The leisurely pacing may frustrate some, but this sweet tale of mutual longing finally expressed repays the investment.
The dangers of fame in the internet era draw a former model and her longtime bodyguard closer together.
Katrina King is a retired model–turned–successful angel investor. She has battled debilitating anxiety and panic attacks all her life, thanks in part to her abusive and controlling father, but became terrified of venturing far from her well-secured home after she was kidnapped 10 years ago. She has a loyal, honest, and incredibly good-looking bodyguard in Jasvinder Singh, who also helps run her many ventures. Katrina has had a deep crush on Jas for years but is reluctant to risk their friendship by making a move. She's finally ready to try some exposure therapy at a local cafe when she becomes the subject of a viral social media post. When Katrina is endangered by the ensuing publicity, they retreat to Jas' family’s farm north of Sacramento. Jas is an Army vet with PTSD from a horrifying event that left him with a busted knee and a sense of deep betrayal. Little does Katrina realize that Jas shares her feelings: “It was her small acts of kindness that had sucked him in, her clever intelligence and sweetness that had kept him hooked.” Forced proximity on the farm finally breaks down her caution and his reserve, and they give in to their desires in sexy, sweet scenes. But Jas, a man of few words not used to acknowledging his pain, must stop hiding from his military past and his family issues in order to earn Katrina's love. With so much going on, the romance can feel secondary at times, although the couple’s strong history somewhat makes up for Rai’s (The Right Swipe, 2019, etc.) slowest of slow burns.
The leisurely pacing may frustrate some, but this sweet tale of mutual longing finally expressed repays the investment.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-287813-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
An underwhelming novel that often gets too heavy-handed with its theme.
Three witches attempt to magically alter their futures at the end of the 19th century in this historical fantasy novel.
The third entry in Morgan’s (The Witch’s Kind, 2019, etc.) thematically connected series of witch novels centers on two descendants of real-life Salem witch Bridget Byshop who wage magical war over the fate of a headstrong teenager. Living in New York City in 1890, distant cousins Harriet and Frances trace their ancestry back to Bridget’s two daughters. Frances’ ancestor inherited Bridget’s "maleficia," a book of black magic, which would-be socialite Frances intends to use to force her stepdaughter, Annis, into a loveless union with a British marquess to secure her own place in New York society. Harriet has devoted her life and craft to helping women in need, so when she overhears Frances’ plans for Annis—who is also Harriet’s great-niece and one of Bridget’s descendants—she follows them to England. Women’s inability to control their own destinies is clearly a theme here, but the novel’s heavy-handed treatment makes this message more burdensome than enlightening. When she realizes that a forced marriage is set to shatter her dream of breeding her own line of racehorses, Annis melodramatically laments that she is “for sale, like a filly at the horse market.” Morgan's failure to differentiate between voices—conversations between Annis and Frances are nearly indistinguishable from those between the marquess and his mother in both subject matter and vocabulary—makes it difficult for the reader to connect with the characters’ plights, even at the novel’s climax, as does a jarring opening that quickly alternates between point-of-view characters and pauses several times for lengthy backstory. For all of Frances’ dealings in darkness, an unnecessary attempted rape scene caused by black magic provides the story’s only true moment of suspense.
An underwhelming novel that often gets too heavy-handed with its theme.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-41950-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Romance, suspense, mystery, and bawdy historical customs add up to a fine read.
A couple with a reputation for crime-solving becomes involved in an odd murder case in 1832 Scotland.
Kiera Gage, better known as Lady Darby, and her husband, Sebastian Gage (An Artless Demise, 2019, etc.), are among the five dozen guests the Duke and Duchess of Bowmont have invited to Twelfth Night festivities at an immense Gothic castle in the Scottish border country. Kiera’s first marriage—the source of the title she'd rather not use—made her both miserable and notorious for executing anatomical drawings for her cruel husband, but she’s more recently gained a reputation as a portrait artist, and the Duchess is her client. Each guest at the ball is given a costume to wear and a role to play; amusingly, the heavily pregnant Kiera is a nun. Although the Duke claims all his children as his own, several of them were actually sired by other men. When his third son, Lord Edward, offers a ghost tour, the Gages are happy to escape the ballroom until the group stumbles upon a dead body in the dungeons. Ravaged by rats and decomposition, the corpse is difficult to identify, but its gentlemanly attire suggests that it may be Helmswick, the husband of the duke's daughter Lady Eleanor, who left for Paris a month ago. The ducal couple beg the Gages to investigate while withholding vital information. Lady Eleanor was unhappy with Helmswick, a man of many secrets and mistresses, and she’s commenced an affair with her first love, the Marquess of Marsdale. After the guests who were not at the castle when the murder occurred are permitted to depart, a disconcerting number of suspects remain behind. Kiera knows she’s touched a nerve when someone tries to push her down a flight of stairs. She and Gage must uncover many family secrets before they can unmask a killer.
Romance, suspense, mystery, and bawdy historical customs add up to a fine read.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-451-49138-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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