family breakdown etc.

My cast would be:

Minnie: Emilia Clarke
Quinn: Nicholas Hoult
Lelia: Juno Temple
Greg: Tom Felton

I thought the book was ok, a light chick flick, nothing heavy or deep.

I feel like there was too much filler but would have loved to have seen the character development of Minnie and Quinn and how they overcome their issues, maybe a book from Quinn's perspective would be good to expand his character and his relationship with his mum, family breakdown etc.

My cast would be:

Minnie: Emilia Clarke
Quinn: Nicholas Hoult
Lelia: Juno Temple
Greg: Tom Felton

I thought Greg was going to end up with Lucy, seemed he was more interested in her than he was with Minnie