Who doesn’t love a rom-com? Even if you claim you don’t enjoy reading a classic boy-meets-girl story, you know that a really well done variation on the tried and tested formula will drag you in and have you at least begrudgingly acknowledging that it was good.
Perhaps that’s why we love a rom-com so much; because while there is a familiarity to the formula, it can be tweaked, played with, inverted, and changed about in a virtually limitless number of ways, while giving us the comfort of knowing more or less where they’re headed. The Minute I Saw You by Paige Toon is a reasonably standard romance book, but it has some interesting thematic threads of mental health and the importance of looking after your emotional wellbeing before you can actually enjoy a healthy relationship.
When Hannah, who is back for the summer in the idyllic English village where she grew up, meets Sonny, she is instantly attracted to him and the fact that he is only in town for a short while. She doesn’t do relationships, and it seems neither does he. Despite their mutual attraction, nothing romantic transpires between them, and they gradually get to know one another, developing feelings that can’t be brushed aside. As their relationship deepens, secrets both of them have kept locked inside will come out and must be overcome if they can move forward – either together, or by themselves.
The idyllic setting of rural England in summer is a particularly nice place to escape, especially as I was reading this across a particularly cold autumnal week in Melbourne, Australia. Toon does an excellent job of conjuring the lazy, communal conviviality of the novel’s primary setting, which also stands as a foil for the emotionally closed Hannah and Sonny. It also means the fact that the two of them keep running into one another – and thus spurring the development of a deeper relationship beyond a one-night stand – is wholly plausible. One of the most frustrating things in a romance storyline is far too convenient coincidences, and Toon sidesteps this stumbling block well.
An interesting recurring motif which ran the length of the novel was eyes and the idea of looking at someone. As a recurring visual element, it reinforces one of the novel’s key ideas about seeing someone else for who they really are and being seen down to your very core. It’s also clever of Toon to have done this, because at the core of a lot of romance storylines is the ‘wall’ between the characters – something that prevents them from getting together. A lot of the time it’s because one or both of the parties have skeletons in their closet that makes them afraid of intimacy; of being truly seen. It did a very good job of exploring this idea, and had a very nice tie-in to a subplot which looked how homeless people are often overlooked – not properly seen. It was a lovely, thought provoking touch that didn’t obnoxiously make its point, but gave the novel a certain weight that was enjoyable.
The only major qualm I have with the plot was that the ‘reveal’ for Hannah’s past seemed a little far-fetched. I can’t go into it without giving away major spoilers, but when I got to it, I definitely had to put the book down for a moment. If asked, I couldn’t put my finger on why exactly I took such issue with it – the fact that I had guessed most of the reveal but didn’t see this coming would surely have been a testament to the usurpation of the standard romance formula – but it niggled at me as really implausible. Perhaps I felt that the exact nature of the big secret in Hannah’s past wasn’t quite sufficiently foreshadowed in the interest of keeping it a surprise. Whatever it was, I didn’t love it. But by the same token, I still finished the book and was satisfied by the ending. And it did very little to diminish my appreciation for the running and prominent theme that emphasised the importance of healthy friendships and good mental health as a crucial foundation for a prosperous relationship.
I often think it’s a shame that romance novels are often looked at with disdain. They can also contain thought provoking storylines and elements in a format that is actually more likely to reach people due to the fact that they come wrapped in the blanket of a comforting narrative where we know everything’s more or less going to be all right. At its core, The Minute I Saw You is exactly the type of read that you want to enjoy lounging somewhere in the sun, perhaps sipping a good drink. It has some lovely messages and ideas through it, is well written, and gives you exactly what you want.
The Minute I Saw You is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
The brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author Paige Toon. The perfect summer read for 2020!
Some people believe that it’s possible to fall in love simply by gazing into another person’s eyes . . .
When Hannah and Sonny meet, a spark ignites that is hard to ignore and impossible to forget. Weeks later, their paths cross again, but Sonny appears distant and reluctant to meet Hannah’s eye. It soon transpires that Sonny is at a crossroads. He’s committed to making serious life changes – ones that can’t and won’t include romance.
Hannah has her own reasons for wanting to keep their budding friendship platonic. Plus, she’s only in town temporarily, housesitting for her uncle. But as the summer hots up and the chemistry between them intensifies, Hannah and Sonny discover that there’s more to each other than meets the eye…
