Catching up on the romantic world of Paige Toon (reading 3 books!)

I’ve been a fan of Paige Toon’s novels since her debut ‘Lucy in the Sky’ hits the shelves in 2007 and it joined me on my first ever long haul flight. I inhaled it in one go and a love affair with Toon’s books began. Each yearly release was a highlight of my reading year. 

And then for some reason, in 2020 (huh, not so mysterious now I’ve looked up the dates…), I couldn’t get into her latest book, ‘The Minute I Saw You’. This had never happened with Paige Toon’s novels before and I was a bit spooked so I put it down.

It’s now 2023 and I’ve not picked up her books since because I got worried I had lost a favourite author. 

After a year gap while Paige moved publisher, her 19th novel hit the shelves on April 25th and I began to get fomo again.

So I decided to catch up.

I had three books to read: ‘The Minute I Saw You’, ‘Someone I Used to Know’ and ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’.

I got on with reading. As always, I was on the look out for cameos from her earlier novels - I adore it when authors do this! Sarah Dessen also has her previous characters make surprise appearances as she sets her books across two towns. Paige Toon makes the whole world her playground and yet familiar faces still show up every now and then which I love.

‘The Minute I Saw You’

Attraction is easy... Falling in love can be hard

When Hannah meets Sonny, she's irresistibly drawn to him: he's sexy and confident, but only in town on holiday. That's fine with Hannah - she doesn't do long-term relationships. And luckily for her, neither does Sonny. But before they can even so much as kiss, Sonny receives some shocking news and commits to making serious life changes - ones that can't and won't include romance.

With even a short fling now off the cards, Hannah and Sonny settle for being friends. But as summer hots up and their chemistry shows no signs of cooling, they start to question their reasons for shutting each other out.

Are they both too broken to find love? And if they tear down the walls between them, will they still like what's on the other side?

Erm, what was 2020 me’s problem? (Apart from the obvious…) Getting stuck into this book was absolutely effortless. Toon’s writing feels like an old friend’ familiar, comforting and bursting with warmth, just like the characters are.

While Sonny and Hannah are holding closely guarded secrets that were slowly revealed throughout the novel, I never felt distanced from them in the slightest. It was like I was there with them and getting to know them in the same way. Their friends Matilda and Archie were equally as well fleshed out and I felt like I was a apart of the group - all I want when I’m reading a novel like this is to be completely absorbed and feel like I know the characters inside and out. Paige Toon never fails to nail that.

Character cameo: Alice from ‘One Perfect Summer’ and her and Joseph Strike’s children.

‘Someone I Used to Know’

So much can change in half a lifetime… 
 
Then
At fifteen, George is the foster brother Leah never asked for. As the angry, troubled boy struggles to come to terms with his circumstances, Leah finds herself getting drawn closer to him.
 
Theo’s wealthy family have mysteriously pulled him out of boarding school and he’s now enrolled at the local state school with Leah and George. When their worlds collide that summer, the three teenagers form a bond they believe will be unbreakable. But life doesn’t always go to plan...
 
Now
Shocking news brings Leah back to Yorkshire, baby daughter in tow. But Emilie’s father Theo isn’t with them, and George has unexpectedly returned. After half a lifetime, have they healed the scars of their pasts? Will coming back home set their hearts in a different direction?

I’m a big fan of second chance romance, especially when we get to see the love story in dual timelines, and ‘Someone I Used to Know’ nailed it. There’s something really special about seeing how the ‘Then’ has shaped how the characters act in the ‘Now’, the links and connections and small moments that make the relationships sing - and this is where Toon shines for me; in the relationships.

Of course, that includes the romance, but it doesn’t stop there. This book marvels in love of all forms: parental, siblings, friendship, and the endless amount of love good foster parents have for the kids in their care. I always tear up in Toon’s novels, but I very nearly sobbed in this one, especially with the big emotional reveal towards the end. She always takes me by surprise.

‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’

Neither of them expected to fall in love. But sometimes life has other plans.

When Wren realises her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.

On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.

Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.

But Wren doesn't know that Anders is harbouring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone.

Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?

As soon as reviews started rolling in for Paige Toon’s latest novel I started bracing myself: everyone was being emotionally destroyed by this one! It definitely was a rollercoaster.

The secret promised on the front cover delivered and while I was expecting something along those lines with the lead up to it, it still made me catch my breath. The emotional power in those scenes was incredible. Paige Toon has a gift for writing emotional punches, though I do think they are becoming more deliberate punches in her later novels, rather than more naturally revealed plot twists.

As always with a Toon novel, I got to travel to a new place with ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ - rural farm-life in Indiana. The hard, honest work of running farms and being part of a small community and the romance of a summer in the countryside got to me. I’d never really thought much about Indiana, or Indianapolis where they also spend a reasonable amount of time, other than as the state that John Green lives in, I now feel drawn to spending the summer in the Midwestern country.

Character cameo: A mention of Luis from ‘Chasing Daisy’ (possibly Paige’s biggest tearjerker and a favourite of mine).

Are you a Paige Toon fan? Do you have a favourite of her novels? Mine will always be ‘Johnny Be Good’!

Written by Sophie