bookchickdi: The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons

The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons
Published by William Morrow Paperback ISBN 9780062444356
Trade paperback, $16.99, 600 pages

Since this past week the eyes of the world were on Times Square for the New Year's Eve ball drop, it's a perfect time to read Paullina Simon's novel The Girl in Times Square. It's quite a large book at almost 600 pages, and since the arctic air is keeping people inside, it's a good read for those snuggling up inside.

The book starts with Lily's boyfriend Josh moving out of their apartment and taking all of his stuff with him, including their bed. Since he pays one-third of the rent and Lily's economic situation was precarious before this, this is a devastating blow to her.

She relies on her parents sending her money to pay her share of the rent as her waitressing job at Noho Star doesn't cover much of her expenses while she finishes up her sixth year of college.

When Lily goes to Hawaii to visit her parents at her brother's request, she finds her mother extremely troubled and turning to alcohol, and her father doesn't know how to handle the situation. Lily soon gets a call from the NYPD that her roommate Amy is missing and returns home to find out what happened to Amy.

Spencer O'Malley is the detective assigned to Amy's case, and he takes a special interest in Lily. When Lily faces a health crisis, it is Spencer, not her siblings or self-involved parents, who helps her through it. Her brother Andrew is a Congressman, her sister Anne a financial journalist, and sister Amanda is a mother of four young children, and they don't have the time for Lily.

The Girl in Times Square is 600 pages long, and there is a lot going on in this book. Lily's mom Allison is very depressed about aging and their relocation to Hawaii. She appears to have been a challenging mother, more interested in herself than her children.

The mystery of what happened to Amy didn't hold my interest as much as the burgeoning relationship between Lily and Detective O'Malley. Lily's health crisis is a large part of the book, and really captured my emotions. Spencer's care of and for her was very moving.

Lily's money woes are resolved in a surprising manner that changes her relationship with her siblings but not with Spencer.

Lily's mom states the theme of the novel- "Don't you know you carry whatever's inside you wherever you go?" That applies to so many people in the story.

The resolution to the mystery of what happened to Amy was a bit out of left field for me, so I would recommend The Girl In Times Square more to people looking for a good love story than someone who wants to read a mystery. I found Lily and Spencer's relationship and Lily's crisis a much more satisfying story.