An uncomfortable start is saved by the secondary characters and setting.
A romance reader's once-in-a-lifetime trip to meet her favorite audiobook narrator goes awry when he never shows up, leaving her stuck with a snarky tour guide instead.
Georgia “Gigi” Rutherford owns a romance bookshop and is dogged in her pursuit of love. Sadly, she thinks she's reached the limit of her tolerance for dating apps, instead fantasizing about audiobook narrator Zane Wilkenson. She takes it as a sign that he narrates the book that, years ago, caused her own parents to fall in love. Through internet sleuthing, Gigi discovers that Zane works for his parents' tour-guide business in London. For her 30th birthday, her dearest friends buy her a ticket to England for a 10-day bus tour hosted by none other than Zane. Gigi embarks on a whirlwind vacation, nearly missing the tour bus, but her bubble is burst when Zane is a no-show. In a pinch, Angus, one of the company's oldest employees, and Taj, a surly and snappy man with a love of mystery novels, step in to kick off the trip, with a promise that Zane will catch up with them later. It's hard to enjoy Gigi as a main character considering her parasocial relationship with Zane. Her desire for a man she's never met, has only listened to via audiobooks, and has only seen through social media photos comes across as concerning. Thankfully, she snaps out of it, though some readers may not have the patience to wait that long. Once Gigi's attention turns to Taj, though, there's a delightfully meta quality to their relationship, as Gigi is a dedicated romance reader who references familiar tropes and author names while Taj has his own bookish indulgences. The detailed descriptions of the English countryside, combined with a motley crew of Gigi's fellow tour-goers, add coziness and charm.
An uncomfortable start is saved by the secondary characters and setting.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781496735379
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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