Part thriller and part mystery, this delightful story of friendship also celebrates sex, love, and family.
Three Black women who occasionally sit at the same lunch table at work are thrown together and become fast friends when their male colleague is murdered.
Venus McGee, Draya Carter, and Jackie Benson are all strong women who are leaders within their separate departments at Baltimore-based Billings Croft Construction, yet they couldn't be more different from one another. Venus is known as a calm and in-control senior project manager who has been passed over for promotions in favor of Rufus, an incompetent, petty, womanizing jerk; she holds herself accountable for every small choice she makes so that it does not reflect poorly on her father, a city councilman. Draya has a much different reputation: She asks no forgiveness for having slept her way into a job as the company's fiscal director, and she wields her sexuality as a tool to help get what she wants. Jackie, the third in the group, is the facilities manager at the firm’s building, a hard worker who is quick to defend boundaries and struggles with loneliness after her family shunned her for being a lesbian. When Venus gets into an argument with Rufus at the office Christmas party, the three woman head back to Venus’ apartment to commiserate on his extreme unpleasantness. The next morning, Rufus summons Draya frantically to his house for work help and she arrives to find him dead. As a Black woman in Baltimore, she does not trust what the police will do to her if she reports Rufus’ murder, so she calls Venus. What follows are a wild few weeks as the women try to protect themselves from the police investigation, figure out who murdered Rufus, and work through their opinions on potential, current, and former lovers as they become not only fast friends, but also family. This is Homicide: Life on the Streets meets 9 to 5 meets Bridgerton in a story that screams to become a TV series.
Part thriller and part mystery, this delightful story of friendship also celebrates sex, love, and family.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5420-3112-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.
Two struggling authors spend the summer writing and falling in love in a quaint beach town.
January Andrews has just arrived in the small town of North Bear Shores with some serious baggage. Her father has been dead for a year, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what she found out at his funeral—he had been cheating on her mother for years. January plans to spend the summer cleaning out and selling the house her father and “That Woman” lived in together. But she’s also a down-on-her-luck author facing writer’s block, and she no longer believes in the happily-ever-after she’s made the benchmark of her work. Her steadily dwindling bank account, though, is a daily reminder that she must sell her next book, and fast. Serendipitously, she discovers that her new next-door neighbor is Augustus Everett, the darling of the literary fiction set and her former college rival/crush. Gus also happens to be struggling with his next book (and some serious trauma that unfolds throughout the novel). Though the two get off to a rocky start, they soon make a bet: Gus will try to write a romance novel, and January will attempt “bleak literary fiction.” They spend the summer teaching each other the art of their own genres—January takes Gus on a romantic outing to the local carnival; Gus takes January to the burned-down remains of a former cult—and they both process their own grief, loss, and trauma through this experiment. There are more than enough steamy scenes to sustain the slow-burn romance, and smart commentary on the placement and purpose of “women’s fiction” joins with crucial conversations about mental health to add multiple intriguing layers to the plot.
A heartfelt look at taking second chances, in life and in love.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0673-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Jove/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK TO SCREEN
PERSPECTIVES
An entertaining love story with moments of depth.
What would you do if you knew your romantic destiny?
When Daphne Bell receives a card that says the word “Jake” and nothing else, she’s pretty sure she’s about to meet the man she will spend the rest of her life with. In many ways Daphne is your average 30-something, with a middling career as a producer’s assistant in Hollywood and a loving family and friends. But Daphne has received a little extra-special gift (mandate?) from the universe: Near the beginning of romantic relationships, she somehow receives a note bearing the name of a man and the exact amount of time they will date. This began in the fifth grade with a postcard saying, “Seth, eight days.” Since Jake’s card lacks a duration, Daphne jumps to the only logical conclusion: He must be “the one.” When Daphne finally meets Jake Green, he turns out to be sweet and sexy and has the delightful quirk of jotting down in a notebook every time he sees someone wearing Doc Martens, so she decides to put her faith in fate and go all in. But, of course, it can’t be so simple. First, Daphne is hiding significant secrets from Jake. And second, there is Hugo (3 months), Daphne’s ex-boyfriend and current best friend. Although Hugo is always dating some woman or other, when he and Jake meet, the awkward encounter makes it clear that not everyone is okay with Daphne and Hugo’s universe-sanctioned breakup. Ultimately, it’s up to Daphne to decide how much she’s willing to risk to take control of her future. Nothing groundbreaking here, but Serle provides an interesting conceit and a healthy dose of wit that readers will appreciate.
An entertaining love story with moments of depth.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781982166823
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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