A modern Dickens homage with Broadway flair.
After learning that her fiance is a criminal, an aspiring actress seeks to rediscover herself with the help of a magic phone booth.
Avery Lawrence has everything she ever wanted: a penthouse on Park Avenue, a Tiffany engagement ring, and a fiance, Adam, who's head over heels for her. Sure, she's pushed her Broadway dreams to the wayside, but personalized flash mobs and $800 bottles of wine soften the blow. So nothing could have prepared Avery for the startling discovery that Adam is a fraud. One moment, Avery is relishing her good fortune, and the next, Adam and Avery are being carted out of their apartment on Christmas Day in handcuffs. It turns out that her future groom is an imitation Bernie Madoff and the towering rock on her finger is little more than shiny plastic. When she's released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, shocked and penniless, Avery stumbles into a phone booth—the last phone booth in Manhattan, according to the prison guard who directs her there—in hope of calling a cab. When she calls the number on a business card the guard gave her, instead of reaching a car service, she hears a voice rattling off an unfamiliar nearby address followed by the ominous warning, “No space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused.” When Avery reaches the address, she's standing at the doorstep of her ex-boyfriend Gabe. Soon Avery finds herself in a flurry of flukey situations, scoring a gig at a singing diner and happening on an open-call audition that's perfect for her range. Could the most disastrous moment of her life actually be the second chance she always needed? Merlin and Modafferi deliver a supernatural spin to a typical do-over story, and Avery's journey through the phone booth of Christmas past is a colorful one. Broadway fans will enjoy the variety of show and song references.
A modern Dickens homage with Broadway flair.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781662516481
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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