Like many good things in life, I first heard about Kate Spencer’s In a New York Minute on a podcast. Specifically, her podcast, Forever35.
When I got the opportunity to participate in a fun traveling ARC experiment, I jumped at the chance.
The way this works is, each reader leaves a note in the book before passing it on to the next. As as rom-com enthusiast who read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants every summer throughout my adolescence, I was sold.
Here’s what the book is about:
In a New York Minute boasts a classic meet cute with a modern twist — it goes viral. Franny and Hayes wind up on the news, where they realize that regardless of their new branding as the Subway QTs, they’re not quite a perfect fit. So why can’t they stop thinking about each other?
Many thanks to Kate Spencer and her team for the traveling ARC opportunity!
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A Note About New York & Me
Like many rom coms, In A New York Minute is also a bit of a love letter to New York City. I’m reminded a bit of Mindy’s subway monologues from The Mindy Project as I think about this, the way people talk about the city’s magic. Franny, one half of our dual POV situation, has a similar vibe in this respect.
Here is a secret about me — I’ve been to NYC exactly one time and I did not enjoy it. I’m a shy, polite Midwesterner, and I felt entirely overwhelmed by the pace of the city and the way people had zero patience for my please and thank yous while ordering my first (and probably last) New York bagel.
In New York City’s defense, I wasn’t in a great place when we met, so maybe we deserve a second chance romance.
Regardless, I approached this book with a bit of an eye brow raised where the magical endless possibility of NYC was concerned.
But Spencer, who loved and left NYC herself, writes about the city with such authenticity that I came to understood why Franny loved it, even if I never could.
What I Liked
I grew up watching rom coms, so naturally I love a good meet cute. Particularly a totally klutzy one, like your classic spilling of coffee. On this, In a New York Minute delivers and then some (I won’t spoil the exact nature of the meet cute — that’s for you to find out.)
The voice of each character is one of the things I loved most about this book. Even without their names in big bold font on the top of the page, you’d be able to tell who’s who, and sadly you can’t say that about every dual POV romance.
Franny and Hayes deliver some classic grumpy/sunshine vibes with a dash of enemies-to-lovers and a sprinkle of workplace romance. Their chemistry is palpable, and I felt myself rooting for them immediately.
Like any good romance, they’ve both got a bit of learning and growing to do before they hit happily ever after. It was nice to see well developed friendships and interactions with other people on the page, letting both of them be real, full people outside of the central love story.
What I Didn’t Like
This book opens with a trope I have come to dislike, for the sheer fact of its overuse. We open with a woman, unexpectedly suddenly losing her job.
This is a weirdly common setup in romances, and I do get why — a change in life circumstances can shake us up, open us up for other changes. It’s a good place to start.
It’s just that, sometimes, it would be nice not to see a woman struggling professionally while the man in the story is opening two new branches of his investment firm.
Franny is confident and competent in her work, however, which does a great deal to make up for her uncertain beginnings.
The only other thing that kept this book out of the 5-star range for me is that the pacing towards the end felt a bit off. A lot happens very quickly, and we only wrap up some of it in the sprint to the HEA.
In all, I think this book earns its Christina Lauren blurb — “A Nora Ephron romp for the modern age…”
There were a few moments that made me life out loud and quite a few more that asked me to suspend disbelief in that particular, rom com way I love so much.
It’s a great read for fans of a classic rom com, grumpy/sunshine trope lovers, and NYC enthusiasts. In a New York Minute will be released on March 15th, 2022.
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