Before buying, read an excerpt from Guy’s Girl by Emma Noyes

There are some authors who can waffle between genres and age ranges which is something I’ll continue to be in awe of. Emma Noyes is one of those authors who has written books for young adults and is now moving into the adult space with Guy’s Girl.

Being published by Berkley, this is a book I’ve been hearing about for months and honestly, if I had had time, it would have had a standalone review. Given the different ideas of a guy’s girl, I was immediately attracted to the title.

I mean who wouldn’t be attracted to the book’s beautiful cover, too? Thankfully, Berkley was kind enough to share an excerpt with us so I’d like to thank them and Emma Noyes for allowing me to share this with my fellow readers.

Whether you’ve heard of this book or author before now, hopefully, this excerpt will help you decide to pick up Guy’s Girl when it comes out or will give you a taste of Emma Noyes’ writing so let’s get into it.

Read an excerpt from Guys’s Girl by Emma Noyes ahead of its release.

I won’t make you wait much longer as this excerpt gives just enough to get you intrigued and want to pick up the book so let’s get into it.

"On Friday, Adrian is the first to arrive. Unbuttoning his jacket, he settles into one of the rickety wooden chairs out on Dante’s patio and orders an Aperol spritz. He made a nine o’clock reservation, and it’s now 9:05, but Ginny strikes him as the kind of girl who shows up ten minutes late to anything.Adrian isn’t even sure why he agreed to come on this date. He has no time for nor interest in a serious relationship right now. By all accounts, it would have been more chivalrous of him to say no.And yet—And yet there’s something enchanting about Ginny Murphy. Maybe it’s her choppy, shoulder-length hair. Maybe it’s the delicate, creamy waif of her wrists. Or maybe it’s that here she comes now, speeding down MacDougal Street on a pair of fucking rollerblades, hair tucked into a stickered helmet.She really is weird.Adrian has never allowed himself the privilege of being weird. How could he, when he moved to America at the age of nine, speaking not one lick of English? He spent his pre-pubescence—one of the tenderest parts of life, when kids are unabashedly cruel and selective—trying to understand the new culture into which he had been unwillingly thrown. To Adrian, success hinged on assimilation. On learning the language, making friends, and fitting in.Ginny quite literally rolls up to their table. “Hey!”“Uh. Hi.”“Sorry about this.” She plops down into the chair opposite his and starts unsnapping the blades. “This is my ride.”“You skated here from Soho?”“From work, actually.” She yanks off the first rollerblade. “I stayed late tonight. First week sending out our newsletter.”“From work? Wait—don’t you work up in Flatiron?”“Yep.” She yanks off the second.“But that’s—”“Twenty-three blocks. I know.” She grins. “Fun, right?”Adrian shakes his head, amused.“Anyway. What are we drinking?”He holds out the flimsy paper menu and says, “I ordered an Aperol spritz.”Ginny crinkles her nose. “How very European of you.”“Technically, I am European.”“Don’t I know it.”There’s a long pause.“I think I’ll have a beer,” she says.When the waiter returns, Adrian orders a burger, Ginny a beer and kale salad.“That’s all?” Adrian asks, handing the menu to the waiter.“Yeah. I’m not that hungry.”Adrian thinks she looks like she’s been hungry for years.“So,” Ginny says, propping her chin onto one hand. “Tell me about Hungary.”This pulls Adrian up short. He’d expected her to ask about work or what he did last weekend. The things people their age normally talk about. In all four years at Harvard, he couldcount on one hand the number of people who asked him about growing up in Hungary.“Like… about the country?” he asks.She shrugs. “Whatever you want to tell me.”“Well.” Adrian leans back in his chair. The waiter arrives with their drinks, setting them down on the wooden table. “For one, it’s corrupt as hell. The Prime Minister, Victor Orbán, has been in power for, like, twenty years, even though he overtly funnels money to his supporters while letting the country’s infrastructure crumble away. Plenty of people call him a dictator.”Though Ginny doesn’t respond, he can tell she’s listening.“None of that was really part of my world growing up, though. I lived out in a small artist’s village with my grandparents. We were pretty disconnected from the politics of the city.”Adrian doesn’t know why he feels the need to add this. He doesn’t talk much about his past, but something in Ginny’s eyes makes him feel as if she wants to know. As if she’s waited all her life to hear about this.“You didn’t live with your parents?” she asks.Adrian takes a sip of Aperol. It’s cool and bitter. “On occasion, I stayed with my mom, but she was always working. And my dad… he died a long time ago.”Grief crosses Ginny’s eyes. Adrian braces himself for it—for the pity and apologies that always accompany this information. A familiar desire to leave pulls at him. To put a stop to this before it begins. He doesn’t understand how they arrived to this conversation, just ten minutes into their first date.But Ginny doesn’t apologize. Instead, she asks, “How did he die?”“Car accident.” When Ginny doesn’t react, he continues: “It was winter, and… well, therewas ice on the bridge.” It’s a story rarely spoken aloud in his family, but one that Adrian has told himself a thousand times. Every time, he looks for ways it could have been different: if his father had taken a different route, if it hadn’t been dark outside… “It happened a week before I was born.”Ginny blinks. “Are you serious?”“I am.”“That’s… one of the most tragic stories I’ve ever heard.”Adrian looks down into his glass. Here it comes. I’m so sorry, I can’t even imagine…“What was he like?”He looks up. “Who? My dad?”She nods.Adrian almost laughs. “Did you not hear what I just said? I never met him.”“No, no. I mean—what do you know about him?”God, this girl loves to ask questions. Adrian doesn’t think he’s ever met someone more willing to stick her nose into places it doesn’t belong. He waits for annoyance. For the familiar recoil that comes when people pry into his past. But when he looks into her wide green eyes, so open, so curious, genuine and without judgment, he finds that he wants to tell her. About his dad. About Hungary. About everything.What the hell is happening?Excerpted from Guy’s Girl by Emma Noyes Copyright © 2023 by Emma Noyes. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher."

While this doesn’t divulge much about Guy’s Girl, this is just enough to get you excited and intrigued to find out what happens next. Ultimately though, you’ll have to wait until October 24th as that’s the release date.

The synopsis feels incredibly vague, but it’s clear we’re going to learn more about Ginny and Adrian throughout the course of this story.  Either way, I know I’ll be picking up Guy’s Girl when I’m finally caught up with my other commitments.

Guy’s Girl by Emma Noyes is releasing on October 24th, 2023 from Berkley. 

Will you be grabbing a copy of Guy’s Girl by Emma Noyes when it releases or is this headed to your TBR?