Charming, optimistic escapism with a more serious undertone of feminist solidarity.
With a smart if confused young woman as her contemporary Meg Ryan, Shook turns a lighthearted rom-com into a complicated exploration of romantic love—and, more importantly, friendship—among today’s 20-somethings.
Like the author, 25-year-old narrator Presley Fry has an androgynous name and moved from Georgia to New York after college graduation. She works as a talent-booking assistant for a popular late-night TV show, having landed the job through a connection—Susan Clark, her mother’s childhood best friend, who’s now married to a network executive. Presley lives with her best friend, Isabelle, in the East Village, which she prefers to the bougie West Village. Having survived a difficult childhood, she uses the art of witty deflection to avoid discussing uncomfortable emotions like ambivalence about her alcoholic mother, who died 18 months ago, or her attraction to a work friend. That unacknowledged attraction between smart, “plain and unnoticeable” girl and sensitive boy sets up the familiar rom-com structure, but Presley’s explanation as to why she loves Sleepless in Seattle—because her idol Nora Ephron wanted to make not merely a romantic movie but a movie about romantic movies—seems to express the author’s true intentions. Through her characters, Shook susses out romantic love in the Gen Z era: While Isabelle searches for girlfriends on Hinge, Presley prefers what she calls “business casual” with men she meets on Tinder. Male misconduct within the ambiguities of daily interaction (with shoutouts to Harvey Weinstein–level transgressors) serves as context for the plot. But other issues dominate: Presley’s intense love affair with Manhattan itself, her passionate professional ambitions, her struggle to face her imperfect mother’s role in her life. Most important here are the relationships between friends. Presley finds herself in an awkward but increasingly sweet cross-generational friendship with Susan even after Susan’s high-profile husband is outed for sexual misbehavior. And Presley puts her commitments to Isabelle before everything, even a man she may love.
Charming, optimistic escapism with a more serious undertone of feminist solidarity.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 978-1250904713
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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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