A debut that addresses important issues but could have used more finesse.
An ambitious reporter contends with racism in the newsroom and the reappearance of her ex-boyfriend.
Twenty-five-year-old Genevieve Francis has worked at the Sykeswood Tribune for four years and has written just one article—“investigating” a local ice cream shop’s new flavor. Instead, as the only Black person on the paper’s editorial staff, she’s been relegated to copyediting and sensitivity reading, dealing with daily snide comments and disrespect, and seeing all of her pitches rejected by the editor. So, when she’s asked to conduct an interview at a local CEO’s gala event, Genevieve jumps at the chance. The only issue? The CEO is her ex-boyfriend, Jude Landon. The last time they spoke was when Genevieve rejected Jude’s public marriage proposal at his father’s funeral. Now in control of the family’s business, Jude requests that the paper assign Genevieve to write the first authorized profile of him. This could be her big break, but will their past put Genevieve’s future in jeopardy? Explorations of systemic racism and racial microaggressions are crucial, but the author can be heavy-handed in her approach. Many characters, from Genevieve’s colleagues to Jude’s family, feel like underdeveloped caricatures whose sole personality traits are crassness and bigotry. And while Jude is written more complexly than his counterparts, it’s hard to root for a rekindled romance when it means Genevieve will forever be forced to engage with people who will never truly accept her.
A debut that addresses important issues but could have used more finesse.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781639106936
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Alcove Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
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