It’s Different This Time
Thank you to NetGalley and Dell/Ballantine Books for giving me the opportunity to be an early reader of a digital review copy. This one hit shelves on September 30th.
Adam and June were roommates for 6 years, but that was a half decade ago. June hasn’t been back to New York City since the moment she booked her flight to Los Angeles to pursue television and film acting. That’s not the only reason she left. Adam has had a busy 5 years building a successful career as a chef. When June is summoned back to New York with a cryptic message about the brownstone where she lived with Adam, the plot thickens. Can these two who were always “just friends” even be in the same room together anymore?
This was a beautiful debut. June’s dreams for Broadway and her special love for Les Misérables had me looking up tickets near me. It just so happened to be playing at The Orpheum in San Francisco the week this novel was released, but it was too short notice for me to buy tickets. Alas! “On My Own” blasted in my car instead. I appreciated the characters’ storied history and the way that everything between them was revealed in time. I also struggled with it.
I’ve talked about what I call “the big reveal” before. It’s when some secret interaction from the past is held back from the reader’s knowledge for most of the novel. The big reveal strikes again in this book with a dual timeline and an obvious turning point when June dramatically (or rather hauntingly) left NY and her friendship with Adam. I just wanted these characters to talk to each other, to share how they were feeling about one another, to stop doubting themselves, and to be braver than they were. It’s an unfair desire though if I want them to be anything close to realistic characters. Miscommunication or lack of communication happens. Someday soon I’ll write about this most-despised trope on the Book Chatter side of the blog.
In any case, there was so much to love about this one as well. Here are the highlights for me:
🎭 June’s theatre background
👨🏻🍳 Adam’s culinary background
🎭 their contrasting families (June’s absent; Adam’s outstanding)
👨🏻🍳 the tenderness between the characters
🎭 the realistic long-distance friendship between June and Chloe
👨🏻🍳 the humor! there were some definite laugh-out-loud moments
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely look forward to anything Joss Richard writes in the future!
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🌶️ This book contains on-page intimacy. For skimmers/skippers, these are in chapters 23 and 28.
