Review of The Date by TB Markinson
TB Markinson’s new novella The Date is set in the same universe as The Setup published in September 2020. Brittny Parker is an American grad student from Colorado who moves to London for a year, where she stays in her uncle’s apartment. Along with her comes her beloved Boston terrier Cooper. Thois novel is set during 2012, the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics and Brit has no intention of missing any of it.
Prin Jones has lived in London all her life, she runs her own bakery with her twin sister, and after a disastrous relationship with her ex-girlfriend her closest relationship is with Francesca, her posh Persian cat.
Told from Brit’s point of view, we learn firsthand how ice queen Prin shows a frosty demeanour when she gets irritated and that’s exactly what happened on day one when Cooper causes trouble, leading to an unpleasant encounter with her neighbor Prin. It’s ice time. But who knows, maybe Cooper and Francesca can melt the ice queen.
The story thrives on Brit’s loose mouth and her almost clumsy behavior when she gets nervous by a beautiful woman. Prin’s dry humor also adds a lot to the entertainment. Together, this leads to many hilarious situations. However, the characters were not superficial, they also showed vulnerability, especially Prin, and the better Brit and us readers get to know her, the better we understand her. But Brit slowly manages to tear down the walls around Prin’s heart piece by piece.
The only thing that was a little lacking for me this time was the chemistry, I couldn’t really feel it. But despite that, it is an entertaining and feel-good, enemies-to-lovers story with humor and without angst and drama. And again, like in The Setup, we can amuse ourselves about the sometimes very funny differences between the UK and USA. Since TB Markinson herself is American and used to live in England, she must have experienced some funny situations herself. My rating 4 stars
Thanks to the author for receiving an ARC for an honest review
