In Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens, When journalist Laura Le Quesne pitched her idea to 
revisit the island where her parents’ romantic courtship took place, it was a last-ditch effort to get her mercurial boss off her back. To her surprise, it worked. She’s now off to Jersey, one of the picturesque Channel Islands between England and France. But a snafu at the airport has Laura scrambling–in front of a ridiculously gorgeous guy, no less–to gather up the items she lost out of her bag. Next up in the maddening chain of events? The luggage she took off the carousel was not hers. Something she exhaustedly realizes only after finding her way to her hotel.
“This quest for the perfect guy, maybe it’s always been about the quest, never the destination. Maybe you don’t really want anyone to fill that space in your life.”
Laura comes to believe that the actual owner of the luggage is her Mr Right. There are too many items in the bag that have special meaning in her life, from his choice in music to the dogeared book inside. But finding Hot Suitcase Guy (as her friends begin to call him) isn’t so easy. Even on a small island. Laura enlists the help of her cab driver, Ted Palmerston–an island native. Although he started off a little on the surly side, he proves to be a wonderful tour guide. And perhaps he could become a little bit more? But, no…Laura is on a mission: uncover the truth behind the pieces of her parents’ romance that is beginning to unravel and find the owner of the suitcase. Finding the answers to both will surely set her on the path she’s destined for, right?
“Maybe life’s more about carving out happy chapters than finding a single happy ending.”
A romantic comedy that had me chuckling out loud as I zoomed through the pages, Just Haven’t Met You Yet was the story about a perfectly imperfect woman on the hunt for her Soulmate, aka: the owner of the luggage she accidentally took off the baggage carousel instead of her own.
“Look, all I know is, if I can’t have a love story like my parents had–world stops turning, soulmate kind of love–then I’d rather be on my own.”
Oh my goodness but what fun I had with Sophie Cousens’ latest novel. Offbeat characters, set in the UK, and filled with lots of laughs but also with its fair share of tender, sentimental moments, I just fell in love with this one. It ended up being kind of a mashup between a rom-com and a little bit of women’s fiction where our journalist heroine, Laura, started off on assignment but learned a whole heck of a lot about her family history–and in turn, about herself–through the process.
Just like when I read Cousens’ previous novel, This Time Next Year, I was struck by the delightful storytelling and the stellar cast. Between Laura’s friends, boss, coworkers, and everyone she met on the charming island, I just never knew where they would show up or what zany antics they’d be part of. But it was all highly entertaining. As was Laura’s search for her ‘Hot Suitcase Guy’. Through a lot of missteps and awkward (but hilarious) predicaments, she found herself torn between the grumpy-ish bearded cab driver, Ted, and the guy that she’d built up in her mind as her romantic match. Let’s just say things didn’t quite go as Laura planned. But I think it all worked out exactly the way it was supposed to.
Just Haven’t Met You Yet continued my adoration of Sophie Cousens’ work. Lighthearted but with enough emotional depth and personal growth to balance it all out, I cherished every moment spent reading this lovely book.
QOTD: If your luggage was accidentally picked up by someone else and you had theirs, do you think you’d feel like it’s fate telling you to meet the person to make the swap? Or would you leave it in the airline’s hands?
Book Info:
Publication: November 9th, 2021 | G.P. Putnam’s Sons |
From the New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year comes a heartwarming and hilarious tale that asks: what if you pick up the wrong suitcase in an airport, only to fall head over heels for its unseen owner?
Laura’s business trip to the Channel Islands isn’t exactly off to a great start. After unceremoniously dumping everything in her bag in front of the most attractive man she’s ever seen in real life, she arrives at her hotel only to realize she’s grabbed the wrong suitcase from the airport. Her only consolation? The irresistibly appealing contents of the case: a copy of her favorite book; piano music; and a rugged, heavy knit fisherman sweater only a Ryan Gosling lookalike could pull off. The owner of this suitcase is Laura’s dream man–she’s sure of it. Now, all she has to do is find him.
The mix-up seems written in the stars. After all, what are the odds that she’d find The One on the same remote island where her mom and dad had first fallen in love, especially as she sets out to write an article about their epic romance? Commissioning surly cab driver Ted to ferry her around seems like her best bet in both tracking down the mystery suitcase owner and retracing her parents’ footsteps. And if beneath Ted’s gruffness lies a wit that makes their cab rides strangely entertaining, so much the better. But as Laura’s long-lost luggage soulmate proves difficult to find–and as she realizes that the love story she’s held on a pedestal all her life might not have been that perfect–she’ll have to rethink her whole outlook on love to discover what she really wants.
