by Emily Giffin
First published 2020
Cecily Gardner sits alone at 2 AM in an East Village dive bar, questioning her move to New York and her recent breakup with longtime boyfriend Matthew. The 28-year-old reporter feels lost in the big city, homesick for the Midwest. As she reaches for her phone to call Matthew, a stranger on the next barstool warns her against it. Over tequila shots, Cecily and Grant forge an unexpected connection that should end the next morning. Grant plans to quit his job and move overseas, making their timing terrible. Yet neither can walk away, and Cecily abandons her careful approach to life by following her heart. Then Grant vanishes in the September 11th attacks. When Cecily sees his face on a missing person poster, she realizes other people are searching for him too. Her reporter instincts take over as she investigates the man she thought she knew. The deeper she digs, the more questions emerge about Grant's true identity and feelings. Cecily must confront whether she can love someone who may not have been who he claimed to be.
Genres: romance, mystery, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: East Village, New York
Period: September 11th
352 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: death