A heartwarming modern romance for movie mavens.
In Stein’s debut romance, a preschool teacher revisits her past when her former boyfriend writes a movie based on their breakup.
When she was a freshman in college in the 2000s, Callie Dressler met and fell in love with Ethan Randel, a classic-film buff. They planned to move to San Francisco after graduation, but she ended the relationship before that happened. Ten years later, Callie works as an educator and lives in her childhood home in small-town New Jersey. Her relationship with Ethan is a distant memory until she learns that he wrote a screenplay for a film called Rerouting and that it chronicles a breakup that’s very similar to theirs. The film’s release coincides with a major upheaval in her life: Her pregnant sister Nina, brother-in-law Michael, and niece Zoe move in with her as their own house is being renovated. As Callie juggles competing demands of work and family, she wonders if the release of Rerouting signals something important about her history with Ethan. As her past and present collide, a flirtation with a dashing architect named Ben Perlow prompts her to consider whether it’s time to write her own Hollywood ending. Stein’s novel presents a charming tale of first love and second chances that’s likely to entertain fans of the works of Emily Giffin. The narrative seamlessly moves between Callie’s college years and her present life as a preschool teacher. Overall, she’s a likable protagonist whose reevaluation of her relationship with Ethan is thoughtful and nuanced. Although Ethan is primarily featured in flashback chapters, he’s a strong supporting character whose journey as a screenwriter mirrors Callie’s voyage of self-discovery. Callie’s developing relationship with Ben brings an additional spark to the story, and their quirky dialogue is fit for a rom-com like Sleepless in Seattle—a film that the characters specifically reference: “as an architect, I can certainly appreciate Tom Hanks’s pain in that movie,” notes Ben.
A heartwarming modern romance for movie mavens.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 9781954854659
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Girl Friday Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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