A complex and often compelling tale of domestic and spiritual struggle in the Caribbean.
Giordano’s historical series installment charts the unhappy Sharpe marriage as it plays out under the palm trees of the Bahamas.
This second book of the author’s Strange Eden series opens in 1792, on the shores of colonial Nassau. Eliza Sharpe is struggling in an unhappy marriage to well-to-do soldier and nobleman Charles Sharpe, and her union is about to get even more complicated. Although Eliza tries to hide it—from herself as much as anyone else—it becomes obvious, after Charles leaves town on business for the crown, that she’s pregnant. What would be a blessing for most couples feels more like a curse for Eliza, because the child isn’t Charles’ but is, in fact, the product of her love affair with Jean Charles de Longchamp, a spy whom Charles knew well and who was executed not long ago. Mercifully, Charles is away during most of Eliza’s pregnancy. In his absence, Eliza begins to feel as if her baby is the last meaningful connection to her slain lover. However, she’s promised Cleo, an enslaved woman in her home, that she’ll secretly give the baby to her; that way, Eliza can make sure the marital fallout is as minimal as possible. The women hope the child will be born before Charles returns to Nassau, but instead Charles arrives home at the worst possible moment for everyone: mere minutes after Eliza gives birth.
Over the course of Giordano’s novel, readers learn that more is roiling beneath the surface of the Sharpes’ lives than may initially appear. Cleo is a practitioner of Obeah healing and spellcasting, and she’s been helping and protecting Charles since he was a small boy. Eliza has been having strange, vivid dreams that clue her into key events in her husband’s life before he ever met her—and this ability, too, is related to Cleo, whose ultimate aims remain mysterious. The novel, set among the glistening vistas of the Caribbean, offers readers an unpredictable story that achieves an admirable balance of beauty and horror. The backdrop is well rendered throughout: “The calm, glassy surface of the water vanished, and the sea grew more chilly as waves disturbed it. The ocean appeared rough, as if gripped by an invisible wintery hand.” The enslaved people’s interactions with Eliza and Charles, however, seem courteous and friendly to the point that readers will find the depictions uncomfortable: “[Eliza] had never heard Cleo raise her voice before. It was not a slave’s place to act in such a way. But Cleo was so much more than a lowly servant, and they both understood this fact.” In addition, some of the character descriptions feel cliched: “Eliza was fiery and beautiful, maddeningly beautiful. So much so that she herself didn’t quite realize it.” Still, readers learn far more about Eliza, Charles, and Cleo from the choices they make than from their outward appearances, which many will find satisfying in the long run.
A complex and often compelling tale of domestic and spiritual struggle in the Caribbean.Pub Date: June 7, 2024
ISBN: 9798986983424
Page Count: 508
Publisher: Käferhaus Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.
A woman faces a health crisis and obsesses over a local accident in this wonderful follow-up to Sandwich (2024).
Newman begins her latest with a quote from Nora Ephron: “Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like, people you know—it’s everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be. But then again, you could be.” It sets an appropriate tone for a story that is just as full of death and dread as it is laughter. Two years after the events of Sandwich, Rocky is back home in Western Massachusetts and happily surrounded by family—her daughter, Willa, lives with her and her husband, Nick, while applying to Ph.D. programs; her widowed father, Mort, has moved into the in-law apartment behind their house. When a young man who graduated from high school with Rocky’s son, Jamie, is hit by a train, Rocky finds herself spiraling as she thinks about how close the tragedy came to her own family. She’s also freaking out about a mysterious rash her dermatologist can’t explain. Both instances are tailor-made for internet research and stalking. As Rocky obsessively googles her symptoms and finds only bad news (“Here’s what’s true about the Internet: very infrequently do people log on with their good news. Gosh, they don’t write, I had this weird rash on my forearm? And it turned out to be completely nothing!”), she also compulsively checks the Facebook page of the accident victim’s mother. Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines (one passage about the absurdity of collecting a stool sample and delivering it to the doctor stands out). As Rocky deals with the byzantine frustrations of the medical system, she also has to learn, once more, how to see her children, husband, father, and herself as fully flawed and lovable humans.
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063453913
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
