In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer Narrator: Amanda Dolan, Neil Hellegers
Published by Forever on March 15, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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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?
I love New York! There, I said it. I absolutely love the bustling, beautiful, exciting New York City. I love finding books set in NYC, and always find myself salivating over the descriptions of the city and the food. I was so excited to get my hands on Kate Spencer’s debut, In a New York Minute (yes, I sang the song for days and am singing it again now as I write my review), with its cute cover and promise of a laugh-out-loud “clever, tender, and romantic novel for readers of Christina Lauren”. This had all the makings of a very Jana book: New York, rom-com, Christina Lauren. Yes, please! And while it was cute, a few things just didn’t work for me. As always, my main points are bolded.
1. The meet-cute was my favorite part of this story. The cherry on top of Franny’s day from Hell was when the subway ripped her favorite dress right off her body, causing her to moon half of New York. Luckily Hayes was there to offer her his suit coat (Gucci) before disappearing into the crowd of people, never to be seen again. Or so you might think. In the hustle and bustle of NYC, these two just kept being thrown together until it was clear that they were supposed to be more than strangers. This meet-cute was cringey cute. Cringey because oh my gosh, I would not survive this kind of meeting if it happened to me. The mortification! This set us up for a very fun, romantic story. But then…
2. Hayes dates another woman, Serena, for the bulk of the book. That really killed the swoony feelings I was having over him in the beginning. He was clearly into Franny, but he was so lacking in self confidence that he decided to date someone else because Franny was clearly uninterested. It didn’t work, though, and he frequently thought of Franny while he was on dates with Serena. I didn’t like that my sweet, shy, caring Hayes sort of accidentally used Serena to get over a girl he never even had. And I say “accidentally” because I don’t think Hayes even realized what he was doing. But still, it rubbed me the wrong way that he spends more of the book with the runner-up than his number one.
3. In a New York Minute is told in alternating perspectives, and I always enjoy it when an author chooses to do this. Franny and Hayes take turns telling the story, and I enjoyed jumping into both of their heads. These two are polar opposites, so it was refreshing to switch things up. Hayes is very serious, analytical, and shy. Franny is funny, outgoing, and bubbly. I liked both of them for the most part, but Hayes’s lack of awareness and Franny’s dramatic thoughts had me rolling my eyes a time or two. I found their interactions to be cute, if not a little awkward at times. Hayes in particular just… doesn’t seem very socially adjusted and fumbles several times with both his actions and his words. There’s a lot of miscommunication and confusion between these two, and after a while I just wanted to lock them in a room and make them actually speak to one another.
4. The supporting characters were wonderful. I loved that both Franny and Hayes had great friends who supported and loved them. Franny’s two best friends, Cleo and Lola, were so sweet and so much fun. They really knew how to take care of their friend, and I’m jealous of their friendship. This trio actually kind of reminded me of the dynamic between Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe from Friends. And then Hayes’s work wife, Eleanor, was always there to give him a reality check when he got in his own way. His cousin Perrine was also amazing, and had a romance of her own on the side that I thought was sweet.
5. You can tell the author loves New York. This book is a love letter to New York City, and I was captivated by the descriptions of the city. We get to go on walks with the characters to see the city during busy and quieter times, eat yummy food, and read about how much they love living there.
6. The romance is slow burning and fade-to-black. It felt slightly reminiscent of some of my favorite romcom movies like While You Were Sleeping and You’ve Got Mail. Franny and Hayes have some great flirty banter, and some sweet romantic interactions. I liked that their relationship progressed naturally from strangers to employer/client to friends to lovers. They go on this really romantic date that keeps getting longer and longer, and I loved it. It was pretty magical. I wasn’t a fan of their third act drama, but oh well.
7. This review was really hard to write, because I think the audio tarnished my reading experience. While writing this review, I realized the negative things I was thinking about the story were most likely due to the narration. I wonder if I’d read it instead if I would have liked it more. Neil Hellegers did a fine job with Hayes and I don’t have any real complaints on that end. But Amanda Dolan’s narration for Franny grated on me and I struggled to listen to her. Some of her vocal choices for exciting/tense moments or other characters were shrill and piercing. She read very dramatically, and I found myself pausing out of sheer exhaustion. For example, Franny and Hayes end up doing a TV interview together after their viral meet-cute and I wanted to throw my phone across the room while listening to how Amanda chose to read the voices of the interviewers. Loud, obnoxious, and cheesy. You know how on sitcoms when a character tries to be an actor and it comes out really weird? Like they can’t smile naturally or speak in a normal fluid way and it ends up sounding very choppy and stiff? And it’s like, wow that real life actor is really good at acting like a bad actor but oh my gosh stop talking like that because I am so uncomfortable? That’s how this went. I sped the audio up many times just so I could be done with her. It’s hard to really explain my thoughts when I can’t share specific clips. Anyway…
I can’t say I’m satisfied with this review, but I’ve spent over an hour and a half straight trying to organize my thoughts and here we are. lol. Seriously, WordPress kicked me out while I was writing this because my session expired. That’s how long I’ve mulled over this. I loved the idea of the story, the meet-cute, the love of NYC, the friendships, and the handful of romantic moments I got. I liked both characters, but found myself frustrated with their ability to communicate with one another. The ending is very romantic, and had me smiling. I really didn’t like the narration, and I’m sure everything would feel different if I had read it instead. All in all, I will read Kate Spencer’s next book and maybe I’ll find the time to go back and read this one again to better appreciate the things I loved about it.
