Guy's Girl

August 14, 2023
In Noyes’s appealing adult debut (following the YA trilogy The Sunken City), college graduates navigate relationships and work in the “real world.” At Harvard, Ginny Murphy preferred to hang with her “free from the drama” guy friends, a routine she was used to after growing up with three brothers. After graduation, Ginny struggles with anxiety as well as anorexia and bulimia as she climbs the ladder at a global beer company. When a promotion transfers her from Minnesota to Manhattan, she moves in with three of her male college friends, but rather than the easygoing dynamic she hoped for, her new living situation comes with complications. For starters, there’s her romantic past with Finch and her new feelings for Adrian, whose room she takes in the apartment when he moves into his own place. As Ginny and Adrian grow closer, Adrian doubts he’s relationship material, due to his difficult childhood that left him feeling incapable of love. When the roommates and Adrian travel to his native Hungary for vacation and Ginny’s eating disorders worsen, she must confront her feelings for both Finch and Adrian, and Adrian must decide what matters most—keeping himself “safe” or allowing for some vulnerability. Noyes beautifully captures the joy and stress of becoming a newly minted adult. This sings of both restlessness and hope. Agent: Kim Whalen, Whalen Agency.