An exquisite slow-burn romance filled with captivating political intrigue.
A ruthless female duke falls for the one woman with the power to destroy her in this Sapphic historical romance.
Parisian prostitute Celine Genet will do anything to survive and claw her way out of the poverty she was born into. After a night of scorching amorous relations with Englishwoman Kate, Duke of Howard, Celine is devastated to be abandoned in the morning. Years later, she makes her way to London and blackmails the duke. Celine possesses a letter Kate wrote in her youth that led to the deaths of various members of her family, including the aunt from whom she inherited the dukedom; in this alternate Georgian era, English law allows women to claim titles. Celine demands Kate set her up in society and find her a titled spouse. Kate can’t afford to let anything sully the power she wields right now, not when she’s close to gaining the upper hand against her rival, the Earl of Wroth. Although at first she wants Celine out of her life as soon as possible, Kate grows to admire Celine’s tenacity and intellect. Neither woman has forgotten their night of passion, and despite how much they’ve hurt each other since, their attraction continues to strengthen. Author Cowan takes the trappings of the classic historical romance—a brooding, intimidating hero; political machinations; a glamorous ball; secrets, betrayals, and lots of yearning—and flips it on its head by making it queer and giving women power. Celine and Kate are flawed humans who have faced hardship, but together they soften each other’s rough edges and discover the value in being fully seen, understood, and loved. They are driven by desperation—for power, security, pleasure, love—which heightens the drama and fills the lushly written tale with deep emotions.
An exquisite slow-burn romance filled with captivating political intrigue.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250382849
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 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
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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