A sweet romance that would have improved with a little more heat.
A determinedly single small-town baker and a paleontologist recovering from heartbreak cross paths in highly unlikely circumstances, proving that love always finds a way.
Tucked away in a nondescript corner of rural Illinois with her grandparents, Alisha Blake yearns for the sights and sounds of urban life. Even as she helps her grandfather run their well-loved family-owned barbecue joint, she's secretly working toward opening her own bakery in Chicago. She finally builds up the nerve to tell her family about her plans, but she's forced to defer her announcement when a large dinosaur bone gets dug up in her grandparents’ backyard. Although the find throws a wrench in Alisha’s plans, it's a dream come true for Quentin Harris. He hopes that the bone will pave the path to academic prestige and finally vindicate his career choice in the eyes of his father. Quentin needs to focus on the dig, but his presence in Alisha's backyard unearths long-buried desires in both of them. Quentin, who was once jilted at the altar, is leery of committing to Alisha, and the talented baker is struggling to strike a balance between her family's needs and her own dreams. While Quentin's presence comforts and excites Alisha, the paleontologist’s sermons about her life choices often cut too close to the bone. To make their relationship work, both must quit digging in their heels and focus on rooting out old apprehensions and worries instead. Replete with instantly likable characters and relatable pop-culture references, Blumberg’s debut is warm, engaging, and emotionally honest. Alisha and Quentin’s gradual movement toward companionship hits all the right notes, and their interactions are both meaningful and fun. While the external obstacles and issues keeping them apart are quite real, their internal battles seem to reach too pat a resolution.
A sweet romance that would have improved with a little more heat.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-3390-9
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
An extremely fun, fast-paced, and unusual addition to the marriage-in-trouble romance canon.
A marriage on the rocks gets a second chance—with a science-fiction twist.
Dr. Emery Martín is happily married to her husband Luca…mostly. She’s been madly in love with him since the moment they met, but in the three years they’ve been wed, she hasn’t been able to focus much on him. To the world—including Luca—Emery’s job involves developing medical-grade lasers. In reality, she works at a supersecret San Diego lab that’s engineering a compound to bring mammals back from the dead. Although Emery doesn’t want to admit it, she can tell that Luca feels pushed aside, but she believes so deeply in her work that she has a hard time leaving the lab. When Emery is late for dinner—yet again—on their anniversary, she rushes home only to see Luca get hit by a car. She has the secret compound in her car, and she knows she could get in major trouble if she uses it—but what’s she supposed to do, not save her husband’s life? The compound has only been tested on animals so far, and there’s no guarantee it will even work for humans. It does, though, and Luca comes back to life—with one small caveat. He can’t remember most things, including his marriage to Emery. After almost losing Luca, Emery is now grateful for what she has, and she’s determined to show him that she can be a better, more attentive partner. While Luca may not remember her, their magnetic chemistry is still there. This may be the do-over they needed to save their marriage—that is, if Emery can keep the life-reviving measures she took hidden from everyone around them, including nosy neighbors and her own company. Lauren—the pen name of the duo behind rom-coms like The Paradise Problem (2024)—has created a unique hook that feels genuinely refreshing. Emery and Luca’s unconventional second chance is emotionally compelling, and the slight thriller edge as Emery tries to cover up her actions keeps the pages turning.
An extremely fun, fast-paced, and unusual addition to the marriage-in-trouble romance canon.Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781668017753
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.
A happily engaged woman is pulled back to her hometown—and her first love—when tragedy strikes.
Billie Wright is living her dream, running a thriving fertility clinic in New York City and engaged to a wonderful trauma surgeon named Dean. Her happily-ever-after meant giving up her life in Wisconsin, where she left behind many friends as well as her high school sweetheart, Mick. Although they’d been deeply in love, when Billie’s ambition pulled her away from home and toward the city, Mick couldn’t handle either the distance or her busy schedule. Billie has finally moved on from that heartbreak—but then she receives a phone call from Mick, the first communication between them in years. Her best friend, Erin, died in a car accident, leaving behind an 11-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Now Billie must return home to help sort Erin’s affairs and provide some kind of comfort to Phoebe while grieving the loss of her best friend. Of course, being back home also means being in close contact with Mick. Their feelings for each other may not have ever gone away, and their proximity leads to big decisions for Billie. Can she ever reconcile her current life in Manhattan with her past in Wisconsin? And which one will be her future? Giffin knows how to do drama, and she ratchets up the stakes with every page as she continues to reveal new obstacles for Billie. The ending wraps up quite neatly, but the nostalgia-filled ride is full of twists and turns that will keep readers flipping the pages.
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780593600320
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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