A fierce yet sweet queer love story.
A clergyman rescues a lost soul—then falls for him.
After a long decline, Michael Dashwood is at his nadir when he meets the Reverend Thomas Mandeville. As a beautiful, brokenhearted young man without education or connections, he survives as a sex worker and relies on opium to numb his physical and emotional pain. Micha is sick, high, and grieving when Thomas finds him near death on the street, and the good-hearted reverend brings him home. As Micha slowly recovers, Thomas does his best to get through to him, and though Micha is often rude and prickly, his presence forces Thomas to acknowledge he may have romantic feelings for another man. When Thomas’ father forces them out of London, Thomas takes Micha back to Nettlefield, the village where his parish is located. It’s in quiet, neighborly Nettlefield that the two men finally connect both physically and emotionally, though given their complex journeys and separate battles with grief, the path of their blossoming relationship is anything but linear. As they grow closer and start trying to imagine a future together, the gulf between Micha’s past and Thomas’ obligations to his church may be insurmountable. A new novel from Hall, one of romance’s finest writers, is always exciting, but it’s important to note that while this book is very nearly a romance, the epilogue clarifies that what seems like an HEA is actually more of an HFN. The story is darker and more intense than many of Hall’s recent tales, filled with lush, sensual writing counterposed against disturbing situations, including incidents of assault. Hall’s nuanced depiction of Thomas’ sincere religious faith makes the book especially compelling, as does Thomas’ struggle to reconcile his beliefs and professional obligations with his growing love for Micha. Readers willing to follow Micha and Thomas through their darkest moments will be rewarded by an affecting story of faith and love worth every sacrifice.
A fierce yet sweet queer love story.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781662509414
Page Count: 383
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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
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
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