by Clarissa Harwood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2019
A smart and highly civilized tale about love, temptation, and second chances.
A British clergyman struggles with his habit of falling for unavailable women in this Edwardian-era love story.
When the novel opens, Canon Thomas Cross is in the midst of an extramarital love affair with Julia Carrington, a wealthy parishioner. His guilt over their ongoing tryst has reached a crescendo, and he insists they put an end to their meetings. Several hours later, after Tom has conducted church meetings and visited sick patients at a hospital, his conscience is eased by having performed these good deeds. Unfortunately, as he heads home, he is kidnapped and driven far outside the city, where he is beaten and left for dead. As he languishes in the woods, he is discovered by Miranda Thorne, a local artist, who brings him back to the remote cottage where she lives with her brother, Simon. As Miranda and Simon nurse Tom back to health, the three form a bond, with Tom and Miranda taking extra-special notice of each other. As Tom regains his strength, he must return to London and attempt to find stability in his life. He hopes to discover the identity of his attackers and to live a more moral life. Unfortunately, he is unable to forget Miranda nor the pull he felt toward her. When Miranda’s brother marries and the Thorne family moves to London, Tom and Miranda rekindle their connection. As Tom and Miranda grow more deeply attached, unexpected obstacles to their relationship continue to crop up. Told at a slow and steady pace, this is a tale not meant for rushing. Details about the story's setting are conspicuously absent, as the author focuses instead on the characters’ thoughts and actions. Even so, the descriptions of characters’ interior emotional lives are sufficiently engaging to keep readers turning pages. The novel also contains many interesting details about the art circles of the era as well as the political inner workings of the English church. Written as a sequel to Harwood’s Author of Impossible Saints (2018), the book can also stand on its own.
A smart and highly civilized tale about love, temptation, and second chances.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64313-052-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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by Christina Lauren ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2018
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
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A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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