ARC Review: Just Haven't Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens - Under the Covers Book Blog

“I ran the gamut from laughing to tearing up while reading…”
~ Under the Covers

“You are spectacular. You have woken me up, and I never want to be asleep again.”

In Sophie Cousens’ latest release, Laura Le Quesne is at a crossroads. Her closest friends are all finding love or moving out. As a journalist for the lifestyle website Love Life, Laura has spent plenty of time interviewing couples who have found their fairy-tale romance. Now, Laura just wants her own storybook relationship. So for her next big story, Laura leaves London for the Channel Islands to follow in the footsteps of her parents’ great love story. But once she makes it to Jersey, and accidentally grabs the wrong luggage at the airport, Laura can’t believe her luck. The guy who owns the suitcase she grabbed? He’s perfect for her. He has the same taste in music, reads the same books, and wears the same knitted sweaters as the men in her fantasies. Laura knows this secret suitcase suitor is her meet cute, her happily ever after. But Laura can’t stop feeling drawn to Ted, her tour guide and sometimes cab driver. As she searches for her suitcase soulmate and uncovers the truth about her own past, Laura realizes that her definition of true love might be ebbing like the tides on the beaches of Jersey.

I’m not a huge fan of the love triangle trope, but Cousens took the idea of the love triangle and actually went above and beyond. I loved the fact that Laura believed her perfect match was out there, and I thought it was brilliant how Cousens used two men to really make Laura question just what her perfect match meant to her. Laura’s early ideals of a perfect man – someone who liked all the same stuff as her and was obviously compatible – definitely came into play a lot throughout Just Haven’t Met You Yet, and it was such a good conversation to have running through the plot.

The main reason I don’t usually love a love triangle is how drawn out the final decision usually feels. Cousens did indeed draw Laura’s choice out, and I definitely wanted to reach into the book and shake Laura a little whenever she was seemingly going for the wrong guy. Though, I can honestly say that I think Laura would have had her happily ever after (albeit a vastly different one) had she chosen her other option. Cousens wrote a triangle that kept me holding my breath down to the very end. I do believe Laura chose the right man for her, but there were many times throughout the story when I thought she was going to take a very different route. And while the love triangle is central to Laura’s story, I think it’s palatable even for those who aren’t the biggest fan of love triangles.

Since most of the characters aren’t introduced in the blurb, I don’t want to get too specific on what I loved about the main characters and give things away, but I will say I found something to love for just about every character we meet. Laura has a fantastic self-discovery journey, encompassing both her current romantic state as well as her family history; both completely change who Laura is as a person and I loved the outcome. Both romantic interests had their strengths and weaknesses and were fully-formed characters; I had a favorite from the onset, but Cousens makes it easy to see how Laura would be interested in them both. The whole cast of characters was great; I ran the gamut from laughing to tearing up while reading, and the secondary characters were a large part of that.

Even though it features one of my less read tropes, I found a lot of love about Just Haven’t Met You Yet. The story was unique, the characters were easy to love, and I loved seeing how Laura’s idea of true love changed as she progressed on her journey.