A strong debut romance for fans of true happy endings.
In Deane’s debut novel, a woman finds love, laughter, and purpose in a new teaching job.
When Abigail Gardner goes for an interview at the exclusive Philadelphia prep school Excelsior Primm, she is seeking a second chance to become an art teacher. An embarrassing incident prompted her to leave her previous school, and she is grateful for any opportunity—even if it unexpectedly lands her in a classroom of sixth graders, teaching literature. Desperate for a new start, and with the weight of her father’s reputation as a literature professor and her grief over his death upon her shoulders, Abigail rolls with it, soon becoming entangled in revamping the drama club, which has her students performing an alternative version of Romeo and Juliet. Deane has crafted a quintessential 20-something character searching for her place in the world, occasionally falling back on cliches such as “Abigail wondered how she got here, where she was going, and what she would think one day when she looked back.” Still, Abigail is rendered so endearingly—Deane conveys her thoughts and feelings with great dimension—that readers will happily forgive the occasional shopworn turn of phrase. Her habit of acting as different characters when socializing with her friends is particularly amusing. On a social outing, Abigail runs into Nate, a handsome stranger who turns out to be a fellow teacher at her school. Their romance is slow-burning, in direct contrast to her friendship with Quinn, who is in love with Abigail and whose family treats her as one of their own. Deane takes a well-worn trope in women’s fiction and puts a fun spin on it, weaving in subplots involving Abigail’s students, friendships, and co-workers. The end result is an expansive tale that will have readers rooting for happily-ever-afters for a number of characters in addition to the hero.
A strong debut romance for fans of true happy endings.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 978-1684632404
Page Count: 304
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.
Best friends confront feelings for each other when they take a honeymoon trip together.
Francesca Gardiner and George Saint James have always been best friends—just like Jo and Laurie from Little Women, which they both love. Frankie has a big, complicated family and George was the boy next door who’d moved in with his eccentric grandmother. Their friendship survived childhood, awkward teenage years, and living together as young adults without ever venturing into the romantic—well, except for one kiss, but they don’t talk about that. When Frankie gets engaged to an older professor named Nate, George isn’t happy and a huge fight ensues. Despite his misgivings, George shows up to be her best man, but Nate leaves Frankie right before the wedding with only a cryptic letter. Devastated, Frankie goes to a friend’s house to recuperate, but her honeymoon is already planned and paid for—so she decides to travel to Tofino, a picturesque town on the coast of Vancouver Island, with George taking Nate’s place. Frankie wants to fix her friendship with George, but now that they’re in a romantic suite in a beautiful location, things are more complicated than ever. She’d always thought a relationship would be a bad idea, but she’s slowly beginning to realize they’ll never be able to go back to being kids. Maybe the only way forward involves forging a new kind of relationship. Fortune, the author of romances like This Summer Will Be Different (2024), returns with another love story full of longing and intense angst. The many allusions to Little Women are charming, and Frankie is a delightfully headstrong, feisty character. She and George have explosive chemistry, and Fortune manages to make the “will-they-or-won’t-they” nature of their relationship feel like life-or-death stakes.
A powerfully strong romance for readers who like their love stories full of torment and passion.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593953242
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A cleverly titled, cozy SF romance that marks Thorne as a writer to watch.
After purchasing a dilapidated, century-old starship called the Destitute, Torian Razner discovers that the moss covering it is, in fact, a deeply sarcastic sentient computer with abandonment issues.
Torian’s sister, Celise, is dying. Determined to save her life by getting her to a distant planet with air she can breathe, Torian ignores her former captain Amelia Perrosk’s warning that it’s an impossible task (along with any romantic feelings she might have for Amelia). Using the only ionite bars she has to her name, Torian purchases an ancient, moss-covered alien starship that appears to be on its last legs, so to speak. She hardly expected the moss to be a sentient computer or for it to hold a century-old grudge against its former alien captain. Moss quickly proves itself to be acerbic, intelligent, and rightly angry after being having been left behind for 100 years by its former captain. The two form a reluctant and surprising alliance, Torian proving to Moss that not all captains are “dog-turd fungus,” and they both gradually evolve into the best versions of themselves, human or otherwise. It’s obvious from the early pages that Thorne has crafted a story tailored to fans of Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series and Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries. Falling somewhere between the two, this is a delightful mashup of romance, found family, and a touch of violence as Moss grapples with its feelings about its former captain and the unexpected kindness that Torian shows. Sweet without being overly saccharine, it’s a book for readers who want the adventure that comes with the vastness of outer space without its harsher realities.
A cleverly titled, cozy SF romance that marks Thorne as a writer to watch.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414144
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bramble Books
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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