A convincing tale about the evolution of a friendship and a romance.
Two old college friends get more than they bargained for when they revive a youthful marriage pact in this debut novel about millennial self-discovery.
As Hannah Abbott celebrates her 30th birthday in the office of Deafening Silence New York, the indie music magazine where she works, she is overwhelmed by complex emotions. Social media posts spark nostalgia with pictures of her with college friends Kate Novack and Will Thorne, “three musketeers” navigating the challenges of young adulthood. The mysterious delivery of white carnations stirs her curiosity, as she’s pretty sure her boyfriend, Brian, would have no clue they are her favorite. Overlying everything is a vague but constant sense of dissatisfaction that interferes with her sense of accomplishment. She loves her job, but it offers no medical benefits to help her deal with a worrying knee injury. Her relationship with Brian feels distant and unfulfilling, though she can’t put her finger on exactly why. Into this emotional turmoil comes Will, returning to Hannah’s life to make good on a pact the two best friends made in college to marry each other if neither had found a mate by the age of 30. Will’s life is also in free fall, triggered by the discovery that his girlfriend, Madison, was cheating on him with his older brother, Jon. Diving into a rabbit hole of depression and alcohol has not improved Will’s position at the family firm, run with an iron hand by his father, Jonathan. Marriage to each other could provide both Hannah and Will with the stability they need, but will it strengthen or destroy their friendship? Writing within a sometimes-formulaic genre, Dembowski has created genuinely appealing characters in Hannah and Will, and she succeeds in making their unusual relationship journey absorbing and satisfying. She has a sure hand with millennial vernacular, including texting and the ever present social media, as in Hannah’s sister’s succinct text response to the protagonist’s announcement of her sudden marriage: “Ruh-roh—preggo?” If some of the obstacles to romance seem a bit forced (Hannah’s obliviousness to Will’s discomfort around Madison and Jon is hard to believe), the novel’s grounding in its era never is.
A convincing tale about the evolution of a friendship and a romance.Pub Date: April 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-94-805168-2
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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