A sexy, thoughtful, and thoroughly Jewish romance.
Opposites attract at a series of Modern Orthodox Jewish weddings in New York City.
Arielle Becker is always the bridesmaid, never the bride. She doesn’t particularly want to be a bride yet, but after standing under the wedding canopy for most of her friends, 29-year-old Ari is starting to fear she’ll be the only single woman left in her New York circle of Modern Orthodox Jews. Ari is sexually confident and experienced, her personal religious boundaries permitting a certain degree of premarital experimentation. Thirty-two-year-old Judah Klein, on the other hand, an up-and-coming musician and wedding singer, has been shomer negiah since his bar mitzvah—he hasn’t touched a member of the opposite sex—and plans to experience his first of everything with his future wife, if only he could meet someone with whom he feels any hint of a spark. Years of disappointing first dates have led Judah to believe that spark might not exist for him, until repeated run-ins with a firecracker of a bridesmaid spin his carefully ordered world on its axis. Adler, in her first foray into adult romance, adeptly steers her two leads through their complementary journeys, as each learns to let in a variety of intimacy they previously thought inaccessible. The book shines in its depictions of observant Jewish life, presenting Modern Orthodoxy’s integration of tradition, faith, and contemporary existence through an informed and affectionate lens. The young people in this novel go on “tefillin dates”—overnight hookups, morning prayer included—and spend Shabbos ensconced with their friends. While sexism (particularly regarding Ari’s sexual history) and homophobia within the community are touched upon, the on-page interactions among the main cast of friends are overwhelmingly warm and accepting. Ari and Judah navigate tensions easily recognizable to any reader, Jewish or not: differing relationships to sex, balancing community expectations with personal desires, the fear of being left behind.
A sexy, thoughtful, and thoroughly Jewish romance.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9781250411884
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 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
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.
Two college students rekindle their relationship as they unravel the truth behind their breakup.
On the outside, college senior Bennett Reiner has it all. A goalie for Waterfell University’s hockey team, he lives with a group of friends in a luxurious off-campus house. He and his best friend, Rhys Koteskiy, have fathers who are retired hockey legends. But on the inside, he’s falling apart. Struggling with OCD, a shaky friendship with Rhys, and second thoughts about pursuing a future in hockey, the only thing keeping Bennett afloat is also the one thing breaking his heart: Paloma Blake. All dyed-hair and attitude, Paloma has built a bad reputation on the hockey scene since their relationship ended freshman year—but Bennett knows the real P. Underneath her promiscuous facade lies a scared and lonely girl running from a childhood of abuse. When they were together, it seemed like their romance was perfect, until Paloma broke it off without warning. Since then, Bennett has run to Paloma’s side whenever she needed him, whether she was drunk, lonely, or hurting, and now he’s determined to win her back. For Bennett, Paloma is his antidote, the cure for his compulsions; for Paloma, Bennett is her protector, her safe space. And though Paloma yearns to be with Bennett again, she’s not sure she’s willing to open old wounds and reveal the truth about her painful past. In the third installment of the Undone series, Corinne spotlights familiar characters as they navigate trauma, heartbreak, and first love. Bennett and Paloma’s relationship is raw and vulnerable, and their journey of relinquishing control is both necessary and inevitable. Their romance evolves as they open up to one another, and in return, the reader is rewarded with a love story that’s as lyrical, evocative, and emotional as poetry.
A deep and moving portrayal of first love.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781668219423
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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