A raw and detailed selection of tales exploring human relationships.
Guerin’s collection of short stories navigates sex and emotional intimacy.
The author presents 17 vignettes exploring the varying forms of intimacy possible between two or more persons. While sex plays a role in all of the stories to some extent, the true focus is often on the emotional connections between characters. In “Loverless Love,” an orchestra’s marketing director falls for an often-manic marketing consultant, and they spend the bulk of their relationship merely sleeping next to one another without having sex. In “Talking to a Nude for Seven Days,” a man named Jeremy spends one week indulging in conversation (and the occasional foreplay) with a nude woman. The author’s prose is at its most evocative as Jeremy refuses to go further with the woman: “When we touch each other, it feels like stacking gold coins one on top of the other, right between my hips. If we made love, I’m afraid it would be like knocking them all down.” In the most poignant tale, “Avant-Garde,” a woman named Irma meets an artist named Ernst who offers her thousands of dollars to play the central part in his performance piece, “Secretariat.” In the piece, Irma must sit nude atop a stuffed horse and type nonstop. What makes “Avant-Garde” moving is Irma’s feeling of purpose within the spectacle. As she becomes famous (and as she and Ernst become lovers) she is reticent to do anything that could take her away from “Secretariat.” Even as interest in the piece declines and she grows older, Irma cedes everything to her role as the typist. The story plays with themes of fame, legacy, and sacrifice, most evident in the dichotomy between Irma’s feelings of fulfillment and her ultimate fate, mocked and left with nothing. Unfortunately, many of the female characters risk of veering into “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” territory, functioning more like exhibits that the male protagonists aim to interpret than fully realized characters. Despite this, these stories feel intimate and personal and make for a unique and engaging collection.
A raw and detailed selection of tales exploring human relationships.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781956872262
Page Count: 355
Publisher: Amika Press
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.
Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love.
Bree is a friendly but standoffish bookstore owner who keeps everyone she knows at arm’s length, from guys she meets in bars to her friends. Mikki is a settled-in-her-routines divorced mother of two, happily a mom, gift-shop owner, and co-parent with her ex-husband, Perry. And Ashley is a young, very-much-in-love bakery owner specializing in muffins who devotes herself to giving back to the community through a nonprofit that helps community members develop skills and find jobs. When the women meet drooling over a boardwalk storefront that none of them can afford on her own, a plan is hatched to divide the space in three, and a friendship—and business partnership—is born. An impromptu celebration on the beach at sunset with champagne becomes a weekly touchpoint to their lives as they learn more about each other and themselves. Their friendship blossoms as they help each other, offering support, hard truths, and loving backup. Author Mallery has created a delightful story of friendship between three women that also offers a variety of love stories as they fall in love, make mistakes, and figure out how to be the best—albeit still flawed—versions of themselves. The men are similarly flawed and human. While the story comes down clearly on the side of all-encompassing love, Mallery has struck a careful balance: There is just enough sex to be spicy, just enough swearing to be naughty, and just enough heartbreak to avoid being cloying.
A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-778-38608-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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
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