Perfect for readers who long to escape into a world of magic and romance.
A reclusive woman avoids the outside world by focusing on a magical miniature house—until the real world starts knocking at her door.
When Myra Malone was 5 years old, a serious car accident killed her beloved stepgrandmother, Trixie, and injured Myra herself. The trauma—both from spending months in the hospital recovering and from losing Trixie—caused Myra to retreat into her home, attending school on her computer and only talking to her parents and her best friend, Gwen. But Trixie didn’t leave Myra completely alone. She left behind a beautifully ornate dollhouse called the Mansion—although Myra would argue that it isn’t a dollhouse, since it’s not a home for dolls. Now, in her 30s, Myra spends her days up in the attic where she decorates the tiny rooms, fills them with handmade furniture, and shares the results on her popular website. Myra’s life is small and contained, but that’s exactly how she likes it—until she discovers that her mother has been running up debt that may cause them to lose their home. In a desperate scheme to make enough money to save the house, Gwen convinces Myra to run an essay contest where, for a fee, her fans can win the chance to meet her. Even though Myra has no interest in anyone coming into her home, she agrees. What she doesn’t expect, though, is an email from a man named Alex Rakes who claims to live in a real-life, full-size version of her miniature, magical house. He’s always felt like there was something mystical about his family mansion, where mysterious music often plays on its own. As he and Myra correspond, the two of them realize that they—and their respective full-size and miniature homes—may share some deep and surprising connections. Burges creates a magical, unique world, and her characters are incredibly lovable. Myra is so lonely and stuck inside her house that it’s impossible not to root for her to open up, and Alex is similarly unmoored. The story alternates between the present and past, slowly weaving together storylines that are extremely satisfying when they finally come together.
Perfect for readers who long to escape into a world of magic and romance.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-54647-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.
Two people with bad luck in relationships find each other through a popular Reddit thread.
Emma Grant and her best friend, Maddy, are travel nurses, working at hospitals for three-month stints while they see the country. Just a few weeks before they’re set to move to Hawaii, Emma reads a popular “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread from a Minnesota man who thinks he’s cursed—women he dates find their soulmates after breaking up with him, and the latest one found true love with his best friend! Emma has had a similar experience, which inspires her to DM the man and commiserate. She’s delighted by her witty, lively interactions with software engineer Justin Dahl, and is intrigued when he suggests that if they date each other, maybe they’ll each find their soulmate afterward. Emma upends the Hawaii plan and convinces Maddy to move to Minneapolis for the summer so she can meet Justin in person. The overly complex setup brings Emma and Justin together and the two hit it off, with Justin immediately falling head over heels for Emma. Jimenez then pivots to creating romantic roadblocks and melodramatic subplots centering on each character’s family of origin. Justin’s mother is about to serve six years in prison for embezzlement, which means Justin must move back home to care for his three much younger siblings. Emma was traumatized by her own mother for much of her childhood, left to fend for herself and eventually abandoned in the foster system. When her mother shows up in Minnesota, Emma must face her traumatic childhood and admit that she has prioritized her mother’s well-being over her own. There is little time devoted to Emma’s painful efforts to heal herself enough to accept Justin’s love, which leaves the novel feeling unsatisfying.
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538704431
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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