This Time Next Year

Destiny has a hand in Cousens’s touching debut. Minnie Cooper and Quinn Hamilton were born in the same hospital on January 1, 1990, but while Quinn, whose family bagged the cash prize for having the first baby born in the ’90s, has always loved his birthday, Minnie’s New Year’s celebrations have always gone horribly and she believes the holiday is jinxed. New Year’s Eve 2019 is no different: she’s dragged to her boyfriend’s work friend’s party, someone vomits on her shirt, and she manages to lock herself in the washroom while trying to clean it up. She isn’t rescued until the next morning—by Quinn. The days after go from bad to worse for Minnie as her catering business approaches the brink of ruin and her landlord evicts her from her apartment. Surprisingly, Quinn swoops in to save the day again, proving himself unworthy of the hatred Minnie’s carried for him all these years for claiming the money her family desperately needed. Flashbacks to New Year’s past and subplots about both Quinn and Minnie’s families add depth, while hilarious secondary characters inject levity in just the right places. The romance is slow to sizzle, but Cousens’s debut is ripe with both emotional vulnerability and zaniness. (Dec.)