From the New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year comes a heartwarming and hilarious tale that asks: What if you pick up the wrong suitcase in an airport, only to fall head over heels for its unseen owner?

Laura’s business trip to the Channel Islands isn’t exactly off to a great start. After unceremoniously dumping everything in her bag in front of the most attractive man she’s ever seen in real life, she arrives at her hotel only to realize she’s grabbed the wrong suitcase from the airport. Her only consolation? The irresistibly appealing contents of the case: a copy of her favorite book; piano music; and a rugged, heavy knit fisherman sweater only a Ryan Gosling lookalike could pull off. The owner of this suitcase is Laura’s dream man–she’s sure of it. Now, all she has to do is find him.

The mix-up seems written in the stars. After all, what are the odds that she’d find The One on the same remote island where her mom and dad had first fallen in love, especially as she sets out to write an article about their epic romance? Commissioning surly cab driver Ted to ferry her around seems like her best bet in both tracking down the mystery suitcase owner and retracing her parents’ footsteps. And if beneath Ted’s gruffness lies a wit that makes their cab rides strangely entertaining, so much the better. But as Laura’s long-lost luggage soulmate proves difficult to find–and as she realizes that the love story she’s held on a pedestal all her life might not have been that perfect–she’ll have to rethink her whole outlook on love to discover what she really wants. 

In Just Haven’t Met You Yet, main character Laura’s belief in meant-to-be true love fuels her professional success, but leaves her constantly dissatisfied in every romantic relationship. Laura writes and produces segments on how couples met, swooning over chance encounters that seem like destiny. She was also raised with the ultimate story of written-in-the-stars love — her parents met one summer when her mother tracked down the other half of an old coin that was in her family’s possession, and through the coin, met Laura’s father. Laura grew up with her parents’ beautiful love story as a model for how love should really be.

When Laura needs a story to pitch at work, she lands on an idea related to her own past: Retracing her parents’ love story by going to the island of Jersey and following in their footsteps, recreating all the magical elements of that special summer when they first feel in love. Sadly, her parents’ marriage was cut short by her father’s tragic death when Laura was three years old, and Laura is still grieving her mother’s death only two years prior to the start of this story, but she believes that visiting Jersey will help her feel closer to her parents and may even help her find closure and a way to move forward.

What Laura doesn’t expect is to land in a meet-cute of her own. Arriving at her hotel in Jersey after a tense cab drive with a driver she was rude to, Laura discovers that she grabbed the wrong suitcase at the airport. But as she looks inside the suitcase to find the true owner’s identity, she seems to discover the man of her dreams — a copy of her favorite book, sheet music for songs by her favorite singer, the perfect fisherman’s sweater, a thoughtful gift for the suitcase owner’s mother… every single item manages to check her boxes for her perfect match.

Laura embarks on a search for the suitcase owner, at the same time being ferried around the island by the same grumpy cab driver. Hijinks ensue, lost family members share secrets, and Laura finds herself torn between a man who’s perfect on paper and another who seems to grab her heart.

Just Haven’t Met You Yet is light-hearted and fun, with silly, goofy moments interspersed with more introspective interludes. Laura has a lot to sort out, between coming to a clearer understanding of her parents’ relationship to figuring out her own professional priorities to trying to untangle what makes a true soul mate.

My patience for Laura’s adventure was sorely tested at points, as she makes a series of ridiculous decisions that may have been intended to be endearing, but to me, just make her seem idiotically immature. Those scenes threatened to ruin my enjoyment of the book, but fortunately, there are enough other elements that are more charming and engaging, so ultimately I just overlooked the more ridiculous interludes.

The action of the book takes place mainly over one weekend, making the finding-true-love scenario feel somewhat implausible… but because this is such a breezy story, I was happy to just accept it, realistic or not, and go along for the ride.

I’m not sure that I would have enjoyed this book as much in print — but the audiobook experience is really fun. The banter and silliness comes across quite well, and I really liked the characters’ conversations and funny dialogue.

Just Haven’t Met You Yet is not at all a serious book — but if you’re looking for light entertainment with a romantic angle, this one works!