A fun and fast-paced look at the risk and value of real intimacy.
A young journalist sleeps with a sex columnist and finds himself at the center of a viral sensation.
Lucas Callahan, a recent NYC transplant by way of North Carolina, is an aspiring journalist. Stuck at his desk as a fact-checker for Empire magazine, he’s lonely and frustrated. But when he meets a glamorous woman named Carmen at a bar and then spends the night at her apartment, things seems to be looking up…that is, until he reads a column in his own magazine and realizes that Carmen is Carmen Kelly, Empire’s sex columnist. In her column, she refers to him as “Mr. Nice Guy” and eviscerates his sexual performance. Humiliated, Lucas writes a scathing anonymous rebuttal from Mr. Nice Guy’s point of view, including plenty of criticism of Carmen herself. When his response goes viral, Empire proposes a new column: “Screw the Critics,” wherein Lucas and Carmen sleep together every week, then critique each other in print. Carmen, who knows she can write about so much more than just sex, feels backed into a corner. Lucas, however, relishes the opportunity to get his words in print, even if he doesn’t have a byline. Although the two hate each other at first, they quickly become partners in crime as the column becomes wildly popular. But as things progress and their feelings start to become real, the column, their jobs, and their relationship get complicated. Miller (The Year of the Gadfly, 2012, etc.) and Feifer hit all the beats of a satisfying rom-com while still managing to surprise. Lucas can be unlikable, but he always feels realistic as a young man in the city trying to climb the journalism ladder. Carmen is the more outwardly prickly and inwardly complex character, and if there is any criticism to be found, it’s that readers don’t get enough of her point of view.
A fun and fast-paced look at the risk and value of real intimacy.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-18988-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An excellent debut that combines wit, humor, and emotional intensity.
A woman refuses to be with her soul mate, but life intervenes, making her choice harder and more heartbreaking.
Josh meets Kristen with a bang, literally, when she slams on her brakes and he runs into her. There's minimal damage, so she disappears. Minutes later they discover that their best friends are engaged to each other and they were slated to meet that day at the fire station where Brandon and Josh work. Josh is immediately smitten, but Kristen has a boyfriend, Tyler, who’s deployed overseas. Counting down the days until he gets home for good, Kristen adamantly puts Josh in the friend zone, refusing to acknowledge their growing closeness and her spiking attraction. Then Tyler reenlists, effectively breaking up with her. Kristen and Josh sleep together, but she slams the door on his hope for a real relationship, telling him it will never be more than a friends-with-benefits situation. Josh thinks Kristen is mourning the end of her relationship with Tyler, but really, Kristen realizes Josh is her perfect match. Unfortunately she also knows Josh wants children, which would be nearly impossible for them due to her malfunctioning reproductive system. The two reach a painful impasse, but when tragedy strikes, they find themselves reevaluating their relationship. Josh knows he’ll never be happy without Kristen, but he’ll have to think outside the box to convince her to take a chance on them. Jimenez tackles a myriad of issues in her debut and hits each one with depth and sensitivity. Kristen’s take-no-prisoners attitude is smart and sassy and perfectly balanced by Josh’s easygoing resourcefulness, though at times her lack of transparency while jerking him around makes her seem more immature than self-sacrificing.
An excellent debut that combines wit, humor, and emotional intensity.Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5387-1560-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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