A sexy, fast-paced romance with lovable characters on a journey of self-development.
A Ph.D. student and her brother’s millionaire best friend cross paths in this dark romance, the first in a new series from Richardson.
Juliet Parker is engaged to Dylan Hall, who seems perfect on paper: a fellow Ph.D. student whose psychology discipline overlaps with hers. Yet, he doesn’t exactly light her fire…unlike Chase Ravage, the rich and handsome best friend of her brother Jackson. Eight years before, the 18-year-old Juliet had asked Chase to take her virginity. Chase, weighed down by a sense of responsibility, turned her down. After years of avoiding him, Juliet finds out that Chase paid for her engagement party, and suddenly he waltzes back into her life. At this point, Juliet’s life is upended: She splits up with Dylan and spends far too much time researching Chase Ravage and his rumored proclivities for sexual domination. That could be just the thing Juliet needs, while Chase finds himself questioning all his pet rules about long-term relationships. Richardson has crafted a story that is seductive and exciting, but occasionally Juliet and Chase fall into tired tropes: in particular, the uptight woman who has a sexual awakening courtesy of a brooding bad boy. When Juliet admits that none of her previous partners have given her an orgasm, Chase, believing he could be the first, declares, “Something dark and possessive rips through me at the thought”: It’s here that the story really slips into cliche. Yet the book has some well-observed details that make for interesting character development, specifically Chase’s relationship with his father, Juliet’s close bond with Jackson, and the conflict that this bond brings to her romance with Chase. Though her book is not revolutionary, Richardson brings the heat. She drops enough tantalizing material into this novel to stir up reader excitement for the promised sequels exploring the romantic escapades of the four other Ravage brothers.
A sexy, fast-paced romance with lovable characters on a journey of self-development.Pub Date: May 26, 2023
ISBN: 978-1739436315
Page Count: 434
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 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.
