4.5 stars!
I listened to an ARC of this book. The narrator does a great job but I don’t think there’s any advantage over reading it, it’s just down to personal preference.

When I started this, I thought it was going to be a nice, easy, chic lit kind of read. And yeah, it is those things but a whole lot more! ... There’s more depth to the characters. Past traumas and events are discussed and explored and not only by the two main characters, HannaH and Sonny.

I enjoyed the dynamic of the friendships, the one character’s children and bonus points for the inclusion of a dog (wins me over every time!). Oh and I loved the village setting. But most of all, I appreciated our two protagonists, how they bravely bared the good, the bad and the ugly and focused on working on themselves before jumping into something else.

One of my biggest annoyances in a book, actually two of my bug bears, is when characters don’t communicate and when one being with the other magically cures all of their issues! Grr. But that was not a problem here, Paige Toon wrote honest and realistic characters who are forcing themselves to share and communicate more effectively. If you can’t tell, I enjoyed it 😉

I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

The Minute I Saw You is the ultimate summer read. It has the sweet romance, the lovable characters, the strong narrative, and all the feels!

The story begins when Hannah meets Sonny. Hannah is a dispensing optician in Cambridge. One day, Sonny arrives in the shop as one of her customers. The connection between them is instant. Not just a surface level crush, but a heart-stopping connection. Their first moments feel deeper than a standard meet cute. But when Hannah sees Sonny for a second time, everything is different. He’s not charming or flirty, but distant and cold. Still, a friendship grows between the two, with their natural chemistry acting for them. Before you know it, you’re rooting for these characters.

I really like the protagonists in this novel. Both Hannah and Sonny are very authentic personalities. They have good days and bad, they struggle with the idea of not being ‘normal’ and their individual pasts weight them down. The secondary characters are also a huge support to the overall story, fleshing out the side plots and adventures. Even the smallest of roles felt relevant to the narrative. I always know a book is good when I feel like I miss the characters. And because you get to know each of these voices so well, it really is saddening when the story reaches its end.

The Minute I Saw You definitely has the characteristics of a slow burn. But like most books with this trope, it’s well worth the wait. The dynamic between Hannah and Sonny is established from the beginning and tensions only begin to build as the chapters go on.

This is an incredibly difficult book to review, because it has so many secrets. The backstories of the characters bring so much to this read. I was expecting a light, summery, novel. And this is great in that sense. But it also has so much weight and emotion, it became a pleasantly unanticipated complex read. Every single time I thought I knew where this story was going, it totally shocked me. However, every twist, even the emotional ones, contributed to the entertaining plot. I didn’t see the backstories of the characters coming at all, but they really layered the story.

This book feels like more than a romance. It’s a poignant love story. It’s humorous and moving, an ideal combination for a compelling summer read. It dives beyond the surface and explores loss, trauma and heartache. Paige Toon’s writing has always had a heart-warming quality and The Minute I Saw You is no different. In fact, it might be my favourite Toon book yet.

My first experience of a Net Galley audiobook and I would have to say that I enjoyed the experience.

I liked the narrator's voice which brought the story of Hannah and Sonny to life.

We all hide things, but Hannah and Sonny both have events from their past, that caused them a lot of distress and grief. Eventually they confide in one another. They start off as friends, but will their relationship change.

Highly enjoyable.

I have always enjoyed Paige Toon’s writing, and this is another great book from her.
A change from the usual boy meets girl, they get together, something goes wrong / a misunderstanding happens & theY split, they reconnect and fall deeply in love, this story follows Hannah and Sunny, two people who have been incapable of entering any meaningful relationship due to unaddressed sadness & trauma in their early lives.
The minute they meet in Hannah’s work there is chemistry, they are drawn to each other and the air fizzles with attraction. However, both have to work through their difficulties before considering any ‘relationship’. Shared friends mean they meet up with each other regularly and friendship blossoms, both maintain that they can’t be in a relationship together while working through their issues but they come to find that sharing an emotional burden makes it easier to bear.
A lovely story about friendship, relationships, how our pasts can shape us as adults and how love will win through. Well written and enjoyably narrated.

Such a heart warming romance. I liked the characters immediately and was drawn into the story from the get go. Hannah and Sonny are attracted to each other from their first meet, however, as you go deeper into the story you learn that these two will need to allow each other in if sparks are going to fly. We all have pasts that we may not wish to share and theirs are far from predictable. Once the barriers go down you pray they will open their hearts to each other. Beautifully written and thought provoking. A real pleasure to enjoy listening to the audio version on my countryside walks. My only small negative would be the male voice narrations but I appreciate they’re not easy. Also enjoyed the setting in Cambridge as have enjoyed a visit punting there myself!